Happy June! I went out to water the potted plants this morning and noticed that my Hydrangea had come into full bloom while I wasn’t paying attention. Still experimenting with the Velvet 28 and finding it quite wonderful. It is also new texture day in the texture club so I had to try out one of the new offerings which gave me just the look I wanted.
Today from Julia Cameron:
As artists we “see things differently.” In part, this is because we are looking.
The light was very harsh when I was out photographing yesterday. I did my best to tone this down in photoshop. It is not often I have to take out vibrance and saturation but I may not have gone far enough with this one.
I like this quote from Julia Cameron because I have been feeling it a lot lately and have been enjoying a weekend dedicated to watercolor, photography and enjoying the peace of staying home on a holiday weekend.
When our lives become too frantic, our art retreats. It does not thrive on a life lived pell-mell.
While walking Cody around the neighborhood I have been noticing some Roses with delicate pink edges in the landscaping. I put the 28mm Velvet on the M3 and headed out this morning. Unfortunately the sun was so bright I could not get a properly exposed image until I finally let my body cast a shadow over the flowers. This was the only one that came anywhere near what I had in mind. I walked around looking at all the white roses in the shade but none of them had the pink edges so I’ll have to try again on a cloudy day.
This week we will turn again to Julia Cameron:
Creative energy is energy. When we are worrying about creating instead of actually creating, we are wasting our creative energy.
The Dutch Iris were also in bloom at Shore Acres. I thought I may have made a mistake in ordering the 28mm Lensbaby Velvet lens, but then I was watching a video by one of my favorite flower photographers and she pointed out that it focuses as close as 2 inches away. Which means you can get right up on the flower and have the who flower in focus while the background drops off in a dreamy blur. It should also be very helpful in my tiny studio where I never seem to have enough working space to get the composition I’m after. I guess it was a good investment after all.
Today from Matthew Fox:
Creativity requires the darkness as well as the light, suffering as well as joy. Could flowers grow if they were in the sun twenty-four hours per day?
It’s been a long day of driving and photographing. But the highlight of the day was visiting Shore Acres Gardens. I’ve never been there before when the Rhododendrons were in bloom and all I can say is Wow, just Wow. I tried to chose the photo that best told the story. I was working with my Lensbaby Velvets so yes the focus is a little soft. That is intentional. But like the Rhodies in front and the color around the little caretaker’s cottage. I also like the mist filtering through.
So, Matthew Fox is downstairs and I am tired so I turn today to Julia Cameron who is close at hand:
Allowing art to move through us without impediment means resigning as its author. The work must be allowed to author itself, to take on the shapes and colors that it prefers.
Cody and I finally escaped for a day and a half at the coast. I had wanted to go “glamping” in Coos Bay but the place I had in mind had a two night minimum so I turned to old reliable Bandon Inn which has pet friendly rooms and even greeted Cody with a toy and a treat. He is a bit exhausted from his first road trip so I decided to forego the beach until tomorrow and we just took a camera walk around Old Towne. I was surprised to find giant Calla Lilies all over town. But I especially like the texture of the leaf that had landed on this one. I may have to go back a work it a little more to bring out a little more texture in the lily. But for now I think I will follow Cody’s example and have a little lie down.
Today’s quote is from Dr. Clarissa Estes:
It is the love of something, having so much love for something–whether a person, a work, an image, an idea, the land, or humanity–that all that can be done with the overflow is to create. It is not a matter of wanting to, not a singular act of will; one simply must.
My Hydrangea is just starting to bloom. I took the Omni and a couple of crystals out to play but in the end I liked this image without any special effects best, though I did have to crop it from the original.
This week I am turning again to Matthew Fox for my Creative inspirations. In today’s offering Fox quotes writer Anais Nin and expands on her words:
Anais Nin once said: “We write to taste life twice.” I agree. I think we write to taste life twice, and we paint and dance and sing and compose all art “to taste life twice.”
Today I took the third tool from the OMNI system out to play. It is called the Crystal Seahorse because it is a crystal in the shape of a seahorse. It has the affect of creating a kind of ghost image reflection. Sometime in composing it is hard to tell what is real and what is reflection. I added a texture to this one for a little more richness and I’m pretty happy with the result.
Another quote from Nancy Rotenberg today:
Magic happens when you give yourself permission to de-emphasize intellectual thinking and to wander without plan or map.
It’s another busy day so I want to share another image I got with the stretch glass yesterday. I really love this one. I have some lavender growing in a pot on the patio so the concrete made a grey background and the stems of the lavender created some green streaks and made the flowers appear to be dancing in mist.
Today’s quote is from Albert Einstein:
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
For today’s moment of creativity I turned back to the Lensbaby OMNI system. This time choosing the stretch glass wand which creates streaks of color in a part of the image. I had never really understood how to use this tool until I found a video on youtube that explained it. Now I can’t be stopped.
Today’s quote is from Lao-Tzu:
Be really whole and all things will come to you.