From My Fellow Swans

This morning, I wanted to share with you the beautiful artistry that has developed in Swan Dive. This is a small sampling of the pieces that I've "favourited" over the last 4 weeks. (I highly recommend clicking on the credits below to view each of them in all their full sized glory.)

1. fairy (#1 of 8), 2. Wedding Lights, 3. Deb gets layered, 4. give thanks, 5. July 7, 2011-The Old Red Barn, 6. warm hearts, 7. 3. Growth, 8. island, 9. , 10. What we think we become, 11. Kate walking, 12. field of leaves

One of the best things about taking Vivienne's photography classes is meeting  other artists and getting to see their work. What I love about this is that as we are posting our work to share with one another, we are also spurring each other on. There's this communal energy that develops, whereby the bar keeps getting raised and ultimately, it pushes each of us to do our best work.

That's not to say we won't post things that aren't perfect-we do-but we're learning from one another and supporting everyone's learning process through our own. It's kind of like that famous quote by Marianne Williamson that says in part "as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same." It's a beautiful thing. I am so grateful to my classmates for their generosity of spirit.

October Love

Hard to believe September has only 5 days left-it blew by! The good news is that in 6 days, it will be my most favourite month of the year, October!! YAY! Thanksgiving, my husband's birthday, our wedding anniversary and Hallowe'en are all on the calendar. Basically we party from one end of the month to the other in this house. *grins*

In celebration of October, I've made a desktop calendar for you to enjoy. Simply click on the image to get the proper size, then right click on it again, choose "set as background" and Bob's your uncle! Enjoy!

I've been busy tying up some loose ends in the studio-working hard on a couple of projects that I started ages ago and want to finish. (More on that in a future post!) I also managed to get my Petite Swap Boxes for Hallowe'en  completed. They've gone postal, so my partners should have them sometime next week. Hallowe'en and Thanksgiving are my favourite holidays, (go figure!) so I am especially excited to have some seasonal goodness headed for my mailbox too! Can't wait!

Speaking of mail, goodies just arrived in the magic mailbox-I have a couple packages from friends! Off to see what's inside!

With My Little Eye

 Yesterday my husband, Indy and I went and poked around the edges of Chinatown. It's an area of Vancouver that was established in 1887, making it 124 years old and one of the oldest and most interesting parts of the city. I saw several buildings that were built in the 1920's. I love old architecture!

Anyway, the whole point of going down there was to see what I could see and capture the best of it with my Rebel.

Urban Landscape

I think of everything I shot yesterday, this turned out to be the coolest. It's two photos, which I layered together and then finessed. If you saw the original photo of the runners, it was nothing to write home about, but when I saw them hanging there, in the lane, I instantly knew I needed to shoot them. The "32" was a piece of graffiti I found in another laneway.

1000 Fishes 

The Chinese grocers (of which there are many!) have bins and bins and bins of all manner of foodstuffs. There are mushrooms, fish, nuts and seeds. There were also bins that I didn't even have a clue what in them, (things from the sea, I think...) but I liked the piles of dried fish. I find them interesting. So much texture for the eye!

Perspective

This is a portion of a photo I have. In it, my Gramps, who is about 3 years old and his older brother who is 4 are dressed in matching thick sweaters, short pants and wool socks. My most favourite part of the photo is my Grandad's little shoes and the rough worn floorboards of the porch. I digitally cropped it to enhance this perspective and worked some texture magic, making a favourite photo, even more special.

One week left of Swan Dive. It's sure gone by quickly-time does indeed fly when you're having fun!

Synergy

The Company You Keep

I'm now 3 weeks into Swan Dive and I am still learning so much. This week, we're tackling layering of photos and cloning. The bottom left and right are each created from two photos I took, layered together and then added some texture to. The large image at the top is cloning, plus some text. (The original, with only one set of my feet is my most favourite self portrait from Wading In. The text is part of a favourite poem, The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.)

I decided to make this collage from work I've done this week when I realized these images were thematic. It's an extension of myself, really. It's weird to find your soul leaping out at you like this. (Weird in a good way, though.) I feel as if I've been granted magical powers or something-like I've got the key to unlock a secret room of my artistic self I never knew existed. My classmates are also creating the magic-every day there is amazing work being done. It really is quite remarkable.

At the beginning of 2011, I chose my word for the year.

 

Synergy: the working together of two things to produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects.

My intention for 2011 was to be open to opportunities where I could combine my energy with others to produce a greater effect, whether through art or altruism to make use of the gifts I possess.

