It’s BLOG MOVING day!

Ok, so I’ve got the bones done fo rmy new site; but it is far from complete.

However, the blog is up & running…. and in trial phase…

http://chrysti.squarespace.com/always-chrysti/

Come by, let me know what you think! Please update your links to me as well.

This is scary stuff. New sites & all.

Chrysti

{Echo} Week 15- Rouge

 

I chose rouge as Week 15’s theme because my birthday is tomorrow… and quite simply… that deep shade of red is one of my absolute favorite colors. It evokes both passion and warmth. It transports me to moments that speak of ruby red lips and beautiful gowns. I think of all the delight that cherries, apples and strawberries bestow upon us or perhaps that cool crisp feeling that red & white together bring to me. The comfort of a deep red barn or the tint on someone’s cheeks as they give one of those amazing, authentic, full-belly laughs. 

I can’t think of a better present than to be showered with your images featuring rouge.

 What does it conjour up within you?

Photo Credits: © Christy Hydeck (left), © Susan Tuttle (right)
(click image to view it  larger)

Susan & I invite each of you to participate in the project and show us your unique vision, your voice, your echo. Remember, to share your link in the comments here so if I get a chance to do a round-up I can add your site to the post, besides I don’t want to miss any of your stories.

• Go visit Susan’s Week 15 post for our other diptych.
• Our Flickr Group for the collab. ~ Join Us! Find a partner there, read the guidelines and more!
• Add the Echo button to your blog if you’d like! Get the code here

NOTE: I’m still taking a bit of a social media break as I focus on getting my new site finished, once and for all. . There, I will have larger images that you can breathe in a bit, a much better navigational system as well as a plethora of information. I am beginning to get really excited for it and hope you’ll follow me there! Roadblocks keep taking away the time I allotted for it – my birthday wish is to complete it soon without interruption! I think I’ll feel as if a weight has been lifted once it is complete.

You cans till join in on the 2 collaborative projects I will be hosting there — information is on this post, leave a comment to sign up – and I’ll contact you as soon as the time is right!

Warmly, Chrysti

{Echo} Week 14- Fauna

 

 

      Photo Credits: © Susan Tuttle (left), Christy Hydeck (right),
(click image to view it  larger)

“Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms” – George Eliot 

My computer had an emergency this past week, and needed tended to immediately … as a result, i’m rushing in a few days late with my echo… so sorry! You know how computers are when they are ill, whine.. moan..groan… don’t turn me on… SO glad it’s over.

Susan & I invite each of you to participate in the project and show us your unique vision, your voice, your echo. Remember, to share your link in the comments here so if I get a chance to do a round-up I can add your site to the post, besides I don’t want to miss any of your stories.

• Go visit Susan’s Week 14 post for our other diptych.
• Our Flickr Group for the collab. ~ Join Us! Find a partner there, read the guidelines and more!
• Add the Echo button to your blog if you’d like! Get the code here

Can’t wait to see your ‘fauna’ responses!

Chrysti

{Echo} Week 13- Abstract

“Abstract  painting is abstract. It confronts you. There was a reviewer a while back who wrote that my pictures didn’t have any beginning or any end. He didn’t mean it as a compliment, but it was.” – Jackson Pollock

The wonderful thing about abstractions is that they force us to think outside of the box in addition to encouraging us to look at the world differently. The challenge of creating a compelling image … without any clear understanding of what it’s origin is …. requires the ability to appreciate the simplest of patterns, color and light. The results are often both stunning and thought provoking.. and I hope you’ll join me this week in discovering it’s allure.

“On the whole, age comes more gently to those who have some doorway into an abstract world-art, or philosophy, or learning-regions where the years are scarcely noticed and the young and old can meet in a pale truthful light” -Freya Stark

With no rules and only imagination … you are bound to enjoy the process. More so, I hope you can find that ‘something’ extraordinary in something you usually deem as ordinary.

“It [abstract art] should be enjoyed just as music is enjoyed – after a while you may like it or you may not.” -Jackson Pollock

Here’s a few ideas to jump-start the Abstract prompt:

• Look for patterns and/or color on concrete, wood or in nature
• Create a digital montage
• Work with light, motion and blur
• Capture the waves and colors of a sunset
• Do a study of color, as suggested here.
• Pull out the old film camera and play with double exposure
• Play with shadows
• Your idea here :)

Photo Credits: © Christy Hydeck (left), © Susan Tuttle (right)
(click image to view it  larger)

One of the absolute best things my new blog/website will offer is larger photos. You know the kind… things so lovely and detailed that you can’t help but to be enveloped by them. ‘Cause lord knows, these smaller images? .. Just don’t do justice to the images.

Hoping to have the site completed within the next 3 weeks! Wish me luck! I truly miss posting regularly, and have so much to share – I feel as if I am b u r s t i n g at the seams!

In the meantime, Susan & I invite each of you to participate in the project and show us your unique vision, your voice, your echo. Remember, to share your link in the comments here so if I get a chance to do a round-up I can add your site to the post, besides I don’t want to miss any of your stories.

• Go visit Susan’s Week 13 post for our other diptych.
• Our Flickr Group for the collab. ~ Join Us! Find a partner there, read the guidelines and more!
• Add the Echo button to your blog if you’d like! Get the code here

Want to collaborate with me?

