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First Things

A Group of First

Featured Work

the study of angels by Michael Scholl

One of four portraits and sketches of Angel Warda I’ve been working on. This is one of those times I felt that I needed to try different styles. / I’ll probably post at least 2 others to show the differences. color pencil and gouache paint on bogus rough sketch paper.
Never featured by Lorenzo Castello

My heart bleeds, I have never been featured by Red Bubble / oil and tears on canvas 50×70cm
The Rendezvous by Reynaldo

2010 Mixed Media watercolour, acrylic, pastel on 140 lb. watercolour paper 24×18” The Rendezvous was Featured in / First Things Group 07 2010 The Rendezvous was Featured in / Lifeline 04 Feb 2010 A Tribute to Womanhood Series of 40/40 paintings, drawings, poems, a collaboration with the Austrailian Beauty Anthea Slade. Brilliant poet, artist, writer. This is the 5th painting drawing from Archetype Series Mini Series within Womanhood Series. / The Rendezvous was inspired by the lovely drawing…..The Courtean by Anthea Slade.
Silky Silence...from "Whispers" series by dorina costras

Silky Silence…from “Whispers” series / Painting by Dorina Costras / Acrylic on canvas / 40/90 cm / Original for sale Please view large
At a bar in Paris by RosWebb

Ink and acrylic on paper
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings by Lorenzo Castello

She wasn’t the right one, I am still waiting… / Oil on paper 50×70cm
Pixie by Lorna Gerard

Here’s another acrylic work, also 36”x36”. I had so much fun painting this one, think it shows in the work. At present I am working on about six paintings at once, so they are always changing and they seem to be an on going process, but lots of fun and joy, hope you like it. / This one was created from a sketch/ idea I had when we were in Italy, kinda inspired by the great fashion there.
Garden Love by Lorna Gerard

Acrylic painting, evolved from a rough idea I had. I was very pleased with the end result. I am really enjoying trying this new style. I use to paint alot in oils but was allergic to the turps and would get some whopper headaches, so now I have switched to acrylics and really love it, just find it abit frustrating at times because it dries so quickly, but I am adding some slow retarder medium which helps. This is also why I am not on RB as much, this work is quite large 36”x36” (sorry don’t know the metric) / Hope you like.
Quick Study of Young Clara Schumann by Fred Smilde

24”X30” oils on stretched canvas- the last one for the time being of my series of experiments (attempts) of capturing the essence of a person in a short amount of time- Clara Schumann- wife of Robert- wonderful pianist and composer in her own right
Three Muses by Ming Myaskovsky

Three Muses / 16” x 24” / Acrylic on Canvas board / . / . / Music by Helene Segara / . / . / Featured in Live and Let Live Group / . / . / Featured in Impressionism Cafe Group / . / . / .
Where Angels Fear To Tread by Reynaldo

