So I have had a change of heart on my project. I must be crazy. After spending all day processing pictures I decided to go in a different, yet similar direction. I fell in love with my pictures from Cook Forest and am planning on watercoloring series of them. This will still be environmental themed, but on the positivity of conservation. This is what happens when we preserve. I have vacationed there all my life and love the message. My focus will be on all the different elements of the forest not just the same exact tree shots over and over. Ground covers, textures, and landscape are important. I hope I can give a feeling of being there without it looking too representational.

Yesterday I returned from a successful trip to western PA. I was able to hike in Cook Forest to get pictures of the cathedral pines. I believe I am going to watercolor them, though. The pines were so tall that it took seven shots to get one tree. I was able to travel to Warren, PA to get pictures of the oil refinery in the middle of town. That was an experience. It was hard to get pictures without being seen and getting the whole refinery into one frame. Luckily, my sister remembered that there was a park that overlooked the town. It required some four-wheel drive and a little luck to get there, but I did eventually make it. So I have the whole refinery in one frame. I also took some pictures of some cornfields, which was incredibly easy since the whole area is farmland. The last big thing I needed pictures of was a sprawling junkyard. My dad took me way out in nowhere to this crazy junkyard that was exactly what I needed. The owners found it amusing that I wanted pictures of a junkyard, but let me take some quick pictures anyway. The junkyard pictures are my favorite. I can't wait to start working on them in Photoshop. I may go back to PA at the end of the month for a wedding and more photos. I am already thinking of things I wish I would have photographed I while I was home.

I am leaving tomorrow morning to spend some time in Cooks Forest, Pennsylvania. Hopefully, I can get some great pictures of the trees, Allegheny River, and the surrounding forest landscape. After that I will be on my way home to get pictures of the oil refinary (with any luck I can get a picture without getting in trouble), the junkyard, and some beautiful farm land.

April Gornik

The West, 1986, Oil on canvas, 72" x 98"

Storm Sea, 2008, Oil on linen, 75" x 101"

April Gornik is an American landscape painter known for her dramatic paintings Storms and Fires. Storms and Fires is part of the Smithsonian American Art Museums art collection.

Gornick’s landscapes have big skies and lack people. They are so overpowering that they almost look surreal. She likes to think of herself as a conceptual artist. Her subject matter tends to be strange weather conditions. The landscapes have a luminescent quality and a unique use of color that gives them more emotional impact than the typical landscape. 

Like other landscape artists Gornik spends her time trying to get the word out about environmental issues. Gornik says, “My art is not necessarily made to inspire people to care about the environment, but I'd be very happy if it did have that effect. I think and worry about the environment and global warming CONSTANTLY.” 

Tom Chambers, Entropic Kingdom

Tom Chambers is a digital artist that creates photomontages that can be categorized as magic realism. Chambers is now based out of Richmond, Virginia. He is from Pennsylvania farm country, which can be seen as inspiration for some of his work.

Having grown up on a farm in Amish country Chambers has a unique perspective on the environment. He is very interested in preserving the environment that is inspiration for s much of his artwork. This the same farmland the famous Wyeth family painted so beautifully. 

Entropic Kingdom is Chambers ode to his life on a Pennsylvania farm and his fear of that life disappearing. The artist fears peoples disregard for the taking care of the environment will permanently harm the planet and the ecosystem. These images are of a disturbed ecosystem that were created my man.

Laurent Chehere, Flying Houses

Laurent Chehere is a French photographer who is best known for his commercial work with Audi and Nike. After leaving advertising Chehere traveled taking photographs along the way. The photographer was drawn to taking pictures of different types of houses. From these photographs came the series Flying Houses.

Each house has a story that the artist tries to tell through his artwork. He treats each house as individuals and tries to draw out the story that each house needs to tell. Even though the houses are photographed they have a very illustrious quality to them. That is because Chehere recreated them in Photoshop using multiple images thus creating a photomontage.The houses fly through the sky, yet some of them are firmly tethered to the ground. It looks like they are trying to escape the world they live in for a better world and life for the inhabitants. Chehere chose houses that were not in the best shape or the best part of town. These houses were the most likely to have inhabitants that needed an escape from the environment that they lived in.

Mitch Epstein, American Power Series, 2003-2009

Mitch Epstein, Amos Coal Power Plant, Raymond, West Virginia 2004

Mitch Epstein, BP Carson Refinery, California, 2007

Mitch Epstein is an American photographer that works in series of topics that he finds interesting or important. Epstein won the Prix Pictet in 2012 for his work on American Power. the Prix Pictet is an international photography award given to a photographer for environmentalism. 

For the series American Power, Epstein traveled across the United States in search of the impact of what creates energy in America. The series explores societies impact on the American landscape. He started at Cheshire, Ohio were the American Electric Power Company bought out the entire town and bulldozed it. The image of Amos Coal Plant is really someones backyard. someone lives there, has that view of the cooling towers, breathes the emissions from the towers, and if anything goes wrong will be that close to disaster. Epstein also has images of people playing football on a football field right next to another power plant. He realized that the effects of energy could be felt everywhere in the United States. Epstein also shows that even though it does damage, it also is people’s livelihoods.