I knew that if I stayed focused and kept my eyes open, synergy will show up all over the place and it has! Wading In, Light Hunters and Swan Dive have been a humming hive of creative synergy. In fact, Wading In showed up in my life as a gift a mere 19 days after I set my intention for 2011! If that isn't affirming, I don't know what is! It's shown up in other ways too, but that's a story for another time.

Stack Attack!

Today Seth Apter invited artists far and wide to share their stacks. Mine tend to be of vintage Canadian books (mostly school books that reference Canada in some way on the cover) and Remains of the Day journals (RODs). Here are the stacks of journals, though a few are missing-they were made for friends and have long since gone off to their new homes.

The smallest one on top was the very first ROD I ever made. The second one in the middle is my 2010 Olympic & Paralympic journal, housing all my memories of that incredible time in my life. The third, is the one I'm currently working on.

A peek at the pages of the one I'm working on right now.



There's 2 very full signatures. I'm at the point now where I'm just going back through the pages and adding smaller details. I hope to have it done by the end of October.

If you want to see up close and personal what's inside the pages of my first ROD and the Olympic & Paralympic one, you can-just go to my youtube channel to view flip-through videos of both journals!

And just a reminder that Seth's got a fabulous book coming out in early March 2012, The Pulse of Mixed Media. (I posted about it here.) The good news is you can now pre-order it on Amazon!

Textures & Layers

Once

I've been working hard in the last week with textures. (Which I am sure you can tell by the number of image posts I've made lately.) I'm really loving this particular aspect of Swan Dive. It's the digital version of what I do on paper-the layering, blending, finding balance...all the things I love. I create entirely by instinct-I experiment with different elements until the piece feels right. If I don't like a choice I've made, I just hit the "undo" button and there's no harm done! Gotta love that!

I worked on Once last night. I created it from a vintage cabinet card in my vast collection and then pieced together five layers to create this image. I am especially pleased with how it came out. Today's Monday, so we've got a new technique to explore in class this week, but I'm finding it hard to move on. I want to dabble more in texture which is so satisfying.

Speaking of class, I wanted to let you know that Vivienne is having a giveaway on her blog. She's generously offering up TWO free spaces in her Wading In class, which starts soon. I can't say enough good things about the classes or Vivienne herself. If you'd like to read about my experience of Wading In, you can check out my Muse Interview.

To enter to win a spot in Wading In, click here.

The draw takes place at 8 a.m. PST on September 22nd, so hurry!

For A Rainy Day

 Broken Mirror

It's raining here on the west coast. Not necessarily a bad thing-it means whiling away the hours in the studio. This past week in Swan Dive, we've been working on textures. I like the way they can transform an image.

Picket Fence 

This fence runs down one side of my front drive. I love the yaw in it and the way the weather has aged it. You'd never guess it was in my yard-it looks like it could be at a beach somewhere. I am deeply in love with Bokeh!

Autumn Afternoon

I never get tired of taking photos of my beautiful boy. I actually got him to sit still for a moment so I could shoot this. He still thinks the camera's going to steal his soul, but he did what I asked because he loves me. I love the spirit of Labs-they are such noble dogs.

It's supposed to clear up later this afternoon. I hope so, because I want to get out with my Rebel and shoot! This is the time of year when I want to be outside all the time. The colour and light change from moment to moment and I don't miss a single second.

In This Moment

In This Moment

This is the beauty of today, on the west coast of Canada.

Truly, this is the season that stirs my soul and makes me glad to be alive.

Delicious autumn!

My very soul is wedded to it,

and if I were a bird

I would fly about the earth

 seeking the successive autumns.

 ~George Eliot

I wish you quiet moments in the weeks to come, to sit and watch the leaves change and to soak up the goodness of the season.

Reinventing the Wheel

Twilight

What I've learned this week in Swan Dive is that I can take the worst image and turn it into something worth keeping. This tree shot was utterly pathetic. I loved this tree because of how big it was and how the bare branches were reaching skyward. (It's a winter tree-the original photo was shot in January.) When I got home and uploaded it, I discovered that the photo was a hot mess. The colours were way off (over exposure anyone?) and since I'd shot it with a failing digital camera, there were not one but two smudges on the lense that ruined the photo-one at the top and one in the middle of the branches. ARGH!

Just to prove my point, here's a peek behind the curtain:

Normally, this would be one I'd delete.

