Time is flying...

The end of this first month of the year is fast approaching and so far I haven’t managed much (any?) painting time in the studio…which I really do need to do…and I really would love to find the time to do…I have a show of my paintings coming up in March/April…I also have a show in February…I have decided to make this one a show of some of my photography…so I am hoping to be able to pull that together…in, what – I have 4 more days – yikes!

What comes to mind as I am thinking about how this month has flown by at lightning speed – how time, in general, lately, seems to have been speeding up and flying by - is John Lennon’s quote “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans”…how true that is! Very often there are times when I have plans to do one thing and then life just blithely steps in and dictates something totally different and there I go - heading off on a completely unexpected tangent…

I have been getting a bit better at handling this though…not in changing the complete lack of control that I seem to have over my life – just in getting somewhat better at accepting it…even my horoscope that came this week from Rob Brezsney seems to point to this – both the chaos aspect and the acceptance of it…

"PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Congrats on your growing ability to do more floating and less thrashing as you cascade down the stream of consciousness. I think you're finally understanding that a little bit of chaos isn't a sign that *everything's falling apart forever omigod the entire planet's crashing and evil is in ascension* . . . but rather that a healthy amount of bewildering unpredictability keeps things fresh and clean. My advice is to learn to relax even more as you glide with serene amusement through the bubbling and churning waters of life."

I have been taking photographs every day…417 so far…and that observance part of my brain is enjoying the waking up and coming back to life that this exercise has stimulated…there have been days when I have been so busy that by the time I have a chance to even think about taking a photograph, it is dark and I am tired and frustrated from a long day of working or running around doing those things that I hadn't planned on doing…but still, I have taken a picture…thank goodness we have so many animals – I can always fall back on a pet picture!

I have learned, though, that of our 4 cats, 2 dogs and my younger daughter's puppy, I am not able to photograph all of them in the same way…for example, the black cat is a real challenge, as is the black and white one...the other 2 cats are easy and willing models...and one of our dogs requires certain circumstances in which to photograph him with any amount of success – he was hit by a car when he was young and had some spinal cord damage, so he almost always has his head down…the only place that I have managed to take good pictures of him…so he doesn’t look all ‘hang-dog’…is at the cottage – where I can get down off the boardwalk so I am below him, or to be ‘down-rock face’ from him…or I need the space to lie down on the ground and photograph him from his level…like so…


























































I have usually managed to spend some time each day looking at and being inspired by some of the other’s photographs in the Project 365 and the 365 Community groups on Flickr…these communities are an endless source of encouragement and inspiration…just like looking at art inspires me and fills my well, the same applies with looking at photography…

I have also been learning things that I didn’t know about before…like Bokeh, for instance…I had never heard of Bokeh before…but wandering around Flickr I was seeing it more and more…

Dictionary.com gives this definition: “a Japanese term for the subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of a photographic image”…

Wikipedia expands on that to include: “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light"…and “Bokeh is often most visible around small background highlights, such as specular reflections and light sources, which is why it often associated with such areas. However, bokeh is not limited to highlights, as blur occurs in all out-of-focus regions of the image”…

Then I went looking some more…Flickr has a bunch of groups dedicated to bokeh…including at least one where no bokeh is allowed! Further searching came up with some more information (this is how I can get lost for a whole day just wandering around in cyberspace!)…Ken Rockwell talks about bokeh and DIYPhotography.net tells you how you can make a lens cover to create your own bokeh…

The other evening, while I was stopped at a traffic light, it had been raining and I looked out the van window to see a bokeh shot…not that great a one…but a couple weeks ago I didn’t even know what bokeh was!













Of the 417 pictures that I have taken so far this year, I have used 27 for my Project 365...I haven't always been happy with what I have to choose from for the day...but, there have been days when I have ended up with more than 1...I am hoping to put together a collage shot of the month each month for this project and also to put up some of my out takes from the month as well...hoping to get a chance to do that at month's end!

