Saturday, October 9, 2010
Amongthemystery.com
New website! My work is a secret world hidden among the gathering dusk under the trees. Cool evenings after a hot day or a quiet place in the afternoon... www.deborahfaithcorrea.com
Sunday, September 26, 2010
West Coast Trip
Deb has printed 9 sets of 25 drawings from her recent trip down the West Coast. You can view these silk screen prints here. Double click on the images to get a better view.Link to View Tree Prints
We took over 5,000 photos and covered over 2,000 miles of landscape between Washington to California. Read about the story in sequence by looking for "The story continues..." Double click on the images to view larger images, find a few hidden details & surprises. (Start here)
Deb is selling limited edition prints on her website through Paypal. If you have any questions please contact her directly through email.
Link to Purchase Prints
One ending another begining
So before we sent out the prints, we hit a little bump. A baby bump! So there is going to be another Correa on the way. 4/5/2011 We just heard the little heart beating today (during our second check up). If Josh's dad has his way we will have a little baby girl...
Friday, September 10, 2010
A journey's end
Flying back to Ohio I reflected that a week ago I just beginning our 2,000 mile journey. Not only did we cover a lot of ground, but we also saw some amazing sights; the daily glimpse of the Cascade mountains in Seattle; the misty pine covered hills of Oregon where fog blotted out the border between land, sky and ocean; moss covered maples overhanging our road; gigantic trees dwarfing all who aspire to stand beside them; waves crashing on sheer cliffs; sea lions, elephant seals, ground squirrels and elk.. I saw firsthand how the abundance or lack of water, sun and wind can shape an environment, and I saw firsthand the amazing creativity of our Creator in the variety of organisms that make a home in every environment.When I returned to Ohio I had a mountain of work to do; finishing drawings then printing each of my nine drawings 25 times. (That's 225+ prints all by hand!) I compiled the prints in a hanging installation for the Cultivating Growth show. The prints were hung in descending order from North to South. Thank you to all those who believed in me and pre-bought prints of the trees without seeing them. I hope you enjoy them even more knowing a little bit about them.
This trip encouraged me to pursue my creative goals. I gained confidence in my work and am currently applying to graduate school to get a Masters in Art. I am looking forward to many more road trips of this kind all over the US and eventually internationally!
I hope you enjoyed reading about our journey and most of all I hope you are encouraged to go have an adventure of your own! Thanks for reading :)
Content by Deborah Correa
Layout and design by Joshua Correa
All photos by Joshua & Deborah Correa
www.cultivatinggrowth.org 2010 show
Trees of Orange County
O.C. Tree tour
The next day Josh’s dad Danny took me on a private tour of the trees of Orange County. First on the list were Canyon Live Oaks. I had forgotten to charge the camera batteries so I missed the opportunity to take photos of these gnarly trees, but enjoyed seeing them. We visited two huge Moreton figs, both planted in the 1880’s. 
The Moreton fig at the Santa Barbara train station officially tops these two, however they were equally impressive. One was in front of a Catholic church and spread over the six lane street. The other stretched taller than the others. It grew on a side road in a neighborhood. The house it grew in front of had recently been torn down to make a park for the tree.
The remaining trees on my list were the Orange tree and palm tree. And after all the eucalyptus trees we had seen I still didn’t have good photos of one. We visited a small park, but we had to pay to go into so we just walked around the entrance then left. There was an orange grove there and some beautiful California sycamores. Danny took me to the circle in old town Orange where I photographed the orange and palms. In another park we saw some crazy twisting trees with no leaves. Their white mottled bark gleamed weirdly in the sun. I didn’t recognize these as sycamores until Josh categorized them as such. California sycamores are more angular then their Eastern counterparts. These must have been susceptible to a canker that causes some of them to lose their leaves.
Disney & Dream Center
LA to Placentia CA We were now on the home stretch and ready to be done driving! The way to LA was clogged with traffic and I was brought back to a sharp reality. Once in the Los Angeles city limits the brilliant sun was hidden by clouds. I was told later this was the “June gloom,” and that residents are thankful for it because it prolongs the cooler days of spring. We made it to the Correa’s by 8, in time to catch the second half of the Lakers game.
The next day we returned our hardworking rental car, having added almost 2,000 miles to it, and borrowed Danny’s truck to visit LA. We went first to the Disney Animation Studio to visit a friend of Josh’s from his time at Pratt. Andre met us in front of the huge magician’s hat marking the entrance to the studio. We walked across to the ABC building to eat in the cafeteria. Josh got a free meal and we ran into a CCAD student interning for the summer. After a pleasant lunch catching up, Andre showed us around his area. He was working on Tangled, Disney’s version of Rapunzel. His job was to create clothing and hair textures for the characters in 3D. 
It was incredible to see what he did with the blank canvas he was given. I was so impressed by the screen shots I saw of the movie in progress. I am definitely going to see this movie!
After our brief journey into the world of Disney, we drove a few blocks to another world, that of the Dream Center. The Dream Center is a non-for-profit outreach to the homeless and destitute. Located 2 miles from downtown LA, the Dream Center is housed in an old hospital which is being remodeled one floor at a time as funds allow. Every night close to 500 people sleep there. (What a contrast to Disney!) Our friend LaQuesha came from Columbus to LA to serve for a year. A unique service opportunity, the Dream Center boards volunteers to run its operations. LaQuesha is putting her CCAD education to use as a part of the graphic design team. We tagged along on a tour of the building, then ditched it to spend time with LaQuesha.
On our way back to Orange County, I couldn't help comparing LA with the natural wonder of all that we had seen on our trip. The city just seemed tired out. Beautiful in parts, warm and sunny, but everyone just seemed to be putting one foot in front of the other, tired out from the daily grind of living. Most cities are like that, I think it comes from not having enough nature around us. We forget that there is a time for everything and that we are not the ones in control.
George Yepes,St. Lucy's Terrance
Purple Jacarandas and a huge Fig tree!
Santa Barbara CA
As soon as we came within sight of Santa Barbara it immediately felt like southern California. Palms abounded, flowers burst from every corner, the wind became gentler and sky even seemed to be bluer. We turned off the 101 to hunt up a giant fig we had been told about and I saw my first jacaranda tree. The jacaranda tree comes from South America and blooms with purple-blue flowers in the spring. The streets were lined with these beautiful trees. I am happy to say we continued to see them all over LA and Anaheim.
Josh located the huge fig at the train station sans directions with no problems. I’m glad I don’t try to hide from him. I swear he has a built in GPS! The fig was truly incredible. It's spreading branches shaded the entire corner of a small side street tucked beside the freeway. The train station was large but empty; the unused parking lot told of busier days.
The fig was a Moreton Bay Fig from Australia, brought as a seedling to the US in 1876 and planted. The last official measurement was in 1991, when the branches spread out 167 feet with a total height of 76 feet. The trunk measured 12.5 feet around. The roots rise chest high and stretch out as wide as the branches. I read later that it is common for the homeless to sleep hidden in the roots. I found someone’s bag and blanket so it is probably true.
It is not often we have the opportunity to be next to a living monument. That's what this fig tree is. It was alive when the first automobiles began to populate the streets, it saw women get the right to vote and the civil rights movement. Beatniks slept under it in the 1950's then hippies ten years later. A generation and a half have lived and died in it's lifetime, families gained and lost fortunes, wars have been fought abroad and at home. What stories would it have for us? What wisdom for this culture of hurry and immediate entertainment?
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