fine art – The BeZine

Van Gogh paintings come to life through advanced digital editing techniques by Luca Agnani. The music is by Ludovico Einaudi. Thanks to Naomi Baltuck (Writing Between the Lines and Into the Bardo) for bringing the gift of this video to us.

The Wisdom of Vincent:

“The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.”

“When I have a terrible need of – shall I say the word – religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.”

“But I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things.”

“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.”

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Vincent Van Gogh certainly painted and wrote (we have his letters to his brother) from sacred space and perhaps no one has acknowledged that more gracefully or gratefully than Don Mclean in his song ~

Starry Starry Night

Starry, starry night.
Paint your palette blue and grey,
Look out on a summer’s day,
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills,
Sketch the trees and the daffodils,
Catch the breeze and the winter chills,
In colors on the snowy linen land.

Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they’ll listen now.

Starry, starry night.
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze,
Swirling clouds in violet haze,
Reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue.
Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain,
Weathered faces lined in pain,
Are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand.

Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they’ll listen now.

For they could not love you,
But still your love was true.
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night,
You took your life, as lovers often do.
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you.

Starry, starry night.
Portraits hung in empty halls,
Frameless head on nameless walls,
With eyes that watch the world and can’t forget.
Like the strangers that you’ve met,
The ragged men in the ragged clothes,
The silver thorn of bloody rose,
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.

Now I think I know what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they’re not listening still.
Perhaps they never will…

WENDY ALGER (b. 1972), Chicago, IL, U.S.A.

Fine Art Photography

Photography. It’s like music … It’s like your favorite song, something you can listen to over and over and over again. You try to explain it to some and you can’t. That’s the feeling it gives me. It’s like traveling and you want to tell everyone how great it was … and I have that experience every time I pick up a camera. Wendy Alger.

MY FRIEND: WENDY ALGER

Jamie Dedes (The Poet by Day, a jouney in poem)

Initially, when Wendy started doing photography, it was a hobby. Then a friend suggested she become a photographer. Wendy thought that sounded just right for her. Both her parents knew photography and her dad gave her one of his cameras and some lenses.

At the time, Wendy owned an old ’68 Mustang. She says she’d drive around and listen to music. When something called out to her, she’d stop and take photographs. That’s how she began to learn what subjects appealed to her. “I photographed everything that felt right and compelled me to keep taking photographs.” Slowly, she discovered the photographer within and her own distinctive style. “I enrolled at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and trained there, where I learned manual SLR. I also learned how to use a dark room.”

Given Wendy’s vision challenges, I am always amazed at what she can do. She has visual impairment due to retinitis pigmentosa She tells me that new camera technologies make it easier. “I use a digital camera and I can review my pictures on the camera instead of in a dark room.I have a digital dark room, which consists of a laptop and Photoshop and Photoshop Lightroom. This allows me to transform and print my images at home. I also use visual memory … I remember feeling to get through a photo session.”

Wendy’s long-term goal: “To have my artwork displayed in the same building as Walker Evans in my lifetime – not after – during! My vision problems are not stopping me. I never even think about that. After I was diagnosed and as soon as I got the money I bought my digital camera.”

Here is a small gallery of Wendy’s recent work with a digital camera. The photo at the head of the post and the first one below are self-portraits. Wendy’s photographs are copyright protected. You can see more of her work HERE.