Summer

Color and texture

Strange kind of fall colors. I love it when the vines turn this bright red color! Playing with camera in the creative mode trying to capture color and texture! I did it! Tradition would have you create a much more shallow depth of field but I chose a grainy effect with a high ISO at 800 and created textures through out.

Mt. Rainier

Life

Life can be hectic, but beauty is always serene to me. On the other hand, it can be stimulating. This must be why I like photography. I seek beauty in my photography and other things as well. Sometimes you just want to make somebody do something, preferably creative. TAKE ACTION!

I am venturing into more creative waters!

Fighting spirit of a woman

Women are awesome. I have a trail in my neighborhood that I frequent along with many others. I have noticed a woman who is quite elderly who seems to be using this trail with the help of another younger woman to rehabilitate herself. While this woman doesn't always display the grace of others during her walk, her spirit surpasses many half her age. Through the sounds of age and belabored breath, she walks. It amazes me. I shake myself off, realizing how much I have to be grateful for.

More than one

Most artist know this but it is a good reminder to myself. The more projects I have in front of me, the better I work. Especially when it come to working with art the old fashioned way. In working with watercolors this is very important. You need to distance yourself from it and in doing so, you get perspective which makes your art better. As well, stop while you are ahead and feeling good about where you left off. It will be easier to go back to.

Wanderlust

Some kind of cathartic moment occurred while driving down the road. I love mornings, they hold such promise. An airstream trailer, a camper with graphics of Montana. The thought of a nephew at Yellowstone. Things didn't go my way this morning, but the drive made me think, think of things I want to do see, feel, experience. The list is long and yet not. The heart grows weary of the length of the list. I think about all the things I thought about doing while employed. Maybe someday they will be my reality.
The stuff of an artist is around passion, passion courses through my bones like an old lost friend I have re-united with. 

Inspiration

I have a place I like to go in a neighborhood where I used to live. It is where I go to ride my bike by the water and rekindle my creative self. Either before or after riding, I go to the shops in the old downtown area. One store in particular is for artist. NW Art and Framing fills me such that I must go home and do something creative. I become very, very inspired and have to leave before I explode! It maketh me hurt!
Yes is in in fact an artist date. These times are very important for artists of any type. They remind you of what you need to do, get busy!

Nature

Nature has a profound impact on me that is very positive. When the sun finally arrives, its warmth wraps around me like a blanket and I love it. I love flowers. Is there anybody that can't appreciate the beauty of a flower? I suppose there is, but they may not have been introduced to it. While flowers behind glass at a florist shop are wonderful, I love finding wild flowers and stealing them from nature. There is some magic that happens to me. I feel euphoric and like a happy little kid again. Once when I was young I pulled a wild green onion out of the ground and smelled its pungent smell. I thought this was the most marvelous thing in the world.

I have said it many times and will save it again. Never underestimate the power of nature.

What am I doing?

Emotions run high. Is it the moon? Could it be full? Big sky, I miss big open skies sometimes. A drive in the evening before the sun goes down helps. I tire of computers and yet I love them.  I think of my future, realizing my lack of clarity isn't good. Letting the soul break open is good sometimes. Through it, I will listen to the self and let it speak. Yes, I will listen. I really don't even know who I am any more. Working on my web site and looking at pictures has done something to me. Maybe I really am a photographer. I must seize the day. Night calls for rest so that we may begin anew.

On-line store

I haven't the slightest idea whether this idea to have an on-line store will work or not, but something certainly feels right about it. They have made the process easy and I appreciate that. I know there is much, much, more work to be done, but I want people to have beauty in their lives!

Painting with watercolor

Presently, I am taking a watercolor class at Highline Community College. I REALLY love it. The people in the class are a bit older and I like their approach. It's different than having class with younger people in that they are actually doing what they are supposed to be doing. I LIKE THAT! It frees me up to dig right in. I have taken an approach that is more freeing! I try to complete a piece in the time allotted for the class. The less the head gets involved, the better my painting is.

Leaf

Do something

When in doubt or perhaps stuck as they say, you might as well do something. It's better than nothing and it feels like you did SOMETHING which is better than nothing.

On a more serious note, it is good to ponder as well. Sometimes though that has to end. Sometimes you search endlessly for the thing you want. You think the one thong is THE THING and for some reason, it just doesn't quite feel right. In this case maybe doing nothing was good. Then one day, THE THING is right there and it really does feel like THE RIGHT THING!  And probably it is. The old adage about if it doesn't feel right don't do it may really work. 

