Day 5, Vonnegut and Astatke make Fridays fundays

Day 5 from the Last Light Series by Jo Bradford.

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The week has flown by - this Friday I will be busying myself with the following...

• Writing the text for my piece for Catalogue Of The Night, I may post the finished images and text here next week, but it may give you nightmares so don't say I didn't warn you!
• The final stages of uploading my NASA artwork submission.
• While I work, I am listening to my favourite Ethiopian Jazz man, Mulatu Astatke, just loving the sounds of Ethiopiques Volume 4 
• And at lunchtime I am looking forward to reading the last chapter of my current book, Cat's Cradle.  What's not to love about my beloved Mr Vonnegut's writings?  I already know the end as I have read it before, but I can't resist revisiting his best work from time to time :)
• Toughest task of all today though, is not to shake, prod and generally feel, the pile of packages in the lounge after the postman just did his rounds.....  I will patiently wait till the morning to check out my birthday stash, promise!

See you tomorrow for Day 6, the penultimate day in my series Last Light

Jo xxxx

Ripe Strawberries and good conversation

Day 4 from the Last Light Series by Jo Bradford

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Sorry to post and run today but I have had a day off from the usual routine as my best friend Naomi came to visit me with early birthday pressies.  I had a lovely day chatting and drinking fresh strawberry daiquiris in the sunshine and now I am planning a night on the sofa with my man, the dogs and a good book, perfect end to a perfect day :)

So Happy Thursday all, see you tomorrow for Day 5, my personal favourite picture in the Last Light series.

Night night xxx

Day 3, Getting things done!!

Day 3 from the Last Light Series by Jo Bradford

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I hope you like the Day 3 picture, it is one of 2 in this series that has very subtle colours, I am not sure whether I prefer those with the rocks in them for some added interest or those in the series which are the simple, minimalist lines and colours... I will see what you think as the week progresses perhaps.

As for my to do list this week, I made great strides on uploading and organising web site images last week - I can happily announce that I am about half way through now - phew.  

I have also just finished my piece of photogram / cliche verre art for my Space Shuttle Piece... more about that next week when I have finished showing you this last light series

Right now though it's time to bake a carrot, cinnamon and orange cake for my husband to take to work with him......

Happy Wednesday!!

jo 

xoxo

Day 2 - and so much to do!!!

Day 2 from the Last Light Series by Jo Bradford

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Hello Folks!! Here is your Tuesday installment of my new series "Last Light".

This is Day 2.  

So what are your plans for the day?  My to do list is too long to do in a day, so I operate with more of a weekly list instead..... here are a few priorities...

•  Try to finish my new website images _ I cant seem to get the mix right and it is dragging on now!!
• Write all the text for my new website....... yawn.... 
• Finish unpacking my kit into my new colour darkroom and get the blackout cloth hung ready to make new work on my cliche verre and photogram projects.
• Make a new meteorite photogram to be included in the final US Space Shuttle's Mission to the International Space Station (thanks for the invitation to those involved!!)
• Book my Flights to America for September / October
• Organise my framing for my work that has been accepted into the Low Tech photography exhibition at the Center For Fine Art Photography at Fort Collins, USA in October 2010
• Packing up and sending out my orders and listing my new "Last Light" and "Sunny Afternoons" series on Etsy and Dawanda
• And not forgetting my daily Polaroid Picture for my 365 Ways To Say Goodbye Project and listing them over on Tumblr!!

and some homey things too....  

• Pick more of the raspberries and loganberries from the orchard.
• Walk the dogs down tot he river for a swim to cool off.
• Pick some of the lovely pink roses from the garden and put them in a vase in my studio.

So, here's to a productive week and of course, Happy Tuesday to you all!

Last Light - 7 Days

Day 1 from the Last Light Series by Jo Bradford

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I have a new(-ish) series called Last Light, that I have not shared with you yet.

This week I am going to upload a new picture each day as there are 7 pictures in this series.   This is Day 1.  

Happy Monday!

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Halcyon Days

Halcyon Days by Jo Bradford

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It has been a fun week for the Poppytalk Gang as we celebrate summer colours week.  I have had a great time making new work especially for the occasion and including a few recent pictures from my back catalogue too.  Halcyon Days was a quick something I knocked up for Mondays Pink theme.  It has turned out to be something of an unexpected hit as it was selected to be an Utata Front Page this week.  What a lovely surprise :)  

Halcyon Days in now for sale in my Etsy shop

And my DaWanda Shop

xoxo

Pink Pleasure

Thanks to Poppytalk for featuring my photo on their blog this week :)

June Afternoons

June Afternoon by Jo Bradford

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"And what is so rare as a day in June.... 

Then, if ever, come perfect days"

~James Russell Lowell~

June is a month of the most perfect warm breezes and soft light - especially here in Cornwall where the light reflects off the sea in soft pastel colours that beg to be photographed.  

