Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has an absolutely wonderful Christmas! This is the ideal time of year to reorganize and get back on track (aka posting in my blog again among other things lol) - so here's to a wonderfully productive new year for us all :).

Saturday, November 15, 2008

I've been away way to long :(

I can't believe I haven't posted in this long wow.... Well, lots of changes have been going on here. I guess the main thing is that I started a part time job in addition to my photography. It's at a retail establishment about 10 minutes from my house. I like it....it's fun and I get a discount on my clothes (in addition to their already amazing sale prices :) ). It's not bringing in a lot of income but at least it's income that I know I'll be getting. I've totally been ignoring my art though which makes me really sad, I feel like I lost something. Although I know it's just a matter of figuring out how to combine it all and prioritize so that I don't ignore anything. It's not even a matter of time .... I still have time to take photos and all the fun after photo stuff but it's keeping my focus. It's entirely a mental thing obviously lol.

Richard and I have also decided we're going to sell our house. This was our dream house when we bought it but since all the kids have moved out, it just seems way to big. And our mortgage is way to big. It seems pointless to struggle with this huge mortgage payment every month when we have all this space we're not using. We're seriously considering moving to Quebec - Montreal. We downloaded the Rosetta Stone language software and we're learning French. I guess we're doing it for a variety of reasons. We're really over the whole small southern town mentality for one. This election really brought to the forefront just how backwards this area is . We're both very liberal and liberal is a four letter word around here. We absolutely love Obama and support this presidency....it's the beginning of an entirely new time period in American history and it's so very exciting. We're comfortable watching it from the distance of Canada though lol. We're really wanting to live in a city that is liberal and artsy and where we'll be around people who think more like we do. We want to be able to walk or take the subway everywhere we need to go. We want to live in a place where there are a lot of jobs in our fields. Richard's a graphic artist/printer and there are TONS of printing companies in Montreal. There are also a lot of galleries and festivals and things where I can sell my art. Another reason we picked Montreal is because it has a very low cost of living as far as rent goes when compared to other large cities. Much lower than any cities in the US. I know taxes are high but it's set up accoriding to income and I don't see us being in a high tax bracket. Plus Richard is working for a company here (basically freelancing) and he'll be able to still telecommute from Montreal. So that will be income that we don't have to have a work permit to do there since he'll be paid by an American company. And selling my art, well, I don't think I'll have to be a permanent resident to do that since I technically won't be working for a Canadian company. We'll only be able to get a 6 month visitors permit (hopefully the border crossing gods will smile upon us lol) but we can always come back and live on the other side of the border for a little while and then go back. I've been looking into areas in New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, etc and seeing how expensive they might be and what they offer. Ideally we would be able to go across the border for a week or so and then go back to Canada but I don't know if it would be that simple lol. What we would like is to go over there and get sponsered for a work visa and then get started on the immigration process. Immigration is very long and expensive though so it will be a little while. You have to have a certain number of points for them to even let you in and at this point we don't have enough points.

ANYWAY......lol.....that's just what we're doing right now. First things first. We have a lot to do to the house before it's ready to be sold plus the housing market sucks right now. It will be at least spring before we could even think about putting it on the market. Plus we have to learn French since it's the official language and it would be a serious handicap to us as far as working in Quebec if we don't speak it.

Friday, October 3, 2008

I've been tagged :)


I got tagged this morning by Michelle over at Little Paper Dog. I have to tell six things about myself that most people don't know and then tag 5 Etsy Bloggers. When you leave here, you should head over to Michelle's Etsy shop - you'll find some super cute gocco prints such as :





She just had her grand opening on August 8 so she's still a new Etsy shop :).

Ok.....6 things about me that most people don't know :

1 - I would love to be rich - I know that seems like a compromise considering I'm an artist and I should be all about artistic integrity and creating art for the sake of expression and all that. I DO believe in those things. But my dream is to make so much money from my photography that I can pay off my mortgage, buy an electric car, and travel all over Europe and India.

