WalkingBlind Art and Literature Magazine by WalkingBlind Magazine

Volume 1 number 3

October 2010

www.nevaehvision.com

Cover art by Leszek Kostuj

WalkingBlind Art and Literature Magazine Published by NevaehVision

Editor’s Letter

Kendra Gimblet - Executive Editor

WalkingBlind Art & Literature Magazine is finally on its third issue I am excited to say that our team has settled into a beautiful workflow that would make the ruler of a faraway kingdom jealous. As always I would like to thank them for staying up countless hours making sure that the featured artists’ work is presented with elegance and respect, while living on pots of coffee and granola bars. You guys would not believe how dangerous it is to call attention to yourself in a room of sleep deprived design artists. So with saying that I would also like to advise those of you who do not like the magazine to place ALL of your comments, rants, unintelligent remarks and/or general non-sensible dribble into the reader’s comments area on the website.

WalkingBlind Issue 3 vol. 1 About the front cover. On our front cover is Guardians of Moonlight byPolish native Leszek Kostuj. His unique style was so refreshingly different we felt it deserved to be the cover of our October issue as soon as we encountered it. We hope you will find this artist as amazine as we do, to find out more see page 41

WalkingBlind Layout and Editorial Executive Editor- Kendra Gimblet Assitant Editor- Glen L. Puchlerz Graphics Director- Glen L. Puchlerz Layout Director - Glen L. Puchlerz Business

WalkingBlind Art and Literature Magazine is a publication of NevaehVision. For advertising or submision queries contact: kgimblet@nevaehvision.com www.nevaehvision.com

We work very hard to produce a quality art magazine, whose goal is to bring outstanding art to its international reader base. Off of that topic I am very excited about this issue, the artists within are sure to blow your mind and leave you stunned and exhilarated, you might even try your hand at one of these fine arts. One of the great things that WalkingBlind always adds are links to the featured artist’s pages so you can become a patron to their art and even contact them. We here at WalkingBlind Magazine believe that inspiration is only the beginning, if the artists to follow this letter inspire you to start or improve your craft, please do so. Art awareness is something I touched on a bit in the last editor’s letter and I would like to visit the subject once more. If you read issue two’s article entitled ‘Decline of the Arts’ by Alex Dark you would have seen with your own eyes how our world is being transformed by the lack of imagination and encouragement. The human population as a whole is seeing a rapid decline of artists and those who teach art. Can this be turned around? Is there a way for us to change the mutating face of a once beautiful profession? The answer to both of those questions is yes, you can make a difference in your part of the world. WalkingBlind wishes to blanket the earth with art awareness by featuring amateur and professional artists that hold a passion for this free expression close. We are often asked when we are going to be taking the magazine into hard copy, although that is one of our many goals it is not possible without support from our sponsors and advertisers alike. We rely on donations, gifts, and grants as well as advertising to cover our operating costs, currently the funding for print is not available. If you would like to help us move closer to that goal you can use our upcoming donation page or support us by advertising the magazine anywhere you can. I thank you all for reading and commenting on the magazine and for following WalkingBlind as we continue to open the mind’s eye to art yet unseen.

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Features October 2010 Volume 1 Number 3

Digital Art 11 17 25 -

Diego Fernandez Kristina Gehrmann Steve Argyle

35 41 51 -

Ricardo Massucatto Leszek Kostuj Grzegorz Wrobel

59 63 66 71 -

Omri J. Luzon Odessa Gheeneil William Brough Mads S. Karlsholm

77 81 85 -

Katarzyna Wojdak Lech Magnuszewski Igor Nieto Joly

95 99 -

Indigo Reid Jenene Packard

Traditional Art Poetry & Prose Photography Articles Enterainment 104 - Yuumei

Departments WalkingBlind Art and literature Magazine is a publication of the Nevaehvision co. Content is protected under U.S. and International copyright laws. Any duplication without the express written authorization of Walkingblind Magazine and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s subsidiaries is strictly prohibited. Artistist creative works and/or intellectual properties are under license to WalkingBlind Magazine and remain the sole properties of the artists. For further information contact WalkingBlind Art and Literature Magazine at: http//www.nevaehvision.com or email: info@nevaehvision.com WalkingBlind Art and Literature Magazine is a monthly publication with offices in Florida and Massachusetts CopyrightÂŠNevaehvision.com, 2010. All rights Reserved.

R e a d e r ’s Comments

Along with the success of our premiere issue came a ﬂood of readers comments. We have to say it made us feel great! As the collection of random comments was assembled into a larger whole it became apparent that a singular voice stood out....”readers loved the magazine” and we love our readers for their support. As a reward here are a few of the comments you sent in, so if one of these belongs to you enjoy your ﬁve minutes of fame and thank you from the team at WalkingBlnd magazine. We couldn’t do it without you!!

The new mag is awesome, my computer takes forever and a day to load so i only saw the first half, but every image and article in there is really good. keep it up!" -Kyle Yarrington

Love the deep articles, they blow my mind! - Jayden

Very professional zine, I like your eye catching cover-art and original layouts - Andrew Pierce

Loved the issue yet again! And now I ask, when will we be able to subscribe to this wonderful magazine?- Erin

Found you on Issuu. What a beautiful magazine!- Cj Mckinney

Very cool looking site. Kudos. - DLW Pesavento

Just checked it out and it looks incredible! Great work , guys! -CDR Aka, Hyperionic Xmissions

Digital Art

Diego Fernandez 11

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Art That Speakes For Itself

“I’ve always enjoyed drawing since I was a little boy, I wasn’t very sociable and I had some health issues so playing soccer with the other kids wasn’t an option, at least till I was ten-eleven years old. I remember myself drawing TV characters all the time and my school friends asking me to draw one for them. Later, as I loved reading too (can you imagine a twelve year old boy reading complete encyclopedias just for fun and curiosity? Well, that was me) I discovered the artists of

Horses by Diego Fernandez

ancient Greece and Rome, as well as Renaissance paintings, and I was amazed by the study they did of the human figure, so I spent hours copying the classic sculptures and drawing sketches of people.” Diego’s comment above screams inspiration, it’s such a wonderful thing, the inspiration of an artist. When the imagination of a future artist begins to form any and everything can become a stepping stone to new ideas and artistic experiments. As the artist grows so does the encouragement until eventually a unique

In Fashion by Diego Fernandez

Melancholic by Diego Fernandez

e are a bundle of emotion, going about our days leaving behind metaphysical trails that imprint themselves into the worldly landscape. The deep cistern in which these feelings are kept, constantly brew and reduce producing a potent demi-glaze of conscious experience that causes our outward appearance to mirror our internal resolve. To capture that resolve in the form of free expression one would have to display them in a class all their own so that they may speak for themselves; digital artist Diego Fernandez is one of those people. With his own unique style and artistic vision this artist’s work seems to embody the seasons of emotion that wrack the human mind. Of course we must all begin somewhere and like anyone else his beginnings were as a child.

Pale by Diego Fernandez

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style is born due to prior experiences and nourishment. Diego’s art shows this nourishment as well as his past curiosity of Roman and Grecian art in the smooth textures of the skin, dramatic poise of the character, and the eyes which carry trance-like contemplation even when gently closed. In order to get the full affect of this artist’s work, one must take it all in slowly as if sipping finely aged wine, in his work there is no hurry or rush just simple beauty that wishes to caress the attention of its viewers. “When I finished school and started studying advertising I changed the pencils, pens and inks for the PC; took Photoshop and Illustrator classes and worked more with photo-manipulations, leaving the drawings behind (actually I didn’t do one for years, except for some basic sketches to show my ideas to my professors or clients). But suddenly, a couple of years ago my will to draw came back, as a way to relax after

Raining II by Diego Fernandez

Washed by Diego Fernandez

“Art is one of the sources through which the soul expresses itself and inspires others. But to express art thoroughly, one must have the inner emotions opened thoroughly.” -Meher Baba

work, I bought a pen tablet and since then I spend almost all of my free time drawing, specially female portraits. My favorite artists, and the ones who influence my work as well, work with traditional media, that’s why my work has a traditional feel, even if it’s made 100% with Photoshop.” I am personally glad that Diego began to draw once again, gracing us with images that possess poetic gazes full of esoteric allusions to what’s going on behind the scenes, each piece has its own story, feeling, and intense emotion. The traditional semblance of his art, 14

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Regret by Diego Fernandez

Surprised by Diego Fernandez

works wonders for the overall ambiance of each drawn character, setting them apart from the rest and even gives them a place of their own to dwell and survive. It thrills me to see an artistic style that fits the artist like a second skin, giving him full command over his future concepts. “I admire the work of artists like Eric Fortune, Joao Ruas, Sam Weber, Gabriel Moreno, Audrey Kawasaki, and dozens of others I see in DeviantArt every day (you can find me there as Diegoidef). Now, even when it started as a hobby, drawing and illustration is slowly becoming my work too, as I’m frequently called for freelance works and commissions.” One thing I enjoy doing is taking a look at the wonderful artists that our featured artists look up to, when searching them out you can see little resemblances between theirs and others you might already know. If you enjoyed this artist continue to support him by visiting his work at: http://diegoidef.deviantart.com/ and make sure to encourage him by commenting on his work.

