Lily Pond

My family took me to Shelburne Farms today as a belated birthday present. I had never been to this amazing property before although I have lived in Vermont since I was a baby. For those of you who don't know, the farm belonged to the Webb-Vanderbilt family and presently consists of 1,400 acres on the shores of Lake Champlain. It was designed intentionally by a landscape architect to feature spectacular views, stunning vistas and surprises around ever corner. It lives up to the promise. Yet, with all the stunning images I saw today and there were many (I will be putting more up on my Facebook page tomorrow) the one that enchanted me the most was of the lovely lily pond constructed in the front of Lila Webb Vanderbilt's beautiful gardens. Each time I look at these serene waters I see something new and I feel peace.

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Mermaid-Collage Draft

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Hi, I've been getting a lot of new subscribers to the blog, for which I am very thankful, but I realized that many of you do not know much about me. In addition to being a certified "Pug Slut" -- it seems it's agreed upon now -- I am also a writer/teacher and a photographer/artist. I've been having a lot of success lately in showing and selling my collages, which along with my photographs I post here from time to time. Don't worry, pug lovers among you, just as they do in my life, pugs have a way of showing up in my work as well (as you can see in this picture here).

I thought I might share with you all a little bit about my process. This is an unfinished draft of a collage I have been working on for some time. It is a difficult piece because in order to capture the ethereal nature of the water and the mermaid the figures need to be intentionally blurry, but I still want something for viewers eyes to grab on to. I work from "recycled photos" -- digital images that may not quite work as stand-alone images, but when manipulated in Photoshop can really tell a story. I then print out these images and draw, embroider and whatever else I think will provide a more three-dimensional aspect to the piece, before scanning them back into Photoshop and manipulating some more. This is my sixth version of this collage and I have yet to print it out to work on it. The first version featured the girl alone. I wanted to add a companion and put in the pug on the righthand size of the image, but where I originally placed it, it looked as though he and the girl were engaged in some unsavory business (I'm not that much of a "slut") so I moved him around and added another and have been playing with the piece ever since. There still needs to be something going on in the left hand side and I have some ideas, but I thought I'd share it with you now as a work-in-progress. And, don't worry, there's still another pug post to follow later today!

Woes of Shooting RAW

My apologies to anyone who follows my blog posts, but here's a problem with being a photographer. Once you start shooting RAW your internal hard drive fills up quickly. My 500 GB hard drive on my Macbook Pro is full. Completley full, I can barely type this post as my computer is shouting out messages every full minutes "Your startup disk is full! Your startup disk is full!"

"Gotcha'," I wanna yell back. And, I do. I understand and yes, I have done all the right things. I have mutiple external hard drives sitting on my desk and multiple backups. I have tiny external hard drives that are supposedly mobile that I can bring with me everywhere and still I cannot keep more than the immediate pics I am working on on my computer, which seems highly unfair. In working on my collages I view my desktop as a palette and it only works well to have all these images on hand, but my computer does not want me to do that. I called Systems Plus, the local computer shop, today to see about putting in a 1 TB hard drive in my Macbook Pro, which I can do and I can also pay to have them move everything over, but they seemed incredulous that I could possibly have that many photos on my computer.

"But, I do!" I cried.

"You better let us check it out," they said.

The conclusion is inevitable so I have started the all day process of moving my current photos onto the external drive. I'll probably still add the terabyte hard drive down the line but I need to use my computer today. There is really no point or happy ending to this piece other than to share the woes of a photohound and how the path of addiction in any form leads to heartache.

P.S.-Will be posting pics of Sweet Pea's monkey crate when I am once again able to access them (off the external drive, of course!)

