Turtle Island Trading - Oil Painting and Film Photography

Описание: One of the most unique spots in Little Five Points is Turtle Island Trading. This Native American owned store is the only truly native store in the area. I’m lucky enough to visit my partner, Naomi, when I stop in to look at new Zuni jewelry or stock up on incense. Carmen and Yellow Bird, the owners, have decades of knowledge and wisdom that they love to share with the community. The store arranges and runs important cultural events for Atlanta as well, like Pow Wows, flute circles, and movie showings.
I set up across the street on a sweltering day with a hexagon canvas. People swirled around the neighborhood, bustling between restaurants and the odd-end shops Little Five Points is known for.
It was an adventure working on the hexagon canvas. The oil painting brings the eye in, focusing it on the most worked up part of the canvas – the storefront of Turtle Island Trading. The sign above the door is detailed with small, distinct brushstrokes showing a dazzling yellow and umber red sky behind a number of native figures, some standing, some on horseback. Behind the purple painted windows, simple brushstrokes suggest sculptures and lama hair blankets set out to showcase the store's wares. The red door is painted with soft reds, outlined in purple. The yellow brick facade of the building is rendered in brick-like dots of gold, teal, red, and purple. The dashes of color placed so close together give the impression of the neatly stacked bricks of the wall.
The windows on the building around Turtle Island Trading are purposefully simplified boxes of shadow, with a few sweeping alternative colors of oil paint to suggest the glass in the frame. The outline of an edge of a star represents the star hung in one window at the edge of the canvas.
The top of the hexagon composition showcases a blue and white edge of sky above the dancing brushstrokes of the roof. The tiles of the roof are made with small symmetrical brushstrokes of a deep orange over the peach of the background layer of paint. To the left of the composition, a large tree emerges from the concrete of the sidewalk. Its purple trunk splits into two partway up the canvas, surrounded by clusters of foliage suggested with deep green topped with bright yellowish green.
The swatch of cement before the store is painted with varying shades of purple, blue, and pink. The lines flow with the hexagon canvas, drawing the eye around the piece.
For film, I was shooting Kodak Ektar 100 in the Canon A-1. Bold colors and shadows that drop off into infinity keep me returning to this film stock. I was able to catch a moment when Naomi stepped out of the store to help someone. The landscape photo shows the store as well as the painting on the easel. The sunlight highlights the storefront of Turtle Island Trading.
I wanted to capture the same scene in a portrait format. This shot is similar, but reveals the blue of the sky. I like the radiance of Turtle Island Trading’s sign.
This unintentional double exposure feels very Little Five. This man, dressed in the clothes of a mystic, stood in the sunlight between two poles in my composition. This image surprised me, but lent a wonderful effect.
This portrait of Naomi turned out nicely. I don’t always get all the Photo Flo off my negatives, sometimes leaving watermark effects like the little ghost hanging out on my umbrella. Another portrait of Naomi shows the strength Ektar has with shadows. Naomi’s eyes, hair, and sweater have a smacking depth that draws me into the photo.
Another landscape of Turtle Island Trading as the sun fell into the far side of the sky. The blurred car mixed with two glimpses of people highlight the busy environment around the painting.
A portrait of a beach umbrella, a painting, and a straw hat. This scene is as familiar to me as salt and pepper.
Finishing a painting feels like finishing a long hike. It feels good to break everything down like pulling down a tent after a weekend of camping.
`The last photo of the day was this portrait of a couple framed through the converging posts of my easel. Naturally, Turtle Island Trading is the star of the show.

This was an especially satisfying painting to create. The energy in Little Five Points is always abundant. The buildings are at once gritty yet inviting. Most importantly, however, this space is special to Naomi. I wanted to do it justice.

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