“The artist is the opposite of the politically minded individual, the opposite of the reformer, the opposite of the idealist. The artist does not tinker with the universe, he recreates it out of his own experience and understanding of life.” -Henry Miller

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Italia by Kristina Gehrmann

Walkingblind Walkingblind Magazine Magazine

WalkingblindMagazine Walkingblind Magazine

ome say that art is dead, that it faded with the passing of the great masters, but If the great masters of art were alive today they would certainly have to sit up and take a good long look at the new brush slinger on their block. Art is far from dead in fact it is alive and well and has been given very generously to Kristina Gehrmann to take very good care of. She paints in the feel and style of the great artists of eras past now adorning the wall of the world’s museums and she does so to such a degree that one would think her work to be from any one of the greats if hung along side of them; yet she has a freshness and distinctness to her work that sets her apart in a class all her own. We interviewed Kristina via the internet so you, our readers, could see not only her wouderful talent but also to allow her to paint with words a portrait of herself as well. How did you get into the arts? I’ve always loved drawing and painting, and have been painting digitally for more than 5 years. I've never been interested in doing anything else with my life than making pictures; and if I didn't make

pictures, I would be making other stuff. My hobbies (writing, cooking/baking, crafts) reflect this, I think. As long as I can create something, I'm happy! Who in the arts were your major influences? My first influence ever was my grandfather, a hobby watercolorist. Later, I emulated comic artists such as Akira Toriyama and Disney. And then (and they continue to be my idols to this day) my influences were painters like Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Millais, Turner, Delacroix, Waterhouse and Sargent. I love the work of many contemporary artists and illustrators too – Odd Nerdrum, Donato Giancola, Linda Bergkvist, Craig Mullins, to name just a few. What is your motivation to make an image or totality of artistic vision that drives you? I guess the picture just wants to be painted. Or else it will stay in my head forever! No, really – the picture wants to be painted. It challenges me, I'm THE picture, and I'm really difficult and complicated and hardcore, you think you can draw me? Really, huh? Let's see you paint me!“ Of course I don't always win these challenges (pictures sometimes fail), but I love painting and my life would be

The Head of Octavia

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pretty dull without it. Every has something like a problem stage; where I build a design a position until it seems to wo part is most fun. Then it has a stage where everything is refi detailed, where you paint sub effects, various textures and s

What equipment do you u painting digitally, I use Photos a Wacom Intuos tablet. I've al some oil paintings and charco ings.

Have you won any award what is you education ground? I was lucky to get arship from a small private fou in Hamburg, financing 2 yea ition for Angel Academy of Ar I've been studying since Octob I'll stay there probably until 2011. In summer 2010 I had portunity to work in Odd Ne studio in Norway, a great lear perience! My work has also b tured in various magazines (A Photoshop, ImagineFX, Art S ternational, Visual Arts Illustr public exhibition local newspapers. There will be blood

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y picture m-solving and comork - this a sensual ined and btle light surfaces.

use? For shop and lso made oal draw-

ds, and n backa scholundation ars of turt, where ber 2008. summer d the operdrum's rning exbeen feaAdvanced Scene Inrated), in ns and in .

If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time, insight into and understanding of many things. -Vincent Van Gogh

Last man Remaining

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Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art. - Leonardo da Vinci

The naked mole rat

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Could you describe how you came to make one ofÂ the images we featured?. The Head of Octavia: For this painting, my challenge was, put the right color in the right place, which sounds easier than it is. I wanted to do it the John-WilliamWaterhouse-way, trying to learn from one of my favorite artists; and also from Lawrence Alma-Tadema. I asked myself, How they get away with using patterns of flat color and sometimes very little shadow values and yet achieve such a stunning degree of realism? I felt that I hadn't really figured out light and shadow yet (as I still feel now). Perhaps the key was 1- a full range of value, some very dark darks and bright lights, and everything in between? Or was it 2- the grouping together of major values - some big value groups that the smaller ones are controlled by? I started with a colored canvas (background) in Photoshop. On top of this, I made a quite exact line drawing on a new layer. The line drawing is done partly from reference photos and partly freehand; I try to get proportions and anatomy as correct as possible. On a new layer, I block in all colors, light and shadow. Here in this very early sketchy stage I already try to determine all light and shadow and color composition, because, I think that they cannot be taken care of too early. This requires some careful planning, trying, reworking and experimenting, until the design works. I sometimes repaint some

parts, big or small, whenever The revethey donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work the way I imaglation of ined they would. Thank you John Kristina from all at Walkingblind! To see the work-inprogress for this painting please visit the following URL. http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/5083/theheadofoctaviawip.jpg

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No this is not one of our staff writers, this is the one and only Steve Argyle

Ocupation - Digital Artist Age - Yes Current Residence - Utah Education - University of Utah Web - www.steveargyle.com

St e ve A r g yle , w i th h i s h u m b l e i n it i a ti o n into the arts that developed into a rock hard foundation he is ready to tell us h ow v i s ua l arts c a p tur ed h i s at t ent i o n . M y b e g i n n i n g s we r e p r o b a b l y a l o t l i ke e v e r y o n e e l s e ’ s . I wa s t h e nightmarish dread of every parent. I d r ew o n e v e r y t h i n g t h a t p e r m a n e n t m arke rs wo u ld m ar. I ' d d oo d l e i n c l a ss i n s t e a d o f t a ke n o t e s . S o m e t i m e s d r aw i n g aw f u l c a r i c a t u r e s o f t h e teacher (Popular with the students, not so much with the teachers.) I read a l o t o f c o m i c s , p l aye d a l o t o f v i d e o g a m e s , f i l l e d t o my a d o l e s c e n t b r i m w i t h M o u n t a i n D ew. I n h i g h s c h o o l I m an ag e d t o g e t al o t o f extr a c re di t b y b r i b i n g my t e a c h e r s w i t h p a i n t i n g s . U ta h i s a g r e at p l ac e to l iv e a nd gr ow up, there is alot here to inspire an artist. The best part is a very supporti v e c o m m u n i t y. I wa s a l way s e n c o u raged in things that interested me, r e g a r dle s s o f t h e gl a r i n g l a c k o f a b il i ty I o f t e n d i s p l aye d , e s p e c i a l l y i n s p o r t s . To t h i s d ay I h a v e a b e t t e r c h a n c e o f accidentally swallowing a baseball than h i t t i n g o n e . At s o m e p o i n t I h a d t h e m i s g ui d e d i d e a th a t b ein g a bl e to dr aw Wo lve ri n e m i g ht g et g ir l s t o n o t ic e m e, an d I b e g a n to s tu dy ar t m o st l y w h en I

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Chandra by Steve Argyle

e v e r t a k i n g a ny t h i n g t o o s e r i o u s l y, this digital artist can usually be fou n d wi th p ermane nt bed -hai r, t i re d b ut w ily eye s, we ar ing p aj am as and Wi l e E . C oy o t e s l i p p e r s , w h i l e p r o d u c i n g s o m e o f the most fantastic art this side of the milky way. F o r m e t o c o n j u r e u p a f o r m a l i n t r o d u c t i o n I wo u l d h a v e t o r e l ay t h e p a s t h i s tory of this artist com plete with sound effects and snack booths. This line of thinki ng l e ads u s t o a qu es ti on: “H ow doe s a d i gital artist begin?” We h a v e a l l s e e n g r o t e s q u e m o n s t e r s d e m o l i s h i n g t ow n s , s e n s u a l wa t e r s e r p e n t s b e c ko n i n g we a k sailors to their doom, and majestically detailed dragons soaring through misted mountains…but where did this all start, wh a t ar e the be ginnings to a d igi tal arti s t. T h i s i s h ow I w i l l p r e s e n t t h e m a g n i f i c e n t

