Constance Hobbs Art & Photography

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Water Reflections

I have been fascinated by water reflections all of my life, but here in Florida I am mesmerized by them. Part of the reason is that water is such a prevalent part of my everyday life down here. We are surrounded by water. There are the ocean reflections, the Intracoastal reflections, the canals, the lakes, the ponds and all the swimming pools. I think I will post over the next few days some of my results. I hope you will enjoy them.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

New Years Day 2011

Last night we ventured out to the movies. We wanted to see the movie the social network before it left the theaters. Not having much experience with living in Florida we were in for quite a shock. The theater we generally go to is usually nice and mellow. Well that all changed yesterday. People had warned us about the "snow birds". We all know who they are. People looking to escape the winter blues and flock to Florida. They were out in full force last night. I guess they arrive after Christmas in time for New Year's.The parking lot was a mad house. One woman in particular was worthy of note. She was trying to physically save a space and caused a huge traffic jam. To the point where one man basically ran her off the spot by pulling in quite dramatically and dangerously. It was nuts. Of course we didn't stay and headed out for dinner instead. I tried a beer I have never had before. I think it was called "Long Island Blue Point". It was delicious. Try it some time. Happy New Year to everyone.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year

Here we are with yet another year gone by. It was a challenging year for me living half the year in Europe and then relocating to Florida for the remaining half. All the while working and marketing my work. It was a productive year all and all and I look forward to what 2011 will bring my way. I did not contribute to Lenscratch Blog's end of year favorite photo exhibition this year but I encourage everyone to go and stop by. It's a wonderful group of contemporary photographers exhibiting their own favorite photo from 2010. I wish everyone a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year. May it be filled with love, peace and joy.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Lunar Eclipse

I'm a little late getting this up. This is the lunar eclipse as seen from Delray Beach Florida at 3am, December 21st, on the winter solstice. A very rare cosmic event. A full moon, an eclipse and on the winter solstice. The moon literally turned red. It was magical. I stood there gazing at this incredible event with the knowledge that it wasn't going to happen again for another 498 years. I wondered about all the people gazing upward as I was. I wondered about their lives, their stories, their families. It's astonishing to think about, and what will the world be like in 498 years? Impossible to imagine. It's all so mysterious.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and every possible good wish for great things in 2011.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Art Basel Miami Part 3

Friday, December 10, 2010

Art Basel Miami Part 2

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Art Basel Miami Part 1

I did not find Art Basel Miami inspiring this year. I saw a lot of art that we all know. Many well established artists. I have to admit that I did not have time to get to Scope and Pulse and some of the other surrounding venues where emerging and inspirational work could be found. I also think Art Basel has shrunk. Attendance must be down. A reflection of our times. I will post some more work tomorrow. Enjoy.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Jaffe Center for Book Arts

I recently took two work shops at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts at FAU (Florida Atlantic University) in Boca Raton. It's a wonderful place dedicated to artist books. Arthur and Mata Jaffe donated their private book collection to the University in 1998 and the collection has grown from there. The first workshop was given by John Cutrone who is the director of the center. A lovely, sensitive, gentle man who loves what he does. He is also a letter press printer, bookbinder, papermaker and a partner in Convivio Bookworks a small press and book arts studio in Lake Worth. The first workshop was a general introduction to the Jaffe collection, learning how to operate the Vandercook printing press and printing and binding a small book to take home. The second workshop involved exploring copier art. This workshop was given by Ginny Lloyd. Ginny is one funny lady. I enjoyed spending the day with her and I'm sure you would too. We explored the use of the photo copy machine in making art pieces. I think the workshop should have been two days instead of one. There is so much material to cover. Ginny's workshop has been so popular that they are considering adding a part two more advanced class. I learned some unique techniques that I definitely could not have achieved with photoshop. A few samples above.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Lenscratch Family Exhibit

There are some interesting opportunities on The Lenscratch blog organized and run by photographer Aline Smithson. I recently had a photo included in the Thanksgiving "family" exhibition. My image above was conceptual and symbolic on what family means to me. Other artists were more specific in literal images of family and family life. Have a look, it's fun.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope that everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. My husband and I went over to Sarasota Florida to visit our daughter Alexandra. The weather was good except for a few inclement moments. We stayed in a hotel on Lido Key Beach. We've tried two hotels there and do enjoy being right on the gulf. We found a wonderful sushi restaurant also. Contact me if your interested in more info. Here are a few images from the trip. When I download more images perhaps I'll put up a few more. We had a great time.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Workshop with Anna Tomczak

I had the great pleasure of taking a workshop with artist photographer Anna Tomczak shown above. It took place at Palm Beach State College Eissey Campus. If you are not familiar with Anna's work I have included some examples below. She is an early pioneer using the large format Polaroid camera. She generally assembles the images in front of the camera and then shoots. Of course, this is one method and she naturally uses many others. Please stop by her website to experience more of her wonderful work and workshop offerings.