Christmas Tree Lane: Color in Motion Part 2

Christmas Tree Lane: Color in Motion No. 6

As the holiday season comes to a crescendo tonight, I've been thinking about how a great pagan tradition has survived religious dogma throughout the millenia. The natural desire for humans to light trees in the darkest of winter has transcended time and is such a pleasure to behold. Watching the lights dance and twinkle in the darkness brings such joy and delight, its obvious why the tradition has never wained.

I used the lights down Christmas Tree Lane as paint brushes this year to dab the dark canvas with streaks of color and the car lights as accents. As the rain fell, color oozed down the lane and mirrored the hues from above. I felt like I was in a fairy forest with colorful fireflies darting in and out of the trees.

Into the new year I head with joy in my heart as I look towards finding happiness in the smallest of gestures and the knowledge that even in the depth of darkness, light and color can prevail.

Happy New Year!

Julie Green
December 31, 2016

Christmas Tree Lane: Color in Motion No. 7

Christmas Tree Lane: Color in Motion No. 8

Christmas Tree Lane: Color in Motion No. 9

Christmas Tree Lane: Color in Motion No. 10

Christmas Tree Lane: Color in Motion Part 1

Christmas Tree Lane: Color in Motion No. 1

Since moving to Christmas Tree Lane in Altadena back in May, I've been anticipating what the lights in the giant 108 year old Deadora Ceder trees were going to look like. I had driving down the lane before but couldn't wait to see what these beauties looked like lit up in my very own front yard. Their magical presence has not disappointed and I get a thrill coming home every night to this 96 year tradition.

What has captured my eye is the reflection of these lovely lights refracting on my pool. Earlier this year I began studying light and how we perceive it in my piece "Water Refractions" . So I decided to play with the colored christmas lights floating in my pool at night.

Enjoy the movement of lights here!

On this particular night the full moon was also dancing among the lights, so I strategically placed it on top of the "christmas tree" as seen in Color in Motion No. 1. In No. 2, you can see the reflection of the christmas lights on the bottom and the actual lit trees above, while our white house lights give it a horizontal accent.

There is nothing more lovely for me than to play with color and light. The addition of the refracting element of water is just the cherry on the top!

Here's to the magic of color and light,

Julie Green

December 17, 2016

Christmas Tree Lane: Color in Motion No. 2

Christmas Tree Lane: Color in Motion No. 3

Christmas Tree Lane: Color in Motion No. 4

Christmas Tree Lane: Color in Motion No. 5

Kite Flyer: The Human Figure in Motion Part 2

Kite Flyer: The Human Figure in Motion No. 3

In my last blog entry Kite Flyer: The Human Figure in Motion, I began to work on a project to create movement in a still photograph. The idea was to push the single moment into several steps in time on a single plane. I also stitched the image back together to symbolize the running thread of time through our lives.

Today, I wanted to present to you several more approaches to that idea. Although I have yet to stitch the image together, the vertical and diagonal lines created by cutting up the photographic paper and realigning it, gives the image a feeling of motion I was looking of.

Kite Flyer: The Human Figure in Motion No. 3 is exactly what I was picturing in my minds eye and I am so thrilled to see it come to fruition. Once I add the finishing touches of the orange thread, I will begin to think of other moments in time that I would like to accelerate into motion.

Lets go fly a kite!

Julie Green
December 10, 2016

Kite Flyer: The Human Figure in Motion No. 4 

Kite Flyer: The Human Figure in Motion

"Kite Flyer No. 1" 2016

On my way home from Hong Kong earlier this year, I had time to sit and ponder several projects I have been working on over the year. My exploration on light and how we perceive it, as seen in my pieces on Water Refractions and my Sun Shadow series, as well as distortion in perspective, as seen in my woven portrait series, are subjects that have captivated me this year. Bending light and perspective floats my boat. I then began wondering if I could move a single frozen moment in time by cutting the image up.

As I slept on the 15 hour flight home, I had a vivid dream of my daughter running with a kite, its tail lingering behind her. I remember looking at the image of my daughter in the same way as Marcel Duchamp's famous painting "Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2" 1912, with its depiction of rhythm and movement all on one plane. Except in my dream, I worked from a single moment and it was my goal to try to make, as Duchamp said "a static representation of movement."

The dream was so vivid that I immediately woke up and wrote all the details down.

I began to think of how I would turn that one moment into movement by cutting the photograph up into vertical strips that were then sewn back together with thread. The tail of the kite being an extension of the paper, an extension of movement and time.

Today I wanted to show you what I have been working on. These are the first sketches of my exploration in combining the various projects I've been working on this year.

Lets go fly a kite!

Julie Green
December 3, 2016

"Kite Flyer No. 1" 2016

"Kite Flyer No. 1" 2016

"Kite Flyer No. 2" 2016

"Kite Flyer No. 2" 2016

"Kite Flyer No. 2" 2016