Getting Caught Up... and more exciting news!!

I am so proud to say that I am completely caught up on my 365 photos on Flickr! It shifted from this thing that I HAD to do, to a task I couldn't wait to do. My plate is still quite full (though I am happy to say I've a let a couple of things go) and instead of spending the bulk of my time thinking about and creating reasons not to do what's on it, I just get it done. Those tasks and actions don't get in the way of my life, as I had previously convinced myself. They are my life. And I'm choosing to live it fully! :)

So, let's get on with the show. There are two new creative tools (toys) in my life.

First. A new phone. A phone? Yep. With an 8 megapixel camera in it!!! How fun is that?! Now I can take pictures on the fly and keep up with 365. Check out some of these that I've just posted...

(You can click through to see them on Flickr :)

It's so great to be able to reach out and grab those fleeting moments when you're simply going about your day. Plus the camera feature has fun effects for shooting and editing! And super easy for uploading.

That would have been plenty exciting all on its own.

Then I got home from a workshop on Wednesday night, and Jon surprised me with an early wedding present. A Nikon D5000!!!!! My very first Digital SLR!!! I'm tearing up again just thinking about how grateful I am to have someone who fully supports my creative drive and desire. And wants to do whatever he can to help me soar with my dreams.

The camera is so light! And boy oh boy, the clarity of the pictures is incredible! Check it out!

I am really excited by the possibilities this camera creates for me! More learning, and maybe some earning :)

And I'm really enjoying being here, and being part of this wonderful community again.

Here's some questions for you I'd love to hear the answers to! What are your favourite creative tools? Who are your greatest supports in making your dreams a reality?

Hugs and heart,
Kat

Alphabet Soup - M is for Me Day Mondays

51.365

My sweetie left for Cuba yesterday, with a gaggle of our friends. I miss him already. I made it through the night though. No nightmares. Now I sit back and relax and enjoy the rest of this week of bachelorette living :)

Okay, so maybe not that wild. I am proud to say that I went to bed at a decent time last night. It meant that I was up early to enjoy this day, which started out with a good chunk of time in bed, catching up on blog reading.

After the Breakdown (aka 6.8.10), my bed was my favourite place to be. Second favourite was the couch. Usually with the lights low and the curtains drawn. As I started to get stronger, I did the classic me and tried to do everything, and take on too much. I remember having low key weeks, time at home, an art class, an appointment or two, and then the weekend would hit and I would want to make up for it, and keep up with my sweetie. Needless to say, by Monday morning I was exhausted and needing recuperation time.

Except I would feel stressed and guilty about everything I wasn't getting done. J came home one Monday eve to me in tears because of all the things I felt I hadn't accomplished. We sat down together and wrote out a list of everything I had done that day. It was quite extensive. Though I hadn't left the house, I tackled what some people would take on in a week. Two things happened that day. First, I started making those lists at the end of every day, so I could bear witness to how much I was doing and connecting it to how I was feeling. It only took a week or two to get the point across.

The second thing we instituted was a "Bed Day". Just because I was getting better didn't mean that I had to be all the time. It was okay to have a day to put it all down. Just rest and relax and recharge, and do what I wanted to do, not what I felt I needed to do. I loved my bed days. I had a reason to say no to things, not schedule things that day.

As I continued to heal, my bed stopped being my favourite place to be, except when I'm curled up with my sweetie nodding off to sleep. If I want to be there at other times, it's a good sign that I need to recharge, or I'm getting sick. I was fighting off a bug last week, and it drove me up the wall that I needed to be in bed. I think that's a good sign

Now, I have Me Days on Mondays. For a while that meant At Home Days, which was needed to preserve and refuel my energy. As I shift away from that it gets a little blurrier... about what falls on which side of the Me/Relax line.

Not having my sweetie here this morning made me realize that the best first step to Mondays is not getting up right away. The rest I'm sorting out. I've really enjoyed having an art filled morning so far. Updating my 365 pictures on Flickr, spending time with Picnik, making a really cool folded origami envelope out of wrapping paper to send something to my snail mail buddy B at Sweet Limes... all made me happy and calm.