2 - Most of my online friends don't know that I'm going to be getting married in April of this coming year :).

3 - I make lists for everything...my longest list is entitled "Your Handmade Life - what this means to you". It's five typed pages long and it has everything that I want to incorporate into my life from recycling every day to shopping locally to hanging original art all over my house :).

4 - Everytime we get a lab (we've had a black lab and a chocolate lab) they either run away or disappear. We don't know what happens to them. We've heard that labs are bad for this from other people and it's because of this that we will never get another lab.

5 - I love owls.

6 - I love eggs for breakfast. I could seriously eat them everyday :).


Ok, here are the Etsy Blogger Street Team members I am tagging:

1 - Angie over at JellyBean's Art - I have been in love with her 'jellybean tree' prints for awhile now :). You can find one of her Etsy shops here.

2 - Licia - her blog is called Myself in Pieces - it's introspective, beautiful, and personal. Her artwork is dreamy and lucious as well. Her Etsy shop is called Theophany.

3 - Shell at Shell Mitchell Accessories and Design. She has some super cute gloves in her Etsy shop. I'm going to have to keep her in mind when it comes to xmas giving this year :). Here's her shop.

4 - Julie at Sew It's For You - Oh my gosh - personalized, embroidered dishtowels and cloth napkins. That's on my short list of things that I want to get this year. I need dishtowels but I'm seriously holding out until I can afford some of these :). Find her shop here.

5 - My Aphrodite.....she was born in America and now calls England home. She makes some absolutely amazing jewelry - I'm loving her little bird necklaces. You can find her on Etsy right here.

I'm providing links to everyone's blogs here, but feel free to check out the Etsy minis they have posted on their blogs. It will take you straight to their Etsy shops. Soooo, without further ado...

TAG - you're IT!!





Sunday, September 14, 2008

All's well that ends well I suppose

'The Remains of the Day'


Well, nothing has really been resolved as far as my daughter goes, she's officially moved out which is fine since she's 18 - I'm just sad that she left under the circumstances she left under. She has a lot of growing up to do. I guess everybody learns the hard way don't they? I don't think I really learned until I turned 30 - a lot of things became clear to me that year. But it's ok. Richard and I have the house to ourselves now except on weekends which is probably good since we're going to be getting married. It gives us time without kids which is something we've never had between my three and his one (they're 16,17,18, and 20 lol). This is the beginning of our alone time together. Our house is in order anyway, the septic tank issues are resolved for the moment, we've filled in the giant hole in our backyard. Now we just have to get ready for the appraiser tomorrow, we've been trying to get our house refinanced through all of this.

Wow, I would be completely remiss is I didn't comment on gas prices right now. I understand the situation as far as the hurricanes etc, but DAMN. Gas is $5.09 here when you can find it - about 60% of the gas stations are COMPLETELY OUT OF GAS. Absolutely ridiculous and borderline scary. What are gas prices where everybody else is right now? I bet CA is even higher.

I'm posting some new artwork, I haven't done that in awhile. I'm really going to try to start keeping back up with my blog :). I'm SO in love with these two photos as a set, I can't wait to hang them together on my wall. This is my new favorite color combination, the light blue green with red. I can't wait for fall!



' Fall of 1972'

'Rainy Day Reflection'

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

My house is a very very very fine house (???)

