The next eleven photographs are Triptychs.
Each consist of three separate Giclee gallery wrapped canvas', 
 joined together in the back with 1/4" spacing.

Trails End  42" x  28"

Rounding Pylon #2  42" x 28"
Remember when you learned to roll into a steep turn
 and had to squeeze just the right amount of rudder and, at the exact time, 
needed elevator to stay in coordinated flight without loss of altitude? 

Wingin' It  42" x 28"
We all know the feeling. It doesn't matter what incredible techniques
 you have employed during the flight. What counts is the landing.
 Blow that baby and all of your previous heroics are tossed out the window. 

Cranes, Cranes, Cranes  42" x 32"
Formation references depend on what position you are flying. 
You most likely will have a wing-line reference and a longitudinal reference. 
Along with these references you will need to maintain wingtip/nose-tail separation.

Full man a Flower 42" x 25"
Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear:   
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste it's fragrance on the desert air. 
                          - Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard 

...and the Monsoon Came  42" x 28"
 How it pours, pours, pours, In a never-ending sheet!
 How it drives beneath the doors! How it soaks the passer's feet!
                                                       Rhyme of the Rain, Rossiter Johnson

Games People Play  42" x 34"
We don't stop playing because we grow old;
 we grow old because we stop playing.
                                                                                                     - George Bernard Shaw

Squirrel in the Oak Tree  42" x 22"
 I would bet your dog once chased a squirrel into the oak tree
 and now expects the squirrel to be there.

Somewhere Under the Rainbow  42" x 28"
 The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow,
 but the rainbow won't wait while you do the work.

Tribute to Tom Mix  42" x 28"
Taken in the Tom Mix Wash

       Tom Mix, the Whoop-de-do Cowboy

Back in the 20's, he was King of the West.
He righted all wrongs on his celluloid quest.
He galloped "tlot tlot" through the Hollywood plains.
He caught all the crooks who were robbing the trains.
Round town, he was suave, a star sprinkled with gilt.
He was rich. He was smooth, played it up to the hilt.
His mansion was lit with a silver screen shine
That proclaimed the Mix name on a big neon sign.
He wore fancy dan outfits and lizard skin boots,
Indulged in wild weekends and long, drunken toots.
On his belt glittered diamonds, as well as on spurs,
While his six lovely wives wore voluminous furs.
He packed reels with action for 300 flicks,
Leading Tony, his pony, through daredevil tricks.
He strolled on through time with his tall cowboy walk.
But when talkies arrived, old Tom didn't talk.
Instead, bought a circus and toured through the land.
It was there, outside Tucson, he made his last stand.
Near a wash in the desert, his roadster of speed
Rolled on through the night like a tumbling weed.
All alone in his Cord, who knows why he swerved?
Inattentive or drunk, in a doze or unnerved.
His suitcase slipped forward, a moment he cussed.
When his car went amuck, Tom Mix bit the dust.
Now his name is a legend. And no one knows why.
Just a black and white cowboy. One hellova guy
                                                Connie Spittler (aka my wife)

 

 

Waiting for Van Gogh  42" x 29"
"I am hard at it, painting with the enthusiasm of a Marseillais eating bouillabaisse,
 which won't surprise you when you know that what I'm at is 
the painting of some sunflowers."
                                        -Van Gogh

Curious Orange  42" x 25"
I will be the gladdest thing under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one.
-                                                             Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Afternoon on a Hill"

Curious Lavender  42" x 28"
Bisbee Open Pit Mine
 

Curious Yellow  13" x 19"
 To see a world in a grain of sand 
and a heaven in a wild flower    
         hold infinity in the palm of your hand
 and eternity in an hour.               
                                             -William Blake

        
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THE GALLERY

Evening Desert

Finger Rock, Tucson

Quail

Flame Skimmer

 
Backyard Visitor

Wild Desert Flower found near the Tom Mix Memorial Wash
on Highway 77 North of Oracle, AZ. Flowers are about 1/4"

Arizona Evening Sky

The Flautist, Ft. Bragg CA

Cat & the Buzzard

Click here for more photos

Click here for El Tour De Tucson photos

rjvs@rjvs.com

SPLITTERATIOS
(photo compositions)|

For the following photos, my photographic emphasis is on Splitteratio’s,  a presentation formulated in paintings I first exhibited in 1987 at the Artists’ Coop in Omaha, Nebraska. Admittedly for this technique, I tip my hat to David Hockney and Rene Magritte.

I start with a familiar image, then slice it into fragments, a reminder of the pieces around us that compose the whole. It’s a visual representation of a simple idea. The pieces and parts that go into the sum of it all.

In my film career, one of the important parts of the process was the editing. So many views and approaches are possible, using different editing styles. I find that by cutting and splicing, I can also change the look and emphasis of my still photographs, giving me unlimited choices.

It’s been said that Splitteratios are a deconstruction of Gestalt. If the German psychologists found that we see patterns instead of a whirling blur of colors and shapes, my camera focuses on the segments and shades that blend together to make up a bird or a raindrop or a butterfly. Through editing, I can separate the parts and juxtapose them in different ways. 

The pieces and parts. The sum of it all. 
We go through life surrounded by the familiar,
 not noticing, not paying attention

Winter, Mt Lemon

a reminder of the pieces around us that compose the whole

Wing Span

As a design element, Splitteratios expand space and manipulate dimension

Morning Moon

Splitteratios photographic division plays with vertical and horizontal images,

Agave

 Or just think of Splitteratios as a visual representation of a simple idea.

           
       R.I.P.                                               Cat Buzzard 

..

rjvs@rjvs.com

      The eye of my camera focuses primarily on nature, to freeze the ordinary beauty and simple mysteries that wait to be remembered. After years of cinematography, I now concentrate on digital imagery with a Nikon D2X. As with motion picture film, I’ve found that editing remains one of the most important parts of the creation. So many views and approaches are possible, so many techniques and styles. By composing, framing and splicing, I emphasize, alter or transform, not re-creating the exact image, but bringing my own imagination to each individual piece.
     My latest work translates photography into giclee prints on archival canvas and/or paper, using archival inks. I embrace this vibrant medium because it allows total control over the photography, from inception through my own printing process, giving each print an individual stamp. 

PUBLICATIONS & AWARDS
   Art in America Guide to Galleries, Museums and Artists, ’85-‘86 and ’86-‘87
   Clio Award
   Gold, Silver & Bronze Medals, New York and Houston International Film Festivals   

BACKGROUND
   Over fifty years in photography 
   16 & 35 mm motion picture film. Arriflex, Mitchell, Auricon, Bolex, Cine Special.
    Numerous formats of still photography, 2 ¼, 4 x 5, 35 mm. Nikon, Canon, Nikonos,  
    Roliflex, Hasselblad, Speed Graphic, Pentax, Argus C3. 

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