Liberate Your Art 2017

These are the lovely postcards I received this year in LYA2017. Top left is from Lee Albritton, this is a mixed media called spirit of the Hawk, it won an award in an art showing. Middle top, one of my favorite trees, the dogwood, from Jeannette Knower, love this, and Jeannette lives not far from me in OR. The lovely pottery card is from Mary Krudwig, she painted and glazed these pieces. Bottom left, is from Allen Chinibi, a wonderful graphic design. Allen is from Calgary. The middle card is Kat's beautiful and colorful leaves. On the right is the card from Toni Hanner, She took a wine label and added it to a piece of painted cardboard.

Another part of LYA2017 is side swaps after the main swap is over. It's always fun to connect with even more artists and ones you connected with previously.

So far I have received 8 photos in the side swap. The top cacti is from Sheila Delgado in AZ. The rooftops are from Louise Mamet in France. Just beautiful. The blue coneflower is from Chandra Lynn, perfect pick for me Chandra, I love it.Then the artwork of Teresa Harrington Hazelbaker called Tree Spirit. with words on the back to "Get up off that thing and dance till it gets better" by James Brown, wise words Teresa. The lovely pink cluster of flowers is from another fellow Oregonian Tammar Stubblefield. The striking black and white of the daffodils is from Janice Darby in CA. Patsy Lawrence sent the acrylic and oil pastelin an altered photo book, picking up the colors from the original page. I would like to learn more about that technique. The watercolor is from Christine Brooks. Its of the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff AZ. A place I would love to see. I am waiting on a few more cards and will post another blog post when they arrive. Thanks to Kat, for the wonderful adventure and all of you for your wonderful artwork that you so generously share.

 

Liberate Your Art

This was the first year that I have participated in LYA, what a fun experience it has been. From trying to choose the photos for the postcards, printing them, looking up quotes that I wanted to add to decorating my envelope, a wonderful experience it has been. I look forward to doing it again next yr.

THANK YOU KAT for bringing this to us, it is truly inspiring. Looking thru some of the blogs and websites I am so amazed at all the talent out there. I am very pleased to have made contact with a few from the swap and look forward to learning more about them and their art.

Above is a collage of the photos I used, all but one were taken with my iPhone and edited on the phone or tablet. The Santa Fe bench was taken with my Canon 7D this fall in Santa Fe NM.

These are all of the lovely postcards I received. The beautiful lady in red is from April Rocco in Cocoa, FL. Love the artwork.

The Zebra are a photo by Charlotte Prado in Annapolis MD. Great shot Charlotte.

The beautiful garden shot with the wonderful quote "Leave Room in the garden for the fairies to dance" is from. Snap. twistylane.blogspot.com

I love the birds form Jewels. She made this art for another project called "Whats Your View" Love it.

The frosty weed is from Kate Lehman, I love old weeds Kate and especially when they are covered in frost.

Finally the card from Kat arrived marking the end of the swap, although I will be swapping with Elena soon. We each had gotten cards from the same people and our cards had gone to the same person in one instance.

Connections, that's what it is about. I found as I read comments and posts on the swap that so many recipients go cards that held meaning for them. It is as if Kat had a connection to us in some way and knew where the card needed to go. Here's to next year, thank you all for making this a wonderful adventure.

Through Light Photography Workshop Manzanita OR

The following posts are about the weekend workshop. Please enjoy.

Metaphors and Shapes, Manzanita

After we shared our morning photos we had classroom time. This time was spent on going over some of the basics of operating the camera, as our group consisted of women at different levels in their photography. These lessons were good for all of us though because it never hurts to refresh the hows and whys of  ISO, shutter speed and aperture. These numbers are often confusing and unless they become second nature we struggle with them. Then we moved on to what do we see when we shoot a scene, what do we want the viewer to see and feel. Is the photo one that you wander into and look around, is it one that gives you a place to sit and be still and contemplate or dream. Interesting ways to think when you are shooting. We went over composition, lighting, rule of thirds, leading lines. All the things that make a photo.