Obsidian ChampionII by Steve Argyle s h o u l d h a v e b e e n d o i n g my h o m ewo r k . M y d a d h a s a l way s h a d a s i x t h s e n s e f o r how t o b est ap p roach any e nd ea vo r, a n d b o u g h t m e s o m e A n d r ew L o o m i s b o o k s , a l o n g w i t h H u m a n A n a t o my f o r t h e Art ist, a nd a handfu l of othe r bo o k s that I still believe to be the best res o u rce s ou t t her e . I won't le ave yo u i n s u s p e n s e . D r aw i n g b e t t e r d i d n o t h i n g f o r my l a c k o f s k i l l w i t h t h e l a d i e s . F o r the amount of disci pline I had, I should b e m a ki ng m inim um wage now at so m e g r e a s e - p i t w h o 's o n l y s t i l l i n b u s i n e s s because of blackmail photos of the h e a l t h i n s p e c t o r, b u t I g o t v e r y l u c k y. I attended college at the University of U t ah, p la nn in g to g o into m e d i ci ne. I rea l l y e n joyed i t, but i t daw ne d on me : I ' m not nearly smart enough for this... In the end, I'm glad that peoples lives

aren't in my hands and all of you should b e to o. A s m o n ey go t ti gh t er, I sta r t ed t a k i n g a r t j o b s t o p ay t h e b i l l s . T h e r e was an opening at a local CG shop, Argonaut Films, and when I was offered the j o b , my a c ad em ic c ar eer wen t o n sem i p e r m a n e n t h i a t u s . I wa s h i r e d o n t h e p re m i s e t hat I kn ew 3D Stud io M a x bu t I d i d n ' t . I f y o u ' d a s ke d m e a b o u t i t , I ' d have told you that I don't listen to muc h rap . W h en th ey as ked ab o u t 3 D e x p e r i e n c e , I t o l d t h e m a b o u t my i n t e r n s h i p a t V i ew p o i n t D a t a l a b s , a n d t h e t i ny s e c t i o n o f t h e b a l l o o n - s h i p i n Wa t e r wo r l d t h a t I ' d h e l p e d d i g i t i ze . I maxed out every source of credit I had buying an educational version of Max, an d a c o m p uter. I ' d l uc ke d in to a sweet g i g , a n d d i d n ' t k n ow t h e f i r s t t h i n g ab o ut w hat I was d o in g . I l oc ked my se l f

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Shield of the Magi II by Steve Argyle

The first time I can really remember thinking "this is what I want to do," was shortly after I started reading comic booksâ&#x20AC;?

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Keeper Of Air by Steve Argyle Mayaels Aria by Steve Argyle

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MatsuFumiyo by Steve Argyle i n a r o o m f o r t h e we e k b e f o r e s t a r t ing , wit h a st ac k of junk fo od a n d c a f f e i n e , a n d we n t t h r o u g h t h e t u t o r i a l manual three times and the userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s manual twice. A sterling effort sure, b u t n o t e n o u g h t o g o f r o m 3 D i l l i t e rate t o CG gladi ator, what it was b are ly e n o u g h t o s t u m b l e t h r o u g h my t a s k s , w i t h m u c h i n c e s s a n t p e s t e r i n g o f my superiors. I wo r ke d t h e r e f o r f i v e ye a r s , a n d we a l l d e c i d e d t h a t i t wa s ti me fo r a care e r mo ve ; we were ge t ting frazzled and disbanded, taking vari o u s n ew g i g s . M i n e wa s P l ay s t a t i o n g a m e d e v e l o p m e n t a t I n c o g n i t o S o ny. So m e of t he m ost tale nte d p e o pl e I 'v e e v e r m e t a r e t h e r e . I wo r ke d o n Twi ste d Me t al : Bl ack , War of t he Mo n st ers , Downh ill Dominati on, an d t he upcoming Warhawk for PS3. I was there for fou r years , and I was r ea lly i t c hi n g t o f i n i s h my d e g r e e . I t h a d b e e n o n

h o l d f o r a v e ry l on g t i m e. I kn ew th a t n o d e gr ee wo ul d l ead to a b et ter gi g t h a n I wa s i n , b u t i t wa s d r i v i n g m e b o n ke r s a ny way. S o I we n t b a c k t o s ch o o l , an d fi g u red I 'd sup pl em e n t my quickly withering bank account with s o m e f r e e l a n c e wo r k . I s e n t o f f s o m e s a m p l e s o f my 2 D wo r k t o Alderac Entertainment Group, and started painting samurais and monsters. Since then, it just sort of snowballed. I really haven't had to sol i c i t m u c h wo r k , c l i e n t s j u s t f i n d m e . S o n ow I ' m f u l l t i m e f r e e l a n c e . I ' m still chi pping away at that degree, but I 'm h av i n g su ch a go o d t im e wo r k i n g on all these supercool projects, that I j u s t c a n ' t t u r n t h e m d ow n . To s e e m o r e o f St e v e A r g y l e v i s i t h i m a t : w w w. s t e v e a r g y l e . c o m w h e r e y o u c a n vi ew and c o m me n t on h i s wor k as well a s vi ew s o me awe s om e t ut or i al s!

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Prepare for a wonderland of entertainment that makes Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory look like a cardboard box with 'spaceship' scribbled on the side."

ScorpionCity by Steve Argyle Walkingblind Magazine

Traditional Art

o d R a c Ri

o t t a c u s s a M

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“

Painting in watercolor is like walking a tight-rope; one must find perfect balance between what the paint wants to do and what the artist wants to do, or all is lost. Mary C. Taylor

“

Ricardo Massucatto, a fifty-five year old doctor from Tietê, a city in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, began his artistic adventures early in life by watching a local painter he calls Mr. Arivabene. He became so mesmerized by the works of the Italian painter that he now credits him for his initiation into the world of traditional art and for the best learning tool any self-taught artist according to him could have; and that is observation. Ricardo’s paintings practice a forced perspective that draws his viewers into a focal point creating depth to the pieces that cause one to infuse themselves into each scene, where they experience the hustle and bustle of the painted populace. His broad use of rich colors is not overstated, but tranquil; you can almost hear the rain on the pavement, the slogging of shoes through puddles and the distant drone of random voltage voices. When asked how he got into the arts he says “Of course, it was a proper way, natural, continuous.” Perseverance is one attribute that is a must for an artist and the ‘continuous’ training and work mixed into it will only make the art stronger. A lot of people believe that art in itself requires little to no effort and therefore is not needed in the ebb and flow of mainstream culture today. This line of thinking is both ridiculous and extremely dangerous for the human race as a whole. When looking at Ricardo’s work you can

see the time, patience, technique and continuous practice that went into each water-colored painting. His attention to moods summoned by the use of strong emotional colors combined with his depictions of fluidity is simply outstanding. It comes as no surprise to us that he says his major artistic influence is the French school Evening In Paris By Ricardo Massucatto of Impressionism his art work seems to glow with the feel of this nineteenth century art movement. Claude Monet’s ‘Impression, soleil levant’ which started the movement would be proud to have Ricardo’s work in the same category as its own. When asked about his motivation for creating a painting, he replied: “I reason with the crowd, the noise of the streets, city lights, it’s magic to paint the urban landscape, it fascinates me. The movement is my fascination.” I am quickly learning that artists of all ages have great determination welling up inside of them and Ricardo’s fascinations are just as great. How can you gaze on his featured pieces within this article and not feel the urgent pull of street life beckoning you to don your winter clothing and make a silent salute with a black umbrella raised high. He calls painting the urban landscape ‘magic’ as if the darkened asphalt roads where the golden streets of heaven. “I like the material Lukas paints I generally use it. I have won awards locally and on De-

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viantart, twice for illustrated books published in Turkey and also in the Mandarin language. Prizes do not fascinate me nor do exhibitions for the moment as I have little time as a doctor and use the little time I do have to paint. In the future I hope to have more time to paint for now I use the Internet as a window between my house and the world.” I think that having two professions is great as art does allow the artist a lot of freedom to explore many other lines of work. There are artists who are cooks, engineers, lawyers, architects, psychologists, and more, these professions help give artists that unique edge all their own. Here Ricardo explains the meaning to his poem ‘First year's sunrise 2000’ to us “The First Sunrise of 2000 was taken from a newspaper photograph, in the city of Varanasi, India. My father was ill and died this year while I painted. This painting brings me joy, new life, is very comforting because it shows me a renewal every year, every day.” If you enjoyed this artist and wish to see more of his work visit him at:

Paris Boulevard by Ricardo Maasucatto

http://www.auladepintura.com/

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FFirst Years Sunrise 2000 by Ricardo Massucatto

Being in sync with watercolor requires a confident hand and a willingness to be on the razor's edge. If you crash and burn, so what? Surely, playing it Frank LaLumia safe won't take you where you want to be.

“

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Happy Birthday Ravena by Ricardo Massucato

Piccadilly Circus IV London by Ricardo Massucatto

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â&#x20AC;&#x153; Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art. â&#x20AC;? - Leonardo da Vinci

Want to see your work on the pages of WalkingBlind..... so would we! To submit art, simply stop by our website at: www.nevaehvision.com or email : kgimblet@nevaehvision.com We hope to see you here!

