Night Time

I need to spend more time and energy taking photographs, and less trying to create photograph "products". I paused in my day yesterday and went to a beach to take some night photos. Salt air, windy, cold, dark... it was bliss. I arrived at my meeting with mud on my shoes, but I didn't care one bit.

Great Art Site Feature!

I'm thrilled to have been featured on the fantastic Lost At E Minor! In their own words, "Lost At E Minor is an online publication of inspiring art, illustration, photography, music, fashion, film, and more". It's truly a fantastic site - chock full of information, inspiration, color, and inventiveness. Check it out and enjoy winding your way through the site!

From the Archives

I was browsing around in Picasa today and found some interesting photos from my archive. I thought you might enjoy seeing some. I also found some funny ones of my husband sitting on a pile of coffee, from my early digital 'sandwiching" days, but out of respect for his dignity I won't post those here. :-)

Which ones do you like best?

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7)

Playin'

Just playing around with some old photos, while hubby was on the phone.

Autumn Memories

the power of time

an abandoned road.... now part of a national wildlife refuge....

nature's toehold (click to view larger version)

Great Holiday Idea...

Trying to think of creative ways to wrap those holiday gifts? How about reusing some of your plastic grocery bags to make a beautiful pom-pom bow?

Check out Creature Comforts for the DIY how-to. Super cool.

Aaaahhh... the smell of the ocean...

Feeling cold today, I went back to the photographs I took while on vacation this year, along the St. Lawrence Estuary. The result? The first "textury" photo I really think came out well. I've put it up in my shop, here.

Pull of the Tide

Toying with Texture

I stole a few moments yesterday to take a brisk walk near the Narrow River and take some photographs. I'm not really thrilled with any of them - I was rushing and didn't have time to drive to all of the different places I wanted to go. I did get some good texture shots, so I used the images to play around with overlaying textures some more. I've done a lot of brush texture overlays in the past, and I've done digital sandwiching of images - now I'm trying to sort of combine the two ideas.

Amazing Photography

I found out about this artist, Levi van Veluw, and his fantastic Landscapes series through the Farmboy Fine Arts Feedbag.

Landscape I by Levi van Veluw


Incredible, right? See more on Levi van Veluw's website.

Hooray! Etsy Front Page

One of my photos just made it to the front page of Etsy! Thanks, GollyBard!



And while I was writing this blog post, the item sold! No worries though, it's been relisted if you'd like to nab one ;-)

Thursday Night Fun

Just wanted to remind you, dear readers, that I'll be at Waves of Creation in Wakefield, RI tomorrow for a featured artisan night! Do come by and visit me and my fellow artisan Carol Mania of Lodestar Wovens. We'll be there from 5:30pm to 8:30pm, Thursday November 20.

If you bring a non-perishable food item for our donation to the Johnny Cake Center, you'll be entered into a raffle for a $25 Waves of Creation gift card.

Hope to see you there!

Hump Day Happiness

Hello all! It's been a crazy couple of weeks, but I have room to breathe today - so it's the perfect time to post my weekly Hump Day Happiness list.

Today, I'm grateful for:

1) Not having to go to my "day job" today.
2) Having the supportive Arts in RI team around with all of their tips and ideas!
3) Finishing the cabinet painting!!
4) The book Craft, Inc. and it's advice and inspiration.
5) The interest people have expressed in my calendar - thanks for the support!

What are you grateful for today? Do comment and share!

2009 Calendar - December!

The long-awaited final month of my 2009 calendar, available in my shop. Sorry for the delay in posting this - I've been painting cabinets and doing other projects all weekend, so haven't had much time for blogging. Enjoy!

December!

Still Learning

I was playing around with layers and brushes today to expand my skill set. I love adding texture to photographs to give them a sense of age and depth. And like anything else in photography, practice makes perfect, right? So I went a little beyond my comfort range today and did some experimenting. Here's the image I created, if you're curious. It's not perfect, but it was fun to play with.

2009 Calendar - November

Here's November for you! Limited edition calendars are available in my Etsy shop.

Hump Day Happiness

It's that time again, already! How the days fly by.

