A Nod to Narcissistic Indulgences

A Nod to Narcissistic Indulgences by Jen Bracewell and Mansi Bhatia

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome” –Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)

This past Saturday I was musing that this fantastic summer has almost given way to fall and I felt a sense of anticipatory despair sweep over me.  The long, sunny days that I have been enjoying ever so much will be giving way to shorter, harsher, and darker days.

As the weather chills and the leaves try to make up their minds whether they will put up a fight or go quietly to their final resting places, my mind drifts to the spring when I will see all of my old friends return to their colorful and happy state once again.

This made me think about the effect that the changing of the seasons has not only on my mood, but on my art.  I consider my art to be my interpretation of my vision of the beauty I see, but I now feel I would be remiss in discounting the effect that the days may have on my creations.

Do the bright sunny days bring out more of the beauty in my art while the colder dark days hold my creative optimism hostage?

In this series of self-portraits Mansi Bhatia and I will explore seasonal self-portraiture.

For the next few weeks we will each interpret a photo of ourselves as well as a photo of each other while keeping the different seasons as a guidepost.  We will also tap another creative outlet we both enjoy by including some of our seasonally inspired poetry.

This is the first of our series–Spring!

Please enjoy a small sampling of Mansi’s poetry as you embark with us on our journey through spring.  It truly is a time of renewal, rebirth and new beginnings.

–Jennifer Bracewell

Winter storm
Brought to the fore
Cobwebs of the past
I look forlorn
Yearning for more

Scaly skin
In my veins
Frozen blood
Lifeless eyes
Empty gaze

Sleep eludes me
But I must try
To forget, to forgive
And maybe when I wake up
I will fly

Tutorial by Mansi for Jen’s image #2:

• Snapseed to add drama, grunge, and tilt shift
• Photocopier to add texture (Klee in Painting)
• Image Blender to add spider on the left
• Filterstorm to blend tones/desaturate spider’s colors/add sharpness and color to Jen’s lips/clone out Jen’s fingers/remove red eye
• Scratchcam to add spotlight to Jen’s face while vignetting the surroundings
• Flowpaper to add “cobweb” to Jen’s face

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Dewdrops smell like honey
The earth springs abloom
Fluttering wings
Melting snow
Rebirth of the womb

Rejuvenated I step out
Celebrating life anew
My spirit calm
My soul at peace
Emotions subdued

There’s new hope
Every spring
A lavishness
An abundance
Of everything

My heart seeks the promise
Of happily ever after.

Tutorial by Jen for Mansi’s image #2

• I first used Big lens to blur the background.
• Then I took the image into Paint fx where I enhanced her lips and eyes
• I opened the image in Superimpose and added a flower which I had masked and saved. I added three.
• I then superimposed a rose over the entire image.
• Next Into Iris Photosuite where I used the cross process, polarizer and dramatic black and white filters, using the slider bars to adjust to my desired effect.
• I then used Lo-Mob, the 35 mm med format 1 filter and moved the image to crop it.
• ScratchCam, random, to finish.