Cauldron

Cauldron

With a great deal of my work now taking over the walls at Cafe Kiss in Plymouth, it seemed like a great time to devote a post to my first framed print sold there over the last week at this wonderful establishment.

'Cauldron' was photographed back in April of 2013, during my major study of FD2 and part of my project, 'Immersion' at Plymouth College of Art.  Surprisingly, this image did not feature amongst the sixteen finals that became the completed assignment and was left unedited for almost a year before I finally noticed it.  I do find it strange though and wonder how it could be possible to miss such a striking image; as I have mentioned before, there is such a huge importance in revisiting old (RAW) files, as you never quite know what it was you may have missed.  Perhaps it was simply a case of now being in a different state of mind, my perception vastly altered post-graduation.  I certainly felt I had a superior understanding of editing, particularly following that Christmas Mac wipe and this was indeed having a major influence in what I saw now and what I produced during my weekly hard drive revisits.  

This re-edit of 'Cauldron' is also different to those copies sold in the past. Highlights have now been reduced amongst the foreground and shadows slightly boosted, allowing for a much richer appearance of detail to the left.  Sensor marks have been drastically cleaned up amongst the sky using a combination of the healing brush and clone tool.  Seeing this image today and I am more proud of it than ever before; from its discovery and first edit, every sale thereafter, to now, with its most recent transaction at Cafe Kiss.  
  
I do find works of art to be very much emotionally driven.  Periods in our lives can often alter the creativity of an artist and what it is that they then produce. This is also no different for the buyer and I believe a re-edit shouldn't detract or alter previous or future values.  Art will always be subjective and forever appraised by how we perceive or feel at any one given time.  My recent re-edit of 'Cauldron' confirms how I feel and that is that I am in a happy place right now. While I might wish for nothing more than to be back under those snow capped mountains, camping alone under a beautifully lit starry sky, not a care or problem in the world, I know one day, because of so much hard work already invested and more to come, along with a continual love for my practise, my future will certainly take me back to where 'Cauldron was taken, at Lake Coruisk and the magical place that is the Isle of Skye.