I can't show you what I sent B, yet.. though I can finally show you the ATCs I made in January :)





Now we shall move on to the photography portion of this program :) There have been a lot of floral photos in my collection lately. No apologies. It means I've been getting a lot a flowers lately!


Alli's theme this week at Happy Monday is Yellow. I love this picture. The petals of the pink flower in the background curling through, trying to embrace the daisy.

I had a little fun playing with it in post. Dropped the exposure a little and raised the temperature, which brought more of the yellow out in the centre of the daisy. I love the little dusting of yellow on its petals. And then, I couldn't resist and had a little rendez-vous with Picnik. A little vignette was all I needed...

48.365

This next shot is something I hope to working on this week. I love this shot in theory. All I've done to it so far is a little crop. I want to soften out the skin, make it less pink, except that would involve masking and PhotoShop (insert scream from Psycho). I downloaded the MCP mini-fusion action last week and I have been planning to learn how to use it. It's on my list for this week.

Lucky me, Ashley Sisk, of Good to WOW, is going to be showing everyone how it works! Hopefully I will have something a little different to post up and show you on Thursday!

In the meantime, I will enjoy staring at that sunny day we had at the beach, and miss my sweetie something fierce.

Hope Rocks

Today is officially the last day of my Experimental Art e-Course by Amelia Critchlow. I have immensely enjoyed it and I have gained so much from it. No longer do I fear the blank pages of my art journal, or cling to the simple and ordered. Messy, blurry, Big? Bring it!

Our final assignment was to embark on a little guerilla art. A while back I was wandering my pal Red's blog and read about her participation in something called Hope Rocks, a movement started by Woodstock Lily. What better reason to finally put this into action myself?

So, yesterday morning, I grabbed my sweetie and headed to the beach. It was super sunny and absolutely gorgeous. We had a lovely time, cameras in hands, stopping to admire the little things.

I collected up five rocks I felt to be worthy. The plan is to shoot them in their natural habitat, shoot their transformation, and shoot them in their new home. Here's the first one that I completed yesterday.

Hope Rocks - First of Five

This beauty was re-nested at the Home and Garden show. I hope that it will have a hope-full journey.

Photo/art

I want to share with you one of my new fave pics.

I took it a day after Valentine's, when the beautiful roses I was given by my sweetie started to open. It was late, and the light was low. Before spending time with Amelia in her Experimental Art e-Course, I probably would have dragged them under the light and shot them relentlessly until I got a bright, crisp, perfect photo.

Except I didn't. I climbed right out of that comfort zone. Sometimes it's necessary for the sharpness, yes, I haven't let that go entirely. Other times it's more beautiful to let things be softer.

I love how it turned out. Like something out of an Andy Warhol painting. Andy Warhol meets Georgia O'Keefe.

I was tempted to figure out how to flip it so it faces the other way. I fought the urge, and was rewarded by finding Kat Sloma's blog, and her interesting discussion about breaking the Rule of Thirds. This one doesn't follow the rule, I checked, and I am embracing that as well, in this photo and ones to come.

So thank you Amelia and Kat, for encouraging the uniqueness that results from knowing when to break the rules, or work outside of them. That's where we find ourselves sometimes, yes?

To add it to the portfolio submission, or not... that's a whole other question.

Now, I want to share with you my new crush. Picnik. It's an online photo editing program that you can use to add some pretty neat effects to your photos. I'm still terrified of Photoshop and I think this is a really simple way to ramp up the look of what I've captured... until Photoshop and I become more acquainted.

Here's the Before

I sifted through several different effects, and settled on Lomo-ish.

One click, and...

Ta-da!

I knew I liked this program when I tried it on Valentine's Day...

Now I think it might be the beginning of love ;)

Comfort

Did I tell you that we felt an earthquake here this week? Just a little one, about 3.2 on the Richter Scale. Just enough to give you pause, and remind you that the solid ground beneath you is always shifting.