Next came our assignment. Go out and shoot 10 photos each of SHAPES...........ok, that should be easy, there is shape every where, and METAPHORS...............huh??  Oh, dear, that sounds hard, I am not even sure I know what that means. So Beth explained and gave examples.......OH, I get it. Out we go, I think we had just under 2 hrs. to do this assignment then get back for lunch and process images to share before the afternoon class and assignment.

My friend Jacqui and I headed down the street to see if we could find things along the way. Shapes were easy but I also found that Metaphors can be in a lot of things too, it is just how you interpret them.  I also discovered that the subjects I shoot translate into metaphors, that is the way I see them. Old cars, old barns, doors, windows when I see these things what I am seeing are things that are representative of things discarded or abandoned, so that is what they are saying to me

 We came back, had a beautiful lunch set out for us and got busy processing images to share. We did two from each category. Very interesting to see the interpretations from the other women. We all may see the same thing but we all see it differently. All in all a very insightful lesson.

Reaching Out....To me this represented our weekend. Women reaching out to each other and learning

 

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Reflection.....Looking in looking out.

Shapes

"S" Curve

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Manzanita, OR Workshop

It has been WAY too long since I have been posting on my blog, it seems that I was getting too involved in being on the computer and had to get away from it for awhile. I have been inspired by one of my fellow workshop women to get back to it. She had a beautiful post of photos and story about the weekend, I am following suit. Thanks Bonnie, (ps. we share a birthday too).


What a wonderful month February has been. It is the month of Valentine's Day, my birthday, my oldest grandson's birthday and come to find out several of my new friends have birthdays too.

What made it so special for me was getting to go to the OR coast twice in one week. I not only got to go for my birthday, for the day, but at the end of the week I had signed up for a weekend long photography workshop. Thanks to Beth Buglione and Chela Melendez of  http://www.throughlightphotography.com several women came together to share their love and learning of photography. Beth and Chela are fantastic teachers, they have a way of making you stretch way out of your comfort zone, put yourself out there for all to see. The weekend was very well organized and set up so that there were several challenges and assignments to meet.

The first evening was set up as a "getting to know you" kind of evening. Several of us have been in a Meet Up group for a few years together but there were some new faces too. It was fun hearing everyone's story on how photography came into their lives and what it means to them. We visited, drank some wine and had some snacks to pass the evening. All provided by our hostesses. We all stayed together in a fabulous beach house with a great view of the ocean.

Our next morning was up at dawn and get out there and shoot the sunrise. Well sunrise was a no show,but so was the rain for the most part, it was quite windy. Back to the house for a beautifully prepared breakfast and time to relax and share some of our attempts from the morning shooting. Then class time, assignments for the afternoon and back out to shoot the images for our assignment.

For the sake of length, I am going to do several posts for each assignment. 

The dunes restoration project.

The little sea birds, scurrying about the surf.

Storm clouds

Manzanita beach, looking South

Blowing in the wind. Softened with a filter for an ethereal feeling

Just a Whisper

I am falling so far behind in the class at this time but plan on getting to all the lessons in time. I love the whisper prompt, as I have found that I am inclined to lean toward the softer images since finding Kim.  The lesson on resistance really hit home too. What is it about damp,dreary, cold winter weather that takes the creativity out of us? That is how I have felt all winter. It isn't that I haven't been shooting, I have, I am just not inspired to do anything with them. The sun is shining today so I think I will make it a point to get outside and soak up some vitamin D while I can, as the rain returns tomorrow.

This little gown belongs to my sis in law, it was her Christening gown. She loaned it to me so I could use it for photos. I just loved shooting it. The softness lends itself to the soft muted and "whispery" type of editing.
I wanted a quote that had something to do with God and found this one. I think it fits the occasion of a christening a bit. I am loving checking in with Beyonders and seeing what you are all doing even if I haven't posted many things myself. What a great talented group we have.

What's The Story

This week over at Texture Tuesday the prompt for the week was the photo had to have a story. My friend Jacqui and I have driven by this old place several times on our way to one of our favorite wineries and each time we say "Oh, we have to stop and shoot this house before it falls down". So the other day we were headed out that way to go to an antique mall to shoot photos for our camera club monthly theme of Vintage. It was one of the days this week with no rain, just fog. When we were done with the antique store we headed out the road to where the old house set. As luck would have it, there was a drive way up to the house and NO no trespassing signs. I do not know how this old place is standing. From the front you can see that it is leaning but there had been a fire and most of the back of the house is just hanging. It won't be there much longer so I am glad that we made a effort to get some shots of it. We both wondered just what the story of this old house was, who lived there, how long what happened to them. At one time it must of been a very nice place. It isn't giving up it's story, the ghosts were silent on this day.