Fast forward to yesterday when I was combing through photos, looking for images to work with. I spotted this one and figured I had nothing to lose. Fifteen minutes of concentrated effort and I salvaged it!

 Indiana Jones

I am also amused by taking photos that were perfectly fine and finding new ways to reinterpret them. The possibilities are endless.

Something Special

 Apparition

Week two of Swan Dive is in full swing. This is an image I've been working on. I shot the photograph at Crescent Beach. (Click image to see it full sized.) If you've been following along, it's the same seed pod field that Rise Up was from, only this view is looking out to sea. I had a very good time playing around with it and this is how it ended up. I am especially fond of the creases in the sky.

Bokeh Trees

I shot these trees at the beginning of the year. Next to Autumn trees, I love Winter trees best. I love how the branches silhouette against the sky. There's a unique beauty in the starkness. I love the bokeh in this. (Bokeh is the blur or the aesthetic of the blur-the way the lense renders out-of-focus points of light.)

I am definitely looking at my photos in a new way in terms of post processing. I've never been one to mess with them all that much once they've been uploaded from the memory card. The main skill I've been using up until now is cropping, which I think is its own art. It's been fun going through old photos and finding new ways of transforming them into something special.

A Shoppin' Good Time

This weekend my pal Penn and I went shopping for art goodies.

Here are the spoils:

7 Gypsies, which are one of my all-time favourite companies, made this incredible sheet of rubber. There are sixty four different stamps in all for a mere $15! (On sale.) That was a steal because if you do the math (which I did and I'm sure Penn did too because we both bought one) that works out to 23c per stamp. I recommend clicking on the image to read all the cool things they say. I can't wait to play with these!

And then there was the inevitable paper purchases. I freely admit I am a paper junkie. I'm hardcore about it, but I don't feel guilty because I actually use what I have. I'm not stockpiling or hoarding here-as far as I'm concerned, there's no point buying it if you're not going to enjoy it. Anyway, this one is Authentique "Blissful". I love the folk-arty feel of this one in a soft antique mustard gold.

Basic Grey, is one of my tried and true go-to companies for great papers. I love them! I got this strippy one-I think bits will find their way into some of my ROD journals. (The arc of yellow is what's on the other side-these are two-sided papers.) This line is called Out of Print and this piece is "Classifieds".

Another from the same line, called "Bits & Pieces". I am obsessed with circles. You would not believe the amount of circle paper I have.

 "Tribune". I love the layering on this one.

 "Newsflash" which reminds me of a quilting pattern I've done called "Bullseye". I have a stack of blocks, enough to make a queen sized quilt sewn. I've just never got around to piecing the top. One of these days! The blocks are all Aunt Gracies (1920's & 30's reproduction fabrics) on a white background. They are something special and piecing them in this way really makes them pop. One day I'll post pics.

 I am not a fan of Martha, but she does make some really cool Hallowe'en stuff. I decided I needed this set of paper tapes. There's a black doily pattern, black wood grain, spiders and then a roll of spider web. There's a fair bit of tape on the rolls. Fun stuff!

And lastly, I bought this package of post-it notes made by Smash. They have some really fun products and I can see myself buying more. I thought these would be fun to add to my RODs.

Speaking of RODs, I've been working on the one I started in January. It's almost ready. I will be sewing the signatures into the cover soon. I took it with us and showed Penn my progress over lunch. She gave me one of the fabrics I used in the cover for Xmas.

Right now I'm working on two Hallowe'en Petite Inspiration Boxes for a swap. I did the spring swap and had so much fun, I decided to sign up again. (You can see those boxes here, here and here.) I've been hunting and gathering bits in the last week. Today I hope to work on the boxes themselves. They have to be in the mail before the end of the month.

I'm also busy with week two of Swan Dive, which I am enjoying. Fall is turning out to be a busy time!

10 Years Come & Gone

Kenneth Charles Ledee

September 11, 2001

Forever loved & deeply missed.

"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose.

All that we love deeply becomes a part of us."

                                             

~ Helen Keller

I am thinking of my precious friends, the Ledee family with much love on this day and always.

*****

Ten years ago, I inscribed the following by hand on the back of the 9/11 quilt I made. It hangs in my livingroom to this day. The words are as meaningful to me now, as they were then.

"We pray for the power to be gentle;

The strength to be forgiving;

The patience to be understanding;

And the endurance to accept the consequences

Of holding what we believe to be right.