I've been shaking things up in my art this week too. Breaking out of some comfort zones. Now, I'm well aware of my penchant and passion for capturing on "film" grandiose, sweeping landscapes and super sharp, precise macros. Project 365 has been helping to kick me out of that box, pushing me to look for uniqueness at all angles, and I got an even bigger kick from Amelia this week, in my Experimental Art e-Course. We've been exploring the experimental edge of photography. Blurry shapes, shadows and more. I am so happy I was able to give way to this, because I've been getting great results.

Playing with less light.

Playing with editing
(Original here)

This next one is actually one of my favourites of all time, and will be making its way into my BFA application. Which I am working on this weekend!!

~***~

On the flip side, as I explore my way outside of my comfort zones, I've been finding and creating comfort as well. Another assignment I had this week, in an entirely different milieu, was to make a Comfort Box. Earthquake preparedness is part of the norm here, and students bring little comfort kits into their schools at the beginning of the year to be stored in earthquake bins in the school yard. This is kind of similar, except it's meant to bring you comfort and safety when you're feeling the unsteady ground emotionally. Plus I was able to decorate mine, and the items I chose to put in it are not only reminders of the love and support I'm blanketed in, they are also reminders of my growth.

I was really happy with how it turned out too. I was drawn to a sturdy tin, that smells like crayons inside. First I prettied up the outside. Then I added some broken crayons and blank card stock, and a mini iPod, and I plan to collage some messages into the lid and bottom. I've decided to keep my keys in it, so that I focus my attention on it every time I head out into the world from the comfort of home. And every time I return back to it as well.

This little project was also very timed. As you know, my sweetie is heading to Cuba for a week, and as much as I am overjoyed for him, I've been a little rattled. Nightmares like to sneak in and taunt me when they know that he's not tucked up beside me, my guardian. However, I am now feeling a little more settled and prepared, knowing that I armed with comfort.

~***~

Hmm... if only I could find a way to put this in there too. (My sweetie is almost always guaranteed a laugh, or at least a smile, from me when he does an imitation of one of our favourites) :o)

Thursday 13 - A keen eye

Last night, I sat down and read my first two posts from Sarah Robinson's 28 days to Getting Your S*** Together. In the second post, I was asked to distill myself down to one sentence. My core, or, my s***. I was able to narrow it down, though it was still floating in a couple of separate pieces. Ultimately, I am a creative problem solver. I am also an artist. And, I am sensitive and intuitive.

This morning, in the shower, where a lot of us do our best thinking it dawned on me. Perceptive. I am perceptive. It is the key to everything else. I can see the little details in art, and life. I can see where things fit best. I can see the potential connections, between people and people, or people and resources/solutions.

So, I'd like to share with you some lovely moments of joy from yesterday, that were made possible by my perceptiveness.

~***~

I've been feeling much better the past two days, and I went out for a lovely walk in a lovely neighbourhood. It was one of those walks that took longer, and was so much more precious, because of all the stops to marvel at the small wonders.

13 Pieces of Joy from my day yesterday:

1. I dropped my sweetie off at work yesterday. As I was heading back home the quick way, probably in a rush, I checked to see if it was clear to cross the intersection and got a glimpse of some crisp snow capped mountains. Plan change. Right hand turn, towards a slow drive along the water. Beautiful sunrise, almost the entire Coastal Mountain range in the distance, and sun glinting off the pieces of snow caps directly across the water


2. Then I came home and assembled the JOY photos into this lovely collage. So thankful for all the Joy photos that were submitted, as they brought me joy and they look so wonderful together.

3. Brene Brown. I finally watched her story sharing at TED. Wow. That's it. Just Wow. Watch it! Now :)

Here's her website, blog, and twitter.