Hi everybody, long time no see :(. So sorry!!!! A lot of things have been happening over at my house lately, everything has gotten sidetracked it seems. Our septic tank stopped working so we've had to dig it up to see what the issue was. In doing so we discovered that the pipe going from our house to the septic tank wasn't even glued together when it was laid down 4 years ago and as a consequence of that it had come apart and much of our sewage has been going into the ground under our patio for the past 2 years (Ewww!!! it was an unbelievable mess) Now we have to dig up all the field lines because apparently the water that's supposed to be draining out of it isn't draining which means that it has be be pumped out every few weeks because it becomes full of water from showers, the washing machine, etc. So it's actually a two fold problem. When we bought the house 2 years ago, we got a disclosure saying that the septic tank had been replaced 4 years ago so we were thinking, well, that's awesome, a brand new septic tank. They apparently left out that they had half-assed it and took short cuts and used the wrong pipes and no sealant or anything lol. So during the two weeks we've been working on this we've not had water off and on, we couldn't flush the toilets or run the dishwasher or anything while the pipes were open. We've even had to resort to going to the woods behind our house to use the bathroom. Wow, it's been really crazy. So now the pipes are fixed but we still have a giant hole in the back of our yard because we have to get a backhoe to fill the dirt back in. And I mean giant - like 7 feet deep and 8 or 9 feet across with all the exposed plumbing in it.

Let's see what else can I relate....our dog had puppies so we've had 9 little adorable (but poopy) puppies that we've been trying to take care of through this. We've thankfully placed them all in good homes at this point (the last 2 went to their new families yesterday).


One of our little puppies


My washing machine broke the same day our septic system went south so I couldn't use it even when we've had water....I've gotten on familiar terms with our local laundrymat the last couple of weeks. I've discovered it's a very interesting place to people watch.

The thing that's probably most on my mind at the moment though is that my 17 year old daughter announced last night that she hates everybody in this house and that she's moving out. This came completely out of the blue and was totally unexpected. She'll be 18 in less than two weeks so maybe she felt it was time for her to do this and somehow felt the need to create a bunch of drama for her grand exit? She graduated from highschool last year and is going to college right now. I'm not sure what's going on with her. I actually thought she and I had a great relationship. She goes with me every Saturday to the farmer's market and helps me set up the booth to sell my photography....she seemed happy with her life. She actually left last night though. As a mom, I'm trying to look back and somehow figure out what I should have done differently so that she wouldn't feel the way she is feeling right now. I've always had this idea as my kids have gotten to be teenagers that I wanted to let them make their own decisions about what was right and wrong for them so they could develop an inner compass that would guide them into adulthood. They got grounded if they did something really out there (i.e. if the police were involved lol) but in general I've let the consequences of their actions be the teacher. When I was a teenager, my parents grounded me pretty much all the time and they had a very definite idea of who I "should" be. I resented that and said to myself that if and when I have kids, I want them to be themselves instead of some preconceived idea I might have in my mind. When the kids were little I was strict with them and taught them right from wrong and there were definite consequences for their actions but as they got to be 15, 16, 17 I wanted them to develop their own inner compass because when they got out on their own they weren't going to have someone there making all their decisions for them. Plus, my ex-husband is very controlling and tries to micro manage every move they make....I didn't want them to get that from both sides.

So my daughter at 17 pretty much had the freedom to do what she wanted. She had a curfew which she generally kept, I talked to her about things that were important like don't drink and drive and that I didn't want her to smoke, etc. To use protection if she had sex and to think highly of herself. These are the things that I wanted her to take away with her. We've completely accepted her boyfriend that she's been with for the past 3 years, we think he's a great guy and he's allowed to be here whenever she wants him here. We've really not put any restrictions on her as far as that goes. I seriously thought everything was coasting along just fine especially with her starting school a couple of weeks ago. I have no idea where any of this came from unless it's just the stress of everything the last few weeks with the water and septic tank and puppies......she left last night, I don't know if she went to her dad's or stayed with friends or what. I can't imagine she went to her dad's because he lives about an hour away and her school is here. What seems more likely is that she's going to try to get an apartment with her boyfriend. I just wish she hadn't of said so many hurtful things to everybody last night.... everybody was upset - including me and Richard and her boyfriend, she pretty much alienated everybody. And if you knew Richard and I, we both absolutely HATE drama, we avoid it at all costs. I think part of the issue right now, even though it's not been said, is that Richard asked me to marry him a few days ago. I was so very happy - we've been together 3 years now. Even though Chloe didn't say it, she seems to be having issues with it. Their dad and I divorced 8 years ago though, he remarried within a couple of weeks of the divorce. I waited a LONG time before taking that step and Richard is the most awesome guy in the world. He loves me and he loves my kids. He's made so much effort as far as Chloe is concerned and I thought things between them were solid. A lot of the mean things she said last night were directed towards him though which pretty much crushed him. I was really hurt by the things she said but I was just as hurt for Richard because she was very unfair to him. After she and her bf left last night we lay awake talking about it all trying to figure out what's been going on in her head the last few weeks that's brought things to this point. It's pretty much coming down to the things I've mentioned in this post already and her being 17 and thinking she knows it all (just like I did at 17).

