Visual Poetry

This is habit forming...

Visual Poetry

I have been taking more time with photography here lately.
Really trying to think about the what, the how, the why of what I see in my view finder.
And the "what am I going to do with it when I take it" of a photograph.
I own Adobe Photoshop Elements 7. And that's about all I could say about it.
I didn't know what to do with it...
but I have a remedy to that...
Visual Poetry.
Susan Tuttle.
Below are a couple of things that I did on PSE 7 with Susan's help
(she holds me hand...I hear her voice whispering to me, telling me what to do).
The first is a side street in Charleston SC. I've managed to make it all vintage & retro (even though I liked the regular shot as well).
The second was a shot of me that my handsome hubby took -
I actually know how to round corners now!

When I meet online friends in person, several have said things like
"Wow. I thought you would have been taller than that."
or
"Wow. Just lookin' at your picture online, I thought you were a lot taller than that."
or
"Wow. You're short."
I just want to let everyone know that I'm just right for my height...
I am 5'1".
That's not short - that's petite.
That's
Just.
Right.

Heart Rocks

I'm always looking for heart shapes - a lot of people I know do this.
It's so interesting to see what you can find!
I see a lot of rocks while I'm out and about...
Here are a couple that caught my eye last weekend.
I hope that you're all feeling well.
I'm enjoying this southern fall weather.


Are you flexing your creative muscles?
Are you carving out a little bit of time to do the things that you really love to do?

Weekend Photo's

Even though the weather was lousy,

the company was great this past weekend.

I managed to snap a couple of interesting photo's

at Lake Jocasse.

I'm at home today - trying to recover from what my internist calls

"viral induced asthma".

Go figure.

No wonder I couldn't take more than 8 steps while carrying that kayak

in Charleston...

Beauty

On the trip home from Charleston, we were surprised with this beautiful sunset.
I took the pictures from inside the car - so they may be a bit blurry.
Notice the tie cord from the kayak in the first one.




What beautiful colors!
Seems that I have seen a watercolor painting
of a Santa Fe sky using the same colors...

This next photo was taken in one of the oldest cemeteries in Charleston. There is a monument standing in the graveyard from the 17th century.
I have more pics but was amused by the carving on this one.
Wonder who was the model for this wide eyed woman?

Enjoy your day.

It's raining softly here at my house.

My paints, fabrics, papers and sewing machine are busy on a special project.

One that I can't tell you about right now - but a Big surprise (and honor).

I'll tell you soon.

In the mean time, do these things.

1. Try to find inspiration in everyday things.

2. Draw (or sketch) daily.

3. Document your passion.

You will be pleased with the results and it will humor your children 40 years from now.

Weekend Art

My husband and I went to Charleston this weekend for a little camping and kayaking.
On the drive down, I pulled out my sketchbook and a book that I had carried with me.
I love to thumb through source books or other illustrated books
for pictures or illustrations that catch my eye. Then I sketch them out in my journal or sketch book - it's a warm up of sorts to drawing what's around me. Even though I draw a lot, I still require some warm up exercises most days to "get in the groove" of things or to just keep my drawing skills up to date.
While at the camp site, I had the occasion to pull out my trusty compact watercolors to add a little color to the pages.


We kayaked in the Charleston Harbor - out to Crab Banks.
We found some awesome shark teeth! One was over an inch tall - that gave me a moments pause when the waves hit three foot and our kayak was bouncing around...
I suddenly recalled the serrations on that big ole tooth...
and had to frantically push away the fright bubbling up in my chest.
We did some of what my husband called "kayak surfing" as we rode that wave in.
It was a lot of fun (at that point) and we will definitely go back for more of that.
I hope that your weekend was filled with a lot of love for what you were doing -
and who you were doing it with.
Mine sure was.

Let Nature Be Your Teacher

The Italians would say "finito".

The French would say "fini"

The Germans would say "fertig".

I would say "finished"

"done"

"complete".

I let Nature be my Teacher.

This weekend she will do the same as my husband and I are off on another adventure.

This one includes a kayak, some collection bags, sharks teeth and feathers from protected birds.

Nature.

It includes a lot of Nature.

The one thing that never fails to inspire and entice me.

Find some inspiration this weekend.

Stamp Carving

I did a little stamp carving this weekend also.
Like my art case, I have a stamp carving container that I can grab n' go.
It contains a few carving blocks, carving tool, paper, pencil and an ink pad.
Presto!
Something to occupy this lady during a lull in the action.
Oh- just make sure it's deep enough so that your carved pieces will fall in to the container and not your nice, clean SUV.
Whoops...

Weekend Warriors

This weekend was another grand adventure.
My husband and I really have a lot of fun doing simple activities...
such as camping, kayaking and hiking.
This past weekend we did a "controlled" tent camping experiment-
which worked out very nicely btw :-)
On Sunday we loaded up the trusty kayak and headed to Keowee River.


WOW! Look at that water level! It is almost at full level now.
Last years extreme drought had really taken its toll on this body of water - we walked (and treasure hunted) on land that you can't even see right now.
We packed our lunch, plenty of energy snacks and some adult beverages for the trip.

I adore nature - especially the river and the forest. So many inspirational images to be seen...so many beautiful things if you just take the time to look around you.
The mushrooms were about an inch or so tall. Hiding on the side of a fallen tree trunk.



And this is a close up of vegetation growing on a rock in a little stream. You can't see the water in this shot but it was cascading all around the rocks. There were several levels of small waterfalls that fed into the river from a hidden channel. If you click on the photo, you can see the texture in the leaves.

I love this mushroom! It was about 3" tall with the most awesome areas of texture on it.

Now this is where the trip got REALLY interesting...
Notice the large "Danger" sign.
Yeah. Large.
Hanging overhead...

Right next to these three other Warning signs.
Rather large signs, huh?
Quite visible to people , say, in a kayak...

paddlin' right under them...

Yeah, the signs?

This is what they looked like as we went

RIGHT PAST THEM!

Oh, and one more REALLY big "Danger Will Robinson" sign on the shore...you know, just in case you missed the four previous overhead signs...

Aha! This would be the reason for all the signs just Screaming "Danger"

or "Turn Back (yeah this means YOU!)".

Hmmm...This would be the gates at the Keowee Dam I'm guessing. The Keowee River flows out of Lake Jocassee Dam and into Lake Keowee, a reservoir created by Keowee Dam and Little River Dam. The Keowee River flows out of Keowee Dam to join the Twelve Mile River.

I think that the water is used to cool the reactors at the Oconee Reactor Station.

And so on and so forth.

'Nuff of the history lesson.

Let's just say that no water was released while we were floating past the "Do Not Enter" signs...

And a good time was had by all.

Some Really Good Stuff

By now you all know that I am a nature freak - as opposed to being just a Freak (which some say I am as well!).
I try to really pay attention to my surroundings, always looking for "some good stuff".
Well, Tuesday I was in Charlotte NC with my husband
and I found some really Good Stuff.
I found this cool piece of a tree limb with several types of lichen and moss.

Here's a close up of that same section of the small limb. Notice all of the awesome colors on that one piece!

My favorite thing that I found (well, except for the bird feather) - a wonderful mushroom! I found several smaller ones that are shaped like flat buttons with very little roots.

It's almost like they were growing right along the surface of the ground. You can see them right next to the larger, more conventional shaped mushroom.

Here's a shot of all my findings that day. Even some Rosemary - ok, maybe I "found" that little sprig attached to a larger plant...that happened to be in a really cool landscape setting. I could have sworn that it was broken BEFORE I touched it...

Hey! Who sat that glass of wine in my picture?!

T.R.!