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Belithur and friends by Leszek

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Friends from magic hill by Leszek

The whole world, as we experience it , visually comes to us through the mystic realm of color. Its not the form that dictates the color, but rather the color that brings out the form. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Hans Hofmann

he surreal world of artist Leszek Kostuj is a visual feast of color to be experienced; color that breaths a vast and varied life into the forms of his characters with eye dazzling appeal. His art, a wonderful circus of the surreal, radiates with a stimu-

lating province that begs for us to react in some way to it. His arrangements capture the imagination with a child like fervor captivating the mind as we are caught up and snatched away in the phenomena of this whimsical realm of wide eyed bliss. Each image, exquisitely crafted, calls one to ponder the possibilities within the scene and leads the viewer on an adventure, a journey of the remarkable, where we make up the dialog stimulated by his playful characters visual cues. Leszek, with the stroke of his brush, has found a way through his medium to engineer a flood of emo-

Astronomy Lesson I by Leszek

Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand. -Neil Armstrong 44

tions to be drawn out of the viewer by the very creative use of texture and outstanding color. His images have a very tactile quality as the paint flows thick and heavy in some areas while gracefully delicate in other with constantly varying shade and hues. There is a definite motion created in his art giving a decidedly dynamic tone to each and every one. Born in 1973 he started with small realistic drawings, but then became inspired by paintings of surrealism, works at the boundary of surrealism and allusive abstraction. He was fascinated by art painters such as: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Arcimboldo, Giorgio de Chirico, Yves Tanguy, as well as representatives of the Polish poster school as Leszek himself is a Polish native. He became motivated to paint, his need he stated was “to create new worlds and characters, I also think of books describing the adventures of my heroes as motivation” It's a kind of daily therapy to him and a profession. Leszek graduated from the Faculty of Pedagogy - Art University, however, he states “I think I am selftaught” Leszek currently works in painting, drawing, traditional and computer graphics. He expresses his art is constantly changing, he is constantly searching for the optimal forms of artistic expression . “When I begin to paint, it is quite frequent that I do not ponder over the final effect. Only when on the surface of the painting, the emerging patches, lines, colors begin to coalesce, the imagination rouses and provides an impulse to further artistic release. At this stage of creation, what begins to appear is ideas, visions, and concepts – all in order to create a work that is a fulfillment of my artistic and aesthetic needs". Leszek paints with acrylic and oil paints and sometimes, for variety, he creates

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using a graphic tablet. His works adorn the covers of Polish and foreign publications of volumes of poetry that were presented in albums and journals. He imparts tremendous vision into the imagery he creates giving the impression as though the creatures he adeptly fashions could leap from the canvas. They are pure fantasy but yet they are embedded in the everyday, grounded in the daily experience of life from learning about the stars to the flying of kites, we can relate we feel for them and they delight us. Andre Breton once said “The mind which plunges into surrealism, relives with burning excitement the best part of childhood” and the surreal images which Leszek births certainly light the fires of excitement and bring about, at least for this writer, all the wonder of a child each time I view them again and again. It is in his use of tone color that I find the biggest thrill, the color of his images are the Guardians of Moonlight by Leszek

Forest Guardian by Leszek

The real mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, it is a reality to be experienced. - J.J. Van der Leeuw 46

Woodman by Leszek

Adventure is not outside man; it is within.

-George Eliot 47

crowning glory to the intricate geometry of his characters, giving to each one a personality distinct and different from the next. There is never a dull moment in any of this artist’s paintings. He is able to play out all emotions with the skill of a highly trained musician causing his work to stand out from the crowd in a manner that is refreshingly unique delivering a full range of enjoyment from the sublime to the outlandishly flamboyant. In synopsis Leszek Kostuj is an artist’s artist, bringing a blend of technical mastery and craft coupled with a vivid imagination and proven inventiveness exploring the science of color and texture to a degree that reaches a inexorable flashpoint then explodes on the canvas in such a way that all from the novice to professional career artist must take notice and applaud. In his art there are a million stories behind every character, as they live in worlds beyond the natural man’s ability to comprehend. They are on phantasmagorical planes of existence where it would seem all things are possible and all the while, behind the scenes, there are mechanics, keepers of air and forest that keep the planet engines pulsating smoothly in sidereal time creating a happy and peaceful universe in which they function and frolic. I find this style of art freeing and uplifting in a sense that it knows no boundaries, there are no limits on the mind here only a welcoming warmth that greets you at the door and bids one to dream for a while perhaps to live out a childhood fantasy. This is compelling art as art should be and it demands that you seek out more and delve deeper into its well of robust richness. I encourage everyone who reads this article to really look very closely at Leszek art take a deep breath of it and see for yourself if you are not thoroughly delighted

with it. Upon encountering the attractiveness of Leszek’s style we at WalkingBlind made a unanimous decision to make his art work our cover for this months issue; there are times you just know when you see certain pieces you want to honor them in that way and we hope we have. We are very thankful for the willingness of this artist to allow us to publish his work in this issue and also wish to thank him for the fast response that he gave us. If you would like to see more of Leszek’s artistry you can find him online at the website listed below. I personally believe once you discover, as I did, the absolute brilliance it holds within, that you will be hooked returning again and again to this wonderful realm of budding possibilities. “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.” -Albert Einstein

http://frodok.deviantart.com

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Szeroka by Grzegorz Wr贸bel

Swietokrzyska by Grzegorz Wr贸bel

Agrigento by Grzegorz Wr贸bel

Portal from Gorlitz by Grzegorz Wr贸bel

Words From Chains As I differ words from chains crosspanes spin out of control. In one of which -- under looming sun -my kris fingers crack like a fractured crock; a façade of being a flexile toll. My bleached upper lips smell rotten in their fear of being framed, outed, exposed by the heat of burning oak under smoldering monumental tea pot. We stir that pot, stir it good so all the juices of our lives mix and merge; a pot-pourri of tastes. Then we pour it down our throats slowly, as not to burn by the intensity of being alive. I used to stare at this brooch of yours, that grandma-green below your neckline. I used to stare and think – this is not my love, this is us. These are these, and those are you. Now I differ, once again words from chains, words from chains. The sun still looms above our heads with crease-crossed skies -- we swore if you remember, not to forget -the fire still stands still, and you and me, and they… These are not wrinkles at the alcove of my fingers; this is me in the mirror of us, baring my fragility slowly, as not to blush. I used to stare at this brooch of yours, that mother-dearest fondness you so love. I used to stare and think – this is not us, this is what we think of us. This is you in us shadow. It's been a journey to relish on. Some words were dropped, some lines sunk in. We collected those, brewed and stirred, poured and swallowed, idealized, admired. A journey in a pot made crock, now differed words from chains. And as the split grew wide, grew broad the words grew long, and the chains chinked hard.

Words From Chains by OmriJ. Luzon

Walkingblind Magazine

Omri J. Luzon http://leoraigarath.deviantart.com/

Omri J. Luzon writes poetry and prose based on life experiences, drenched in atmospheric and abstract sensations. He was born in the city, moved to a cooperative settelment, and feel that Israel is such a small home, but home is where the heart is. He is an ex-editor and cofounder of the Israeli magazine First Born, his works were published in magazines such as The Missing Slate, Blink|Ink, New Stage Magazine, Spark Bright, DArtZine, Distinct Literature, and more. Currently he works on a Master degree in Literature and his international rock band - Mindless Echoes. 1. How did you get into writing? I think that the thing which moved me into writing, which is the same about why I do music, is an outlet. My father was a very sick person, he suffered from a hereditary illness, which was a painful and horrible thing. As an introverted boy I needed some form of releasing my feelings, writing was one of the things that I did. I have a pile of notebooks which I'm afraid to read, containing horribly written poetry and prose of feelings which I wish to not remember. 2. Who in the arts were your major influences? The first things I read was fictional prose, such as J.R.R. Tolkien and Asimov, which filled the need of escapism. Later I was exposed to Dickinson, Baudelaire and Poe, which taught me how to recreate feelings in a maturer way. And later on it was Cavafy who taught me intricate aesthetic, Tolstoy with the profound depth of prose, Saramago's amazing style and Hemingway's emotional bereavement. There are few Israeli writers that are a great influence on me too - Shalev, Yoel Hoffmann and Natan Yonatan. And along with those it is the Hebrew biblical language. 3. What is your artistic style? or the totality of the poetic vision that drives you? I define my style as the search for Imperfectionism. All of my writings is animated through the attempt of recapturing my feelings, and through those - my thoughts. When I try to bring a feel to life I use the summed essence and fertilize it by trying to make it less and less perfect. If the sum of things is the most perfect way of communicating them, I try to enrich them with the unimportance which makes them feel as humane and imperfect as we are. I rely a lot on phonetic

Walkingblind Magazine

Postern Door

In a split of a second his black eyes shift to the color of the sun right before it bursts, tearing into million glistening freckles. His genuine look (the one that makes him godlike, cherubic, a shy smiling boy with bright pearly tears on the blades of his soul) smashes across the floor titan oak boards, crudely cut into straight lines, hammered, nailed, flattened. Now estranged, a foreign, Meaningful Sol ascends past me, and I am but thin air; hardly containable, hardly a gust, just an old feel.