What I want most for everyone around me is that they are happy, Richard, the kids, me. I just want everyone to get along and figure out what's important to them so that they can do what makes them happy. I can't be the one to figure that out for them because I'm still in the process of figuring it out for myself. I mean, I've figured out what makes me happy but how to go about creating this life that I'm striving for is a continuous process. Maybe it was easier back when people didn't get divorces and you were raised by your mom and dad in a house together and you knew what was expected of you. My children were raised in a very traditional household up until their dad and I got divorced but since then it's been blended families and step brothers and sisters (on their dad's side) and me being a single mom with them for a long time and now a step-father being brought into the mix. Even though Richard has been here and been in their lives for the past 3 years maybe him actually becoming their step-father instead of 'mom's boyfriend' seems monumental for them. Change is always hard and scary even when it's a change for the better it seems.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Sorry I got way off track with posting...


I've been really busy trying to get some wholesale accounts going for my photography/artwork. I've decided that that's where the money is to be made rather than a couple of sales a week in my Etsy shop or selling at the Farmer's Market on the weekends. I have a shop in Knoxville that's going to be carrying my artwork and the owner really encouraged me to go that route. And let me say that getting this shop was huge for me. It's just consignment but it's a REALLY great shop. The couple that own it are in the process of opening their third shop right now and that's where I'm going to be. The ironic part is that when I first started to sell my photography, their shop was one of those out of reach things in my mind. I would have LOVED to sell there but I thought there was no way it could ever happen. And they ended up approaching me at my booth at the Farmer's Market about a month ago and said they would love to have me. I was so happy. And that's why I really think I can make this wholesale thing happen. I want it just as bad as I wanted that other shop and just as bad as I wanted to do my gallery exhibit and those things happened for me. I'm just single mindedly pursuing it right now to the exclusion of other things it seems like. I'm very inspired right now and very excited. I've decided to sell on canvas instead of paper for my wholesale line so that there's no conflict with my Etsy shop. I can't wait to see how my photos look on canvas. I've set up another website and blog that are focused on wholesale as well. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The Kingdom of Procrastination....

'Imaginary Dandelions'

Am I the only one who visits there occasionally (or, OK, often maybe) ? I'm really trying to get some large boxes together to ship some framed photography in but I'm sitting here blogging instead. I think my rationalizing starts with 'well, I'll just check my Etsy shop while I print out these labels' which leads to, 'hmmm, I really wanted to post in my blog today, let me do that right quick', which is followed by 'wow, it's 2:30 already, I think I better eat lunch'......meanwhile the labels finished printing an hour ago and I'm still sitting here with open boxes ready to be sealed, labeled and taken to the post office which of course closes at 4:00. Did I mention that I've been trying to get these boxes to Michigan for at least a month now? LOL. Don't worry, it's not an order from a customer, nothing like that. It's an open ended agreement as far as their arrival date with a gallery/shop up there. First I didn't know how to best package them (six large framed photos with glass). I finally figured that out but didn't have the right sized boxes. Then there was the money issue because I knew it was going to cost a lot to ship them and I mysteriously stopped having sales in my Etsy shop and at the farmer's market. They've picked back up this week though so I feel more comfortable about going ahead and shipping them. Then I went all over town yesterday to see if I could find boxes to ship them in that I didn't have to purchase but nothing was to be found in the size I needed (at least 20"x20"). So I finally caved in and went to office max and paid for one. Now it's just getting it all together and to the post office. Sheesh, why do I have to make things so difficult?