4. A trip to the actual Bank was necessary. As I got into line, a woman came rumbling in behind me, and her cantankerous energy made me physically step away from her. I remembered Cinderita's story, opened my body language and smiled at her. As she was getting upset about the time, and the other stops that needed to be made, I smiled at the gentleman with her. She moved closer to the trash can and was trying to pull a clingy piece of thread from her sweater. I smiled at them both. They started chuckling about the desperate thread. Once it was successfully removed, the woman turned to me, with a big smile, and recounted a story of a play she saw when she was a little girl, and a skit where a piece of something relentless moves its way through the actors, and ends up back on the first person. JOY. I wasn't able to give them physical hugs. Though, I felt like what I had given them was the equivalent.

5. I went out for a walk. In the middle of the day, in the middle of the week. It was cold and bright and gorgeous. (ok, so cold here means O degrees celcius). I was feeling stressed about all the things I wasn't accomplishing in the day, and the walk was way more fun that.

6. I had company for my walk! A new friend I've inherited with the large pack that came with my sweetie. And her lovely dog. And her mom's dog. She is also doing Sarah Robinson's "28 days" and talking about it gave me a chance to learn some really awesome/admirable things about her. She lives very close, and we have another walk date planned!

7. Learning that the early cherry blossoms we see in February are actually plum blossoms! How cool is that!

8. The snowdrops are everywhere now :)


9. You can see little micro-bursts of green in many places, if you are open to seeing them.

10. Chickens photograph well

11.Dogs photograph well.

12. Pure maple butter on toast tastes like a maple glazed donut! Pure maple butter on toast, with cinnamon, tastes like a cinnamon bun! Amazing. (For someone like me, who's allergic to almost everything)

13. I climbed into bed last night, almost on time, all cozy and calm. Then I realized, with a heart full of hope and joy, that I had not yelled at anyone for the entire day! If you read back on what I've been dealing with the past couple of weeks, it will make sense :)


What little pieces of life, beauty, or joy did you notice in your travels yesterday or today?

So much to Enjoy!

Before I tell you some new good news, I want to share something with you. Yesterday was my first day at a new job, in a completely different field of work. It was bliss. There were no children tugging on me, demanding my attention, or sneezing on me. I was able to choose my clothes for the day based on what I felt good in, and looked good in. I didn't have to worry about whether or not my toes were protected from being stomped on, or secure enough to take chase at a moment's notice. My earrings dangled deliciously and my ears were not strained from being on alert for the earliest signs of unrest.

I popped over to Jamie Ridler's site while I was contemplating this, and how apropos that the wish for this week is:

What do you wish to enjoy?

• more of this physical freedom in the workplace.
• being in a positive work environment.
• learning new skills and tackling new challenges.
• teaching people who are eager to learn.
• meeting deadlines.
• asking for help and being supported.
• having my input and ideas respected and sought out.
• being creative and the appreciation of my creativity.
• having energy to live a whole life outside of work

Here's a visual interpretation of how I felt about my work day yesterday and the potential of this new job :) [I was water colour painting with my fingers when I came home from work! You can click through to see the full size on flickr, and the other painting I did with it too].

Okay, one more picture, before I move on to the good news. I was just so excited that I had the energy to art journal after work yesterday. My 365 picture was influenced too :)

Without further ado, drum roll please...
I was given another blog award!
Seriously!

Noel over at French Christmas, the queen of sharing her perceptive perspective in beautiful prose, gave me the

Wow! Thank you Noel. You've always been a supportive cheerleader of me and my writing and I really appreciate it! I'm really looking forward to that moment when you're ridiculously rich and famous from all the books you've written and published, and I can say, I knew you when... :)

The rules. Share seven things about myself. Then pass it on to five other stylish bloggers.

Things about me, huh?

• I love playing board games. Especially creative ones. And ones where a little competition adds to the fun.
  