Affirmation, Imperfection, Creativity

I know I've been posting a lot about the Anointing the Goddess show and truth be told, getting ready for it has occupied a lot of my time over the last few months and as the show grew closer, especially this last week. I had so much fun creating my collages for this show and a lot of people have asked me about my process. I think of it as recycled art because I use as my base a lot of imperfect photos -- photos that may be blurry or too cluttered in the background, ones where I see the potential but I just didn't quite get it right. I manipulate these in Photoshop, cutting and pasting on various layers, using blending modes etc. until I get a new picture that I like. Then I may paint or draw on the photo digitally before printing it out and doing some handpainting with pastels, adding glitter or sewing. I scan the collage back into the computer and do the finishing touches, maybe some more digital drawing or making some other adjustments before sending it off to be printed professionally. I am thus able to make multiple copies of the same print.

It's awesome to create something you love and it's so much fun to find out others love it as well. I sold the above four collages this weekend as well as a number of pug greeting cards (I'll be showcasing those later). I had people email me today telling me how much certain collages spoke to them. One lady told me about her love of ballet and her infatuation with my pug ballerina pieces. An artist herself, she says she is working on selling a bunch of her art in order to buy mine. Photographer George Forss, known for his photos of the New York City skyline, told me how perfectly an out-of-focus image of a girl in one of my collages worked. I tell all this not to brag but to share how something wonderful can come out of something imperfect. These pictures all began as photos from the rubbish heap. In most other areas of my life I am always aiming for perfection, worrying if I don't get something right. In this area, I found a way to take something that wasn't quite right and turn it into art. I am working on ways to apply this to other things I do. In the meantime, I thank you all for sharing in my journey and enjoying my art. It is truly an affirmation to relax and enjoy being creative.

Love Abounds

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Returned home completely exhausted and utterly happy from a wonderful weekend at Bedlam Farm and the Anointing the Goddess show at the Pig Barn Gallery. This picture of Jon Katz, Maria Wulf and their dog, Frieda, shows the love that was shared throughout the day -- this couple's love for each other, the farm they will soon be leaving, art, creativity. This energy flowed through them, but also through all those who attended whether they came out of a love for Jon's stories, the animals, the artists or their work, you could feel the goodness in the air. It was palatable. I sold some of my photo collages and a number of pug greeting cards and returned home to experience the love of my forlorn pug, Alfie, who had to spend the weekend at home. Her love came in the form of big, wet, sloppy kisses and much tailwagging. The kisses continued for quite some time and I fell into bed, totally exhausted with pug slobber on my face.

Joy in all Seasons

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I snapped this picture of my niece, Tori, playing in the hay. She was enamored with it, shouting "My hay, my hay!" I couldn't get over how happy it made her. Editing it tonight, it reminded me of a picture I took last year of my niece, Catherine, playing in the snow. We had taken a walk in the fresh snow when she just reached down picked up a pile and through it in the air. Both girls seem lost in a world of bliss,

Give them a Hand

Avery and Raine stopped by after Tae Kwan Do the other night and once again I found myself fascinated with their hands while they were playing in the freshly mowed grass in the backyard. It's as if they are intentionally making art in their presentation. The way they touch and hold the objects they find seems so deliberate.

Through a Child's Eyes

So you all know by now just how much I love taking photos. I enjoy the excitement of trying to get that perfect shot that captures the emotions of the moment. I have taken classes and continue to try to improve my skills. It is a humbling blow to the ego then when I hand the camera to a four-year-old or a seven-year-old or a 10-year-old and they take shots that just naturally do what I've been trying to do. It is also an awesome experience. The camera teeters, they crouch down low and you worry that they'll drop that expensive piece of equipment that you sold your soul to get. They forego the strap, touch every button but the shutter button with very sticky fingers, but these photos are the result. Maybe not as focused as they could be, a critic could certainly offer some critique, but Tori, Avery and Raine, the nieces and nephews responsible for these shots, certainly caught the moment. Tori took the shot of me and Vader the week before he died. Her mom was away and we had these special moments when we took Vader for walks (in a baby stroller!) and she would ask me how long until Vader goes to heaven as if he was preparing for a grand vacation. Raine took the one of Alfie and me last night and his brother Avery caught the trio of us -- Tori, Alfie and me. I love these photos not because they are perfect but because they are perfectly realized.