Graduation Time!

Beauty, brains, a caring heart...

and now,

a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, too.

That's our gal!

So proud of you, K. Rose!!!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Mother's Day weekend.

Enjoy!

Farm Fresh

Farm fresh eggs in wondrous shades of creamy tan to mellow rust

plus buttery light and a 50mm lens...

a combination that made me happy!

Wishing you a blessed Easter.

Comments are off.

Asparagus

Snowbanks are slowly receding,

winds are gusting,

birds are noisily chattering...

it looks and sounds a bit like

spring.

Could it finally be here?

I do believe the answer is yes!

Enjoying asparagus on a spring day :)

Hoping spring is in full swing at your house!

Comments are off.

30 Spring Photo Prompts

I wish I could say our woods are touched with hints of green,

 bursting buds, and spring flowers...

but, truth be told,

 my world looks very white, while the dream of spring lies buried 

under mini-mountains of snow and cold. 

Hopefully, spring is no stranger at your house and you will enjoy my 

30 Spring Photo Prompts!

As for me, I guess I'll just have to continue

 dreaming of spring...

Unfolding

The ferns in our woods are now tall and luxurious,

but I do love their early unfolding forms.

Here are a few images made at the beginning of spring.

I hope your creative ventures are unfolding in wonderful and magical ways!

Comments are off today.

Surprising Spring

Our spring arrived very late this year.  

Thus, we are just now enjoying flowering fruit trees and trillium filled woods.

Recently, I was thinking about how spring always surprises me,

since it comes in like a pointillist landscape

with its unique greens and lacy leaf tracery

and in no time...

poof,

it morphs into the look of summer,

all bold greenness and solid canopies.

How can it change so fast?

Anyway, here's an early spring image

 made before our world turned incredibly green.

A quiet backwater of swollen creek and soft warm light.

Hope you're enjoying beautiful weather,

spring or not!

Life is crazy busy here,

so comments are off.

Once Upon a Time...

Today, I'm a guest contributor at the Mortal Muses site.

 My post is titled, Once Upon a Time...

I hope that you can stop by and say, Hi!

Link

Wishing you wonderful light
and happy times creating.

Comments are off.

April Winter

How's your spring looking -

colorful, flowery, green?

Ours is looking mighty wintery.

These images were made on April 19!

It's beautiful, but......

snowstorms in April???!!!

Wishing you a perfect, creative spring,

in whatever manner that comes to mind.

A Wish

Wishing you warm spring days and

a blessed Easter!

P.S. all Easter decorating thanks to our lovely daughter, 

who was home from college for Spring Break.

Comments are off today.

Spring Dreams

I called Ms. Spring and left a message,

 "Please come to visit and stay a while.  I miss you so!"

I haven't received any reply.

So, I continue to cross country ski on the snow (no lie)...

looking at white fields, forests, and frozen lake.

But, I daydream of spring....

And, hear the florist's shop calling my name.

And, purchase small tulips.

And, revel in their delicate form.

And, dream of spring.

Wishing you a colorful and creative spring!

The Spark

It starts with a spark - all art, that is.

A thought, feeling, color combination, light pattern...

any of these may be the spark.

These sparks excite our imagination, make our hearts beat faster,

and start us on our creative journey.

For me, the spark may ignite a creative art quilt project

 that ends up 60" x 80" and hangs upon the wall, 

or an elaborate beadwork necklace that is months in the making, 

or a photo that I'm proud to put my watermark on.

I've been involved in art making long enough to know 

when I come in contact with that spark,

I grab it - then and there.

So, when I looked up from my morning coffee and peanut butter 

toast to see branch patterns splashed across our silk curtains, 

gleaming dust covered table, and illuminated dried daffodils - 

that I really should have thrown out - 

I grabbed my camera and tripod.

Who says that creative spark can't come before your morning coffee is finished 

and you're still in your PJs ?!

Hoping you seize that spark and have some wonderful, creative adventures.

See you again in a couple weeks.

Linking at The Photo Heart Connection

with my favorite photo from March (the first).

Fortunate

 I've been reading Julia Margaret Cameron - Her Life and Photographic Work by Helmut Gernsheim,

and feeling very fortunate to be living in an era of digital cameras and photo editing software.

Julia used the wet collodion process. 

 Here's a glimpse of what this Victorian photographer went through to accomplish her work:

 "Mrs. Cameron had to balance a 15" x 12" glass plate between the thumb and

 first two fingers of one hand, while slowly pouring on collodion with the other;

 the plate had then to be tilted gently in all directions
 to make the collodion form an even coating. 

 The next step was to dip the plate into the silver nitrate sensitizing bath."


"The development had also to be effected by balancing the plate on one hand 

while quickly and evenly pouring the developing solution over it. 

 If no mishap occurred during fixing, rinsing, and drying, 

damage could still occur long after varnishing, 

which was necessary to protect the coating before positives could be printed on it. 

 The negative had to be warmed in front of a fire uniformly and

 "as hot as the hand will bear". 
 The varnish was poured on and drained off in the same way 
as the collodion and developing solutions."


"For printing the negatives, prepared albumenized paper could be bought,
 but it still had to be sensitized with silver chloride - hence the term "silver print." 
This and the printing and fixing of the positives were simple operations
compared with the making of the negative.
They were not developed but "printed out" by contact copying,
the frame holding negative and print being exposed to daylight for several hours,
during which the image slowly appeared.
After fixing and thorough washing, 
the prints were toned with gold chloride to give them a warm sepia tone
 and make them more permanent,
then finally rinsed."


"It has been a real labor," she wrote to Sir Edward Ryan,

 "for in all freezing weather I have poured nine cans of water fresh from the well 

over each photograph."
(Note - all excerpts are from Gernsheim's book)

Oh my, we have it easy!

On another note of good fortune, I found out that my elaborate beaded necklace, 

Tudor Splendor, has been juried into the Bead Dreams Competition.  

This exhibition will have pieces from all over the world in it. 

 Happy day!!!

Wishing you happiness and good fortune in all your creative endeavors.

See you again in a couple weeks.

The RR Line

One morning while visiting our daughter at college, 

I took my camera for a walk.

Wandering along the RR tracks, I found interesting leading lines, patterns, and abstract shapes.

These are elements that I find catch my eye regardless of the subject matter.

I'll let my photos tell the story of this delightful walk.

Wishing you wonderful, creative adventures!

See you again in a couple weeks.

P.S. Happy day for me - my art quilt, "Motherhood" was accepted into

 the American Quilter's Society Show in Paducah, KY.

For the non-quilters out there, this show is international in scope and 

one that I am always very honored to be included in.