I am about to embark on 2 collaborative projects and would love it if you were keen to participate! Both will begin with the launch of my new site, but I am hoping to get some of the legwork done ahead of time, so leave a comment for me if you’d like to play! Just be sure you inlcude your email (though it isn’t seen on the site) so I can respond.

Project 1: The Daily Diptych

Every day, for at least one year.. I will be sharing a diptych made up of my photo, and someone else’s. I hope to spotlight a wide array of photogs and artists through this project. You would need to submit to me an image you have never shown publicly before, and I’d pair one of my own with yours! Full details sent to those who are interested.

Project 2: Digital Melange ( working title)

This will works in groups of 20. Essentially a digital round robin – I will email an image to person 1 … they will add to it… and send it to person 2… and so forth… much like the childhood game of ‘telephone’ … the end results should be quite different from where it started. Full details will be sent to those who are interested in June.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Chrysti

Giveaway, Published & Week 13 of Echo

I interrupt your Thursday with a few bits of fantistical news ..

Go, Read On…

The ever-so-delightful Susan Tuttle is celebrating the release of her Second Book this week! She worked so very hard to bring you a book filled to the brim with projects, inspiration and digital how-to’s… a must have really, for anyone interested in digital art or photo manipulation. I am thrilled to have a piece featured in her book as well..along with several other amazing contributors. Better yet, she is giving a copy away over on her blog – so be sure to stop by & enter.

I also have a few other features currently out:

• An article/tutorial and artist paper in the March/April issue of Somerset Studio… hurry, before it is off the newstands! I’ll also be posting several other tutorials in conjunction with that article on my new site… which i am still slaving away at.
• Loving my spread in the Summer 2010 issue of Artful Blogging. Such a beautiful publication – worthy of an evening alone, soaking up all the beauty it offers. More on this once I finish the site… I have posts lined up .. just for you, I hope you’ll join me there when the time comes.
•  So happy with a recent interview  I did over at The Empty Easel. I talk a bit about building an online audience, time management & more.. go check it out.
• I have 5 original paintings currently being exhibited at Princeton’s ArtFirst! Exhibition, if you are nearby .. can you let me know? I’d love to get some photos of it.

I have a few more features coming out soon, and working on some deadlines for publications later this year .. but my biggest priorities are getting ready to move, moving, cleaning out inventory and finishing the new site… it’s amazing how much energy those things alone take up. Balance, is what I am striving to learn and maintain.

Susan & I have decided to postpone this week’s {Echo} until next Wednesday… it’s a great time to go through the past themes and join in on some of your favorites – it’s never too late!  We’d love to have you as a part of it.

—> {Echo} Week 1 – Emerge
—> {Echo} Week 2 – Decorate
—> {Echo} Week 3 – Abundance
—> {Echo} Week 4 – Surprise
—> {Echo} Week 5 -Melody
—> {Echo} Week 6 – Face
—> {Echo} Week 7 – Whisper
—> {Echo} Week 8 – Juicy
—> {Echo} Week 9 – Illuminate
—> {Echo} Week 10 – Collection
—> {Echo} Week 11 – Blossom
—> {Echo} Week 12 – Dim

Warmly,

Chrysti

{Echo} Week 12- Dim

“Experience is a dim lamp, which only lights the one who bears it.”  -Louis-Ferdinand Celine

Dim seems an apt choice today. The skies are grey, the mood is fairly somber here and my poor blog hasn’t had the attention it deserves… (shhhh! I’ve been slaving away at my new site, and gasp – new blog!) … I have a mile long list of posts, but I keep wanting to save them for the new blog… I’m so excited to be working on it, and will be doubly thrilled once it is complete.. I hope you’ll share in that joy with me. One of the many perks moving the site will have is the ability to share larger photos with you… that alone, makes it worth it.

I’m ever so grateful for this collaborative  journey Susan & I embarked on. It keeps me coming back to my blog, keeps my photography and digital painting skills from turning to utter and complete mush, and it even just keeps me distracted sometimes…  just when I seem to need it most.

I look at each and every one of your echo’s as well. I find so much inspiration within your photos and words, and find myself blessed when you share those elements of just who you are too. I haven’t been able to squeeze the time to comment as much I’d like the last month, but I do make an effort to soak it all in… I hope each of you know how much I value your contributions.

 

 Photo Credits: © Susan Tuttle (left), © Christy Hydeck (right)
(click image to view it  larger)

“It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit.” -Antoine Rivarol

As Susan so beautifully said this week.. “Enjoy taking photographs in environments with limited light, or digitally manipulating an image to achieve the same kind of result. Or, you may interpret the word from an entirely different angle. We look forward to seeing what you come up with.”

Susan & I invite each of you to participate in the project and show us your unique vision, your voice, your echo. Remember, to share your link in the comments here so if I get a chance to do a round-up I can add your site to the post.

• Go visit Susan’s Week 12 post for our other diptych.
• Our Flickr Group for the collab. ~ Join Us! Find a partner there, read the guidelines and more!
• Add the Echo button to your blog if you’d like! Get the code here

Warmly,

Christy