Team Up Mondays: Art

This was Linda's theme this week and I could have sent in hundreds of photos, but only because I am in the moment of nurturing my creative spirit.  My life is filled with so many 'have to's' and not enough 'want to's' and I found I was lacking more and more motivation to do anything, and getting up in the morning and surviving the day was just a chore.  It was hard to find the joy.  It was hard to face anything with exuberance and excitement so I decided ENOUGH!  I had to DO something. 

After meeting up with some girlfriends, and finding their creative souls were in need of some TLC too we started to look at various group projects, one was fibre art - creating a landscape painting from wool or animal fibre using a wet felting process.  Way fun, and that is underway but no where near ready to share.  Another project was doing some quick sketching exercises.  Sometimes sitting down with a blank piece of paper can be a little intimidating - you get drawer's block or feel overfaced.  But if you photograph cracks in the sidewalk and turn the cracks into creatures - well, that's like lying on your back and finding shapes in the clouds . . . very relaxing, and an easy way to find something within and take it down on paper.  So, without further adieu, my sidewalk crack art:

Some of the girls didn't get it at first, but it is a side profile of an old man with a pointy chin.  Working backwards, here is the sidewalk I used:

You should totally print it and make your own picture.  Start with an animal, I did and it is much easier - plus, the point is that it is make believe, so if he has an ear on his stomach and a tail on his nose that is absolutely fine - chanel Picasso!  Can you see my old man in these cracks yet?  Here is something to help you along:

From the same cracks, here is my creature:

I had so much fun with this project, it really did help clear the cobwebs away a little and get the pencil moving.  Next project was to look away, make a scribble and turn THAT into something.  I had fun doing that too, like I said, I could have uploaded a hundred photos and the thing that is great about these exercises is that they are quick, and you can work on them in 2 minute increments if you have to so 'I don't have time' is no longer an excuse I can use ;-)

Linda picked the theme this week, she photographed a sketch that has been hanging in her home since I met her:

I was instantly transported back in time to cups of tea in her house when our husbands had gone flying, or fishing, or wherever.  I knew it had a partner but couldn't for the life of me remember what it was, until I read her blog, then the penny dropped!  Aaahh yes!  Since it was her first choice for this exercise, I know she won't mind me saying that it is my favorite of the two.  It did set me thinking about artwork in other peoples homes, and I sat trying to remember the artwork hanging in the homes of all the people I know - a memory game that lead me to believe I need more vitamins or something to boost that little clerk that keeps files in my head (Linda's visual which I stole).

Mariette next:

It is of a Banksia vase she bought for herself in Australia.  It is beautiful.  Mariette had a sick little one and sent her photo in early, I need to be more like Mariette - get the job done, don't make excuses!  Kudo's to you my dear, and I hope little M is feeling better.  Interesting to me is that Mariette doesn't consider herself very creative, but she seems to be finding her medium in photography because she is getting better and better at it.

Claire:

This is of her antique sewing machine and I agree with you, they don't make things like they used to, it is truly artful Claire, and a beautiful photograph.  It seems that back in the day artisans took pride in their workmanship, functional objects were not only well-made and lasted years and years, but beautifully made too.  Mass production has made things more accessible to more people, but the pride is gone and so too the longevity, and I don't think the trade off is worth it.  Some things SHOULD be passed down from one generation to another.

Which leads me to share something else, a paragraph I found titled 'Reading of the Will' which speaks to what we ARE leaving for our kids . . .

Dear kids,
We, the generaion in power since World War 11, seem to have used up pretty much everything ourselves.  We kind of drained all the resources out of our manufacturing industries, so there's not much left there.  The beautiful old buildings that were built to last for centuries, we tore down and replaced with characterless but inexpensive structures, and you can have them.  Except everything we built had a lifespan about the same as ours, so like the interstate highway system we built, they're all falling apart now and you'll have to deal with that.  We used up as much of our natural resources as we could, without providing for renewable ones, so you're probably only good until about a week from Thursday.  We did build a generous Social Security and pension system, but that was just for us.  In fact, the only really durable thing we built was toxic dumps.  You can have those.  So think of your inheritance as a challenge.  The challenge of starting from scratch.  You can begin as soon as - oh, one last thing - as soon as you pay off the two trillion dollar debt we left you.
Your parents.

Kinda hard hitting, but it has a point don't you think?  Art is often about a message, so words can be art too . . .

Team Up Mondays: French . . um, no, sorry, I mean NIGHT

One, two, skip a few . . . and yes, I am missing a post.  Sometimes I think instead of trying to do it all, we should just cut our losses, prioritize and . . . take a big sigh.  Last week the theme was French, it was my theme, I took a photo of French radishes and the other ladies outdid themselves with their submissions but I never got to post them.  Sorry ladies, I do feel like I did you a disservice, and I deserve a whippin' - not the oh-so-gentle chastize from Mariette.  I know I am not worthy, and I will try to be a better blog partner.  I will try to be a better blog partner.  I will try to be a better blog partner. . .

