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Submitted by mimi 05/08/08 5:11 AM GMT
Our next artist to be spotlighted as determined by her peers is none other than our own solita17
Let's all shower her with accolades as we take time to stroll through her varied gallery of images that she has delighted us with.
Yikes! I have been rendered (almost) speechless at being chosen featured artist of the month... It’s both a surprise and a great honor to be so recognised by my Caedes “family”. And I thank you for it.
So..... My full name is Mary Andrist Leech. (‘solita17’ is the nickname (and age) of the main character in my half-written historical novel. I live in Harwichport, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, with my husband of 27 years and our 12-year-old Maltese dog, Miss Lalabelle. We have no children of our own but I have a stepson, Charlie, who like his Dad, is a musician, and who is married with two sons . That makes me a stepgrandmother!
I have always considered myself, first and last, a writer and poet, which was a natural since my father was a writer and a senior editor in NYC... but he was also an ‘amateur’ photographer who took (and developed and printed) photos of his three daughters from birth to adulthood, and I’m sure this is where I first developed an interest in photography. My first camera was a little Ricoh 500 that I got one Christmas when I was attending Boston University. My boyfriend at the time was an artist and photographer, and he gave me my first lessons in the art (he now earns his living as a staff photographer at BU). I used the Ricoh for years ( including a four-year odyssey in a commune , circa 1970-74) until after I got married, when I bought a Pentax... and being an overwhelmingly ‘right-brained’ person, had to take a course to learn how to use it (lol, I think).... Somewhere in the late 80’s I became very ill for several reasons... I had contracted Lyme Disease (carried by deer ticks which positively thrive on Cape Cod) and Fibromyalgia... and Chronic Fatigue... and thyroid disease... and spent several years at home, mostly in bed, forsaking photography, and just about everything else. Constant pain and fatigue became my every-day companions..... Since I have also experienced severe depression and anxiety most of my life, it’s been quite the odyssey back into the land of the living. Although.... being house-bound, I began to discover art-photography sites online... it was a way of experiencing the world I so missed. The first site was DeviantArt. But a friend of mine kept e-mailing me about a site she had discovered called Caedes. She kept saying, “You really must take a look.” So... I took a look... and decided to stay... within months of signing on I took some $$ from an inheritance and bought my first digital camera, a Nikon D80 with an 18-135 mm lens. It was the first time I had used a camera in 15 years... And I’m still learning how to use it!
Today I’m not house-bound, I’m out ‘discovering’ almost every day. Although I continue to experience pain and fatigue, when I’m out on a ‘shoot’ I don’t hurt, instead I feel alive, energized, part of the world... Also, in the last year I’ve discovered more wonderful places and people on Cape Cod than I did in all previous 28 years I’ve lived here! And I owe all of that to my friend and to all of you at Caedes.
What is it about Caedes that has helped me? The friendship and the camaraderie, communicating with fellow artists, wonderful photography and people from around the world, hanging’ out on the wild and crazy ‘Offtopics’ threads, both comments and critiques... although i can’t always take you up on a suggestion since I don’t have a program like Photoshop.... ummm, I’m not quite sure about the dreaded c-index, however I have made a kind of peace with it. I don’t bother it and it doesn’t bother me! (lol again, I think) BTW, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have left comments and critiques on all my photos... because of the Fibro and Lyme, and accompanying ‘brain fog’, I can’t get around to thank each of you in a personal way, but I really value and appreciate each and every thing you all have taken the time to say! Yes!
Do I have a favorite image that I posted? I sort of lean towards Zen simplicity, like ‘Mallard Abstract’ or ‘Shadowdance’, or ‘Red Dinghy Redux’......but they really are like my children, it’s hard to pick favorites.
So.... thank you one and all for your friendship, your encouragement, your suggestions on how to be a better artist, your support, your craziness (Offtopics people, you know who you are), and a special thank you to Caedes and all who see that this site runs so smoothly and beautifully.
- Mary