2010 Mixed Media on 140 lb. watercolour paper 24×18” Where Angels Fear To Tread was Featured / in First Things Group 07 Feb. 2010 A collaboration with The Australian Beauty Anthea Slade, brilliant poet, artist, writer. ..... Toxic by Anthea Slade was / Featured in Anger Management / Group 08 Feb. 2010 Toxic was Featured in Freedom / to Shine Group 07 Feb. 2010 Toxic was Featured in / Touch By Fire Group 07 Feb 2010 TOXIC by Anthea Slade / ... / Hammer…Hammer…Hammer / Fifteen minutes of annhilation each morning / One way transmission bombarding our minds / whilst strategically choosing the next one / to manage out. / ... / Micro…Micro…Micro Manage / Not happy unless inflicting / intense pressure and critical posion on the staff / with the aim to destroy and drive out. / ... / Tick…Tick…Tick…Tock / Time is an assassin / Heath issues pandemic / Insomnia, Anxiety and Depression / Rising blood pressure / Pending heart attack / as they turn the knife of abuse. / ... / Emergency of the soul as it starts to collapse / Red light as the character continues to corrode / Squash down, destroy staff / Sell and con up to upper management. / ... / Distant management that does not show face / as the manager is given carte blanche to kill their underlings / by severe pressure / Staff poised ready for the onslaught / Who will they slaughter next? / ... / Narcissism at its most impure / the manager looks only at their own reflection / I am a good manager and if / you don’t like it you can leave? / They remains unchecked as they manipulates / the upper management to believe / the staff are corrupt and have turned against them… / as staff march out the door each month? / ... / Staff march out as quickly as they can escape / Unemployment rises / Recession intensifies / We are urged to empower clients / but at the same time staff / are being abused by management / ... / Given more then is humanly possible to do / they set us up for high anxiety and / emotional breakdown / that leads to mental failure. / ... / Decay of character in / the new work place / Post Modern dilemma / as rashes form on our faces / calluses form on our hearts / ... / Autocratic…dogmatic rule / Who gave them permission to / destroy peoples lives as / the hammer falls and falters on our heads / ... / Blood yellow Face black / Conquer and divide the staff / by favouring one staff over the others / Not giving credit to those who are deserving / Rewarding the favourites / Creating internal competition / Making the staff feel uneasy and / insecure trying to devastate inner peace. / The manager’s actions alone trigger all kinds of / passive resistance. / ... / High attrition and absenteeism is not a sign of bad staff / but is instead an indication of the / ineptitude of management. / Still the reasons for leaving remain uninvestigated. / ... / Their hostile actions make / hypocrites of what they preach / As they do not practice / a win win win mentality / instead they destroy destroy destroy / No compassion is demonstrated. / Insensitivity is rampid. / ... / Makes our blood boil / blood pressure rise / we are a time bomb ticking / and only financial vulnerability / keeps us soldiering on. / ... / Time is thief / Life is a betrayer / Passive resistance is the only protection / as the staff must put on the armour of war / before each day they enter the door. / ... / Only the need for survival keeps us there / As the hostile environment demands / that to survive we must disengage / Rather then submit to the murder / of our hearts and souls. / ... / They the chosen ones / rides on the success of the hard work / of the victims they hammer / and yet no recognition is given to those / who should receive it. / The manager micro manages all because / they do not trust their staff / to get the work done. / ... / The manager moves with reckless abandon / hammering, white anting, conquering and dividing / The beast the corporate psychopath / A power path destroying the fabric of business / and hence society / Is it really true that 1 in 10 managers have / the profile of a criminal psychopath? / ... / The cult of the criminal mind / the insidious undermining / the blatant favouritism / the shocking destruction of others / where they target and abuse / until they either the person leaves / from high anxiety or complete breakdown. / ... / Staff struggle to breathe / Trying not to drown as / they tread water in the muck of this abuse / So exhausted by the energy used to survive / they are too drained to look for work / Self esteem is eroded / beyond recognition. / ... / Who told them it was ok to make the workplace / a War Zone? / Each word is a bullet of soul destruction where / the knife cuts the core out of our hearts. / Where they set one individual up against another. / Where muted mind try to unravel brilliant minds / Where words always have a motive and / Where nothing is what it seems / Where walking in the office the vital energy is sucked dry. / ... / We pray to escape / We long to break free / We hope to survive and / reveal this so others do not have to be / subject to this utter abuse of the soul / Because this manager is TOXIC and this should / never have been allowed to happen. / ... / Enough already. / Out out out dammed spot. / The destroyer needs to be destroyed / and Toxic transformed to healthy / environment where collaboration, / voice and professionalism reign supreme / Oh yes this is my cry and this / is my dream. / .... / By Anthea Slade Written 6 January 2010
the apples lady by elisabetta trevisan

tempera and pastel watersoluble on mdf / cm 90×90

Recent Work

Landscape of dreaming water'... by valzart

“Featherlike waves on the water reflecting the evening sky / sun descending ending a golden day, the evening is nigh’ ”. by V.A.Kelly ... Landscape of dreaming water’ was a first experimental creation – digitally painted from a photo and then put through Redfield Fractalius plug-in …inspired by the beauty of Nature…savetheworld ... Everyone knows that to save the world it is imperative to reuse. One of the easiest green money saving tips is to utilize reusable batteries. Batteries are a huge area of waste, with over fifteen billion thrown away each year. Reusable batteries can often be charged up to 1000 times, which certainly can help save the world…. ...... / ...
One Red Lantern by Kimba Vetten