I used #7 from Ben's collection and 10-10-10. masking some off on each layer.


Texture Tuesday

6 Words

I cannot believe how fast time gets away from us. Here it is almost the end of January and I have not done a blog post. I have been using Flickr for Texture Tuesday's entries but need to get back to my writing here.This year I am following Kim Klassen's Beyond Layers class. I am really looking forward to this bringing me to a  new level creatively, as well as personally. This week, our 2nd, the assignment was to use just 6 words as a memoir for our life. I wrote down 6 words that describe a part of my life and I am sure that for each phase of my life there are 6 more words. I will work on that part too. For now these are the 6 that came to mind immediately


                  LOVE FOUND, LOST, GRIEF, HEALING, LIFE.


I have written my life story, but have not edited it to the point that I can put it on the blog. I will be working on that one too. This class is making me, and I am sure most of us, really think about how we evolved as artists as well as the people that we are. I really needed this class, I have been searching for so long to find direction.

The photo I used today was one I took last night with my iPhone for my Instragram photo stream. I am loving instagram. By using the iPhone I feel that I can be less strict on myself, as far as taking the "perfect photo". I just do it!! The link to my photos is below.



Kim Klassen Beyond Layers
http://ink361.com/#/users/18289197/photos

Merry Christmas

Where oh where did this year go? The older I get the faster the year flies by.

I am posting a card for all my blogger friends that I have met this year. This has been an interesting year in that I have discovered Kim Klassen and all her wonderful textures and in doing so, I met all these marvelous women artists thru her linky parties. I wish I could meet all of you in person and just absorb all the magical artistic energy that would be found in that room. I can see how the "Shutter Sister's Camp" gave Kim and probably every woman there a super dose of art magic. When you are in the environment and the energy is in the air you can just feel it in your pores.

I am wishing you all a fabulous holiday season and most certainly a glorious New Year. What will the new yr. bring? Or better yet, what will we find to inspire us and what will we make the new year? I don't do resolutions but I do believe that if you write down your dreams  you may be surprised how many things you made happen just by putting them out into the universe. What will be on your list?

I used several of Kim's textures on this I think I used Cosmo, Inspired Magic and the day 8 texture "Storm". Thank you Kim for giving us the gift of "Twelve Days of Texture".


12 Days of Texture

Day 4

It seems that time has gotten the better of me. Christmas is moving closer and closer and I feel I have not gotten anything accomplished, of course that isn't quite true but I feel pressured.  So, it has been hard to find time to use all the fabulous textures that Kim has been giving us this week. I love them all and know that when the dead of winter hits and all the holiday hustle bustle is over I will find many uses for them.

This shot was taken on my last trip home for mom's 94th birthday. I should not admit this but it was taken on the I-84 out the window at 65 mph with my iPhone. I took photos all along the way. The trees were gloriously golden and the dusting of snow on the hills was so pretty. I don't like to travel the 250 miles by myself in the winter but had no choice on this trip. There was snow at the farm but was gone and replaced by 50 mile an hr. winds on my way home several days later.



I used today's texture "Edward" on this and had edited it earlier with one of the "Magic Scratches" textures.
Thank you Kim for giving us such wonderful gifts.


12 Days of Texture

12 Days of Christmas at The Cafe`

 

12 Days of Christmas

This is the start of Kim's 12 days of Christmas. She so generously is giving away a texture a day for us to use. How wonderful is that!! I used her texture for today called "Lilly" for this edit. This is an old christening gown that belongs to my sister in law, she let me bring it home so that I could photograph it. I love the little gown and the pretty pink bow on the hanger. I went in search of a teddy bear to use in the photos but found a cute white bunny instead, I think he works pretty well with the dress and the old chair. I used two layers of Lilly one on soft light and the other on multiply, then I added scratched magic in screen mode, I love how the scratched magic gives the work an old print look. Hope everyone is having the start of a wonderful week. Check out The Cafe` for more uses of the new texture called "Lilly". Thanks Kim.    

