The Last Waltz SOLD!

"The Last Waltz" has found a new home with a lovely lady with an interesting connection.  She happened to see it in the recent newspaper article about my show at the Pearl Street Gallery and was immediately drawn to it.  Seems her name is Lisa Kirby (the brand name on the piano in the piece is "Kirby"), she is currently studying the piano, and she lives in the immediate area where I shot the original photo!  Seems some things are just meant to be!  Thank you, Lisa! 

"The Last Waltz" in it's new home!

The Alchemist

The Alchemist ©2013 - Funny how sometimes a composition will start as one thing and somewhere along the way evolve into something completely different.  This piece started as just a still life.  I picked up the bottles a couple of months ago at the estate sale of an artist among a lot of art materials in the basement.  They seemed to have been used for mixing pigments or maybe a substance used in pottery making.  The insides were still coated with beautifully textured remnants of the contents.  I added some bits of dried flowers that I always save from my flower bouquets after their demise for use in various art projects.  The keys were among some of the things left by former inhabitants of my house when I moved in 36 years ago.  I was pleased with the composition but still felt something was missing.  After pondering it a few days, I decided to add a photo of a window in the loft of my garage to the background, some of my backyard birds perched just outside, and a self portrait from 1992.  That provided the storytelling quality I was looking for and completed "The Alchemist".

The Locket

The Locket ©2013 - I picked up the pitcher in this piece a couple of months ago at a local estate sale with the intent on using it in a possible still life.  I was attracted by the wonderful texture created by the tarnish and wearing away of the silver plate.  Looking around my house, the next addition was a vintage solid metal banjo ukelele produced by the "Dixie" company circa 1930's.  Having been born in Georgia, the "Dixie" name prompted memories of my sister, Amy who was still living there when she passed away from cancer in 2003.  I purchased the little box the pitcher is on during one of our last antique shopping trips together.  The locket was my last Christmas present to her and contains both our photos.  The beautiful crow I captured on a recent trip to Princeton, NJ and knowing how they love shiny objects, thought he would be perfect to hold the chain.  The background texture from my basement floor and the fruit for just a touch of warm color completed "The Locket".

Interview in Courier News regarding Pearl Street Gallery Exhibit!

I was recently interviewed about my work in the Pearl Street Gallery for a local New Jersey newspaper, The Courier News.  Ralph Bellantoni, a very talented journalist, did a wonderful job and I was very flattered by his article which you can read here:   CLICK ON ARTICLE TO ENLARGE

Photographs By Darlene Foster Of Plainfield On Exhibit At Pearl Street Gallery (via Inside Out)

Elizabeth, NJ – The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is pleased to present an exhibit of photography/montage by Darlene Foster of Plainfield in the gallery space at the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, located at 633 Pearl…

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As the Crow Flies

 

As the Crow Flies ©2013 - This is a montage of 4 different photographs, 3 of which are a result of a road trip along Rte. 57, heading toward Washington Township in Warren County, NJ.  The 4th, a crescent moon, was taken in my backyard.  The base image is the haunting remains of Mount Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church and cemetery also known as Old Swack Church (named for it's builder, Jacob Swackhammer) erected in 1844.  There seemed to be some clearing and cleaning up of the property going on, hopefully in an effort to preserve whats left of the building and the graves surrounding it.  The wild grasses from another image taken that day were added to the foreground in place of the debris from the clearing.  My favorite part of this piece is the incredible crow that I was lucky enough to capture just as he took flight from a recently plowed corn field.  Upon close examination, I realized he was carrying a tiny mouse in his mouth!  Well, it was close to dinner time. 

Montclair Art Museum presents Collecting Art: An Affordable Art Fair

The Birthday Party

The Birthday Party ©2013 - This montage was created for RSI Bank's Annual Artist's Contest with a theme of "Celebration".  When considering my entry for the show, none of my current work seemed to fit the theme so I came up with this slightly off beat version of a birthday celebration with a hint of the Alice in Wonderland tea party.  "The Birthday Party" is comprised of 25 different photos, one of which is a vintage family photo of me blowing out the candles on my birthday cake as my friend watches from behind.  The other "guests" all currently live in my house (with the exception of my backyard blackbirds and the hawk flying overhead).  The base photo is an amazing 600 year old white oak tree located in the cemetery of the Presbyterian Church in Basking Ridge, NJ.  All the historic headstones beneath the tree were incredible to walk through and read but unfortunately, didn't quite fit my composition so I added a field of grasses from another image instead and "The Birthday Party" came together.  And lucky for me,  it was accepted into the show!  If you're in the area of Rahway, NJ, the opening reception for "Celebration" is Sunday, June 2 from 11 AM to 4 PM at RSI Bank, 1500 Irving St, Rahway, NJ.  The show runs from June 2 thru June 29, 2013.

