Ephemera #2

[Diane Miller]

Another from my Ephemera series of about 12 years ago. Three flatbed scans.

[Dennis Bishop]

I'm glad these images aren't ephemeral. They deserve to be enjoyed for a long time. The way the grape tendrils follow the curve of the nautilus, and the way you blended the nautilus into the background are great. This is dynamic and very beautiful.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Diane, I love the curves and the placement of the grape leaf and tendrils. I think this would look nice in black and white also. I can hardly wait for more

[Adhika Lie]

Beautifully done, Diane! I agree with Dennis: These images need to be preserved for a very long time. I think the texture on the leave matches the BG's texture really well. Just curious, did you find a split nautilus shell or did you split one yourself?

[Anita Bower]

Excellent. Love the way the elements interact and support each other.

Did you have an idea before you started? Or, did it evolve?

For me, working on series is productive. I can have several series going at once, plus, non-series work. A series can take years to complete.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

So beautiful and elegant. Love the textured bg and all those wonderful curves.

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, everyone! I bought the shell that way, vert nicely cut. I don't remember how I got the idea to layer it with the grapes, but I did a number of scans of the grape leaves so I'm guessing the shell was an afterthought. Often I'm not sure of the thought process, as I tend to play music and sip wine for inspiration. But only very good wines, as we live in the Golden Triangle (Napa/Carneros, Alexander Valley, Russian River/Dry Creek), so I like to think the effect is intellectual rather than basely chemical.

The secret to scanning grape leaves is to leave them on the scanner until they just begin to wilt and then you can push the tendrils around with a wooden skewer stick.