Today, I'm grateful for...
1) Our veterans, though I hope to see the end of war.
2) Icy, clear blue sky that beckons me to come walk in the woods.
3) My husband's electrical skills.
4) A clean(ish) house.
5) Anticipating homemade Boston Baked Beans for dinner.

How about you?

2009 Calendar - October

Ahh, October. My favorite month of the year!

Foundry Show!

Less than a month left until the Foundry Holiday Show! Are you ready? I'm not sure if I am yet! Click the image below for more details!

2009 Calendar - September

Coming down to the last few months of calendar pages! Here's September:

Misty Morning

The Bog 3

Bogslogging

Another shot from college that I've now been able to scan in. Who wants to go back there with me some morning? Dunkin Donuts stop on the way, I promise! BYOHW (That's bring your own hip waders, people!) :-)

The Bog 2

Waves of Creation Event!

On Thursday evening, November 20th, I'll be at Waves of Creation in Wakefield as a featured artisan. Come on over and visit! Details here.

A Blast from My Past

My husband wanted a demonstration of how my new slide/film scanner worked, so I dug out some of my negatives from college and scanned them in. My best friend and I had woken up at 5:30 AM one morning to get out into a bog by 6 AM. Getting up that early was a feat of epic proportions, and we nearly gave into our late-sleeping habits. But I am so very, very glad that we didn't. It was amazing. More beautiful and inspiring than photographs could ever portray.

But, that said, I did get some pretty nice photos! Here's one. I didn't manipulate it digitally at all, just scanned it in and re-sized it to web resolution. When I used this image in my college photography course, I chose a different exposure. I don't think I realized how lovely this high-key version was.

The Bog 1


I am impatient to scan in several more, but it's rather late and if I start now I'll be up until the wee hours and won't be productive tomorrow.

Low Res Love

More fun with the keychain cam... These are almost exactly what came out of the camera - very minor adjustments have been made. To try and "correct" some of the white balance issues would take away the charm :-)

Autumn Journey Begins


Raking Time

2009 Calendar - August

Presenting..... August! Enjoy :-)

Holy Moly!

Ok, first I have to give a little shout-out to Tracy of the Arts in RI team. Yeah, that smiling trick works, baby.

Now onto my news... So, as you may know already, in the past few months I've become a contributing artist for Farmboy Fine Arts. Well, Farmboy has just started a new visual arts newsletter to feature their contributing artists, featured products, etc.

Guess who is on the cover of the very first issue of "The Stockyard"?



AAH! It's ME! (Well technically it's my lovely little Specimen 652). How exciting is that!? Now I just have to sit back and wait for Farmboy to get that big order from the White House - yeah my *big* smiling "wish" was that Barack Obama would own a piece of my art. Cheesy, aren't I?

Lomo-licious!

Not sure if you remember, but a few posts back I elaborated on some new toys I wanted... one of which was this piece of pink perfection:



Well, my wonderful husband ordered it up for my birthday and it is here! (It arrived a little late but was worth it). I am impatiently waiting for daylight tomorrow to play some more, but I set up a rough still life to practice on tonight. If you click on the image below you will be taken to the full resolution version. I kid you not - that's as good as it gets.

Tangerines


I love this thing! It's so far been completely unpredictable. I'm not quite sure why it takes one picture at a high contrast, looking as if it's been cross-processed, and the next in soft pastels. The viewfinder is such that your eye has to be inches away from it to see things in focus. But, if you shift your head even slightly side to side or up and down what you see ends up completely different than what the lens is seeing. And, there's no LCD screen to monitor how you're doing. Fun, right! Digital lomography of FunkyCam proportions.

2009 Calendar - July

It is nice to be thinking about summertime today, after driving home from work in the dark... *sigh*

July...

Foundry Show is Comin' to Town

If any of you have already signed up for The Foundry Artist Association's mailing list, then you may have seen this (click to view larger):



I find it somewhat amusing that I have officially been introduced to myself, through this very email! In all seriousness though, I am thrilled to have been featured as part of this announcement for what is sure to be an amazing show. I've met several of the artists involved and their work is a-mazing. Stop by! I'll be doing my shift work the second Saturday & Sunday if you want to say hi!

