room to breathe

Be still 52, monochromatic peonies.

day one... beginnings

So, I have followed Kim Klassen for many years now.  Signed up for most of her classes, but never participated fully.  My goal is to participate more in her new class, be still 52, a year of finding stillness.  Day one, Kim challenges us to take one minute of stillness a day and breathe... 6-10 slow deep breaths from our diaphragm while looking at something that we find beautiful or inspirational.  Then shoot.
I admit to practicing these deep breathing techniques when I am stressed and they do work, I will be doing these daily now and hope to see a change in a feeling of peace and hopefully to improve my photography.

April 365 project

Another month down... woo hoo!

Meet our newest granddaughter

Danica Laree and big sister Lana.

Liberate Your Art postcard swap 2014

This is my fourth year participating in Kat's LIBERATE YOUR ART, POSTCARD SWAP.  Each year gets better than the last.  There are so many talented artists sharing pieces of themselves with others from around the world.
It really is exciting waiting and wondering what piece of art will be in your mail box and who and where it came from.
This is the postcard I sent out this year... I call it Catching Sunshine... hope you catch some.

 Below are the 5 cards I received from the swap...

This card comes from Carrie in Northern Ireland.  "There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." ~Oscar Wilde  Carrie has an interesting story, check out her blog at,  www.growourown.blogspot.com   Thanks Carrie.

Card #2 came from Eva Creel Photography... I grew my wings but they were made of sticks and hard things... Thanks for passing on the complete story to go with this, I love it, Thanks Eva.

Life is uncertain, eat dessert first!  Enjoy... Thanks Helen for the delicious postcard.

Card #4 is from Eileen in St. Paul MN.  "The inner fire is the most important thing (wo)mankind possesses." ~Edith Sodergran  Keep the fires burning.  Eileen, I always do!  Thank you for the colorful card.

This card comes from Las Vegas, NV.  "We need not think alike to love alike." ~Francis David   This is so true!  Thank you Ariel for sharing information of the Unitarian Universalism Religion and this beautiful card.

CARD #6 IS FROM KAT HERSELF TO ALL PARTICIPANTS.  I love it Kat.  I always love the art you create with your iphone!

the colors in this piece are beautiful!

So, I never want the swap to end, and have post swapped for the last 3 years.   Here are a few I received this year...

This beautiful card is from an online friend I met through Big Picture classes while participating in Tracey Clark's picture series, and for those of us that didn't want the fun to end, Terri and a few other ladies started a flickr group called prompt addicts and they also have a collaborative blog called focusing on life... check it out!   Love your work Terri, thanks for post swapping!

Sheila Delgado is another online friend I met through Liberate Your Art.  I'm glad we had a chance to swap this year, I love your painted cards, this one is lovely, makes me want to drive to the beach right now.  Thank you Sheila.

The next 6 cards are from ladies I have swapped with in the past and am so happy to continue to connect with them, a tradition I hope we can carry on for many years!

This postcard is from Teresa Harrington Hazelbaker titled: Glass and Snow.  "Hold fast to dreams for when dreams go life is a barren field frozen with snow." ~Langston Hughes  Beautiful card Teresa, thanks for swapping.

This postcard comes from Sherry Harmes in Larsen Bay, Alaska.  "Exuberance is beauty" ~William Blake.  Sherry says Alaska is certainly exuberant, it seems like one day it is gray, cloudy and black and brown, then BOOM!  Everything is green, sunny and happy... Thanks Sherry for swapping again!

This postcard is from Shelly Gross in Ohio.  "Creativity is contagious"  ~Albert Einstein.   This is a photo of her cousin who runs a dance studio and happily posed so Shelly could practice her photography skills... beautiful shot Shelly, I love the reflection in the mirror.  I would love the opportunity to photograph a ballerina!  Thanks for swapping again!

