Alternate Reality in Mendocino, California

I recently took a week-long trip to visit friends and shoot photos in and around Mendocino.  I was trying to relearn how to shoot video with my Nikon camera.  Even with a tripod, the footage is shaky.  Once home, I combined the Nikon footage with Google Pixel cell phone footage and added other elements using Adobe Premiere Pro.  Then I added a soundtrack with some of my late mother's recorded music, syncing it up to the footage in Cubase 11.  It's frustrating.  A million files are opened and saved all over the computer taking hours to figure out what has gone where and why.  And all I ended up with is this short tidbit.  But, I kind of like it!

Mothers Day Family Art Project

Mother's day was celebrated a day early in Walnut Creek with some group art
Top:  Redo of 4 square drawing, done by three sisters and one (nearly) 97 year old mother
Middle:  Original 4 square drawing; done with each of 3 sisters having a square and the mother filling in wherever (blue person, pink accents, etc.)
Bottom:  Diptych (ie art done in two pieces, no hinge) joined together here, of a green-headed bird, perhaps in flames?  The result of 4 sisters working together in harmony.

Memories - Of The Way We Used To Be

Winter gives one plenty of time to reflect on the past.  I used to wish I could lay down in a field and have everyone I was ever friends with walk by and say hello.  Since that wasn't possible, in 2009 I made a "It's a Party" video to digitally gather folks together, including those already passed, to the extent I had photos of them.  The photos from that video make a great background collage!  This year I celebrated my 40th wedding anniversary, thanks to the fact Sam and I have been living separately for nearly half of the 40 years we've been married.  Going through my father's old negatives today, I came across this old 1976 photo of a much younger Sam and me.  It looked like it was just waiting for a background of memories.

Relative Sightings

Top to Bottom, Elsa, Gregory, Jean L. Autrey (age 96), Rachel

Elsa At Goleta Beach, 1960 - Three Monotypes

Taking my Lindstrom Machinery etching press on its first run, our San Anselmo printmaking group got together to do some initial experiments with Akua intaglio inks and liquid pigments, making monotypes with polycarbonate .030 and PETG plates printing onto dry Rives BFK 100% cotton French mouldmade paper. Doing drypoint on the plastic plates didn't seem to result in strong enough line work, so I hand inked later. Damp paper would probably have worked better.  The Akua liquid pigments also didn't work as well as desired either, so the prints were finished with pastels, which worked beautifully.  More experimentation to come!

Historical Family and Travel Picture Postcards

Various recent Strathmore 4x6 watercolor postcards painted at the request of (and for) sister Susan:

Top to Bottom Left to Right:
The Autrey Sisters
Jean Anne, around 1945 in Delong, Indiana
Laura Jo on bicycle in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1949
Elsa sitting on the stone wall in the front yard of the El Sueno house in Santa Barbara, in the early 1960s
Little Lucy at the beach in Santa Barbara, 1953
Susan in Paradise, 1955

Misc Photo Pictures
Trees in PoliPoli State Park on Maui in December 2012
Cousin Earl on pig in Macy, Indiana in the 1920s
Santa Ynez September 2012

The Taylors in Seattle at the beach in December 2013
Matt playing soccer with son Cole
Amber and Wilson on the beach
Trees and view
Amber and Cole near the brick building

Autrey Family Goes to the Beach, 1960

B&W photo by E.A. Autrey, taken in December, 1960.  Photo colorized by Lucy Autrey Wilson in February, 2013.

The Autrey Look

E.A. Autrey and his five daughters looking at the world through blue-green tinted lenses.