Whisper

Whisper by Jo Bradford

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I hope that you have some fun and relaxing plans for your weekend.....  mine is going to be all about walking dogs, making pictures and hanging out at the beach, long may this glorious sunshine continue :)

Have a good weekend!!

Jo 

xoxo

Summer Sale!!

Cape by Jo Bradford

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What with all this glorious sunny weather we have been blessed with recently it feels only right to share some of my sunshine smiles around.  

So for now until the end of June I am offering a Buy-One-Get-One-Free Summer Sale on all 5x5 and 8x8 Giclée prints in my online shops.

(To qualify for this sale offer - please put only the print(s) that you are paying for in your cart and leave the title of the free print(s) in the Message to Seller box to receive your freebie)

You can visit my shops here:

 Etsy (USA / Worldwide) 

 DaWanda (Europe) 

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Cape is a brand new listing in my Etsy & Dawanda Shops today.  

I hope you have a lovely day in the sunshine, whatever you are doing!

Jo xoxo

Aqua & White

I always love to be featured in Etsy treasuries...... 

I thought I would mention this one which made it to the Front Page of Etsy yesterday, because I just love the colours in it, not to mention al the lovely things featured to add to my burgeoning wishlist....... well done to Amanda from the delightful MilkandHoneyHandbags for the Front Page Treasury and thanks for featuring my photo "Sunday Morning (9am)"

Sunday Morning (9 am) by Jo Bradford

The Joy Of The New :)

Hello.


I have so much newness to share with you today!

I have decided to make my photo card range (notelets or greeting cards by another name) available online.
Up until now these art cards have only been for sale in a select few bricks & mortar galleries and gift shops across the UK.  However, due to popular demand, I have decided to offer them for sale to my collectors outside the UK too, so as of today, all 14 designs are now available to buy in my Etsy and Dawanda stores.

As you can see the card is large enough to be framed as a gift, and the photograph is full frame to the front of the folded card.  Printed on high quality acid free 290gsm card stock by a professional printer whose other clients include such luminaries of the art world as the Tate Art Gallery, St. Ives, the paper card is bright white. The rear of the card is titled and bears my name. 

The card is blank inside for your own message, comes with a white envelope and is packed in a clear cellophane sleeve for protection.

Oh and before I forget, I am offering free shipping if bought with another item!!

.........

p.s. I hope that you will like the new look of the blog, it was very much in need of a facelift and I am pretty pleased with the results.  But please do let me know if anything is not working properly for you on your screen / browser combo... I can tell that it looks pretty sexy on my Mac, but how does it look from your place?

Bye for now  :)

Jo x

Blue Beach Days ... the third

Blue Beach Days III by Jo Bradford

I am sure that if you are aware of my photographs in my Etsy or Dawanda shop, that you will be familiar with my very popular photographs from a series called Blue Beach Days. (see part 1 of the series below)

Blue Beach Days I ~ by Jo Bradford

I recently had the opportunity to make a new picture for the ongoing series, and have just finished working on it.

So with out any further ado, I am pleased to present Blue Beach Days III.  See the details from Blue Beach Days III below....

Blue Beach Days I, II & III are available to buy in my Etsy store in various formats right now.

Happy Monday Folks :)

Jo x

Singing all the while

~Ophelia by Jo Bradford ~ {click here to view at my Flickr instead}

Today is the birthday of Sir John Everett Millais, co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

He is most famous for his painting of the Shakespearian character, Ophelia, from Hamlet.

Millais' painting depicts the young Ophelia's final tragic moments, as driven to madness after her father, Polonius, is murdered by her boyfriend, Hamlet, she falls into the river while picking flowers and slowly drowns singing all the while.

I saw this painting in the Tate Britain as a teenager and have been haunted by it ever since. Millais masterpieces in the Tate Britain collection sparked a long time love affair with the works of the Pre-Raphaelites and to a lesser degree a greater interest in the writings of the Bard as well.

To celebrate the birth of Millais then, let me show you my own homage to Ophelia (top), as inspired by Millais, and all the other artists who have re-imagined this iconic image from both classical literature and art.

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~ Hamlet, Act IV, Scene VII ~

Laertes	Drowned! O, where?
Queen Gertrude	There is a willow grows askant the brook, That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream. Therewith fantastic garlands did she make Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, But our cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them. There on the pendent boughs her crownet weeds Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke, When down her weedy trophies and herselfFell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide, And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up; Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes, As one incapable of her own distress, Or like a creature native and indued Unto that element. But long it could not be Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay To muddy death.
Laertes	Alas, then she is drowned?
Queen Gertrude	Drowned, drowned

The Voice of the Rain

The Voice Of The Rain ~ Walt Whitman

And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower, Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated: I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain, Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea, Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether changed, and yet the same, I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe, And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn; And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin, and make pure and beautify it; (For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment, wander- ing, Reck'd or unreck'd. duly with love returns.) .....

As Walt Whitman was born on this day in 1819, I could not let the day pass without marking it in some way......

And here is to the end of May, a very hectic month, proven by my lack of activity here, but I promise to make amends and remedy that throughout June :)