We are ALL connected online through Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.  But how do you connect to yourself?  Sometimes I feel like we are so involved in other people’s lives online that we forget that we have one of our own in the real world.  We wake up one morning with aches and pains and wonder where they came from.  We look in the mirror and wonder who is this person I see in the reflection?  We stop spending time alone.  We constantly borrow the thoughts of others until we forget to have any of our own.  Today I am reminding myself to get away from the black box for awhile.  To get with Nature and my own mind.  I am going to “check in” with me to see what I am up to……

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Ghost Boats In Morro Bay – A dreamy, foggy, early morning capture at Morro Bay Harbor on our recent trip down the coast…

Have you ever experienced the coastal fog roll in after days of blisteringly hot weather? Have you ever opened your eyes and found your surroundings shrouded in white, damp, mystery? Have you ever felt the dampness of sea fog against your skin as you inhale the salted ocean air?

California had an early heat wave, getting into the mid 90’s inland in early May. We escaped to the coast, and were surprised that even Big Sur was hot, as we headed down the wild and scenic Pacific Coast Highway (California State Route 1). The fog came in on our second morning in Morro Bay, blanketing the quiet harbor and turning it into a mysterious place, with ghost-like boats bobbing gently in the distance, just barely visible through…

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
Albert Einstein 

Every few days I open an email from another artist asking me “how did you do that?”  They want to know my techniques, my materials and…if I am not too busy…some personal instruction.  I have never felt an obligation to share my secrets with others.  To me the joy and fun of creating is to explore…try unusual things….find your art. Copying may be the greatest form of flattery, but somehow I never feel flattered when I see someone attempting to duplicate my work.  It’s almost like seeing your husband with another woman.  I feel violated.  I developed my styles the hard way….by trial and error.  I have spent many years marketing myself and building a strong following.  My work is branded well and people recognize it as mine.  So if you want to know my secret…it’s…

“If I could I would always work in silence and obscurity, and let my efforts be known by their results.”  – Emily Bronte, author
(portrait by brother Branwell Bronte)

VINTAGE WET PLATE SUNRISE Image Art & Fine Art Photography by JO-ANN TOMASELLI
http://jo-ann-tomaselli.artistwebsites.com/

Every morning I have the privilege to witness the sunrise. On occasion I’ll experience beauty so profound it can not be expressed in images alone. On these days I turn to our poets, those inspired or ‘in-spirit’ writers, who provide me a saucer for my overflowing cup.

Kālidāsa was widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language around the 5th century.
His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Hindu Puranas which are religious texts that tell the history of the Universe from creation to destruction.

Listen to the exhortation of the dawn!
Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the
Verities and realities of your existence.
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendor of beauty;

One of the things I love about abstract art is the that it is incredibly versatile. It looks good in modern, contemporary and even in some traditional spaces.  I originally listed this piece in a horizontal presentation, but decided that I liked it vertically as well.  Seems to have a lot more energy this way and makes me want to party!

What do you see?

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PASTEL SUNRISE-SUNSET Image Art & Fine Art Photography by JO-ANN TOMASELLI
http://jo-ann-tomaselli.artistwebsites.com/index.html

Why is it that humankind, almost universally, is infatuated with the luminosity, hue, tint and intensity of sunrise and sunsets?

Possibly it’s because the sunrise brings us hope of a new beginning while sunset signals the termination of a day well lived. It’s more likely however that our love of the golden hour is because the colors, produced by atmospheric conditions at the beginning and end of the day, affect us deeply on emotional and psychological levels.

It’s a known fact that color sways perception, judgment and behavior and has the psychological power to influence emotion.

Each hue has a different effect on our body’s nervous system and though we say we have likes & dislikes of certain color pallets, our collective subconscious reactions to color are surprisingly similar.

Carl Jung, in his writings on the collective unconscious…