Plainly, I have contradicted myself in a big way. Maybe what I mean is divert your creative attention in another direction when doing something, while waiting for the light to gently shine on you.

Mt St Helens

This was quite a sight. After 30 years, the destruction was still obvious even to one such as myself. While this photo does not convey it, the path of the lava where the trees came done is obvious by the direction of the trees laying on the ground. All fell and still lay in the way they were struck by the lava. Still a very beautiful sight that was forever changed by the wrath of nature.

Growth

In order for anybody to grow in any way, it requires we get out of our comfort zone and do things we haven't done. Photography is the ticket for me and yet the drawing and sketching that I have been doing is very fulfilling as well. It is harder for me in some ways and yet not. What once was hard years ago is not so much any more. The creative juices of photography are still with me, but I want to take it to the next level. The urge to work with models and lighting calls me. I will have to explore it. I see my personal style fitting in well with this scenario. Another class is around the corner for portrait work. I will enjoy it.

Golden hour

The talk of the golden hour can not be denied. In the golden hour, all things are beautiful.

Angels II

This is a digital transfer process using transparency film. The original photo is mine. I used high quality water color paper and burnished with an old rolling pin. Not as easy as it would seem. I have been wanting to do this for awhile. I love the mysterious quality and the texture created by the transfer medium.

Angels

If you believe in Angels.......

Simple Beauty

It doesn't take much to create beauty, whether in the form of a photograph or in the form of a stone shrine of sorts. One picture after the next, or stone by stone, eventually we will have some creation we respect.

Never to forget

One thing I love about photography is the impact it can have. I want a person to feel something, do something, I want it to inspire another human being.

Tricks and tools of the trade. Part 2

Tricks and tools of the trade

If you spend all of your time at the computer, particularly doing art, then you are doing yourself a terrible disservice. Get your paint and crayons out and have a little fun!

Silhouette

Sometimes one needs to simply get the camera in the hand and let the Universe do the rest.

The right place at the right time

Doing photography lets me have special moments in time.

Get it Girl!

I take a moment here to study another honing their craft.

Up close and personal

I love taking picture up close and personal. I suspect this is my natural style. The closer one gets, the more one sees. It is a world unto itself. While taking the picture, I realize I don't always see everything. I know I have captured my subject but macro photography lets me really see what the subject is all about.

Creativity

The more you create the more you want to create. Creativity breeds creativity!

Always Searching

An artist never strays from his art. During what may seem to one as down time, the artist will constantly be searching for answers to the next creative puzzle and hope to find clues in whatever way possible. Searching always, always searching for the whisper in the ear carrying us through our creative endeavors.

The work of an artist

We have to begin our projects and may feel uncomfortable at times while doing our creative work. The act of creation is a very pragmatic thing in so many ways. It is often thought that artist are flighty and non-thinkers. Oh how I beg to differ. Through my schooling I am learning more and more about the thought processes that must occur in order to create anything. Sometimes you may not even realize all the thoughts occurring as you work and make decisions.

Through it all, from the ugly duckling stage to the point of completion, it is a most rewarding experience.

Patterns in Nature 2

I have found that I really enjoy looking for alot of different things when I am in the spirit of Photography. Lately, I have noticed that my pictures inspire me in ways other than originally thought. Using the lines from the shapes that are created in photos of trees, flowers, and other things is bringing about a wealth of inspiration.

Publish Post

Patterns in Nature

Gentle Ice Part 2

This picture was taken in Kansas the morning after an ice storm. It was a visual delight for one who is photographically inclined. Luckily the roads were not treacherous and I was grateful to be able to capture this moment.

Gentle Ice

Eyelashes

A thing of Beauty

Speaking of beauty, who can deny the beauty of this creature and the unconditional love it brings! Beauty on another level, from this photographers perspective, is all around, and when in the act of photographing I am forced to stop and really see my world around me.

A thing of Beauty

In the spirit of the season

At the end of the day

When all else fails, at the end of a day that seemed like a Monday, but wasn't a Monday, a person can return to the word and share a photo and feel good about their efforts anyway.

Fond memories of warmth, Part 2

There is nothing so delightful as the sun drenching the body in warmth. Never underestimate the power and life that the sun brings us.

Fond memories of warmth

Gethsemane Cemetery Part 2

Gethsemane Cemetery

A photographer must get camera in hand no matter what. And proceed to hit the shutter button. New focus brings desire to hone the craft and take it to the next level. It is time the world see the world as I see it.