Postern Door by Omri J. Luzon

Walkingblind Magazine

and abstract structuralism, I do believe in Free Verse as a liberator and the power of intuition and association. The power of words. 4. What do you feel is the most important quality a writer should have? The most important quality a writer should have is to not be a writer. When you try to be a writer you confine yourself into a cage of micmiking something. A writer should write by his own rules, his own free spirit. A writer should experiment, be adventurous, involved with his words. A writer should make love with his sentences and feelings, not fearing of the limitations a blank page sets. A writer should be himself. 5. Could you describe how you came to create one of the poems we would like to feature? Words From Chains was initially an attempt to explain my writing. I started it by showing that my earlier writings had a looser approach to the basic rules of language. The meaning of a comma, or a period, the line up of words into a sentence, the very definition of a word â&#x20AC;&#x201C; everything dressed in the color, mood and direction of the at-the-moment poem. In that mood, that mode, the logic behind logic no longer decapitates the boundaries of the critical writer-reader meeting point. A feel of unconscious understanding overwhelmed me and that is what I tried to pass on to the reader â&#x20AC;&#x201C; that luring acceptance and connection to the very substantial core of the poem. Then I wrote the first stanza of the poem, as an example of how irrational a poem may be, and still how logical and understandable it is. Suddenly the poem was no longer an example, it started making too much sense and had this incredible appeal to me. It took shape and meaning - I saw myself projected through the words, standing between the words and chains thoughts/emotions vs. actions. My inner world was so exposed and naked before the reality I left behind, and this little stanza depicted it so well. The poem no longer told about the limitations, or unlimitations, of language in writing, it told about me, my emotions, and the way I see life and memories, and most of all - decisions. I had to finish it, to expand it, to imperfect it. I had to cry it out. This is how this Words From Chains came to life.

Walkingblind Magazine

A Corollary to what’s Evident

Beyond the limit lies a space unbounded But I won’t cross the line between us The sky looks beautiful where it reigns And so do those down below. The freedom to choose among innumerability And the chance to meeting two different points Still make one asymptotic to the other I am where you can’t create existence. No matter how sweet the words, If your lips are burned by one soft kiss And if my light attacks you like ruthless rays, Your claim remains a conjecture. What I say may be contrary to what I feel, But regardless of the truth of the matter, I shall begin to mourn for the Undefined Because love poisons the moment we touch.

A Corollary to what’s Evident by Odessa Gheeneil

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Asymmetry

"Fidelity to actuality": A belief to an intuition. Your mind tells you what should exist Human as you are. Amid ocean of words, I swim into the depth of your thoughts My lexicon is full; My hunger is not sated. Scrape of the quill on ivory sheet Polished by a creative mind Yet, behind it, the scrawling wordsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Bare of imagery; devoid of beauty. Everything is surrealâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; The feeling; the thought Words drip off yellow pages I see nothing but stains now.

Asymmetry by Odessa Gheeneil

Walkingblind Magazine

Odessa Gheeneil http://www.writerscafe.org/sundae.laurenti

I started writing at 14. It was until I reached 20 when I developed great interest in poetry. My poems were first published on Booksie under the pseudonym, Jadey Oneil. I had them removed and re-published on Writerscafe under the pen name, Sundae Laurenti. Today, I am now using my real name, Gheeneil. Poetry has become a passion. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s my sense of fashion in delving and flaunting all there is in the beginning [of life], the end, and everything in between. MOTIVATION A COROLLARY TO WHAT'S EVIDENT AND ASYMMETRY I am a graduate of Bachelor Science in Mathematics, and everybody seemed to fear numbers. I was thinking it would be wonderful if I used mathematical concept/term to convey a subject matter in a poem. Not all people get to see the beauty of Mathematics, but those poems have somehow captured the interest of a few.

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Salvation as Mine Salvation as mine, I write to forget or to embellish that what is unreal or untruthful, embellishment of realism or timeless forgetfulness.

When the urine soaked rope rots, and falls away remember who you were and are, a grain of sand on a million acre ranch of useless human waste.

Respect is gone, with the livelihood of mankind, dredging the bottom of the unspoken word.

Making greed your father figure, your loser mentality and way of displaced life within the stratosphere of abundance.

Come to me in your adversarial way, punish my obligatory words of kindness and results oriented thought. Piss up the rope of your clamoring injustice and misgivings for time belongs to know one, human or otherwise.

Spread your magate infested wings, and join us at the gates of hell, for death is sure to overtake you.

Salvation as Mine by William Brough

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Cesspool World Systematic views of homes broken by leveraged substance and lust filled dreams. Fatherless, the children strive to succeed in an asphalt world of broken promises and thug like creatures Gold chains of success rattle like the snakes that produce them. Gilded glitter a triumph of a sad day. Forgive them, bring them together, let them live as normal humanoids in a cesspool world.

Cesspool World by William Brough

Walkingblind Magazine

W. Brough

Was President of a Financial services Co. for 25 years, started my own company 2/2009. www.aasfinance.com Have been writing poetry since 60’s, with a long 35 year gap, paint as well. Find myself being a “protest poet” also bike, kayak, love animals, wife Susan, two sons, Christopher and Nicholas, two dogs, Winston and Molly. The motivation for both poems is actually very similar. I have a very difficult issue with greed and the political system we face. Which are sometimes the same. With wasteful spending, costly unnecessary war, ridiculous healthcare proposals, lack of constitutional attention, and poverty looming large I find it hard not to write about it. I have to really work at writing about different subjects. I guess I’m a left over 60’s crusader that’s very suspect and unhappy with the system, although thanks for listening, if you need more, please ask, Bill

Walkingblind Magazine

Mads Strand Karlsholm

Cassandra

heard the scream as clear as if it should have been me myself who uttered it. “Cassandra!” I yelled, but there was no answer. I ran from my bedroom as fast as I could, and entered her room. The curtains were blowing violently in the wind, paintings lay on the floor, the room was colder than winter itself. The bed in the middle of the room was messy, the two red pillows were on the floor, and the large mirror on the wall above the desk had been broken. I ran to the window and looked outside. The window was situated right above a steep cliff, leading straight down to the sea, several thousand feet below. The waves were thrashing against the rocks of the shore, and then I saw it… her red dress, floating in the violent sea. Tears flowed freely down my cheeks, as I realized that my only companion through the last ten years had now gone. My heart felt broken, like the mirror, and I clutched my chest and gasped for air as I sat down by the desk. On the desk in front of the broken mirror lay my book. A book with a red cover, my masterpiece, and the only important thing I’d ever done. It was not a diary or a journal, like I’d told her so many times. It was a story, a story I started ten years ago. It was a story that had just finished. It was a story called Cassandra. It started ten years ago. I was a writer, out of money and out of ideas. I would walk around my lonely house day in and day out, thinking and pondering upon what I should write. When I finally thought of something to write, I noticed that I was out of paper, my usual luck. I walked down to the village of Mirror Breeze, a long and tiresome walk from my isolated house, but I needed to find some cheap paper. As always, I was out of luck. Paper was expensive, and I was out of money. As I was 71

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leaving, only bread new to my bag, an old woman approached me. Her clothes were ragged and filthy, but she had a kind and gentle smile. She told me she’d seen me asking around for paper, and told me she could give me a whole book with paper, if I only gave her the bread I’d purchased. The bread had been cheap, and I was in no shortage of food, living so close to the forest and the sea. I thanked her sincerely, giving her the bread and a fish I’d brought to trade. She smiled at me, handing me the leather-bound book, telling me to write something beautiful. I promised that I would, and started walking back up to the top of the cliff and the comfort of my house. That very night, I started writing. I had a solid idea. I started writing about a girl being the only survivor of a shipwreck. Lost and confused, she walked towards the only house around. A lonely man lived in the house, and he took the girl in to take care of her. After writing the first few pages, about the girl and the man meeting, I noticed that I was out of ink. Now, ink was cheap, but it was far too late to go back down into the village, so I decided to wait until the next day. As I went to bed, I felt good about finally writing again, and I was looking forward to continuing the story the next day after buying ink. The next morning, someone knocked on my door. For me, this was strange. I rarely ever had visitors, and if I had, they did not walk up the long and tiresome road to the top of the cliff at this time of the morning. I opened the door, and there stood a young girl. Her clothes were soaking, and even her lovely long golden hair was completely covered in water and sand. She looked at me for a second, and then the tears started flowing down her face. I took her in my