Now, I think I'm going to go downstairs and get that lunch...




'Sunny Side Up'




'Imaginary Dandelions Part Deux'

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Featured Etsy Team Member

I featured a team member from the Interior Design Street Team last Sunday, this Sunday I'm featuring another fellow Etsian from the Etsy Bloggers Street Team. Maybe Sunday is going to become my "Featured Artist Day" lol. I try to set aside different days to focus on different aspects of my online life and Sunday has turned into team day/post in blog day. The featured artist that was chosen by the Etsy Bloggers this month is......*drumroll please*....... A Keeper's Jackpot. She is a fabulous jewelry artistan at Etsy. Here are some examples of her work :

This is a wonderfully chunky necklace in shades of gray. I love the colors and the dramatic appeal. It reminds of peaceful rainy day complete with puddles and storm clouds.







Below is a beautifully intricate bracelet. I love the colors of the beads combined with the silver wire.




Next we have the aptly titled 'Root Beer Earrings'. I think they would look amazing with anything that's the color of the minty green bracelet above.



Below we have another fantabulous pair of earrings in my favorite shade of green. These are so pretty and fresh, perfect for summer.



And last, but certainly not least, these very unique earrings made from tree bark. I don't believe I've seen anything like these on Etsy.....they are natural and beautifully made.





I hope you enjoyed your tour of A Keeper's Jackpot :). Pop in and give her shop a visit, I'm sure it would make her happy. She has lots more wonderful creations for you to browse!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Life is Challenging

Overlooked


Quote for the Week:

"Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results."

-Anonymous
Delta Dawn


I feel challenged right now with our circumstances which tends to give me a bad, downer attitude. We're really trying to make things work out - working from home together, paying our bills, making sure all our teenagers have plenty of food to eat. It just seems like things haven't come together well for us the last couple of weeks. Or they've come together but just barely. The economy probably has a lot to do with it, the fact that buying art is an optional rather than a necessity. I've decided to view this time period as a challenge and keep a good perspective on it all. I really want to focus on the good things that we have now instead of worrying about the things we don't have yet.



Pointless Sentiment

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Featured Artist - Funky Chicken Designs

I'm starting a new feature today - I'll be featuring artists from the various Etsy Teams I'm a member of. Today's featured artist is Funky Chicken Design and she's on the Etsy Interior Design Team. Her primary focus is light switch plate covers although she does pillows as well some adorable push pins and magnets. I also spotted this incredibly awesome magazine bowl in her shop that was obviously very labor/time intensive to make.



This bowl and the frame below were done using recycled magazines. Michelle, the shop owner at Funky Chicken Design, is a big believer in recycling as she uses recycled packaging when mailing out her fabulous creations as well.


Here is a frame done using similar materials. Very intricate and colorful.

She obviously enjoys working with paper and decoupage is her primary art of choice :). Here are a couple of my favorite light switch plates from her shop. She has a ton of styles and color schemes to chose from, you're sure to find something for every room of your home.




She also has items for your home office including pushpins and magnets. Here's some oh so cool pushpins. Once again she has several different ones to chose from.



Here are just a couple more items from her shop - a nightlight perfect for your rockabilly boudoir and a gorgeous pillow that would be right at home in your bedroom or your living room.


So head on over to Funky Chicken Design and pick up some cool items for your abode :)!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Quote for the Weekend


"When one of your dreams come true, you begin to look at the others more carefully."

- anonymous

I'm off to the farmer's market in the morning to sell my photography. I'll let you know how it goes when I get home (probably on Sunday actually, I'm usually wiped out when I get home lol)
.