As always with Chinese New Year we see red lanterns everywhere. This year the government has made these huge helium, I think, balloons. They are amazing. There are about 10 in total and they are all together just outside out little town. At first I got such a fright when I saw them as they were being released. It looked like UFO’s coming over the hill. LOL. Taken in Lotung, Taiwan / Canon 450 D
Happiness Lives by parmi

Spent a day in the park on the weekend, with some mates. Had the viewfinder out with me and I looked up.. :) A little reminder to everyone that no matter what happens and how hard things get, happiness lives somewhere, just need to look for it. Canon 50D / 18 – 55, 58mm / Macro Filter / Ansco Rediflex / Home Made Darkbox See here for instructions on how to create an image like this. Original image cropped to a square, layered three times, blended, warming filter added. MCN: CQPN9-E53H5-YPJ6B
Closer by Shelly Hiebert

Nikon D90 / Sigma 10-20 / f/4 / ISO 400 My daughter Abi wanted to do some ‘Grudge’ type work so this is what we came up with. Closer – Kings of Leon stranded in this spookie town, / stop lights swayin and the phone lines are down / this floor is crackling cold, / she took my heart, I think she took my soul / with the moon I run, / far from the carnage of the firey sun drivin’ by the strangle of vain / showin’ no mercy I’ll do it again / open up your eyes / you keep on crying, baby I’ll bleed you dry / skies, they blink at me / I see a storm bubbling up from the sea and it’s coming closer you shimmy shock my bones, / leavin’ me stranded all in love on my own / what do you think of me? / where am I now, baby where do I sleep? / feels so good when I’m home / 2000 years of chasing takin’ it’s toll and it’s coming closer
Step Into This World by Chocolat

Well it’s late in the hour and a few more grains of sand will fall. The colorful flowers have grown upon the dust and moss, and I see the path to follow and see the shape of things to come. Broken and forgetten and waiting for me to step into this world. Taken in a broken room of the John Darling Colliery Belmont John Darling Colliery Collection
Princess Poodle by mydogmax

12 Year Old Tabitha.
Broken Room by Chocolat

If a building falls you wouldn’t care to notice unless you were in it. Taken in a broken room of the John Darling Colliery Belmont John Darling Colliery Collection
Kapueokahi Hana Bay Maui Hawai'i by Sharon Mau

Kapueokahi / Hana Maui Hawai’i / Kapueokahi is the Hawaiian name of this beautiful area more commonly known as Hana Bay. This is a panoramic view of Kapueokahi and Ka’uiki Hill. Ka’uiki Hill is located on the right side of Hana Bay. This hill was formed in one of the last lava flows and volcanic events on Maui. A volcanic vent sprayed lava up into the air. This gaseous lava was caught by the trade winds coming off the Pacific Ocean, piling the lava into a hill. The lava is rich with iron giving the hill and nearby beaches a deep red color. There is a trail that leads along Ka’uiki Hill to a red sand beach pocket. Along this trail is a plaque marking the site where Hawai’i’’s beloved Queen Ka’ahumanu was born in a nearby cave. She was the favorite wife of Ali’i (King) Kamehameha the Great. The point of Ka’uiki Hill stretches into the ocean where a small light beacon is located to warn ships of the shoreline. Ironwood trees drop their needles onto the steep trail and the cinder pebbles are like round marbles making this trail treacherous and slippery. It is best to access it by canoe. I love the cloud shadows on the deep blue ocean. ourjrny / The Heart Within the Art Copyright © Sharon Mau 2010 / My images do not belong to the public domain. / No form of reproduction, including copying or saving of digital image files, or the alteration or manipulation of said image is authorized unless accompanied by a written sales and/or licensing agreement issued by Sharon Mau / All rights reserved Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Composition With Roses – February 9, 2010 by Ivana Redwine

This digital painting/photo manipulation was created in Photoshop CS3 using my digital photography as source material. / / © Copyright 2010 Ivana Redwine, All Rights Reserved
Glamour by Reynaldo