arms and carried her over to the fireplace. I lit a fire and made her a hot drink, finding some blankets I could use to help warm her up. Her lips were blue, and she was shivering, yet she had the courtesy to thank me, warming my old heart. As I sat down beside her, she told me what had happened. Her father was some sort of a travelling merchant, and as a widower, he had to take her on his journeys. But this time, their ship had been in a terrible storm, out of course and trapped in heavy currents, it had shattered against the cliff. She told me she’d been carried to shore by the waves, and somehow managed to climb up to the top of the cliff, hoping there would be someone there. That night, I let her sleep in my bed, as I walked down to the shore looking for other survivors. I found none, not even bodies. The only evidence of there ever being a ship was a single piece of wood that carried the inscription “Ophelia”, said by the girl to be the name of the ship. She seemed to be the only one left, the sole survivor. When I returned home, she was still sleeping. Unable to sleep, I scraped the bottle of my inkwell for the last drops of ink, continuing my story of the shipwrecked girl, as I suddenly realized that the events of the day were actually quite like what I’d written earlier. I took it to be an odd coincidence, but was inspired by my own acts to continue the story. I wrote about how the man went looking for other survivors as the girl slept, but found none. That’s when I started wondering… how did I want the story to turn out in reality? So I wrote a couple of lines about what happened the next day in the story, but in the end I had to realize that the ink wouldn’t hold much longer, so I decided to stop for the night, and try to get some sleep.

When I woke up the next day, I realized that I didn’t know the girls name yet. When she woke up, I sat by her side and gave her breakfast, asking of her name. She said her name was Cassandra, and that she was 10 years old. Cassandra… It was the same name I’d given the girl in my story… And she was of the same age. I left her alone to eat her breakfast… I had to go out. I walked along the cliff and enjoyed the ocean air for a while. The things I wrote about Cassandra seemed to happen. I had suspected it the day before too, so I’d written a test. I wrote that after breakfast, Cassandra almost choked, but the man walked in and saved her. So I waited a while, before walking back into the house. As I opened the door, I saw Cassandra, she stood coughing and crying and her face had turned blue. I had neglected to write any details about at what point I’d walk in, so she seemed to have been choking for some time, and it looked painful. I cursed myself for the idiotic test, I could’ve written something completely different, but I chose this. I ran over to her, hitting her back with my hand. She coughed up a large chunk of food. I hugged her, and told her to be more careful from then on. Knowing she was all alone in the world, and that I somehow had to be her creator, I asked if she would like to live there with me. She said she’d like that, and she smiled at me. I hadn’t written that smile, and I remember that smile very well, and very fondly. Later that day, I went to the village, bringing home some ink. When I got home however, I didn’t write. I wanted to know what happened if I didn’t write. I wanted to see if she’d react at all, or if she would just go on as if I had never written a word. I hoped for the latter, that she would just go on as a normal kid. But of course, I was wrong. Walkingblind Magazine

The next morning, I went to check on her. The room I’d given her was empty, and I couldn’t find her anywhere in the entire house. I went outside and looked for her, shouting her name into the forest and down the hillside. I called at her for hours, but couldn’t find her. I rushed back to the house and opened the book. After a little while, I’d written that she had been out picking flowers, coming back in the evening. And as I wrote, it happened. In the evening, she returned with a lovely bunch of flowers that she gave me. I had written that she came back with flowers, that we both had some supper, and then went to bed. Everything that happened in between, our conversation and the fact that she gave me the flowers, seemed to be under no influence by the book, and I was glad. The next couple of years, I didn’t dare to stop writing about her, even for a day. One thing I could never control was her emotions. But luckily, she grew to love me, and I loved her. I considered her a daughter, but I kept the book hidden from her at all times, to prevent her from being scared. She found it once, but it was before I’d written about the next day, so to her it appeared like a journal or diary, just like I’d told her. But as the years went by, so did the pages. Even though I’d write as little as possible about every day, leaving the blanks for us to fill out, the pages were filled too fast. And as I had only one page left, I knew I’d have to do something. The only problem was that I didn’t know what. However, I tried the only thing I could think of, namely starting a new book. So I went down to the village and bought one, price wasn’t an issue this time. It was almost ten years since I had first met Cassandra, and so I wanted to celebrate. She 73

Walkingblind Magazine

had become a beautiful young woman, and I loved her immensely. I wrote in the last page of the book as I sat up that evening. I wrote about a wonderful day, a day when we both laughed and talked about the last ten years. We re-lived all the good times, and we went picking flowers. We went down to the village for the fair, feasting on the delicious food they had there and playing all the silly games they arranged. Then I baked her a cake when we got back home, and we read some old fairytales at night. I know she was a bit old for it, but she still loved it when I read for her. But then, as she went to sleep after that wonderful day, I had to go to my room and start the new book. As I wrote about the next day, I shivered. I had no idea whether or not it was going to work. I wrote that she woke me up in the morning, and that we both walked in the forest picking berries, having a fun day. As I was finished writing, I smiled. I was almost sure that it was going to work. It felt good. But the next day, I woke up when I heard her scream. That was just a few minutes ago. The new book wasn’t working. She was gone… Oh god how I missed her already. I could still see her red dress floating in the water. I thought about how my life was before Cassandra entered it. I was a lonely writer, out of ideas and with no reason to go on from day to day. So I did what I felt I had to. I followed Cassandra, the light of my life. I jumped. For a moment, I thought I saw her standing by the window above. She was waving at me, as she faded away. Then I hit the water.

Bio: Mads Strand Karlsholm, is a nineteen-year-old from Norway, who is currently studying history and English at university, hoping to one day become a teacher in both. He has been passionate about writing since he was a child, and his love for horror and tragedy can sometimes get the best of him. Dreams and a generally overactive imagination helps push out new writings every now and then. He posts most of his work at http://storywrite.com/Drac

What was your motivation for this piece? (Cassandra): I wrote the initial draft for Cassandra back in 2007, but I have returned to the story many times. The story is a tale of how friendship and love are the most important things in life, and that is the reason why I keep coming back to it. I wanted to write something about the value of companionship, whilst keeping elements of fantasy and tragedy. I wanted to show how love can come from where you least expect it, and that it is important to value all the time you get with your loved ones. Sooner or later, every story has an end.

Walkingblind Magazine

I never make an image of what is literally in front of me, but rather it is the result of what I see in my minds eye before I clicked the shutter. It is my reality you see in the finished image. - G.L. Puchlerz, Photographer

Photography

Under Pier by Katarzyna Wojdak

fter 25 years in a photographic business I have come to realize many things but the most important was that you have to pay attention to the small details. Details are an important part of the photographic process, Lord knows I tried to impart this to many of my students as I taught photography; it was a constant mantra of: watch your framing, make careful exposure, mind your chemical temperature, wash the print thoroughly and so on. Details, there are so many of them, but when you get it all working together and you know it the results are nothing less then magical. You can usually judge a photographer by how they pay attention to the

smallest of detail, those that let nothing slip by are the ones you and I would term ‘world class.’ They are the ones who’s color, positioning, depth of field, and choice of subject are all technically and aesthetically perfect and they do it over and over again on a consistent basis. When you work like this it shows, resoundingly so, in the end result. One photographer can always tell when another photographer has a work flow like this, so when I saw the work of photographer Katarzyna Wojdak I new what her passion for the art was all about…attention to small details! Her work has amazing clarity and an acute awareness of where things are located within the fame. Her choice of subject is both clean and method-

ical and nothing less then perfect every time. When Katarzyna was ten her mother gave her a little, simple camera, made by ZSRR, called SMENA. She took photos and with her mothers help she developed them in the darkroom. That was how her adventure with photography started exclaims Katarzyna. We asked Katarzyna what inspired and motivated her in her art, she replied in this way: “Photography has been my great passion for some years now. It is my own way to artistically express myself through catching the beauty of nature and the prose of the world around us.” “I love nature and I like nearly all photos which show the beauty of it, the colors and the light are something so fleeting yet I try to catch their beauty on film. I like works of Wayson Wight, and many other photographers, but I don’t have one great mentor in particular. For example in my image “After fishing” I live by the seaside so one day in September, quite early, I went down to the beach. The fishing boats had came in earlier so fishermen put the nets out to let them dry. Sea was humming, the seagulls were crying at the sky, the nets smelt of seaweed, fish and salt, and fishing boats glistened in the sun. I thought that I need to capture this moment on film and bring it home with me and in the image you see here you can see the result. Currently I live in Poland, in the very heart of Europe, professionally I’m an architect, and I and my husband own an architectural design bureau together. Also I write poetry which is chiefly in-

