A Picture’s Worth With Karen Divine

While in Fiji, I felt no need to reveal the translucent turquoise waters or the rich green mountains all around because that would be expressing the obvious. The boats moved easily, symbolically providing transport to other realms, enabling transitions to occur and I was ready to shift into something new. I was supposed to come here last summer but was detoured literally on my way to the airport to my mothers side and subsequent death. I was desperate for a week of pure relaxation, reflection and change then, and even more so now, six months later.

‘Fiji Project 3’ – ©Karen Divine

When I travel, I shoot like everyone else. I take random images, cute images, parts of things, textures, bad images and, the occasional well-composed single image just as an exercise to see if I can still do that. When I start to composite, I make an effort to use only those images I’ve taken during that adventure. It’s a challenge I give myself, see what you can create with what’s happening in that moment. In “Coming Home”, however, I brought in a few other elements of images taken elsewhere.

Without a plan or intention, the images quickly begin to pounce on top of one another, blending with a sense of playfulness and freedom, two elements imperative for the creative process. As most artists, I rely on my intuition to guide me and have managed after many years of practice to find that path at will, and when the muse is “out” I simply wait for her to return. I believe that the discipline of creating art invites one to enter into an authentic relationship with oneself and one’s process and is a guide to greater personal awareness.

I wanted to understand the shadows I saw and felt. The shadows were symbolic of all that I carried there that I didn’t want any longer… the years of difficult lessons and unnecessary activity. I wanted to exist in a new way with a new perspective… I wanted to dig beneath the obvious and touch the obscure, the portal to a new place. That is what I hoped for during this journey and that was the initial meaning I wrote for the image “Coming Home” which was the last image I created on the long flight home.

‘Coming Home’ – ©Karen Divine

The first five days home I did not feel well and thought I had a virus. I am rarely sick so I wasn’t concerned and carried on but by the end of the week I was flat out and had to be taken to the ER for such a severe case of vertigo, I could not move or eat. I had never had this before. No infection and not related to anything that we could remedy by certain postures, I was left to my couch, relying on my kids to help me get up. After two weeks remaining vertical, I remembered this image and shuttered at the thought that this was exactly how I felt. My head was so disconnected from anything around me with no signs of finding an outlet. I thought perhaps I should force myself to make another image setting the head free from this bondage. I remained inactive and unable to work for an entire month. The shift I was so looking forward to from this journey took place but not through the portal of joy and relaxation as I had anticipated.

My usual approach:

Scratchcam for textures initially

Juxtaposer for parts of images

Blender to create new colors and surprises

Photo FX again for new colors and emphasis

Snapseed mostly for selective adjustments

I reuse parts of other completed work…