2010 Pastel, pastel wash on 140 lb. watercolour paper 16×12” Glamour… and Glamour…Trap. is a collaboration between Reynaldo and Anthea that is separate to our Tribute to Womanhood Series. Anthea’s beautifully written poem Glamour Trap was the inspiration for this painting. Glamour…Trap. You’re so vain / I bet you think this poem is about you / You’re so vain / I bet you think this poem is about you / Don’t you? / Don’t you? / Don’t you? / Did Carly Simon / see all those years ago that / vanity and happiness were incompatible? Vulnerable Marilyn knew / that the lost child in her needed mass attention / and without it she felt invisible. / So she watched herself being looked at and dreamed… / Song bird Judy knew / when she was forced to diet as a child / to make physical self / reflect her gifted and projected self. / Naomi Wolf knew / as she debunked glamour in the beauty myth. Is our skin in 2010 really more important than our soul? / When did surface over rule substance? / When did voluptuous turn to anorexia as a preferred look? / When did womanly change to adrogenous? / When did lumps and bumps change from sexy to skinny? / Some where between Marilyn and Kate the notion of glamour / was unpacked and broken apart and what is beautiful reinvented. We just need to look at the mags, the media, the movies / with the smooth, air brushed perfect look of models and actresses to / see what is honoured and admired now. / A 21 year male model visiting my work place told me that / he started to use botox to delay the aging process. / I can delay the lines six months at a time / your face freezes and you stay younger he said. / What about the poison and the lost expression I said. / He looked blank. He could not express his emotion / as his face was dead of expression. / I could not have them airbrush me at 21. So I just froze it It’s all over for us two 40 year old women cried. / How is it over? I said. / We don’t have that sexual pull that attention on mass like we use to they said. / When did what we look like become more important then who we are? I said. / The pressure to look good and be young is overwhelming / as 100’s of Hollywood movies stars demonstrate as they cut / their lines, their faces and their ages away each hour, each day. We can take our own self portrait with our iPhones from every angle / We can post our best as we become our own muses and our own models / As artists some use no one else but self for their art. / When did Narcissism become the new religion of this Wired generation? / Yes??? / Narcissuss who fell in love with his own reflection as he stared at the pool / so long he died so in love with self he became someone else. / Has narcissism become the new mental illness of this ME generation? / Do we all fall victim to those blue, those brown, those green eyes / that stare back at us in the mirror? Did the wicked Queen in Snow White / have it right when she said Mirror Mirror on the Wall / who is the fairest of them all? / Me. At first it was. Until another beauty rose up / and took her mantle of beauty in the land. Instant online gratification, constant attention / the internet feeds us this Mirror Mirror on the Wall situation / We can take photos and photoshop soften the reality / posting the best we can set up an alluring fascade / to attract attention / to find fine compliments / to feed our ego / to feel an instant high / to feel constant hits / Always on our need to be seen shifts gear to overdrive. / Insatiably we are driven / to be noticed and fed in order to Feel! We put on the perfume of performance / We become the look of glamour / After all we have the tools and desire to be glamourous / ah…But there is a rub? Pop philosophy tells us there is a secret. / The laws of attraction becomes a best seller / My father before he died told me that positive thinking / manifests success when I was eight years old. / I wonder what Foucault, Derrida, DeCarte would have to say / about this…Is it just one view of many? / Or is it suger coating for our self indulgent need to manifest / a partner that looks, breathes, inhales, thinks the same as / we do? What happened to opposites attracting? / Can we move beyond ourselves? Please. Ego attracts ego…when did smile lines become a sin? / When did popularity on mass become more important than difference? / When did others opinions of us become more important than our inner voice? / When did the mirror reflect only our own image and prevent us looking out? / When did outside how we appear become more important then who we are? / Are we so choked by our insabability for attention and blocked by this / notion of glamour that can no longer see? When did we lose the courage to stand up and say this is me? / The real. The raw. The imperfect. The human. ME. / The fault line of my soul / The aging of my beauty / The corrosion of my character that shifts and flits and falls / away from me on all sides. Looking always from the fringes / I got a clear view of the centre / Never being smooth and polished and / even as a youthful beauty my voice got stuck / in my throat infront of 300 peers. Mortified. / Always clumsy a fly flew in my mouth / when I was in the choir and I choked. / Undermined beyond recognition I learnt / to listen to that quiet still voice / within and seek my own counsel. I learnt very young that reality is a lot / different to appearance. / Shakespeare, T.S. Elliot, George Orwell, Vincent taught me well. / Named by my X- Husband – The Essence Girl / You always look beneath the surface of things to the heart of the matter. He said. / _Ah but that is where the beauty lies I said. / I love that about you He said. / He still left. But I remained that essence girl. The quirky, the idiosyncratic, the individual, the fringe dweller. / I always chose the fringe over the mainstream / Empathising with Vincent the eternal fringe dweller / Even though I could have been popular in youth and beauty / I knew that to be popular I would have to sacrifice my inner core. / My mother said I was popular. I never noticed. After my dad / died I turned inward. My truth to self and Shakespeare had already brainwashed me / _Above all unto thine own self be true _He said. / So I saw my blemish / Embraced my differencce / Acknowledged my imperfection / and looked out at others / I learnt that to be interesting / one needs to show interest in others / Asking questions is more important / then a one way monologue with self. When did the superficiality of the outward become / more important then nuanced mystery of the inward journey? / Why do we box ourselves in? / Categorise, scrutinize, glamourise ourselves and leave / our inner life disconnected, unseen and misunderstood? I say let’s remove the box / Let pandora open and reveal the real / beneath the sparkle and gloss / Let’s look out at each other and see / the beauty that resides beneath the surface / Let the raw be revealed / Let us dance and express the song of our heart / even if it is not glamourous. Exposing our vulnerability to others is / perhaps the most courageous act of all. / Let us do a dance of character to its full potentional / Instead of trying to stuff ourselves with the poison / the toxic dumbing down of some preconceived notion / of vanity. For goodness sake let us reach out from our mirror mirror mentality / Let us smash the mirror into 1000 pieces and be real with / ourselves and with others and maybe then we can truly connect / with intensity, with purity, with reality and with beauty, yes the beauty / of who we truly are. And I believe that then and only then we will be able to move / beyond the Glamour trap and finally connect with others / and be free! Ah yes vanity and happiness are incompatible. / I know which one I choose. / And you? By Anthea Slade 25 January 2010
INFIORATA by Birgit Ch. Heinz

