Finding Your Photo Style

I finally went back and did the Week 2 assignment from Elizabeth Dillow which was to use photos to tell a story.  I think without any journaling, you can easily tell what this "story" is about.  I'll probably add a 6x12 page next to this to actually journal it and maybe include a couple more photos.  Add do you see it??? With Helena's instructions I got that thin white separating line in place!!!

Week 5 with Kate Parker was about finding unique photo shoot locations near your home and shooting photos with black and white in mind.  I was a bit frustrated that all of the instruction was geared toward taking your "subjects" (young children) to these locations you scout and shooting cute little kid photos. Of course that's not happening here, so I had to go out and find my own subjects. The young girl is Jay's niece Tammy, taken at the funeral luncheon.

Another Mixing It Up post

Lime Green and Purple is definitely not a color combination I would normally choose to work with - a little loud for my taste - but I'm still happy with the way this turned out!  This is Summer of Color week 3 combo combined with the Being Me week 4 assignment.  I used a patterned paper napkin, bits of lime green and purple tissue paper, acrylic paints, rub ons, and a variety of pieces from the happy mail that Deb sent me.

Scavenger Hunt - 1

For Rinda's 2013 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt, I'm challenging myself not to just get the shots necessary to fulfill the list, but to present each one as artistically as possible.  So here are my first three entrants:

item #21 - a photo of you with an artistic tool or craft supply:

 Let me tell you, one-handed selfies are easier said than done sometimes! But I got this shot of last week's art journal page in progress.  If you look close enough, you can see pink paint on my palm and wrist and orange paint on my index finger. Although I do use a brush, I also do a lot of finger painting when I'm art journaling!

item #16 - a windmill:

 A couple days ago, Jay and I took a walk to get some photos. I knew there was a windmill on this property over by the high school. The folks actually use this as a power supply.  I added a few RadLab filters to add to the "old time" feel of this photo.

While in the process of getting the windmill photo, we spied this very large family of geese on the school property. There were at least a dozen babies. Given the number of adults, we guess this was several families traveling together. When we tried to move in for a better shot, they quickly herded the babies under the fence and left one adult on guard to tell us we were getting too close for comfort.

item #10 - a bench that is outside:

There are several of these benches along the walking/biking trail near my home. Since the subject matter isn't all that exciting, I carefully composed the shot to take full advantage of the sun flare and was very happy with the result. 

Thoughts on Creativity

I spent last Saturday celebrating the life of Jay's maternal grandmother, who lived to be 95 years old.  She was the kind of person who you envy for the simplicity of her life.  She never owned much, never wanted for much. She spent the bulk of her life in service of others. She was happy with her well-worn, underlined, dog-eared, duct-taped (literally) Bible and her abiding faith in a Lord who would one day call her home.

The service was held in a church in her home town of Thompson, Pennsylvania; one of those idyllic rural towns where nothing has changed in the last 100+ years. Literally. The main drag includes two churches, a masonic temple, and a post office. And not much more than that.  She was buried in the family plot just around the corner from the church.

The service was led by her youngest son, Paul.  Paul talked about his mother's love of the scriptures and how in her later years he made a game of starting a bible verse and she would jump in and finish it.

I consider myself a deeply spiritual person, but not at all "religious" in the sense of being affiliated with any particular church, faith, or belief system.  Yet, as Paul was talking about their bible game, he said something that struck me deeply - and has stuck with me since.  Paul mentioned Genesis 1:1  "In the beginning, God created..."

He stopped at the word "created".  I think that is why it caught my attention.  The first five words of the Bible. God CREATED. The story in Genesis goes on to say God CREATED the heavens, the earth, light, dark, fish, fowl, and animals. Now that is one imaginative dude (or dudette or energy or whatever) - seriously - giraffes, elephants, parrots, flamingos, peacocks, whales, sharks, starfish, lobster - so much color and shape and size and style.

And so I thought, sitting there in that pew on Saturday morning, what greater sanction could we have for the act of creating, for allowing ourselves the time to BE creative, than the idea that being creative is a divine act?

Regardless of what creation theory you subscribe to, it still comes back to being creative, doesn't it?

I have believed for awhile that we are born to create and each of us has a different and unique gift to bring to the table. To share with the world. To let our light shine.  I don't know how to describe the feeling I got when Paul said those five words. It was like an "aha" moment. Like what I've believed all along was somehow being validated in a real and tangible sense. Being creative isn't just a hobby or play. It is an affirmation of my true nature, my divine self.  I am a CREATIVE soul. And it's all good.

I'm interested in your thoughts on creativity... is it in our nature? or is it just a pleasurable hobby?

Mixing It Up

If you've been paying attention to my posts lately, you'll notice that I'm participating in a ridiculous number of online classes/challenges right now.  Yes, I'm having a bit of an issue with keeping up, but I'm one determined lady and I'm LOVING all the creating!  You've already seen me combine Finding Your Photo Style with the Summer of Color challenge with some lovely results (IMHO).  I've also combined the assignments for Being Me (which you can still sign up for - ladies are joining daily!) with the Summer of Color challenge.

So Week 2 of Being Me we were tasked to create a personal manifesto. I combined that with SOC week one colors turquoise and citron:

And if these statements sound familiar, most of them came right out of my One Little Word "DARE" intentions for 2013!

Week 3 of Being Me was another writing exercise, the end result of which was to create a list of  5 things we will say "YES" to - which should be the core things that we need most in our life right now.  I limited the list to 3 because the way I wrote it, it covered a LOT... and combined it with SOC week two colors hot pink and orange:

This mixed media page started with stamping textures on a white background, using magenta mixed with varying amounts of white. Next I added in a watered-down "wash" of pink and oranges (almost coral). Then I decoupaged on several different bits of tissue paper and decorative paper napkin.  Added more texture on top of that with pink and white stamping with found objects and hand-painted the word "Yes".  I really was able to "get into the zone" while creating this one and was thrilled with the final piece.  

Summer Plans

Having seen a few of my blog friends post rather specific Summer plans, and feeling somewhat disorganized myself, I decided to borrow their ideas and create my own Summer Plan. Even though I still work full time and my kids are all adults now, I do feel a loss of routine and a sense of floundering when Summer hits and they are home from college and underfoot.

For my Summer Plans layout,  I pulled heavily from Lee's design and Rinda's list for my inspiration.  And here is what I came up with using one of those photos that I was up at 1 a.m. editing (you've already seen more of my middle-of-the-night editing work in my Shifting Perspectives layout):

Note - this is NOT the same flower as in Shifting Perspectives.  These tiger lilies are in the front shrub bed and are a much paler yellow (not orange). But to me, the lilies really signify the arrival of Summer. We'll have dark red day lilies blooming in a few more weeks too! 

Having taken the time to jot all this down in a notebook (with far more detail than is included in the layout) I now feel so much more prepared for Summer!  What about you? Do you plan your Summer time in detail or are you spontaneous and free with your time?

A Simple Moment In June

My disclaimer - I didn't take the photo. I sourced it via Google Images from here and then changed it up dramatically with filters to fit my layout.

For more simple moments, visit Alexa's blog!