Sunday, July 13, 2008

A Rainy Sunday Morning...

'Fade to Gray'



We had a full house this weekend - Chloe (my 17 year old who we always have), Erik (Richard's 16 yr old son who we have every other weekend or so), and Mia ( my 15 year old who lives with her Dad and who is supposed to come every weekend but has been sporadic about it this summer), + Chloe's assorted friends and boyfriend who was in and out. Chloe and her boyfriend Nicky apparently have gotten a puppy, well, Nicky got a puppy and Chloe's taking care of it a lot I should say. It's adorably cute but not something we want at our house because our Golden Retriever is getting ready to have puppies next week. Then we're getting both our dogs spayed because this was an unplanned pregnancy. Sesame , the Golden Retriever , is just a little over a year old and has only went into heat once. We let her out for like 30 seconds to go to the bathroom and a German Shepard that had been hanging around immediately jumped her and had his way with her. She is undeniably, hugely pregnant right now. I know she'll be glad to get it over with, she has absolutely no energy right now. Richard took her to the vet Friday morning and got her some prenatal vitamins which will hopefully help.


'Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head'


I must go and make a big Sunday breakfast now, everybody's starting to get up. It's an awesome rainy Sunday here in TN, what a great day for sleeping in :). I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend !

'Rainy Day Feeling'

Friday, July 11, 2008

New Website!

'Cream'



So, I'm in the process of setting up a new website, it's not quite ready to go yet...it's going to be really cool and pretty though. I'm working with an amazing website designer named Richard Johnson - I really love his ideas :). More to come on that later.

Nothing really exciting or fun has happened this week, I've been a little under the weather it seems like. I had some issues with UPS sending me some of my photos for a big order completely bent and beat up. There were seriously indentions of a cart wheel on the outside of the envelope....I'm going to put a picture in here so you can see what they did. If this were a South Park episode I would have said 'those bastards' lol. And of course it was an order that needed to be there by July 15, that I had put a rush delivery on and everything. My printing company handled it beautifully though. All I had to do was send photos of the damage and they replaced all 3 photos absolutely free of charge ( large 16"x 16" photos) AND they arrived the very next day. Pretty darn amazing :). I will love them forever and recommend them to anyone who asks :). Look at what UPS did :




outside of envelope - see the cart wheel track in the corner?!



back of one of the photos

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Went to the Famer's Market Saturday..

'The Study of Botany



I had a great day at the farmer's market in Knoxville today. It started out really soggy but ended up with beautiful blue skies. Fluffy white clouds included :). I should have taken some photos but I kept my camera in the car due to aforementioned sogginess :). I meet so many awesome people there - I really could just sit there and people watch. Of course selling my photographs is an added bonus lol. I'll have to post some photos of my booth soon. Just a photo or two of new artwork today.



'Daydream Believer'

Monday, June 23, 2008

Quote for Today...


"Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work."
- Rita Mae Brown



I think this applies in so many ways to having a shop or working for yourself. Don't hope more than you work....this says to me not be so worried about having sales or who is coming to your shop that you forget why you even wanted this life in the first place. You wanted it to be creative on a daily basis. To enjoy your photography or your painting or your jewelry making (pick your own creative passion) - if you spend all your time hoping instead of creating then you've lost your focus. Trusting your instinct, well, that goes without saying. Without that, creativity is pretty much impossible.




Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Today's Quote

'Harmony'

"While we are focusing on fear, worry, or hate, it is not possible for us to be experiencing happiness, enthusiasm or love."

~ Bo Bennett

I have to keep that in mind when I'm stressing over my Etsy sal
es or bills or any number of possibly stressful situations. Life is to short to spend it not being happy.

Let's try - today - to focus on happiness and let the other things fade away.




'Bowing Out Gracefully'

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Musings on Happiness - Daily Quote

'4 More Exits to My Apartment'



"The road to happiness lies in two simple principles; find what interests you and that you can do well, and put your whole soul into it - every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have."