IWinter dawn by Katarzyna Wojdak

After Fishing by Katarzyna Wojdak

spired by the works J.R.R. Tolkien. The equipment I use in photography is a Nikon D80 and Nikon D700 and a three lenses: Nikkor VR 18-200mm 1:3.5-5.6 G ED, Nikkor 105 mm f/2.8 G AF-S VR IF-ED Micro, AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8 D.â&#x20AC;? To capture a moment in time so precisely we see Katarzyna had to be aware of the slightest detail, we can see this from how she describes the experience prior to making the image. She is an outstanding artist with a phenomenal eye for yes, the smallest detail and that is what makes her images world class. Katarzyna can be found at: http://wilithin.deviantart.com/

Autumn in park by Katarzyna Wojdak

Around the world with

Citizenfresh Photographer Lech Magnuszewski

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I want to share

my impressions of my many travels with others also interested in the worldâ&#x20AC;? 81

Although I did enjoy sitting at grandmas holding a musty, velvet covered, 100 pound book of images every holiday filled with the puzzling faces of relatives I had never met or care to for that matter, I must confess I am thrilled at the direction the art of photography has taken in this modern world. It is truly a marvel to see the content produced now that todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s photographer has had the fetters of film, darkroom and musty albums removed. In this neo-photographic world, this vast new flood plane of color and shape digitized for all to see the possibilities are seemingly limitless, however just because it is easier to make and share an image does not mean that every image should be shared and not every image is a good one. It still takes talent, a good eye and

Spring Time 1 by Lech Magnuszewski

Photographic albums are a relic, they are fast becoming a thing of memory, a throwback to an age that prized the of holding something physical when looking at an image. Many of those, at least in my day, contained the images of photographers who never ventured far beyond the realm of family and friends with at least a half dozen or so shots of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thumb and the family dog may it rest in peace. Today with the advantage of the internet and the relatively low cost of travel, the modern photographer can truly be a global citizen imaging areas around the world in the blink of an eye and sharing them at the speed of light, again with the world at large.

IWater Impression by Lech Magnuszewski

Background Image About the background, entitled The dawn in Himalayas; this image was taken during a flight in the early morning hours. While looking out the window I saw this breath taking view and I simply had to reach for the camera.

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a passion for the art to produce an image of noteworthy character and quality. Oldie But Beautiful by Lech Magnuszewski

One such photographer in this modern arena of global imaging is Lech Magnuszewski. Lech, living in northern Poland with his wife Mirka, he is a lawyer by profession and a amateur photographer in his spare time. We would disagree with his choosing to calls himself an amateur based on the quality of his images captured during his global wanderings. “I want to share my impressions of my many travels with others also interested in the world, nature, scenes, and architecture. My wife and I have raised our kids and can now focus on our life’s passions. My first and foremost passion was, is and surely will be photography, which I have been engaged in for over 20 years. I am a fan of many artist’s works, but do not have a favorite one. I am especially interested in architecture and landscapes. I became engrossed in photography ever since I started

Autumn by Lech Magnuszewski

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Lake Titicaca Peru by Lech Magnuszewski

traveling around my home country Poland and around the world.” The images we chose to display on the pages of WalkingBlind are a wonderful and varied cross- section of Lech’s digital portfolio, his work really is amazing for one who calls himself an armature photographer, but you shouldn’t take our word for it though, you just have to go and see his gallery for yourself, his work can be found at: http://citizenfresh.deviantart.com/

Silence Lake by Lech Magnuszewski

“My first and foremost passion was, is and surely will be photography, which I have been engaged in for over 20 years.”

Gear Watch Lech uses Sony cameras, his gear is as follows: Cameras: Sony Alpha 350, a Sony Alpha 850 and for his lenses: a TAMRON XR di 2875 and a TAMRON 18250

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o other place on the planet is so culturally and geographically diverse then India, covering 3,287,263 sq km it is the seventh largest country in the world. From the Himalayas to her tropical rain forests India is a place of mists and mysteries teaming with green and her lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blood being the Ganges and Indus rivers.

With over 400 languages and 33 million deities India is a truly magical place. Years of migration from surrounding countries combined with Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own rich cultural heritage have created within her borders an eclectic mix of vibrant human existence. 81% Hindu, religion is the countries pulse and the spawning factor to Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social stratification known as the caste system which categorizes her human element into classifications based on their family heritage and background. From celebrations and festivals to parades and dance India is a place defined by the extremes of sights, sounds, smells and colors in radiant hues fascinating and captivating the mind with her euphoric experience. This place deprives one of reason causing a

sensory overload that delights the soul to the deepest levels. The visual impact on the visitor to this ancient world is astounding, from the first moment you encounter India you are hers forever, locked into an unforgettable journey you hope never comes to a close. It is a photographers dream, a place where everywhere you turn the dance of life in flight contrasted against the cold stone of aged temple walls entices the lens to hold in captivity the moment for all time. Shapes, geometric forms, riches of gold casting shadow upon the impoverished streets builds a frame of unimaginable vistas within the prism of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s viewfinder begging the eye to linger, yet all the while compelling one to seek out the next scene of intricate beauty too tantalizing to pass up for fear it may escape into nothingness and become but a vapor before the shutter curtain has a chance to close. Everywhere there is life, animal, human, vegetation and everywhere there is opportunity, a lifetime of

Another Life a Self Portrait of the Photographer

Delhi Station

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think there are places where you can just point your camera anywhere, shoot and you are shore you would get a great imageâ&#x20AC;?

IInescapable

Portraits of India

Peace Lagoon

Protraits 13

Viejo color Electro

“I love do take morning walks while in India. It gives me another view of the city. Everything is empty, silent .... getting ready for the imminent hurricane of chaos.”

images and reflections to take the photographer on a transcendental voyage to the very edge of creativity. Into this place, steeped in its own history, the photographer Igor Nieto Joly was tossed, “The images of India are those I made them when I went back to live there for the second time in my life, but seven years later. India is a country that is changing very fast, and when I went for the first time in 2000 it was not open to globalization or to the popularizations of technology. But its also a culture with very basic and strong lines, and a lot of the global change in society don’t affect the general flavor in the streets… and I was looking for that, trying to match it with my memories when I photographed her. I got in to photography by my parents. My father

Seven AM

always had cameras, and we traveled, so he would take pictures of us, and the camera was there, for us to use it if we wanted. My mother gave me my point of view. She would always show me what she considered poetic, ironic, or funny. I mixed both and started to do images. I originally started to do video, but I felt limited by having to work in big non flexible terms, and I wanted a more frenetic rhythm of creation, so I passed to digital photography. Now itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strange, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m slowly going back to moving images. I have the intuition that the world its perfect, because it is, and from there I try to find the beauty of the moment, of things, of light. Sometimes I work with a subject, sometimes not, but I always play with my mind, trying not to take anything I see or anything I live for granted. Always trying to feel like if it was the first time. I use anything that ends up in my hands for gear but I prefer Canon, but only because of the logic they use to make their menus. It accommodates me. I was inspired by Mexican cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, I was always attracted by his way of perceiving the world. I also feel I identify with Norwegian photographer Jonas Bendiksen and his slow and distant way of observing things. My big favorite in the classics is French Robert Doisneau. I resently won a really big scholarship to make a photo project of one year I have no photo degrees to speak of or anything, so I feel this will be like a school to me. I love do take morning walks while in India. It gives me another view of the city. Everything is empty, silent.... getting ready for the imminent hurricane of chaos. On one occasion I saw this guy

Ojos In Punjab

in Halla Mohalla (Sikh warriors festival) in Anandpour, and knew right away I had to picture him. He was one of the personal guards of Baba Nihang Singh, the leader of the nihangs (warriors). There were thousands of people all around so I decided to just picture him like that, in the middle of the crowd. I just love Punjabis, and I love to live among them. I think there are places where you can just point you camera anywhere, shoot and you are sure you would get a great image. About this place called India Igor said it’s “old, electric, and colorful.” and that's how we feel about it too. http://gorgogo.deviantart.com

“ If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Articles

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Places To Submit Your Writing To

sually I find myself wanting to share some philosophical subject with you about the essence of writing, like the harnessing of our lexicon for the purpose of literature, or how to encapsulate your very being in the vehicle of words in order to gain eternal life. Those topics were very heavy intellectual soups that fed the mind until fat, in this issue I will be attempting to give you all a slight breather by critiquing possible places to upload your precious morsels of literary delight. As writers we wonder daily about how our stories, poetry, and other literary creations will fair in the real world. We often ask ourselves if the exposure we receive will soften the purposely placed rough edges on our work or if people will appreciate it for what it is and comment accordingly; the answer to that question is both of course. One of the great things about finding a good place to submit your work is that you will gain supporters who will wait in earnest for each piece you lavish them with, and there will be others who frown at every grammatical error, point to each unclear plot, and pull your work apart sentence by sentence; you will need these two types of people for your work to mature. I will be critiquing five well known sites on: community, literature critique, functionality, resources and literary attention each category will be rated from one to ten, with ten being the highest and best rating. Without further introduction let us begin our short journey though some great literary sites.