May we put our trust in

The power of good to overcome evil

And the power of love

To overcome hatred.

We pray for the vision to see

And the faith to believe in a world

Emancipated from violence,

A new world where fear

Shall no longer lead men to commit injustice,

Nor selfishness make them

Bring suffering to others.

Help us to devote our whole life

And thought and energy

To the task of making peace,

Praying always for the inspiration

And the power to fulfill the destiny

For which we were created."

~Unknown

Sweet Spot

Rise Up

I just had to post and share this. I worked on this image for Swan Dive before dawn this morning and I think it's one of my all time favourites of everything I've shot this year.

I took this photograph at Crescent Beach over the weekend when we took Indy there to have a swim in the ocean. Right above the dog beach is this incredible wild grass field and these huge seed pods were everywhere. I instantly recognized it for the gift it was and started shooting. The ladybug image I shared yesterday was also a part of this discovery.

I recommend clicking on the images to make them larger so you can really get the full effect-as several people have pointed out, the thumbnails do not do them justice!

Anyway, I am really pleased with this one. I love when I hit that sweet spot and everything comes together as if by magic. There's an art to getting out of your own way and just letting things unfold. It's my favourite part of creating.

Swan Dive: Here We Go!

 So I "went back to school" on Monday, virtually that is. Swan Dive, the 3rd class I'm taking with the fabulous Vivienne McMaster started on Monday.  We began by playing around and not being afraid to make a mess with some of our photographs. The crazy thing was that every time I tried to "make a mess", I liked what I did. It challenged me to find and use post processing treatments I'd never used before.

This simple image of some pretty weeds growing in a fence was shot over the weekend. I just kept playing with it, adding a water overlay (above), changing the colour effects...(below)

Here's the mosaic I made to show the progression:

The image on the top left was the original photograph, untouched. Experimenting=learning!

Today we're working on colour. I'm up early, so I started working with this image, also shot over the weekend. The focus of colour on the smallest and most important element in the photograph makes the image more powerful, I think. I shot a fair number of photos of these beautiful seed pods, (I was so taken with them!) so it's likely you'll see them again!

We've also been discussing our style and that's been interesting. I always find this my least favourite art related question. For me, it's like nailing jello to a tree. I'm not in the habit of trying to analyze and label what I do and I'm always at a loss when someone asks me to define myself that way. I guess my approach is that what happens when I set out to create something is organic and intuitive and those are things that just are. (I have the feeling I am not explaining it very well.)

Anyway, when push came to shove, here's how I processed my style:

 -Clean: I'm thinking it terms of composition, lines, light. I'm all about the aesthetic.

-Intuitive: I kind of have this guerrilla style of shooting like a crazy woman and then seeing what speaks to me once I get the image up on screen later. I also tend to shoot whatever presents itself and feels right in the moment-it's never planned.

 

-Observational: Lately I've been posting about "elevating the ordinary" and that idea has had alot of resonance for me. I like to suss out the beauty in the things we've become almost blind to in our day to day existence.

I got some really supportive feedback from Viv and Amy (a fellow classmate whose photos are brave, truthful and full of poetry) which feels really good because I have a keen sense of vulnerability with this whole exploration of photography that I've been doing this year. Don't get me wrong-it's been nothing short of wonderful, but it's always a little intimidating to put yourself out there when you're just learning something new.

So that's where I'm at, three days into this latest adventure. We're slowly transitioning into Autumn here (I've seen leaves starting to fall!) and I can't wait to capture the goodness of my most beloved season with my camera. It's going to be delicious!

Elevating the Ordinary: Weeds

(Shot during Light Hunters)

Magic Mailbox: Belated Birthday Edition

Yesterday my husband came home from the PO with a big envie for me. It was from my friend Pip. It was a belated b-day gift, a beautiful art quilt she'd made. It's gorgeous and I've already hung it in the studio. If you lick the photo, you can see the details of the stitching.

Here's a shot of the whole quilt. I love how she created a skirt from silk ribbon. She really is a genius with textiles! Her beautiful work has been featured in Sew Somerset. One of the best things about having artists for friends is that they always send you cool handmade gifts like this. 

Pip also sent me a wonderful package of vintage wall paper pieces to use in my ROD journals. Perfect timing-I've been working on the ROD I started back in January again. I can guarantee some of those yummy bits will find their way into that journal!

If you'd like to see more of her work, Pip has an Etsy shop, which you can find here.

THANK YOU Pip for such a wonderful surprise! xox