"What is essential in the work of art is that it should rise far above the realm of personal life and speak from the spirit and heart..." C.G.Jung

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Archived Photo Rescued for 2009 Christmas Card


The photo above was taken from our back deck and archived in 2005 along with some of the work below. When I see scenes like this, I usually take several photos and save them, thinking..."Beautiful sunset. Maybe I'll use that for something special one day." Then so often, I forget about it. But not this one.

As some of you know, every year I create and print our own family Christmas cards and usually use some form of art or photo I had the opportunity to work with during the previous year. Usually I start thinking about the upcoming Christmas card around August. This year, however, August and then September zoomed by without any captivating thoughts or ideas for a 2009 card -- except maybe to do something different.

Then one day in October, when fall colors of oranges, yellows and reds surrounded us, the above photo came to mind. I also remembered some of the digital work I had done with it earlier to illustrate a Bible story's reference to four seasons. So, I started considering some possibilities. One of the first steps I had taken in some 2005 digital experiments was to guide and direct the computer, through Photoshop's Layer-Difference routines, to show me variations of changing the oranges, reds and yellows to their opposite color on the color wheel.

For example, considering the three primary colors of Red, Yellow and Blue on a color wheel, I reviewed and styled multiple computer routines to re-paint the Reds in the original photo (top) with its opposite colors (Blue + Yellow) or Green; re-paint the Oranges (Red + Yellow) into shades of its opposite, Blue; Yellows into shades of its opposite (Red + Blue) into Magenta/Purple. Pretty soon I was beginning to see some renditions I might consider for a Christmas card. But, there was still a major color-shift waiting.

That was to invert the dark colors to whites, as shown above. Since the darks are also in the sky and tiny branches, they all became white snow flakes here. See them? It's now winter! And a beginning background for a Christmas card. Inside the card I developed these verses to complete the greeting:

Let us recall beyond this Season,
God’s gift to all - love’s holy reason.
We see him here in all of nature, 
His forest, creatures, and the weather.
We see him glow inside each other,
When there’s just two or three together.
We see him, friends, sisters and brothers,
Whenever there’s wonder, love and cheer,
Like now, when we wish you another...

Merry Christmas

and Happy New Year.

If you did not receive one of our Christmas cards, please accept this one as our e-version to you and your family. If you are not Christian, may this e-card bring you special ecumenical Heart and Spirit greetings from us to you which you may translate into your own personal beliefs. Peace to all.

(c) Copyright 2009 C. Page Highfill, all rights reserved.