LuLu.Poetry Community: 5 Literature Critique: 7 Functionality: 9 Resources: 9 Literary Attention: 10

Lulu.Poetry got off to a rocky start due to them purchasing the poetry.com domain which was a well known poetry scamming website. Which promised writers (ALL writers) that they were going to be published all they had to do was pay. They also gave people the opportunity to show up at some important convention, but of course they had to pay several hundred dollars to attend. I am sure that many writers have heard the stories of poet’s hopes being smashed with a myriad of lies raining down from this administration and it was hard to welcome this site back even under a honest and trustworthy company such as LuLu. They have taken something that was meant for bad and made a great legitimate business out of it, which poets benefit from. Though the site has a good amount of people you can only communicate with them through comments on their poetry, so there isn’t much interaction between members. You don’t add friends or share msn addresses on this site, so if your looking for a more ‘tight-knit’ place please read on. As for literary critique from readers I have found some good ones, but most just congratulate the writer for accomplishing such an outstanding piece. Where LuLu.Poetry shines is it’s resources and literary attention. This website is out to help poets not only write, but succeed and become better. Art sites with a purpose are beautiful things that must be cherished when found. LuLu.Poetry provides daily, monthly, and yearly contests which you can win up to twenty-five dollars to five grand! Not only that they also help you publish and sell your very own poetry books. What makes the whole package great is that the site is really clean and easy to navigate. This is defiantly worth looking into.

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Moontown Café Community: 7 Literature Critique: 6 Functionality: 9 Resources: 9 Literary Attention: 9 Total= 40 MoonTown Café is such a nice find, the site layout is refreshing and simple which means you don’t have to go around the corner and through four alleys to find where you want to go. The most uncommon aspect would have to be that all literary work is stored in the forum. When the populace thinks ‘forum’ usually a bland two color page comes to mind where people chat back and forth about how ‘Lord of the Rings’ relates to real life, or the take over of Xbox to Playstation. In MoonTown Café the forum consists of literature categories such as poetry, prose and flash fiction you can choose the one that appeals to you most and start reading other artists’ work or post some yourself. The community is very friendly though not overly strong so if you like a more relaxing ambiance this is for you. You can also add writers to your friends’ list, gain points by commenting and enter contests. The critique that you receive on the site is slightly above 50/50 percent, between an awesomely detailed critique to just a ‘good job’. The good thing is that your poetry will get attention, not right away but if you work at it people will start to review and comment. Also MoonTown and LuLu teamed up to help you selfpublish your poetry or stories. This website is a pearl in the rough, so go on and check it out for good reads as well as submitting some of your own work.

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DeviantART Community: 10 Literature Critique: 6 Functionality: 7 Resources: 6 Literary Attention: 5 Total= 34 Last up is the notorious DeviantART, this place is a heavy hitting art site that shows a lot of artistic categories as well as literature. I would recommend this site more for the writers who also have a love for visual arts since ‘dA’ as it is called by most of its patrons chooses to cater more towards its visual art members. Why would I choose this site for those who want to place their writing online you ask; one word: community. Though the site adorns itself more so for digital art, photography and such the literary community that you will find there is second to none. If you are a recluse and don’t like to mingle I suggest the two sites I mentioned above, but if you want support and help to mature your pieces there are some wonderful people on this site. If you are planning to join for literary reasons here are groups that some of the staff have run across: dA Literature, Scribblers Anonymous, and Live Love Write. DeviantART groups are like little villages filled to the brim with artists of similar interests. If I had to rate the resources for visual artists on this site it would be through the roof, they hold major contests where people from movies, big companies, and head CEOs judge and they get noticed. For example they held a Smart Car contest and the winner got their design on a car, two grand, an Apple Ipad, sixteen thousand DeviantART points, and a year’s subscription. After hearing that you must be waiting to know what the literary community gets, and like many

dA writers you’ll still be waiting; for that reason the site’s literary attention though writers make up a good deal of the site is rather low. As for the functionality ever since the instillation of the version seven interface dA seems to be slightly confused on how the website should appear, as soon as you feel comfortable with one feature another new sidebar or gadget comes out. So to recap DeviantART is great for writers who are also into visual arts, but if you are a hardcore writer I suggest you immerse yourself in the great community and join some good literary groups. There are a lot of other sites out there like RedBubble, Writerscafe, and StoryWrite that I often frequent, but I will leave the exploration of those up to you. Submitting work to the opinionated eyes of others is often a scary deal, don’t let fear stop you from pursuing reader’s comments. Some will not give it the time of day, just find time to rejoice in the ones that find it inspirational while thinking of different ways to mature your writing skills; as always happy writing.

If you have been reading the articles in our magazine you will know that we have a very cool (not to mention freakin deep) writer named Indigo Reid a young professional freelancer. She produces some of the best articles ever and I am so glad that she has decided to join the WalkingBlind team permanently. More about Indigo Reid coming Soon!

Indigo Reid.

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The Lincoln Image: From Martyr to Contemporary Icon By Jenene Packard

Today, Lincoln’s image is known throughout the world. There are about one hundred and thirty known photographs that were taken of him in his lifetime. Several of these have been reproduced in some manner. The most famous images that were reproduced are found on the American penny and fivedollar bill. However, right before the Civil War began, the print industry was just starting to grow as these photographic images were becoming available to the massive public. These ranged from early carte-de-visites, to numerous lithographs and newspaper political cartoon images. And, as historical witness and poet Walt Whitman pointed out: “The reader has seen physiognomies (old sea captains) that, behind their homeliness, or even ugliness, held superior points so subtle, yet so palpable, making the real life of their faces almost as impossible to depict as a wild perfume or fruittaste, or a passionate tone of the living voice – and

Image from the public domain

Throughout the centuries, our society has celebrated the memory of its great leaders. Whenever the name Abraham Lincoln is mentioned, without a doubt, several things come to mind. There have been numerous biographies, performances by passionate Lincoln re-enactors and countless films created to celebrate his legacy and far beyond. And further, if you take a moment to think about the sheer amount of images that are massed produced showing the famous face of Lincoln, you may wonder: what relevance do these images really have? And how do they impact us as individuals?

such was Lincoln’s face: the peculiar color, the lines of it, the eyes, the mouth, expression. Of technical beauty it had nothing – but to the eye of a great artist it furnished a rare study, a feast and fascination.”

Throughout our modern history, individuals have become even more captivated by everything that pertains to Lincoln and the mannerisms of his distinctive face. One would be hard pressed against arguing that one of the most important things we know about him is the study of his image and unforgettable face. Former Lincoln artist and collector Lloyd Ostendorf made several valid points in regards to how valuable this historic image was, and no one else has yet to so perfectly describe his visage: “His is a fascinating face, one that attracts people, whether he appears homely or handsome. His fea-

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tures were coarse and angular – toughened by frontier life. A glimpse of his strange magnetism can be detected in his pictures, and they reflect his uncommon virility and show that he was a man of determination. His facial features were large, his nose, ears, lips, cheekbones, and other traits were unattractive by themselves, but when taken all together seemed to have an artistic balance, or type of rugged beauty. His eyes, deep set and expressive, could sparkle with an alert glint. His likenesses appear to suggest his wisdom, humor and sadness.”

Further, each image tells its own unique story and everyone has a different reaction. The old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is very true in the case of Lincoln. We see him on several different levels: a homespun storyteller, savvy intellectual, political genius, humorist and role model. There is an artistic beauty in each and every image. The relevance for us is in how we find it, further explore it and watch it evolve. 101

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Image from the public domain

Out of the vast collection of original photographs taken of our sixteenth president, long after his assassination, there have been literally thousands more images created. There are a variety of logos, stamps, magazine covers, comic books, toys, coinage, and portrayals in several Hollywood films from the early 1920s and beyond. Abraham Lincoln’s rich history and complex nature make him an ideal artistic character study. One of the most interesting things of all throughout the years is the evolution of Lincoln’s rise from martyr to world-renowned icon. Even in his own lifetime, Lincoln could not have imagined the sheer significance of his great American story and how so many individuals gaze upon his varied images today and feel a personal connection to him.

Lincoln’s unique face still continues to heavily influence and interest people. For years, artists and writers have attempted to put into words the sheer power behind his gentle gray eyes, strong brows, and peculiar curve of his lips, which taken all together, show us a perfected Lincolnian portrait. However, to all of those who knew him best, his countenance would always be: “the old familiar face of A. Lincoln,” and we could not be happier about that.

The highest art is always the most religious, and the greatest artist is always a devout person. Abraham Lincoln

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For more on Knite by Yuumei or to read the next chapter please visit her website at: http://yuumei.deviantart.com/

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