Explore... yes, this picture fits perfectly.  Siobhan, it's been my pleasure sharing this journey with you again... hope to explore more art with you again next year!  Thank you for the beautiful postcard!

"When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment.  I want to give that world to someone else."  ~Georgia O'keefe.  This beautiful postcard comes from Deanie Houghtaling in Arizona.  This beautiful dahlia is from the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.  I'm so jealous, I would love to see Paris!  Thank you Deanie for swapping again this year.  by the way, this came ripped in the mail... :(     Still beautiful anyway!

And, lastly, this beautiful postcard of Staer's Mill from Tammy Wilson in Georgia.  Tammy your awesome, I'm glad we connected through liberate your art and continued our friendship through facebook.
I'm really excited, and nervous too,  that we decided to CHALLENGE ourselves for next years swap... can't wait to see what you come up with!  
I love photography but have been encouraged by all the wonderful "Artists" out there to spread my wings a bit and try my hand at a painting/mixed media postcard for next year, and of course, swapping again with Tammy and all the other ladies I have come to be friends with through this event.

Thank you Kat and all who participated, it was a pleasure to peruse the group of beautiful work.  Looking forward to next year.

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An InLinkz Link-up

postcard #4 and #5

 This postcard comes from Eileen in St. Paul Minnesota.  The quote reads, "The inner fire is the most important thing (wo)mankind possesses."   Keep the fire burning.   Yes Eileen, I always do!

This beautiful card comes from Ariel in Las Vegas, Neveda.  The quote reads, "We need not think alike to love alike."  ~Francis David  To learn more about the Unitarian Universalism go to www.uua.org

March 365

This month at a glance.

Postcard #3

This yummy postcard comes from Helen, I am not sure where she lives and I don't have a website for her.  Her quote on the back says, "Life is uncertain, eat dessert first!"  enjoy.
Thanks Helen for the delicious card.

postcard #2

Today I got this awesome postcard from Eva Creel of Eva Creel Photography.  You can find her on facebook, she has some great stuff!   Thanks Eva.  I love it.

Postcard #1

Liberate your art  postcard swap 2014 is back for it's fourth year.  And so am I!  I received this awesome postcard from Carrie in Northern Ireland.  She blogs about her husband, allotmentherapy, and ecotherapy and how they have comforted her in illness.  Read her story at:    http://growourown.blogspot.com

shadows

A photo shoot with my daughter, we were on the hunt for any cool looking shadows.  Next time we will venture out to find more interesting ones than here at home, also a third person would have helped.  I still like the way they turned out.

Tiny dancer

 
This collage is for my facebook group, Themes of 2014. March theme is:  shoes... dance.... motion.

Studio shoot

61|365
So today I had the opportunity to shoot and learn with Lynne Krizik from Image Paradigm Photography. She showed me lighting techniques and equipment. And then a few things in post processing. Thanks Lynne for taking the time and showing me the tricks of the trade.

 Day 29|365  an apple a day keeps the Doctor away.

 Focusing on a flower.

busy day today at work, no time to shoot, too tired to think about something to shoot tonight!  Here is a picture I took a few weeks ago.  I gave it a "painted" look.  Taking Melissa Gallo's painted texture class... can't wait to dig in more.

27|365
28|365

primary colors

26|365
The theme for today is "VIVID" taken with a cell phone camera.

Snow Day?

25|365
Blowing bubbles.  Prue Joy!

We were invited to "snow day" at her cousins school, Lucy was so excited. Ashley got her all bundled up, we opened the front door to leave, she looked around and had a confused look on her face.... "there's no snow", she said. You can't fake out a girl that was born in Alaska!!! She had fun in spite of the small mounds of snow melting fast in the California 70 degree weather.

Day 23 and 24

23|365   Catching Sun!  Capturing your 365, theme is umbrellas
24|365    Tiny Daffodils.  Used my lensbaby, one day I need to invest in the lensbaby pro, or I got my old one for a discount price and I think I got what I paid for.