Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

This morning just before 7 am, the snow was still coming down.  All the schools closed for the day.  Molly enjoyed snuffling and biting the snow.  She gets just as excited as a little kid and wants to go out and play.  The storm moved out of Canada, across Washington and hit us yesterday and last night, then it was off to California where San Francisco is expecting a dusting of snow.  Mid morning the sun came out and by noon most of the snow had melted.  More is expected this afternoon, but I suspect by tomorrow it will be a non-event.  I covered tulips and budding hydrangea hoping to save them.

Midlife-Crisis, Mortality, or Simply Aging

Recently a friend of mine posted about turning 50.  I found the post interesting, so many of us late baby boomers are turning 50 or will do so soon.  For me it is 16 months from now, but very much on my mind.  I will turn 50 and weeks later my youngest child graduates high school, so I will also become an empty nester.  Now what?  What do I do now, cause the same old looks very boring.  I love my children, have enjoyed raising them, but it is me time again.  I look forward to the spontaneity this time will bring.  Initially I know I will stay busier then usual to fill the void, but soon I will ease into the next phase of life. Eating when I want to, going out to see friends anytime I want to, no kids to haul somewhere or asking me for money, opps, I am afraid they still ask for money, college is expensive. Going to the beach for the day, and suddenly deciding to stay the night, because we can!

So with all this on my mind, I recently took a walk by my home to a old cemetery.  It was a dark Grey day, the rain had stopped. The only noise was from cars passing by and my shoes in the wet grass.  I walked the tomb stones, I took pictures, and saw some interesting things.  This cemetery had many tombstones of WWII Veterans.  What surprised me the most as I looked for more and more to confirm this.  The Vets buried there, most lived long lives, but strangely, most out lived their wives, some by months, others by years.  I thought "Us" gals typically outlived our guys, what happened? 

I also found plots that were completely overgrown.  So what follows are photos I first took using different settings on my camera, then manipulated them.  I hope you enjoy the results.

Now I am off to work on my healthy diet, walk the dog, read a newspaper and remember to laugh at myself.  Then I think I will spend sometime thinking about my contributions and how I would like to be remembered. 
On a lighter note here's to looking at and enjoying another 50 years, hopefully. Remember to enjoy sunsets, and sunrises. Stop when the delicate smell of new roses in spring hits your nose and inhale deeply. Laugh until your sides hurt when your bird dog, leaps chasing a seagull into the ocean, only to realize she can not out swim it as it flies away. Look at the world through childlike eyes, there is glory all around you.

The Process of Creating

I recently posted on my Artfire blog about creative inspiration and it got me to thinking.....

Once you find a source of creative inspiration, how does it translate for you? What is the required process needed to interpet the inspiration? How many paths are you led down before you decide on a medium to express what you see in your minds eye? Which one do you choose first or is there only one choice? The space you create in what does that look like and how does it serve you, or hold you back?


When I was in high school, we had a career class that we could take. I spent some time in the career center, when I decided I wanted to do something in Art. I found this article about a designer who took pictures out of magazines and photos and kept them all in files for inspiration. This process always stuck with me.

I find magazine ads to be inspiring. So some of the pages in one of my sketch books looks like this,

And This,

Honestly I think these leggings are relevant again, some 15 years later.  I mean even the shoes, hello, cute.
So do you keep files in cabinets or do you paste them in sketch books?  This is what I do;

Some times, I have been puzzling an idea and it comes to me at night watching TV and so, the idea will float around on a piece of paper like this one.......

The idea needs a little fine tuning, but in the mean time I made the first proto type. Sometimes when an idea hits I am at my desk by my laptop and this happens....

the beginning results of this can be seen in my Studio for sale. Last week when we went to the beach , I came home with.....

It has inspired my summer collection, more about that later. 
I hope you start thinking about your process for creating art.  Let me know what you like to do.  Is it vision boards, or photos, or trips up the coast, flowers in garden?