INFIORATA is like a mystic flower. This is my newest work of digital art of 2010 … made of very much layers, shades and gradients. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The photo is protected by copyright laws and may not be used on websites, blogs or other media without my written permission; they may not be edited or used in other artworks, neither in total nor in parts. Violations may cause legal consequences. © 2010 B. Heinz | All rights reserved
Tree Roots In Sepia, Derwentwater,Cumbria by Jason Connolly

On another day out to the Lake district national park with RB pals, Steve Smith and Gary Kenyon, first stop at Derwentwater,Saw this tree and it’s amazing roots just on the shoreline / Shot with a Nikon D300 and Sigma 10-20mm lens / Manual / f14 / 2 sec / ISO 200 / 10mm / Converted to mono sepia in PS using Silverefex pro

This group is to portrait everything that has left a lasting first impression in your life. It could be a journal entry, your first picture, your first picture that made it to the Homepage, your first feature, first kiss, first sports team you like, first lights of the day, your first child, your first creation, your or someone else’s first wedding, the first flower of Spring you photographed, the first time you captured art that moved you, your first love, your first painting, first t-shirt, etc. Be creative…

Note: Art Works and Pictures are accepted also Collabs or photo manipulations as long as they are in tune with the groups motto First Things First of course.
Also if you entered your work in multiple challenges do not be afraid of entering those works into the group at the same time.

If is an abstract concept a brief description will be helpful on why this should be considered a “First”. Remember, this could be your first great picture, no matter when, the very first picture for example that you took in a particular style that you are proud of…

The main objective of this group is to promote and maintain our creative minds constantly finding things that are new to us with a childlike curiosity and an open mind in order to better see people, things and places as if you had just seeing them for the first time. To Challenge ourselves to think outside of the box and create something unique and new for the first time.

How will the audience look at a picture if you could capture that feeling? Will your art transfer the feeling for the first time to someone else? How does your art move others to see it as if they had just seeing it for the first time almost through your eyes?

Remember that...First is a Metaphorical Term as well as an actual term. First also means Superb work that is considered Number One! Also first to break barriers, first to stand out for something…Actually is not boxed into just one meaning, just like Art…

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The Future of our beautiful planet is in our hands We can choose to be either a destructive or constructive force of change; Its called Free Will. Stop dreaming about it and make it a reality. Lets carry the weight and reconstruct.... He has already carried the weight for our souls. WaleskaL

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