12 Days of Christmas.

Celebrate

This week Texture Tuesday is all about "Celebrate" since we are in the season of celebration. Last yr. we took a walk around the neighborhood to take photos of the lights. I decided to use my lens baby with the specialty filters that give spectral light shapes. This was in one of the yards near my home. I loved how the filter gave the light around the Nativity the look of bright stars in the night sky.

Let's all celebrate the reason for the season. Head on over to Texture Tuesday and celebrate with all the creative artists this week. Happy Holidays to all my friends.

Gratitude

This week at Texture Tuesday at Kim Klassen's Cafe` we are to celebrate our gratitude since it is the week after Thanksgiving for us. When I stop to think of ALL the things in my life that I have to be grateful for, the list always starts with my family. Last week my mother celebrated her 94th birthday, we celebrated her special day with an early Thanksgiving feast with my brothers and families all there. I had spent several days with mom but wanted to be home on Thanksgiving. My daughter knew I would be tired from traveling from mom's that week. She invited us to have dinner with all of them. I really was worn out and not looking forward to taking on another whole dinner. I am so grateful for such a kind and caring daughter. It was a wonderful dinner and a very nice day spent with them all.

The photo I have used for Texture Tuesday is from an old 35mm slide taken by my mom. This is the farm where I grew up. Not sure which winter this was but by looking at the small trees in the lane maybe our second winter. I am so grateful for growing up here. Now mind you, that was not always the case, as a teenager I really didn't like it!! We lived 20 miles from town and all of us from the farms were the "country" kids. But I must tell you that as I have grown older this place has much more importance. This old lane holds so many memories. Getting off the school bus and rushing up to the house because we could smell the fresh baked bread mom had spent the day making, we knew there were probably be some yummy cinnamon rolls too. Meeting my girlfriend after all the chores were done. I'd always say "meet me in the lane". In the summer waiting anxiously for the bookmobile to get there so we could get more books to read. So many memories.

The lane is still there of course, but the old house is not. Mom and dad built a new house after I had left home, so I grew up in this one. Several yrs. ago my uncle died and my aunt decided to move near family on the farm. This old house was torn down and her manufactured home was put in it's spot. Even though I knew it was happening, the first time I drove up the lane and the house was gone and all that was there was an empty space I had a flood of emotion. I tear up even now thinking about it. It was such an empty space in my heart. I am grateful that we have all been there for my aunt and that she is close to us.

My daughter spent many happy hours at her grandma and grandpa's playing with her cousins, I am grateful that she had that opportunity and it fills my heart with joy when I hear her talk about the wonderful times she had there.

I used two different magic scratched textures on this and Kim's latest one "Poetic" Check out ALL the amazing work over at The Cafe`. So many talented people and such a wonderful group, I am also so very very grateful to Kim for all of her generous giving. She is a wonderful teacher and just one of the sweetest women I have met. (well, not exactly met, as face to face) but in the cyber world we are all so connected that all the friends I know through Texture Tuesday I feel I have "met".

Texture Tuesday

Two Plus Two

I had a hard time trying to decide between two photos so I posted them both. The ginko leaves are processed with February Magic Edges and Extreme Grunge. Since it is an interpretation of "Two" this week I have named this one Two plus Two and I posted two images. I love ginko leaves their shape is just so fascinating and different. I know they are an ancient tree but without looking it up I don't know the history. There are a couple of them in my neighborhood and I love to watch them change in the Fall,they turn a glorious shade of gold.