~John D. Rockefeller

'Just Hit Pause'

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Sunday Morning

'The Stars Fell on Henrietta'




I'm having a sale this weekend, and probably for the next couple of days. But 2 10"x 10" photos and get a third one absolutely free. See my shop for details =).

Happy Father's Day to all you daddies out there =). I hope everyone is having a good weekend.

I joined the Design Style Guide Etsy Street Team or the Interior Design Etsy Street Team, I'm not really sure what the official title is lol. But I do know it's pretty awesome. You get your own page on Ning, it's very well organized. I'm on a couple of other Etsy teams, well 1 other Etsy team. And I've been trying to get on another one, as far as I know I've taken all the necessary steps but they still haven't officially notified me of my status (I've been trying for a couple of months). This one is by far the most active, best organized though. I'm actually seeing a benefit to being on there other than just being able to say 'I'm on this Etsy street team or that Etsy street team'. They do treasuries using their members , they promote you to possible retailers, pretty awesome. So that's my big news for the weekend. I'm pretty psyched about it. I have to add DesignStyleTeam to the tags on all my photos though which is going to take 10 years since I have close to 170 now.

'Deep in the Forest'

I'm going to go to my parent's today and hopefully gets lots of beautiful photos of their flowers etc. Happy Father's Day dad! I'm sure he doesn't read my blog lol (he may not even know what a blog is, hmmm) but just in case =).

I've decided I need to get a Kodak Duoflex camera asap. I hope I spelled Duoflex right. I'm going to actually take photos in the 'Through the Viewfinder' method instead of cropping them to be square. It seems more genuine somehow. Richard thinks it's kind of pointless because people really loved my stuff at the exhibit but I like the combination of old technology with new technology. The 'Through the Viewfinder' method is taking your digital camera and putting your old camera in front of it so that it takes the photo through the viewfinder of the old camera. I actually talked to a couple of people about it at the exhibit but they had never heard of it. Maybe it's a larger city thing or maybe it's an Etsy thing. I don't know lol. I have several old cameras that I had bought for that purpose but it doesn't work with them. I was a little disappointed. I'm going to go check on Ebay, you can get cameras pretty cheap there. Of course the ideal thing would be to come across one at a thrift store or garage sale and get it really cheap with no shipping but I don't really want to wait.

I'm doing a series of puddle reflections right now. They're all in the 'Rainy' section of my shop. I SO love doing these. I actually sold one a couple of days ago right after I uploaded it which was pretty cool. They are abstract and interesting. I really want to get them printed in a big size and frame them for our walls here. That would be awesome.


'Pocketful of Reflected Sunshine'


'Sunny Day Reflection'

Thanks for checking in and a great Father's Day to all!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Got to get back on track with my blogging...

'Fresh and Warm'


So the glow has worn off from the exhibition, coming back to earth now :). But that's ok, I had 2 sales on Etsy yesterday which made me really happy. My first international sale....just to Canada but that's still outside the US lol. Richard, my boyfriend, is doing a photo shoot this morning with a young up and coming singer. They're in the other room right now getting ready to go. Richard wants me to do the actual photography but I don't want to. I really really really hate doing portrait photography. I think doing it for that year at the photography company before I took my leap of faith (lol) just left a really bad taste in my mouth. I just don't like working under pressure like that. I don't function well that way. I go into panic mode!!!! I hate that feeling. Photographing the sky never makes you feel that way, photographing flowers and signs and puddles never make you feel that way. That's my life now. I may want to go back to portrait photography at some future point but I have to have way more distance from my previous job to do that. I think Richard's not very happy with me not wanting to do this but I've not really explained to him my reasons why. He just looks as it as me having training and him not having training. But he's got to learn if he's going to take jobs like this and put himself out there. I certainly haven't told him that I want to put myself out there like that. Me and portrait photography are not friends, I know this.