Blue Bird

Blue Bird ©2013 - I was in another still life mood recently and decided to start with one of my favorite tin boxes.  I found it quite a few years ago in a local antique shop and bought it as a Christmas present for Tom.  He has a love of warm island places so the palm tree motif fit right in with his collection of ukuleles (which are all over our house along with other related memorabilia).  The bananas and wine might be a nice thing to have on hand if you were settling in to practice a few "Hits from Hawaii".  The chameleons, whispering among themselves, seem a little annoyed by the intruding bird who apparently tipped over the wine glass as he flew in to check out the "Blue Bird" ukulele.

The Boating Party

The Boating Party ©2013 - Some of the 7 images included in this montage have been hanging around in my files since the spring of 2011 until an idea for this composition hit me recently.  The base image is a lovely little stream running through the town of Spotswood, NJ that I photographed during a visit in April of 2011.  The boat, oddly enough, was inside an abandoned house in Middle Valley, NJ (the same house I used in "By the Light of the Moon" which you can find in the archives of this blog).  Speaking of moons, the one used here was taken in Lambertville, NJ just as it was rising, very full and golden.  The birds are actually Canadian geese from a lake near my house.  I decided to take a few liberties with their coloring to better fit the mood of the piece.  A young man from my vintage photo collection completed the gathering of "The Boating Party".

The Fortune Teller

The Fortune Teller ©2013 - Last September I attended an antiques show at the Hunterdon County fairgrounds in Amwell Township, NJ.  When leaving the show after a lovely afternoon of browsing for treasures, I happened across an interesting looking yardsale while heading down the road to Lambertville for dinner.  While perusing the sale, a building on the property with lots of texture and peeling paint caught my eye so I asked the owner if she would mind if I took some photographs.  She was extremely gracious, telling me it was an old garage badly in need of a coat of paint, but I could take all the photos I wanted.  She even moved her car and several other items out of the way to give me more room to shoot!  As often happens, the images were filed away until recently when the pieces of a composition came together in my head.  The vintage photo of the gypsy from my collection seemed to echo the mood of the building with the odd emblem attached to the door.  The crocodile I found a couple of months before on someone's front lawn in Lambertville and my curious backyard blackbirds completed "The Fortune Teller".

The Ball Game

Back to the abandoned property of St. Paul's Abbey in Andover, NJ.  This time, it's looking up a small road running along the back of the large main building.  I keep checking online for any news on the fate of this property but haven't found any recent updates.  As with so many of the abandoned places I've visited, it seems all too few are being restored to their former grandeur and put to good use again.  Most remain lonely ghosts of their former selves that I will continue to photograph and preserve in my artwork.  The distinguished gentleman on the road and mischievous girls hiding in the bushes are from my vintage photo collection.  The birds patrolling the sky are from a trip to Marlboro, NJ and the ball that prompted the title belonged to my beloved ferrets, all of whom have passed on.

Deliverance

 

This montage began with yet another building on the St. Paul's Abbey retreat house property in Andover, NJ.  As you can see, I've been working with these images quite a lot lately!  The lovely lady giving the birds their freedom is friend and model Maryanne Christiano-Mistretta who is a talented journalist and author of a wonderful blog over on Wordpress.  The other models, my backyard blackbirds, have left for their winter hiatus in search of warmer weather and I miss them terribly!  Can't wait for their return in the spring! 

