Toast To The First!

I've struggled with how to begin this blog and what I really want it to say overall. I am sitting here now staring at the bright screen trying to figure out what I want to say. 

What I do know I want to talk about is my artwork... my photographic art work specifically. After years and years of paying for a website that got little to no action and certainly didn't allow for much feedback, discussion or connection to others I decided enough was enough. How silly is that when visual arts is a tremendous mode of communication!? I would really like to foster communication about photography and art and life and just everything in general! So, it occurred to me "AHA"! Get rid of the website and start a blog! Fostering discussions, comments and exchanges providing positive energy flow! We are all creative energy forces whether you're a by design artist or a mathematician. Life is an art form... an expressive journey we all share in common.

I suppose this is the point where I need to share something of my background. For some reason I always feel selfconscious talking about my artistic background. Have no idea what that is about, but here goes. 

I always remember being very creative and feeling very much like I was an observer. Being awkwardly and painfully shy as a child probably didn't help that idea of not quite feeling in step with everyone else. Never having had any type of gift for drawing I found other artistic outlets mostly through creative writing. I, also, became very interested in all things fashion and beauty oriented. I started learning designers of ready wear as well as haute couture, being far more interested in french "Vogue" than "Seventeen" magazine. Following makeup trends and being aware of colour palettes. At age 16 I discovered photography. I was unable to take photography until I was in 11th grade in high school, but a soon as I started I knew instinctively this was for me! Nothing felt so natural or right ever before. Finally I could be the observer I always had been and it was alright. I had encouraging parents, for which I am eternally grateful, and was able to go to college for professional photography. I was determined to be a top fashion photographer before the age of 25. Having interned and then worked with/for a fashion/commercial photographer in Boston I came to the realization that I didn't think I could take doing it for my entire life. There was a shallowness to the business and I just felt I was in need of something more. It wasn't something I could identify right off. I still loved beauty photography I just didn't like the business and I suppose the attitude behind it. So, I spent my time creating it for myself, model portfolios  and lower pressure clients. It took many years of shooting and soul searching before I finally could identify what really moved me about the art form.

It really was attending Savannah College of Art and Design's MFA Photography program where I really found an entire group of people who felt as I did about photography. Not just my peers, but some of the most amazing and adept professors in the field I had ever encountered. The students were positive and upbeat.. always wanting to share and speak about their art. The professors were exactly the same. They fostered an environment where one could feel safe and free to create, develop and express themselves entirely. One was only limited by their own selves!

Since the time of graduation I spent a few years floundering and searching for a professorship in a very glutted job market. However, it sometimes does pay to know people and be at the right place at the right time. I have been a college instructor of photography for the past 10 years as well as a working photographic artist. 

And, now to the present. It has taken some time for me to realize I need and must create for myself and not try to do as my parents desired or what outside influences in the art world or commercial world expect of me. I have a friend who said to me once as I was just getting the inspiration for this new business ... "raise the taste level up, do not come down to expectations or desires of others. Make something better or more and people will rise up to meet it!".  I love to try it all, but I do have a definite style and definite areas driving me right now. My new business, Lulu's Folie, centering around the concepts of shabby chic, cottage flair, and vintage inspired ideas are what move me now. And in this direction it will inspire not only my photography work, but my mixed media pieces, oil pastels and jewelry creations. This is where I see my present day work going.

I will also be including lifestyle, spiritual and health related postings... basically just everything and anything that moves me or feels relevant to me in the moment!

LIVE IN THE MOMENT ... BE HERE NOW AND THE REST WILL FOLLOW!