The Photography Files

I've been posting on the occasional Thursday about a famous or historic photographer whose work I admire. I think it's fascinating to look at where photography has come from, or to delve deeper into some sources of inspiration.

Today, I'd like to showcase Edward Weston. In this case, I'll leave it to Wikipedia to summarize his life. I'm personally much more interested in examples of his work - the tones are so rich, the subjects often isolated, but with plenty of texture. He's always been one of my favorite photographers. Enjoy!

2009 Calendar - June

We're halfway through the calendar pages! Here's June:

Hump Day Happiness

What a big day today was. I am grateful for so many things today, it'll be hard to just pick 5! Here goes:

I am grateful for:

1) The privilege and honor of voting.
2) My sweet grandfather's firm opposition to all things racist.
3) Getting to choose between two good candidates, instead of having to pick the lesser of two evils.
4) Waking up to sunshine and the knowledge that history had been made.
5) The enthusiasm and energy of the American people during the whole of this election.

Number 1 on my list felt particularly important after reading this quote in a BBC article:

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ANONYMOUS, CHINA

American elections have shaken me to the core.

I have always thought the Chinese political system is the best in the world, but it is not so.

We are deprived of our sacred rights, rule of law and human rights are trampled upon and to have a democratic system like the one in the USA would be more difficult than reaching the sky.

But we long to achieve freedom and democracy, which is a difficult task for us young people in China. (Sent from a mobile phone to BBC China.com)
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What are you grateful for today? Please do share!

2009 Calendar - May!

Well, it's not exactly a preview now that the calendar is available in my shop, but I thought I'd continue with the month features.

Here's May!!

History was Made Today

While this is a photography blog, some topics transcend categories and affect every facet of life here in the United States. This historic election was one such topic. America chose (for the most part) between two parties, both with excellent candidates, and no matter what the outcome, history would be made.



I was touched and moved by the candidates' concession and acceptance speeches, made early this morning. The theme of working together, across party lines, for the good of us all was strong in both speeches. So different than the 2000 and 2004 elections, I watched both speeches with tears of hope running down my cheeks. God Bless America.

McCain's Concession Speech


Obama's Acceptance Speech

Election Day Photographs

I was feeling impressionistic today...

Winds of Change

It's Here! Whee!

My test print calendar came today - it looks great, so I've gone ahead and ordered the "real deals"! They will be ready to ship out starting November 11, and are in my shop now! It's a limited edition run of only 25 - so get yours now before they run out!



I am really, really excited about this. And, for those of you who have been following along, here's April!



If I have time, I'll post a little later today with some new shots taken on my hike through the local Audubon refuge lands. It is an amazingly gorgeous day today, and I feel so blessed that I got to spend time outdoors enjoying it. I'm having a productive, but chill day. I'm currently listening to Slightly Stoopid and working on new photographs. Later I'll go VOTE with my hubby, then come home to potstickers and edamame. Yum!

What are you up to today? Did you vote yet? Take advantage of any free coffee or ice cream for voters deals?

Calendar Preview - March!

I took most of Sunday off from photo work, so no blog posts yesterday. One of the most challenging things about being a small business owner is to remember to take weekends off sometimes. But this weekend I remembered, and spent Sunday doing house renovation projects that have been put off for months! This was very good for my general sanity. Burnout was very close last week.

But now I am back and ready to go! Here's your March preview! There's one day left to vote in the calendar poll, and we've still got a unanimous yes to more previews! Don't forget to vote tomorrow in the, much more important, national elections!!

Precious Weekend Moments

120 film, $4. Vintage Diana Camera, $15. Teaching my two-year old, "digital age" nephew how to look through a viewfinder...priceless.

A Microcosmic World

Found this on my friend Katie's blog, and had to share with you. There's some beautiful videography, and it really made me stop for a minute in my busy life and just soak things in. Let me know what you think!



Radiohead "All I Need"

Calendar Preview - February

Well, the poll is thus far 100% for showing more yes votes, so I think I'll start showcasing some more months. If the "Nos" achieve a miraculous victory before November 4th, I will keep the rest of the months secret!

Without further ado, here's February!