conkers

Happy Autumn! If it is, where you're reading this.

Otherwise? Happy! Be happy, if you can!

alchemy

Silly. & loving it :)

photo challenge: SPARKLE

A few weeks ago, Mridula from Blogaloorgirl's Blog sent me an email asking me if I'd done any photography recently. And I hadn't, not really. Which got me thinking. I love photography much! But at times it's hard to find objects or subjects to talk to your lens, especially when inspiration is running low. When there's a lot going on in my head, I find I'm not looking around at the world with as much wonder as I need to restock the proverbial well, to paraphrase Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way.

So... I suggested a photo challenge! I've done a couple of courses in photography, and I've found it's much easier to capture something worthwhile when you know what you're looking for! It's great to have a theme to work with; it gets the creative juices flowing and it helps me open my eyes to what's been staring me in the face all along!

Luckily, Mridula accepted, and she came up with the first theme: SPARKLE.
Which was a challenge for me, to say the least ;) I don't know whether anyone who knows me would actually classify me as the outgoing type, but in my own skin, I feel I'm more of an introvert. I get it, it's a 'duh!' thing to say. But much of the beauty I see around me gets chewed on and put away on shelves in my mind, never seeing the light of day. Never mind sparkle!
But I love a good challenge, it really works for me - as far as photography is concerned anyway ;) - so I set out on a quest to find sparkle in my world :)

Here is a rose from the bunch of beautiful flowers we got as a present for our wedding anniversary last Wednesday. The water drops didn't really want to sparkle much, even with the low sunlight I had to wait for - for days! Which isn't that strange, really, considering we've been married for 10 years now. Nothing wrong with that, just that it's more the soft light of a place to call home than it is the dazzling sparkle I was looking for ;)

Here are some shards of glass I found in the bike lane on my way to the shops. They shouldn't be there, for various reasons, and I felt they might do prettier work on my coffee table, too. Oh, the funny looks I got when I got down on my knees to pick some up ;) I love that - giving people something to talk about around the dinner table ;)

I still didn't feel like I got all the sparkle out of the challenge, so I added the one piece of costume jewelry I own into the mix to see what that would do... I don't know what it is, but - there wasn't any real sparkle to be had... You know, the kind with the light-star, refraction or whatever it's called... Maybe my lighting wasn't what I thought the early Autumn sun was going to be, and maybe I just didn't do it right, but I couldn't get what I was looking for.

So here we are, at the biggest cliche of them all, when it comes to sparkle... It suddenly hit me! If I'm such an introvert, at least by my own sense of being, then surely the sparkle must be inside! From the senses being tickled in every way imaginable to the world of possibilities behind it all - eyes are the windows to the soul (to stick with cliche!). If it sparkles anywhere, surely it must be there! Not brilliant photography, but honest sparkle if I say so myself :)

There. That's it. My ode to the sparkling beauty inside :) Hop on over to Mridula's post to see what she came up with!

Now I had to come up with a new theme, and here it is: QUIET.
That might not be a much easier thing to capture, but the word's been playing in my head (for various reasons - haha) for weeks now, and I couldn't ignore it...

Our next deadline is Sunday 26th September (if that's okay Mridula?) - but we might post sooner, depending on how it's going. If there is anyone out there reading this, who wants to give it a go too, whether it's sparkle, quiet or the next little/big theme, I'd love to see! Send me an email or leave a comment here or over at Mridula's!

quote

Be happy whenever you can manage it.

Enjoy yourself.

It's lighter than you think.

From Learning by Heart, a book written by Corita Kent and Jan Steward. Immaculate Heart College Art Department Rule 9. I came across this somewhere on a blog yesterday, I haven't read the book myself. But this, this is beautiful & sage advise. Something to take to heart...

Edit: interestingly, I came across this and the other rules again this morning; here! By chance! I guess I'm really meant to take note!

silly

I have joined The Art of Silliness 2 - an online class by Carla Sonheim! A combination of artsy inspiration and... well... silliness! And since I have been taking myself and everything around me way too seriously lately, I'd say that's a good thing ;)
The class doesn't start until Wednesday the 15th of September & you can join until the 15th of October since you can do the worksheets at your own pace. Click the above link or the badge to the right - have a look! I think it will be fun!

Carla sent out a test mail last Wednesday to see if all the links work properly, and there was a test worksheet, to get started! A drawing of a bird and the task to write it a story. I love taking orders, so to speak - especially when my own inspiration is running low - & it was definitely fun to come up with something completely different ;) Meet my bird, BillyBob, and his first wobbly steps onto the glittering stage of showbiz!

request

Yes, I can :) Things aren't really that bottom-of-the-pit-bad here, although I can see why it might look that way. My last two posts should really be taken with a pinch of salt & a wink.

I'm quite stressed with the house-moving-business - in my head, since we're not actually going anywhere for another two months - and find myself sort of at a loss. Sort of lost. Not gone yet but not quite here nor there either. Something like that. And apparently that leaves me with the mental flexibility of seaweed. About pretty much everything. I can't really see the light and the happy. Not all the time, anyway. But I still have my sense of humour, such as it is, and I can still smile!

Sorry Annemarie, out of cookies - you got the last bag ;) But I did make sense of your word-mush, and this works too, right?

hole

Edit: That little spade is 'mine' because I'm well aware I'm the one who's throwing spanners in my own 'je ne sais quoi' here. That's how I cope - ha ;) I'm really good at rewriting world history & my own when I'm under pressure. And at seeing imaginary bears in the road and in surrounding suburban gardens. I excell at battering my sanity when I stress! But I know the colours are still there - if only I'd look up, and I feel well-armed with that knowledge. I'll be okay :)

announcement

inflamed brain not matching pretty soul

restoring

Magical wildflowers...

... a deer patiently posing...

... & a bit of babywearing :-)

I had to get out of the house this weekend. Needed to clear my head, breathe some fresh air & reclaim myself a little bit. & I really needed to hold on to my baby boy. But he's a toddler: busy-busy-busy exploring the world and all the cars in it. He wasn't much up for hugging his mamma as much as she wanted him to ;-)
Stroke of genius though, even if I do say so myself: a walk out in nature with Squirt in his own personal 'backpack' as soon as he got a little tired! He loved it, and so did I :-D
I won't go as far as to say "all's right with the world again", but I definitely feel better and ready for another week.

life

* & that's not a bad thing, necessarily. Through changes we grow. I call it gathering Wisdom.