creative / expressive

L - Nikon / T - Nikon film camera

I was so excited to come home and find a box from Amazon. I was on Amazon the other day looking for a particular book a blogger mentioned. One book lead me to these type of books which really caught my interest. Feeling like my creativity needed a push I bought some of them. Look at these books - don't they look exciting? I can't wait to dive in - absorb the knowledge within. I'm hoping they will inspire me - to update my etsy site, to get a more active with creating and selling, and to create a blog that has a purpose and stands out. I have so many ideas - paintings, forged silver jewelry, direction for the blog, scannography visions, weavings, sewing projects, - all in my head. They're doing me no good in there. The problem is I seem to get motivated and excited to work on my own stuff when I'm at work doing other peoples projects and by the time I get home my energy for creating has died. Well Spring is a time to grow - to spring forth with new life, new color, and energy. Maybe after reading the books I will feel a new motivation, and not afraid to try some new things. / Taylor sent me this photo tonight. Those are some crazy, colorful men's shirts aren't they? This particular shop makes olds things look fresh and exciting - desirable. I'd say a guy would have to be pretty creative and bold to wear one of these - not afraid to try new things - to stand out and be expressive. The photo was taken as a segment of her photo assignment - "the role color plays in our culture".

"Hail in the Spring, a start of new beginnings.

Creativity awe-inspiring gives a reason to be living.

Plant life showing life anew, a wonder to be found.

New born lambs playing in the fields, birds nesting all around

People enjoying the sun and the warmth, feeling good to be alive.

Spring gives a purpose to our lives, a touch of Paradise."

- Kay M. Sutton, Bring in the Spring

tiny green

L - Canon / T - Nikon

As you may know I am playing along with the flickr group sixty-four colors. I asked Taylor to play along too. When I told her the color of the week was asparagus green she asked if it was "new" asparagus or "old". I told her the rgb color coordinate looked more like "canned" asparagus to me. Pretty funny. I took a photo of this little tiny sea urhcin that I have at work for my crayola color match and she sent me her photo today - a tiny little match box car. cute.
Have you decided to play along with this weekly challenge? There are so many fun flickr groups it's hard to resist wanting to be a part of them all but it's also hard to keep up with them. I'm wondering... Which group do you enjoy being a part of? How many of the weekly photo challenges do you participate in and do you post to them each week?

warm / bright

solo post - L, Nikon

I woke up Saturday with the great ambition of cleaning my basement. I made some progress but got side-tracked quite a bit. I found things I thought were missing, things that I had forgotten about and things I wondered why I had kept in the first place. It was fun in a lot of ways, but a chore in other ways - something that had to be done. I found photos of friends from my college days, letters written to my parents from college, journal books from a trip to Germany and Prague, sweet drawings from Taylor's childhood, a weaving that I had made some 30 years ago, stuffed animals that Taylor loved for a time, Easter dress I made for her and but there are other toys and clothes that never were really special in the first place. I threw out some stuff and gave some things to Good Will, but more than not I found stuff I just couldn't let go of yet. It's all still too much. Every time I attempt the basement I get rid of more and more stuff, become less and less sentimental it seems - I just hope I never become too practical and get rid of things I'll one day regret. I know that I'm glad my mom held on to the things she did. She still has an old doll I made one day after school. She's made out of pantyhose, stuffed with cotton, buttons for eyes a zipper sewn on for the mouth. Story goes that I was always getting in trouble in the second grade for talking too much and my teacher would tell me to "zip my mouth". (To this day I am considered quite shy). Mom kept a little brown gingham dress she made for me in kindergarten (I can still remember wearing that little dress and feeling pretty in it). ANYway, it's a hard thing to know what to keep and what to toss. But some things are stored in boxes that should really be used and the blanket I wove on my loom was one that I brought upstairs. I could use it to keep my feet warm while reading a book.

On another note: the sunlight was glorious this weekend so I took advantage of it for a few photos. I also joined a fun group on flickr called "sixty-four colors". They choose a Crayola color each week and it is our mission to find it and take a photo of it during that week. I even bought a new set of crayons when I was at Office Depot for inspiration. I just joined so I was behind by a few weeks. I had fun going back through my photos and trying to find the color of the week. Funny I found many of them in the correct week, or close to it anyway. I look forward to playing with this group. It will be sort of like going on a color treasure hunt. This week the color is called Timberwolf - it's a soft warm gray.

smiling color

solo post- L, Nikon D60

Elk asked this morning, "where do you see colors in your world that make your heart sing?" These are the colors I'm seeing right now - how could I not smile each morning.

I'm going to see my brother in B'ham this weekend so I don't know if I will get a post up or not - I'll try. I think he is going to put me to work preparing his garden - he's planting a vegetable garden. I have my work gloves ready... but I have in mind some festival browsing and a trip to the botanical gardens.
I want to wish all of you a beautiful weekend. - L

wet day / wet paint

L - iphone / T- Nikon D40x

I have no words to speak of tonight but I'm pretty excited about the pair of photos we have. When I got to work this morning, coming in from the rain, I looked down at the chair that I had dropped my things on and realized wow that's a lot of color (and I don't usually wear bright colors) - so I took a picture. But that was all I had for today - an assortment of bright objects. Then when T sent me her photo this afternoon I said to myself, "no way!" I was thrilled to see all those bright colored inks we bought for her when she was home on break, and to see the project she has been working on too - the green circles mimicing the very inside of my raincoat. I wish you could see my full umbrella - it's the rainbow colors of her ink boxes; my purse almost like a palette of paints. It's all a very colorful part of this rainy gray day / i was glad it was raining today - i have so much work to do and if the sun had been out i would be tempted to play. i've labored long on this "illuminated manuscript" assignment and finally i'm ready to put color to my pen and ink drawing. i love getting out fresh new art supplies - new brushes, new colors, even a new palette.

pondering / mix of color

"The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof." - Barbara Kingsolver
I'm re-reading her book, 'Prodigal Summer'. It's a beautifully written book full of insight and information about the wonders of nature, mixed with some interesting human nature as well.
I like this quote by the author. It's something I've been thinking about lately - time I go after those dreams of mine. / working with color today - oil pastels. it's not my favorite - it's messy - i don't feel like i'm good at it. looking forward to the weekend - i have my first athens band to photograph tomorrow.

dots of color / not just black & white

If I had not posted this myself I would have never believed it. There was a big bag of gumdrops on sale yesterday at CVS - the spice kind i couldn't resist. I took my photo this morning before work and she sent hers earlier than usual, around 2. I definitely smiled —clear we had cheery colors on our minds. "Paint a rainbow inside of you, paint a rainbow, let your smile shine through. When it's cold and gray, push the clouds away, paint a rainbow in your heart." / mixing colors today — i can make any color i want with just 5 colors in a tube— i love the feel of paint

mind your Ps&Qs / color my world

I look forward to the first of the month when a new issue of Skirt magazine comes out. I always find mine at Starbucks. That "grassy organizer" advertised in this issue would be perfect for her desk. / "There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us. 'Tis good to give a stranger a meal, or a night's lodging. 'Tis better to be hospitable to his good meaning and thought, and give courage to a companion. We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light."