This one I titled "Pears A Duex". I uses several of Kim's textures as you can see in the screen shot.
Including her wonderful new texture "Phoebe". Sounds like Kim had a wonderful time at Camp Shutter Sisters. Loved her post today about dreams. Got me to thinking, I have lots of dreams but have never really given them life by writing them down. I think that is going to be a project for me this week. Visualize what my dreams are and write them down, look at them and find ways to make them come true. I do believe that if you can dream it you can achieve it. Winter always gets me in a gray mood, it can be so gloomy and wet here in the winter and the sun is absent for days and months. I need to use this time to make my dreams come true. How about all of you, are you ready to really make it happen? Next week I will try and post my list of dreams. Head over to the Cafe to see how we used the prompt "Two" this week.
Texture Tuesday

10/31/2011 Seasons Beauty

I have been loving all the Fall color this yr. We have been on several outings to capture the color. I belong to a group called Meetup, our group is Women Learning Photography Together. It is really nice to have a group of women who are enthusiastic about going out and improving their skill and helping one another. We had an outing to the Portland OR Japanese Gardens. It is always so beautiful but this yr it seems the color is especially vibrant.  Hmmm, you are saying to yourself, this doesn't look vibrant at all it looks very pastel. Well, yes it does, but only because I wanted a very soft and romantic look for this one. I love the bold and bright colors of the leaves but there was something about Kim's texture "And Then Some" that was to be used this week, that just lended itself to softness. If I had mastered the technique of the mouse over I could show you the original but since I haven't you will have to trust me that this had bold color before I added the texture. I don't have the formula but I think I used it twice and masked the leaves to bring out some of the color. More Fall posts to come or check out my facebook page for two albums of beautiful color from the Pacific Northwest. Happy Texture Tuesday, check out all of our post using the textures so lovingly created and shared with us by Kim Klassen. 

Texture Tuesday

Season's End

I LOVE summer, and it is hard to transition to the chillier, wetter weather here in the Fall. Although I think Fall color is beautiful, it does not compare, for me, to the abundance of color in the Spring and Summer. I picked the last of the blooming daisies awhile back and set them in the garage to dry. I have seen lots of shots of dried dying flowers that I admire so I thought I would try my hand at it for a TT project. My layers are listed on the screenshot, as you can see I used 3 instead of 2 of Kim's textures. I set the daisies on the seat of the old white kitchen chair that I found at a barn sale this summer. Love that old thing. It is going to be used often.

My week spent with my mom was very draining, emotionally, physically and mentally. It is so hard to watch someone you love and who was such a strong woman all her life, lose touch with her world. She is in good health but mentally she is not understanding all the changes in her life. She doesn't understand why she has to have someone there to care for her since all this time she has been alone. Makes my heart sad, but yet I am so blessed that she is still here with us. I must tell myself to treasure each day because one day she will be gone and it will be very difficult to lose her. She has been a rock to all of us all our lives and now we have to be her rock.

Texture Tuesday
Please stop by TT and see all the beautiful art, created by all the beautiful people there.

Red

The theme this week at Texture Tuesday is "RED". I actually took this for Valentines Day but since it is certainly in the red category I decided to work on it for TT. I collect hearts of all kinds and forms, from ceramic to finding heart shaped rocks. This is an older Avon piece of Ruby glass I believe.  Here is a screenshot of what I did and the textures I used. The layer one texture is Kim's new one "And then some".






Not sure how much I will be able to comment this week, I am headed to my mom's to spend the next week taking care of her. She is 93 and though she is not in ill health she is very frail and needs someone with her to make sure she is eating and taking care of herself properly. I am sure that the "RED" eDition will be fabulous, head on over to the Cafe` and check out all the art.

Texture Tuesday

 Yesterday I participated in the Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk. All over the world groups of photographers gathered to walk around their city and shoot photos for a few hours. It is amazing to be able to see and share all this with one another. Our walk was a late afternoon stroll around the part of our town near Union Station called The Pearl. Taking the time to actually walk the blocks in a part of town I rarely visit was eye opening. There is so much to see and experience. It was a rainy day for most of the day but the time we spent out on the walk wasn't too bad. Some sprinkles but I never did have to use the umbrella. These are just a few of the shots that I took.

Condos by the park. This park in more of a natural area in the city, it has a pond with goldfish, reeds and water lilies. There is a small deck walk along the very unusual fence made of metal pieces with some colored glass art interspersed. Very pretty.

The photo on the left is of what is left of an old old building. There was no history on it but it has been preserved and left in place as a reminder of what once was. Lots of character in these old bricks and metal shutters.

This of course is self explanatory. It is Union Station. A glorious old train station. The outside is being renovated so I did not do any photos other than the tower. Next time I will take more time and go in and also go around on the grounds. There were some great shots posted from our group of outside shots.