Photographers have not been near as well represented on my Friday Favorites in comparison to other artists and I discovered so many interesting photography sites a few weeks ago that I thought I would share the work of another photographer with you today: Geoffroy Demarquet. In what little searching I completed I could find little about this photographic artist beside the intriguing examples of his work…or at least little I could read since French is not my first language. Or my second…or third…or, you get the point.

I certainly do not need to speak the language to have an emotional response to his photography, however, and so I would like to share just a few of his images that I found interesting.

Continue reading Friday Favorite: Geoffroy Demarquet →

Or, Book Week: Day Four

For those of you who have been participating, Book Week has been a great deal of fun for me. It started out with creative ideas for book storage, then we examined creative uses for books (books as art), and after a short disappearance from the blogosphere we returned today with creative and dedicated small press publishers. Today we continue the Book Week theme with creativity of another kind: the creation of books themselves, or to be more specific–journals.

Journals are something I have collected over the past few years. It has not been since high school that I actively participated in the art of journals. I have always viewed journals as being magical–they are books that are full of so much potential. Whether one uses them diary-fashion, writes stories, composes poetry, sketches, whatever, journals are a portal into one’s inner thoughts and feelings and dreams. It is that which gives them their magical quality.

In between two covers lie the beginning of a journey, that is why my latest journal, which you will see soon, begins thus:

“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
~J.R.R. Tolkien

Today I have the pleasure of using the Friday Favorite section to introduce you to Blackthorn Workshops and its creator, Stormfilled. Stormfilled is a creator who is taking a risk and as such I find her very inspiring. Not to mention the fact that she makes high quality journals. I feel like this fits in so perfectly with the Book Week theme and with the Once Upon a Time II theme as you will see shortly. Stormfilled, like a few before her, braved the onslaught of the grilling Stainless Steel Droppings interview. In between my questions and her answers you will see examples of her beautiful craftsmanship.

Come with me, step out your door, and allow me to introduce you to Blackthorn Workshops.

Continue reading Friday Favorites: Blackthorn Workshops →

(Girl in the Castle, click image for a larger version)

“Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.”
~Hans Christian Andersen

This week’s Friday Favorite firmly evokes the spirit of the fairy tale elements of the Once Upon a Time Challenge, for this week I showcase the art of Nicoletta Ceccoli.

Continue reading Friday Favorites: Nicoletta Ceccoli →

(Vent, click image for larger version. All images copyright Sophie Thouvenin)

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”
~Aaron Siskind

Photography as a medium has been little represented as a Friday Favorite here at Stainless Steel Droppings. Last week’s journey down the pathways of artist Anne-Julie Aubry‘s website ensured that today would see that grievous error corrected. For it was there that the simple act of pointing and clicking unveiled the photographic art of Sophie Thouvenin.

With her cameras of choice, the “Nikon D80 with her macro lens (105mm for macro and 50mm 1.4 for portrait) and the Polaroid SX-70 used with Time-Zero” (*1) Sophie brings the viewer a more up close and personal view of the world that is right before your eyes.

I sent Sophie Thouvenin an email today requesting her permission to expose you to the same breathless excitement that I experienced last weekend by allowing me to share her photography with you today. To my immense pleasure she gave me freedom to do just that!

Continue reading Friday Favorites: Sophie Thouvenin →

(Black Bird)

*Update: After reading this article on Anne-Julie Aubry’s work here, be sure to check out my interview with her, located here.

My travels around the internet have once again yielded bounty in the form of a delightful artist to share with you as a Friday Favorite. French artist Anne-Julie Aubry works in both the traditional and digital paint mediums (with occasional collage) to create deceptively innocent works of art that are visually arresting and thematically intriguing.

Continue reading Friday Favorites: Anne-Julie Aubry →