Wildflowers

Wildflowers ©2012 - The base photo for this montage is one of the many back buildings on the abandoned property of the former St. Paul's Abbey retreat house in Andover Township, New Jersey.  I wrote a little more about the history of the property in the writeup for "Jonah" in which I used another of the buildings.  My eye was immediately drawn to the single stem of flowers thrusting upward in the building's entrance, framed by hanging ivy and the darkness of the interior.  It was the only flower in the area.  The child is from my vintage photo collection and I'm still undecided if it is a boy or girl.  No matter, he or she matched the mood I was looking for and a few of my backyard birds completed the composition.  "Wildflowers" - a flower of an uncultivated variety growing freely without human intervention.  Love the sound of that!

Art at the Jersey Shore!

Gotta love ribbons!!

 

I'm so excited to say my image "All the Comforts of Home" took 2nd place in The Edison Arts Society show, "Romancing the Past"!  Thanks once again to Pat Rubin, the gallery director, for putting together another great opening and to judge Donna Blachford of Lux Gallery in Hopewell, NJ for thinking enough of my work to give me the award! 

Jonah

Jonah ©2012 - One of the great things about working with photography is the unexpected cool twist that happens now and then.  I took the base photo for this montage (minus the little boy) on an abandoned piece of property in Andover Township near the Newton border in New Jersey.  It was one of the small buildings behind what used to be the St. Paul's Abbey retreat house, a notable landmark founded as a monastery in 1924 housing up to 60 monks.  They led very simple lives using the surrounding property for beekeeping, cow raising, fruit growing and Christmas tree farming.  After taking the image, I looked at it on my camera and thought my eyes were playing tricks.  There were some wonderful reflections in the old window glass but one clearly looked like the face of a giant fish!  To be sure it wasn't just me, I showed it to the person with me and the first thing he said was "Hey!  There's a fish face in the window!".  I added the boy from my vintage photo collection, a little more plant life from around the property and some toning and selected filters to complete (what I thought to be an appropriate title) "Jonah".

A Guy Named Joe

A Guy Named Joe ©2012 - This image was inspired by a conversation with my friend and incredible artist, Marcel Truppa.  I asked who he considered his greatest influence and he immediately answered Joseph Cornell. Influenced by the Surrealists, Cornell was one of the pioneers of assemblage and created beautiful art from found objects. He and Marcel became friends during the 50's and he recollected that every time he visited Cornell at his home, there was always a single rose in a glass of water somewhere in the house.  After Cornell passed away, Marcel would visit his grave in Nyack, NY whenever he had the opportunity and would always bring a single rose.  Marcel remembered Cornell as a quiet, unassuming man who, despite the fame his art eventually brought him, was just "a guy named Joe".  The figure in this image is a young Marcel.  The background is not the actual gravesite of Cornell, but my interpretation utilizing several different images of my own as well as a texture in the sky from one of Marcel's paintings to complete the montage.

The Barnyard

The Barnyard ©2012 - I discovered this lovely old barn, it's smaller outbuilding and crumbling silo on an abandoned property in Marlboro, New Jersey a couple of months ago.  It was late in the day and the light was fading, so after getting as many shots as I could, I decided to call it a day but vowed to return as soon as possible to take advantage of all the great photo ops in the area! The very next weekend, I was back in Marlboro hoping to explore an abandoned factory that I had found too late the week before.  Unfortunately, during the week it had been fenced in and demolition had begun.  However, all the disturbance had attracted a flock of beautiful black vultures cruising the area and I was able to get some great bird shots!  On down the road, I ran across a field of grazing emus!  Native to Australia, these fantastic birds are also farmed in New Jersey!  As I was putting together this composition, I needed one more element.  Lucky for me, an amazing full moon was just rising in my backyard providing the last piece to complete "The Barnyard".

2nd Place in JB Kline Gallery Photography Show!

I recently had the pleasure of having 2 of my images, "The Last Waltz" and "Little Bo Peep" accepted into a show at The JB Kline Gallery in the lovely town of Lambertville, New Jersey.  The opening party was a blast- I met lots of nice people, many talented artists in the show, and received some wonderful compliments on my work!  The show hung through the month of June and during that time, visitors to the gallery voted on their favorite pieces for 1st and 2nd place.  I was so excited to learn a couple of days ago that "The Last Waltz" took 2nd place!  It's always fantastic when you win something at the decision of a panel of judges, but it was made even more special coming from the  everyday people viewing the art!