• I once left the house without any pants on. I was about 9 or 10 and it was a lazy summer morning and I had wandered downstairs to the tv to watch cartoons in nothing but my fave Disney World sweatshirt, and my undies. My sister had to run an errand within walking distance and I distractedly ambled out the door with her. Sadly, I didn't notice until we were on our return. Luckily we hadn't gone back the same way, since that would have meant a second pass through a parking lot full of cute young boys playing road hockey, and giggling. Blush.
• I am the youngest of three children.
• I didn't finish high school.
• If I could have a free pass to eat whatever I wanted for one day without the fear of having a reaction, I would want baked macaroni and cheese, a butterscotch sundae and peanut butter cookies.
• I wear earplugs when I sleep
• I can build a wicked camp fire.
  

That's my seven, now on to my five.

Five fabulous bloggers. I'd love to give a nod to a collection of bloggers who are not in the eye of this blogger award tag storm that's been circling

Sweet Limes - who I met at the beginning of my blogging journey and immediately connected with. Everything she does is stylish. A beautiful, artistic, creative soul.

Cowgirl Red - I've only just met her, and I love the way she shares her innermost thoughts. It makes me feel so much less alone in what I experience. Her fabric creations are stunning, and I hope she doesn't mind if I show up one day at her breathtaking ranch and play cowgirl with her.

Pieces of Me - Jen's photography is just gorgeous! Another fellow reverber who is chasing after their creative dreams. Follow along for some adventures in New York City.

Mujerzen's Blog - At some point during reverb I found my way to this blog. Now I know whenever I stop by I can count on a hit of the most delicious poetry.

Live, Love, TRAVEL - I don't know Jaymi very well. I do want to thank her for sharing not just her beautiful photos. I love that she always explains her photo experiments and projects, making it a great place to be inspired to try something new.

Hope you find one in there that you enjoy as much as I do.

And remember... 5 more days until the JOY photo challenge closes!

Creative Distraction

Wow, where did the week go? Things have been pretty busy around these parts, as I slowly take on more commitments. I realized yesterday that I'm an assignment behind on my experimental art course. Well, let me rephrase that. I have two new assignments to delve into! Fun :) Ooh, and I'm starting to get photos and requests for the two Creative Challenges I have on the go! Wanna play? Click here.

The one thing that I have been staying on top of is my photography. My homestead has proved useful this week, for my daily Project 365 photos and MCP's Project 52 shot.

The trees outside my apartment (the same ones I dreaded their leaf losing in the fall) have been fun subjects. A sparkly sun shower and moody sunset caught my eye and were caught in my lens.

Some natural light and a blank wall made for a fun silhouette adventure...

Now, for my two faves of the week. I was driven to distraction by some cheap tulips picked up at the grocery store (Is it spring yet?!).

Some bright tints in this macro wonder.

And the soft tones of this sepia sweetness...

Creativity Check-In

Hi! What a wonderful day (1-11-11) it's been. So productive. Knocking things off the check list. The past few days I have been feeling pretty fabulous actually, now that I've got my energy back.

Yesterday, the mister and I picked up our fine point sharpies again for our weekly drawing exercise. Blind line drawings of giraffes. What fun!


Here's a fun photo I posted for MCP's Project 52. I love their themes, this week being song lyrics. Oh potted Christmas Tree, how much you grow and make me happy.

I've been working away at my January Art Trading Cards. The assembly and finishing touches on the front came together today. All they need now is the back attached. And then I will have to let them go - rather, give way to their flight to their new owners. :) I wish I could show you the pictures now. Except that would ruin the surprise.

How about some pictures of a doodling exercise I did today for my experimental art e-course. I cracked open my art journal for the first time in over a month, and I am so not afraid of it anymore.

Doodly-do

Deja-Vu

I really got into this, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. How everything turned out today, actually. Oh! Did I mention that I now have a dedicated work space for my art? I've been moving everything on and off the breakfast nook table (frustrating) - and my desk desk in the office, which was meant for school work and computing has been getting none of that action. So voila, desk is now art table and all of my supplies can sit out and be free. Everything is always right at my fingertips. Happy sigh.

Happy creating to all of you. And remember to check out my 365 photo project here, and some creative challenges/giveaways here.