Kent Lorentzen
Welcome to the Artists Blog !!
1stAngel: When did you first become interested in art?
Kent: Gosh… I don’t know. Suppose that would depend on how you define art. As a kid I was pretty much typical, liked to draw, doodle, and had occasional dreams of painting. Just, never really had much talent for any of it, especially painting. Now… If you consider crafts art… I was better at that, liked to build and make things. And, I still do!
Took some pictures over the years and continued trying my hand at drawing off and on. Interest waxed and waned as time went by.
My current interest started in the mid-1990’s when I found iron-on t-shirt transfer paper for my printer. I was selling garden goodies at a farmers market and thought it’d be fun to wear shirts with garden or veggie related designs while selling my stuff. Came up with a few designs and kept adding more as time went by.
Eventually I found Cafepress, and thought… What the heck, why not try selling stuff online since many folks at market asked if I sold my shirts.
Things kinda grew from there. I kept adding more stuff. More garden and veggie things, silly things, gifts for family and friends, etc. Found some photos, scanned them and put them up too. Gathered recipes from the farmers market and put them in a book. My shop just kept growing.
Time marched on and I discovered more PODs (Print On Demand services) like Imagekind, Printfection, Redbubble, Zazzle, Lulu, etc. Checked them out, and put things up on some of them. Imagekind was great for photos. So… I found more photos and put them there. Eventually got a digital camera and have been having a great time attempting to get nice pictures ever since.
1stAngel: What style of art do you use most?
Kent: Boy, this’s a tough question for me. I don’t know that I’ve really made a conscious choice of a style. I’ve just done what was fun or interesting at the time.
1stAngel: Has your style changed from when you first began as an artist?
Kent: Okay… I’m not an ‘artist’ But, my work has changed over the years, it’d be kinda strange if it didn’t, wouldn’t it? After all… Life experiences change us, and the world changes around us, and I’m sure that’s changed how I view things and do things.
1stAngel: What medium do you use?
Kent: My present camera is a Nikon L4. I have a bunch of different programs I use, depending on what I’m trying to do. Some work best with photos, some with text, and others with graphics or illustrations. Some t-shirt designs combine all of them with parts of the design being a photo with maybe a graphic or illustration added plus some text. It might require sending a work back and forth between several programs to get what I had in mind.
1stAngel: What made you choose that medium?
Kent: Lack of talent for doing other types of things and enjoyment of just playing around.
1stAngel: Do your ideas come from life or imagination?
Kent: Mostly life with a bit of imagination thrown in.
1stAngel: How do you choose your images and colours?
Kent: For photos, very often it’s just going for a walk and keeping my eyes
open. Sometimes the images choose me. Like… One morning I was
getting ready to go to Farmers Market, loading the truck with garden
goodies and so on. After getting the truck loaded there was still
about 15 minutes before I needed to leave. The sun was just rising and
looking kinda nice… So, I grabbed the camera went over to the river,
got down on the rocks and took some pics looking upstream at the
sunrise as it was just rising above trees around the bend. Captured
one of my favorite photos that morning. And… It wasn’t anything
planned just spur of the moment and nature giving me the chance to
capture a pretty sunrise.
Or… On this foggy morning Raven (my dog) decided to jump up on a hay bale while we were walking out in the field. For a change, she sat still long enough to snap a bunch of pictures.
And this was another morning walk along the Mississippi river.
Once in a while I’ll take some pictures that are semi-planned. The sun at the top of the spruce tree in my front yard was one of those. I was working at the computer on a brisk winter morning when seeing the sun and the tree, wondered if I could capture it. Took the tripod and camera outside and set up. Got pics from three slightly different spots. I ended up putting this picture on my Christmas cards.
Another sorta planned picture. Went for a walk across the field in the fresh powdery snow with Raven, she was having a wonderful time running and playing in the snow. I snapped some pics of her, but she was being her typical uncooperative self, turning away or going in a different direction just as I took a picture. I thought I saw an opportunity that might make a good picture… So, crouched down, aimed the camera, prepared myself to press the button, and called Raven’s name. She turned and came toward me… I pressed the button and hoped. Raven had been in a good pose. Did I capture it? A fraction of a second either way or pointing the camera slightly different could make all the difference… I think I was very lucky! What do you think?
1stAngel: Who is your favourite artist?
Kent: I’d probably have to say Norman Rockwell. He captured life so well in his work!
1stAngel: What is your favourite piece of work by yourself?
Kent:At the moment… I’d have to say ‘Fun in the Snow’ with Raven’s tongue sticking out, snow on her nose and her legs kicking up the powdery snow.
1stAngel: How much time (on average) does it take to complete a work?
Kent: For photos I very seldom do anything other than a crop or slight adjustment so not much time there. If you are counting the all the times I’ve tried to capture a good image before getting one… Well, then some photos have taken a very long time to get.
Most often for my t-shirt stuff it’s half a day to a day to actually finish a design. A lot of time can go by dreaming up a design. Sometime I seem to have a design that’s almost right, but not quite, so I’ll get away from it for a while and let it sit. Coming back with fresh eyes often helps for seeing how to edit it so it’ll be better. Actual editing time usually isn’t long, but sitting time before I look at the design again could be a day, weeks, months, or even longer, like a couple of designs I started years ago and haven’t finished.
1stAngel: How well do you take criticism?
Kent:
Constructive criticism and suggestions, plus folks saying what they like and don’t like, are always welcome. I never have problems with differences of opinion as long as people are respectful.
1stAngel: What do you do to overcome a ‘block’?
Kent:
Do something else for a while. There are so many things to do there’s never a lack of way to take my mind off art or photography.
1stAngel: How do you know something is ‘finished’? Is it easy to walk away?
Kent:
Usually when I’ve looked at something three separate times and haven’t changed or tweaked something… I figure it’s as good as it’s gonna get!
1stAngel: Have you any exhibits in galleries planned for the future?
Kent: Haven’t even thought about doing something like that.
1stAngel: What are your plans for the future?
Kent: Just keep on plugging along, taking pics when the opportunity arises, and making t-shirt designs as ideas occur.
Thank you Kent for allowing me the interview. Very impressive photos I love them.. and your dog is beautiful!
http://niftywares.imagekind.com - Kent’s Imagekind profile
http://www.NiftyPiks.com - Nifty Photos and Art - His art review site
http://www.cafepress.com/niftywares - Kent’s Cafepress shop
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