AN ART JOURNAL CONTACT VIDEO/FLASH PASTEL PROCESS PASTEL GALLERY ARCHIVES AN ART JOURNAL/BLOG VICTORIA TAYLOR-GORE

Roadside Snapshots with ShockMyPic App by Victoria Taylor-Gore

Flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28987755@N08/sets/72157625677386254/show/

These are some roadside photos snapped from my car (or right outside my car as I pulled over).  All pics were shot with my iPhone 4.  Only post is the ShockMyPic app itself...

Yes, I know this app adds a rather hokey "Van Gogh" effect to photos...but I love it anyway : )
This app is available here: ShockMyPic  iPhone and Desktop application - http://www.shockmypic.com/.

"Black Hills" - New Pastel by Victoria Taylor-Gore

flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28987755@N08/5287625654/in/set-72157624993443743/

And another new pastel for my Santa Fe Gallery - Alexandra Stevens Gallery on Canyon Road.

Red Hill - New Pastel by Victoria Taylor-Gore

Flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28987755@N08/5286747492/

Just another pastel (this time a little one) to take to my gallery in Santa Fe - Alexandra Stevens Gallery on Canyon Road.

"The Nativity" by Victoria Taylor-Gore (for Philip Bloom Weekend Challenge 4)

Check my previous blog post for more background information on this new video ("The Nativity") when it was in the planning stage - Prep Stills for New Christmas Video Project by Victoria Taylor-Gore .  A few things changed...I did a different darker, more twilight background and decided to enter my Christmas video in the Philip Bloom Holiday/Weekend Challenge #4 - see Philip Bloom's blog post The biggest and best "weekend/holiday challenge" so far...Prizes too! .  The Vimeo Group for Philip Bloom's Holiday/Weekend Challenge #4 is - http://www.vimeo.com/groups/challenge4 ...entries due on December 31.

 

"The Nativity" by Victoria Taylor-Gore (for Philip Bloom Weekend Challenge 4) from Victoria Taylor-Gore on Vimeo.

My Christmas video and entry for the Philip Bloom Holiday/Weekend Challenge 4 - http://www.vimeo.com/groups/challenge4. The theme of the Challenge is to reflect what this year has meant to you and express what the Christmas Holiday means...how we celebrate it. Funny, I usually spend the holidays making art, so this video is an expression of my artwork and filmmaking....both things that have come to life over the past year.

Video, Artwork, and Editing - Victoria Taylor-Gore
http://www.victoriataylorgore.com

Music - "Silent Night" by Emorej
Purchased music license from Jamendo.com

I had been planning to do a Christmas video this year...especially after hearing the song I used for the video - "Silent Night" by Emorej. When Philip Bloom announced his Holiday/Weekend Challenge recently, I decided that I would combine my Christmas video and his Challenge. I want to thank Mr. Bloom for all the knowledge, inspiration, and motivation he shares with others...after all, it's his fault I bought my Canon 7D in the first place :)

I have been collecting props for this Christmas video from Ebay (vintage hand painted figurines from Italy) for a few weeks, and when they arrived a few days ago, I was so excited about how lovely they looked with my own pastel backgrounds.

I shot this with my Canon 7D, Tokina 16-50mm f2.8 and 100mm f2.8 macro lenses, Kessler Crane Pocket Dolly, Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 3x, and the Focus35.com Track and Skater Dolly. This is the first time I've edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 - love the fast rendering and exporting time, and great quality.

Prep Stills for New Christmas Video Project by Victoria Taylor-Gore

flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28987755@N08/sets/72157625498963997/show/

Once in awhile, things just fall into place.  I was thinking about doing a new Christmas video a few weeks ago, but was just too busy with end of semester work at the college to get started.  I also had some other deadlines with my artwork for the Santa Fe gallery.  But I did come across this song - "Silent Night" from the album Re-Imagining Christmas by Emorej http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/678355.  I have licensed music by Emorej before and just stumbled on this track.  I knew I had to use this beautiful song for the video, so in a sense, the music came first in this case.

Then I realized a Nativity scene would be perfect with some of my pastels as the background.  I did the following pastel with this in mind:

Blue Temple II, Pastel by Victoria Taylor-Gore
flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28987755@N08/5269397467/in/set-72157624993443743/

Last week I finally had time to get serious about this project (didn't know if I'd have time to even do it), and searched Ebay for Nativity scenes in the scale I needed.  I finally found some vintage Nativity scenes and figures that I could afford...what I ended up ordering were all miniature vintage Italian hand painted Nativity figures and scenes.  Some Nativity figures are made of paper mache, some plaster, and some hard plastic, but all are hand painted from Italy.  Vintage nativity scenes like this were once on hand in at low budget chain stores like Woolworth's.  We had a miniature nativity scene with Christmas lights in my house when I was a child, but it has long since vanished. Here is some information about various Nativity sets - found this very interesting, and one very much like mine is included in the article - http://www.catholichomeandgarden.com/christmas_nativity_sets.htm

The best part, is the first Nativity scene arrived today - in time to get started and finish my new video with the figurines and pastel backgrounds BEFORE Christmas!!!  And the second, but more important thing is that the pastel I already finished this week (before the first figures arrived) is the perfect scale for the figurines - I had just guessed when I did the pastel, but it will work perfectly.  Here is a snapshot that shows how the pastel and figures work together:

flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28987755@N08/5271501263/in/set-72157625498963997/

So check back in a few days...will have the new video posted.  Merry Christmas all : )

"Blue Temple II" - New Pastel by Victoria Taylor-Gore

flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28987755@N08/5269397467/in/set-72157624993443743/

"Blue Temple II" - pastel by Victoria Taylor-Gore, 13 x 18 inches, 2010