This week the theme is Claire's.  We live 'in the country' by Boston standards, and 'the country' is defined by 30 minutes or more from the city limits of Boston, no pavements and no streetlights.  Hence, when it is a new moon and the theme is night and you walk outside everything is . . . black.  We have also had a week of below zero temps, so sticking around outside waiting for inspiration or the shadows to move was just not happening for me.  Claire did a phenomal job, her photo is suggestive and open to interpretation and I love it:

Linda used her flash, clever girl - why didn't I think of that?  I will put it down to brain freeze and congratulate her for being so BRIGHT!

Mariette is the clear winner this week, her photo is exquisite and should be hanging framed somewhere prominent:

Me?  I was a wimp.  I decided that night for me would mean something totally different, as in, something that would not require me to go outside.  The first thing I do when the sun dips below the horizon is slip my feet into these puppies (actually, often I don't wait that long, but shhhhh, don't tell!)

A cherished Christmas present from my mom-in-law when she saw what a beating my last sheepskins had taken.  Once these are lovingly wrapped around my feet, all seems right with the world, and everything seems achievable, or not that important.  I love them I do.  Mark still has his from South Africa, the ones we bought in Oudtshoorn located in the Karoo - sheep country:



I don't know how he has managed to keep his so good looking after nearly four years but ok!  Ryan's are more gentlemanly I think, like, smoking lounge gentlemanly, like, retire to the library gentlemanly:

And April, well, what can I say?  She is stylin':

That is it for me this week.  This was a fun challenge.  Next week we have a topic that should inspire some artful photos!  Till then, nighty-night, sleep tight.

TUM (Team Up Monday): "Inside"

Well that was a nice long rest from blogging!  Oh my word the end of last year was so crazy, and it has been a long time since I have been so happy to see the back of a year - GOODBYE 2011!!  And well hello to you 2012, don't you look like an adventurous little number?

And adventure is right.  I started off the year by falling off a horse and hurting my back and my hip - again!  Guess they don't call him Generator's Flying Gypsy for nothing and since his name is Gizmo for short, that little duck, spin, rear, buck move has here on out been dubbed 'The Gizzy'.  Makes you dizzy.  And feel fizzy.  Puts you in a tizzy.  Quizzy?  Where did that come from?  Oh and guess what?  36-year old women don't bounce.  In case you ever wondered, they go splat.

Besides having to pick up 50lb sacks of potatoes while being black and blue up and down, I got a flat tire . . . in the van.  I can change my own tire if I am in the RAV, but in the van I couldn't even FIND the spare tire or the jack so I had to call Mark and then simultaneously discovered something else was flat: my cellphone battery.  Sigh.  So I hauled my sorry black and blue ass back into the store, hitting my funny bone and then closing my head in the car door in the process  (don't ask! who needs THREE Stooges?) to phone AAA. 

So, my tire was changed and without further adieu, here is my photo for this week:

It is the inside of my van this last delivery day.  Claire sweetly called my van clean and organized, HA!  That's because she can't see what the hay bale did to the back, I won't be giving any hay fever sufferers a lift!  Speaking of Claire, here is her-growing-in-talent-by-the-second-photo:

Love that the cup is turned around, love everything about it, it's lovely!  Linda did a live shoot using a family member:

I hope you used one of those anti-static softening sheets Linda, otherwise your socks will stick to your kitty.  Wait a minute . . . that's not a bad idea!  She might be able to bring those wayward socks back from the other side of wherever they go when you put them in the dryer right before you never see them again . . . cute photo Linda.

Mariette's photo this week is from her desk at work:  

I love stones like these.  When Ryan was little he was constantly picking up stones and putting them in his pockets - so cute.  He still does it, and I have bunch of stones lying around the house that he has picked up.  I like the fire and ice of the two center stones.

Finally, rather sadly, we lost a hen today.  She was the smallest of our hens and not the brightest but very, very sweet.  We were outside with them and came in for a cup of tea, Mark went back outside to prepare for a trip to the dump and a hawk had just pounced on her.  Mark scared the hawk away but Sweetie was already gone.  The hawk refused to leave the area despite many attempts to scare him off, and the rooster and other hens were not to be seen.  We spent over forty minutes looking for them, I was walking down the street and calling out my usual 'pik-pik-pik' which usually brings them running when I heard soft reply.  Under a tree was our rooster and other hens, he had taken them to safety, covered them with branches and leaf litter and was lying quiet as a mouse, on guard.  All that was visible was his head, had he not answered me I would have walked right by them they were so well camouflaged.  I was so happy to see them safe and sound, and so, so very proud of our handsome boy for being so smart and such a good protector of his girls.   We sent out a 'chicken-wire' to our friends and neighbors advising to be on the look out, and all the chickens on our street were locked in their coops.  The hawk had to get his dinner elsewhere today. 

That's me for this week, I am done.  One week down and fifty-one to go in 2012.  I think I am a little afraid.