three little words

empty glass bottles...on the way to the recycle bin...

a moment's hesitation...I gather them back up...
stash them in a box...add to them as the weeks pass...

holiday prep is creeping into the calendar...
I spy the bottles...and remember a spark of 
inspiration from lynn whipple via latitude studios...










I grab the white paint and begin...

a pencil outline...a wrap of ribbon...a single suggestive word...

a vessel to hold a dream or capture a wish...

or perhaps impart a pearl of wisdom or two...

the holidays approach...inspiration is building

linking up with kim klassen's Texture Tuesday...
today's photos edited with kk texture dollard soft and gentle and with french kiss texture grunge...

organic...

organic...free flowing...with no restrictions...graceful...neither harsh nor rigid...

the prompt last week in my bestill52 class was organic...what did it mean to each of us...

the descriptive words flowed easily...but no mind's eye image was immediately present...
until we took Calvin to the dog park...and there was a patch of spent dandelions blowing in the breeze...

I had the Southern Man carefully hold a few dandelions as I drove all of us home...hoping they would stay intact...just long enough...

no time to arrange for perfect lighting or contemplate a setting...just shoot...

Captured in a moment's notice...soon afterward, the stems dip and the seeds take flight...

by the end of the evening...gone...now just a file on my computer...
but still inspiring me to express the feel of organic...

linking up to kim klassen's Friday Finds...where my find is this moment in nature...fleeting but beautiful...
what others would consider a weed, I think of as a wonder...

On the horizon

With summer in the rear view mirror, it seems that my schedule for fall/winter is getting into high gear...on the horizon, there's a few happenings that you might be interested in so I'm giving you a preview...

I'm pleased to be included in the revised edition of Leslie Riley's Inspirational Quotes Illustrated...
a collection of over 100 artists, illustrating favorite quotes...though I can't share my contribution yet, the book is available for pre-order on Amazon now with a release date of mid November...a perfect gift for the art lover on your list...or for yourself...














November 1 is the Holiday Art Mart sponsored by the Mukilteo Arts Guild. A first time event for me, it is held at the beautiful Rosehill Community Center in Mukilteo (just a stone's throw from the ferry dock) 
from 10am-5pm...this juried art event will help you get a head start on holiday gift ideas...

a preview of this year's holiday card

November 22 is my own Holiday Studio Show located at my Everett workshop studio. Along with Jody Cain of Latitude Studios (and maybe a few more artists) we'll have plenty of ideas for gift giving...along with a couple of laughs and a bit of holiday cheer (!), we'll make your shopping experience a joy...















December 6-7 is the annual Phinney Winter Festival and I'm thrilled to be a part of this juried show once again...Art, Music, Food, Community...its the perfect holiday event to get you in a festive mood...

but enough about the impending holidays...fall is in full swing...
get out and enjoy the glorious tones, textures, and tastes of autumn...no need to rush ahead quite yet...

Nature is always inspiring

As the light changes from the bright hues of summer to the languid tones of autumn, 
a change of artistic scenery is due...

An old metal medicine cabinet displays vintage bottles and practice sketches...contorted oil paint tubes await their turn...a broken clock, reminiscent of a former time...capturing what once was...

The patterns and textures of nature are always intriguing...

a whorl of flower petals...

the striations in a leaf...

the delineations of a feather, the precision of a wasp nest...

Can we ever really capture the essence of this natural beauty...

these replications in print, paint or photography...only serve to remind us how wonderous nature is...
and that it is best to be experienced and explored...

joining the group over at kim klassen's texture tuesday...
all of my photos were edited with either kk texture magic0916 or kk texture everyday...sometimes both...

reflections of a man

Composing a portrait of a person...without an image of that person...but rather a composition of a still life that reflects who this person is...a still life family portrait...this week's exercise in my bestill52 class...

I immediately embraced the idea and my mind went racing...thinking first of my mother and the things I have that would represent who she was...her skill and talent as a seamstress, her ability to cook and to knit...her willingness to fix/repair/remodel whatever was needed around the house...but then I stopped...

and thought...what about my dad...

In my office, on my bookshelves, I have a large stack of paperbound play scripts...they belonged to my father...who was a devotee of the theater and active in an amateur theater group while I was growing up...

The vintage wire rimmed glasses were a prop for a character he was playing...I no longer remember which play...but when my mom said she was getting rid of them, I quickly snatched them up...you'll notice that they show up often in my photographs...

It was great fun to see my dad perform on stage...so animated and alive...as I've grown older, I think perhaps that he was frustrated with his small town life, the trials and tribulations of raising 6 children, a nondescript middle management job, wanting something more...and that acting on the stage refreshed his soul.  He was an English major in college and instilled in me an appreciation of the spoken and written word...sometimes I helped him with his lines for the play...his notations in the margin remind me of his interpretations...and his decisive handwriting belied a stronger spirit...

It is interesting how just a few items can indeed define a person...and these many years later make me pause...
and reflect...on who this man was...

Linking up to kim klassen's Friday Finds...where my find is reflecting on the foibles of the human soul...

happenstance

Lately I've been finding that the most offhand thought/gesture/action yields the best result...I get the sense sometimes that over-thinking the process just bogs everything down...and grinds inspiration to a halt...

In my year long creative class, be still 52, we've been focusing on real life photos...those vignettes composed in a moment's notice...

I had been trying to photograph a trio of my vintage calipers...no matter what I did, I couldn't find an angle or composition that worked for me...frustrated, I started putting them away when the tiny acorn I picked up on my walk with Calvin caught my eye...I literally threw it on the ottoman (where I was taking photos) and it landed in a caliper...I took a shot, cropped it and...

Cleaning up the dining room table...a stray feather that I picked up from a parking lot over the weekend 
(I know...I pick up a lot of things off the ground), laid it on a stack of ticking to take back to the studio...that looked kinda interesting...grabbed a clock face off my desk to add a third element and took the shot...

More cleanup...composting the sunflowers I bought at the farmers market two weeks ago...a quick snap with my phone camera before the last of the petals drop off...perfectly imperfect...

Finally...trimming my rose bush last week...snipped a few blooms not yet faded...thought it would be fun to compose a vignette with them...place in a vase...put on my white painted table...add a book...maybe a pair of reading glasses...take glasses away...get out stool to shoot from above...remove book...it goes on and on...nothing is right...once again, putting stuff away...still have one of the blooms in a silver vase...I spy my vintage clock faces in my office...toss them on the table...add the vase...that's it...

I think sometimes we make more of something than we need to...must remember...simple is the best...

edited with kk texture lookup

Linking up with kim klassen's Texture Tuesday...more simplicity at its best...