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Showing posts from November, 2009

Photoshop fun

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I've been a photography buff for more than 20 years, and a longtime photoshop fan - clipping paths, scanning images and painting, smudging and blurring until weeds looked like ethereal flowers.... Since delving into mixed media a few years ago I hesitated to get too far into the computer for my art because.... I guess I was afraid I'd never come out? I see so much fabulous digital collage out there, like Lani's - moderator of the swap group I'm in. Hers rock and then there are Susan Tuttle's inimitable works of art... I did succumb though, and since the pumpkins I have been playing every spare moment. This is a lovely end-of-winter shot from my archives... but I thought, hmmm, wonder what would make it more interesting. So, I applied several of Susan's genius techniques (from Visual Poetry). and came up with this. It might be a bit much - too spotlighty, as if that were a word, but I think I am starting to get the hang of it! My fab friend Wendy took this

Happy Thanksgiving

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Grace Thanks & blessings be to the Sun & the Earth for this bread & this wine, this fruit, this meat, this salt, this food; thanks be & blessing to them who prepare it, who serve it; thanks & blessings to them who share it (& also the absent & the dead). Thanks & Blessing to them who bring it (may they not want), to them who plant & tend it, harvest & gather it (may they not want); thanks & blessing to them who work & blessing to them who cannot; may they not want - for their hunger sours the wine & robs the taste from the salt. Thanks be for the sustenance & strength for our dance & work of justice, of peace. ~ Rafael Jesus Gonzalez ~ (In Praise of Fertile Land, edited by Claudia Mauro) This photograph and poem is but one of the examples offered daily (with occasional holiday breaks) by Joe and his Yahoo venture Panhala , a one-man deal, with a mission to make our days more lyrical, beautiful, hopeful and most of all th

An Experimental Approach to the Shifting Landscape of the Face...

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This isn't a new photo, one like this is hard to come by. I'm taking the fabulous Susan Tuttle's Visual Poetry class and I wanted to make a statement about Fall, so I thought I'd accomplish both with one image. I like the original photo and was a bit perplexed about how to improve it, so in experimenting I went warmer, more vivid. I'd love to know what you think! I took the original (below) last year while trekking through the neighborhood. It cracked me up because, being the Queen of Procrastination (thanks to arthritis and habit) it looked like something I would call an experimental approach to the shifting landscape of the face, rather than simply saying I'd left my pumpkins out too long! Maybe it's because I am a procrastinator But this year, I think it happened even earlier!! I heard it while still picking Halloween candy out of the dog's fur and pulling the fake cobwebs out of the bushes - a Christmas jingle. Two days after the ghouls and little w

Waiting...

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Waiting seems to be a very popular pastime these days, though it wasn't the motivation for this piece... I keep saying I'm going to change my 'look' and here is another in that series of color and style. I do, though, feel as though I'm evolving. Maybe waiting to evolve? It's one of my favorite collages and Cassie likes it too because when I showed it to her she said, "I have to have this - let's go to the frame shop as soon as I get back." That, of course, was before the back stuff with Jim; I hope she still wishes to purchase it, I'll wait and see. Nothing like a kink in the works to put your priorities in order. I'm so far behind in every area, sadly with my Life is a Verb coaching class, although I feel the effects profoundly. Prior to this, very deep and life-altering work, I would not have gotten through the past couple of weeks without anxiety, fear, maybe a bit of depression, and definitely feeling overwhelmed. Always being in choi

Meet Wendy

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Meet Wendy Burton , the winner of my Fall Giveaway, from Saskatchewan, a hauntingly beautiful place. Like me, she's an artist, photographer, writer and mother. Kentucky and Canada don't have much in common aside from an amazing landscape (check out her photos!)being home to art loving women on the day to day journey of life:)but we sure seem to share plenty, and we've only started! And, fortunately, she's infinitely patient - my husband's back problems have waylaid so many projects... sigh. But it's coming, not to worry! Here's what Wendy has to say in her bio: Creativity allows my voice to float up in echoing reverberations from that place in my soul where emotions thrive. It gives wings to my words, flight to my thoughts. Creativity allows my hands to share a piece of my heart with those who take time to see. Nature brings inspiration ~ colours and sounds, taste and touch. I thank God for this gift ~ this wonderful gift of creativity, the wind in my wings.

Happy the Clown Saves the Day!

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What do you do when life throws you a curve? Create, console, consult, make a clown? Lately I haven't had to go far to see how many of my art/blog and other buds are dodging so much... stuff. Pain - from the life threatening to moderate discomfort is, of course, part of life. My prayer list grows, though fortunately my gratitude list is longer. I've been away from the computer (and behind, again, on swaps, projects and sending a package to my new friend Wendy in Saskatchewan) tending to my own DH, who is weathering a back trauma unlike any he's ever experienced. Several bulging disks and one herniated disk that triggered sciatica have, until today, rendered him completely immobile, except for the writhing pain of trying to find a position that hurts a little less. We are hopeful that the relief granted by a fabulous, tiny Indian woman (physician:) who administered a guided injection/epidural yesterday, is the beginning of his recovery and that our appointment tomorrow with

And the Winner Is...

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After a bit of technical difficulty earlier in the week, Random.org selected the winn-er of my Fall Giveaway; I'm happy to announce that it is Winn's Angels . Why am I so excited?? Well, I've never 'met' her before; but, we're the same age, we're both taking Susan Tuttle's Visual Poetry class, and, while I haven't written as much about my philosophy - aside from my Art Angels - we both have strong views on the presence and guidance of angels on our creative journey. Could that be any cooler?? I have spent a great deal of time perusing Wendy's blog and I'm in love with her art and photos and, did I mention, she lives in Saskatchewan? Please take time to check out her amazing blog and art displayed on her Flickr page Her favorite season?? She has published a book entitled Autumn Richness! Here's her winning post: Ahhh, my favourite season. In truth there is so much beauty in every season. If I pause to contemplate for any content of time,

A Thrilling Night

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I don't ordinarily post photos of myself, particularly one that is hideous beyond belief, even though it was deliberate - I didn't want to stand out after all. It is a bit disconcerting to walk downtown and step over and around hundreds of zombies, (and I'm talking movie set realistic) on Main Street, still as corpses strewn everywhere - on the sidewalk, slumped over benches and garbage cans, in stairwells. As a faint rift of Thriller rose from the silence, 'Michael Jackson' appeared... the zombies slowly rose into formation and the procession began. Michael led the ghouls, swaying and lurching, shoulders and legs stomping in unison toward the courthouse, followed by a shrine to the late king of the Halloween fest and us! The March Madness marching band - ghostly glam dancers in vintage wedding and ball gowns, nurses uniforms and an amazing array of slips, shawls, veils and boots, followed by four of us playing cymbals, moroccos, and tambourines. Behind us, the full

March Madness Marching Band

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marching to the beat of a different drummer... I know where to sit - back row, third from the right:)