Project 365 so far…

When I started painting a few years ago…it wasn’t long before some of my sleeping senses began to wake up and tune in…my observance of colour, shape and texture became keener…

So it is now, through doing this Project 365 that even more of my senses have begun to stir…when I was in Photographic Arts at Ryerson, I remember become very observant…it was a skill that we worked hard at fine tuning…constantly thinking about and looking for things to photograph and ways in which to photograph them in order to make some kind of statement…

In just these few short weeks I am beginning to think like a photographer again…it is a wonderful feeling…like another window in my mind opening and letting in some fresh air…fresh ideas…fresh ways of seeing…I now have a journal where I can jot down ideas for things to photograph…or a location that I want to return to…having flown past it on my way to or from a job…

It is a challenge finding the right kind of time to go out on a shoot…a number of things need to coincide…sometimes the weather is needed to cooperate…mostly it is making the time…I have been really busy work-wise since people got back into the swing of things after the New Year…which is a good thing…but, I think I have said it before…being self employed in a break/fix type of job means it is feast or famine most of the time…there is very little ‘happy medium’…

I have always been pretty good at always carrying my camera with me…so a lot of my shots are the spur-of-the-moment-glad-I-had-my-camera-with-me kinds…but this effort of having to come up with a photo that I am happy to post every day has got me thinking about photography more than I had been lately…

There are days when I almost forget…or the day passes way too quickly but so far I have managed through these times when I have been out working from morning till 9 or 10 at night by quite comprehensively photographing an old typewriter…that was fun…it is gone now, so I can’t fall back on that anymore…but I also can always photograph our animals…right now we have 4 cats and 2 dogs plus my younger daughter’s puppy comes to visit often…I am lucky in that, for the most part, they love to be photographed…especially when there is bribery involved…a love-up or treat…

Here is a collage of Pimkie posing for me...






So far this month I have taken 243 photos – 43 of the typewriter, 24 of just Pimkie and 21 of just Maddy…I have also taken 17 of a certain blowfish but am not happy about the lighting for that yet…

I have decided that the show I am having in February will be a photographic one...I have to get to work on that...it is coming up soon!

Happy Holidays!!!...

December flew by without my writing even one blog entry…I’m not even sure exactly where it all went…except to say that a significant part of it was spent with my dog, Shea… he had a lump on his leg that kept growing – it had started when he slipped off the wood stairs out at Oma’s about a year and a half ago…we had it tested and it was benign but it had started causing him pain…we found out why – when the wonderful vet, Dr Barbara Anne Chidiac, at Chidiac Animal Hospital operated to remove it, she discovered that it had encased a tendon and nerves...


















It was a worrisome morning when I dropped Shea off at the vet on December 10th (after driving through the first wicked snow storm of the season the day before to arrive at LT’s – the 5½ hour drive took 9 that day – yes, we are slightly insane to go to a vet that far from home…but if you knew her, you would understand why)…at that point they didn’t know if they would be able to save his leg…
















The operation went very well…he still has 4 legs…a fact I am very happy about – I had been told a number of times that he would adapt if they had not been able to save it, but I just couldn’t see him swimming with only 1 front leg…and he loves to swim…but it is all good…he did loose about an inch of tendon and he does have to pay attention now when he walks, so his foot doesn’t knuckle over…but he is doing really well…the first few days were restless…he didn’t understand the drugged haze he was in – he had a morphine patch for the first few days and was on pain medication on top of that…but as the drugs wore off, after a few days, he came to enjoy all the extra babying and cuddling he was receiving…















































Once more, Christmas and the whole of the holidays snuck up on me…I seem to be getting worse as the years pass, not better, as I had once hoped! While down at LT’s during the days around Shea’s operation, LT and I made our Christmas cards…I guess mine will be for next year as I didn’t get them mailed out!

We had a lot of fun taking over the kitchen table for a few days making them though...it brought back happy memories from when LT used to live with or near us and the 2 of us used to create together often...





































































Christmas was spent with family and friends...good food and wine...seeing family I hadn't seen for too long...seeing my sister and her family's new home which is absolutely beautiful...and now it is January once more...another year has come...

I have been trying to decide between a couple of words for my theme this year...I think I will use both...they just might compliment each other nicely...

Mindfulness and Colour...

Happy New Year!!!

Welcome to 2010...here is hoping that we all have a quiet, happy, peaceful, gentle, tender, organized and healthy upcoming year/decade! This was the list that I came up with last night, with a couple of additions from Mom and Bro...he just added productive as well! I'll be happy with peaceful and healthy but all the other things would be nice too...

Last year I came up with a word to act as a theme for my year – it was “challenge”…I haven’t come up with one for this year yet…I’ll think about that today…

I plan to continue challenging myself though…and one of those challenges is to do Project 365 – starting today…I opened a Flickr account back in October in preparation for this…later today I will upload my first photo for this project. I will put a link to my 'Flickr photostream' in the sidebar of my blog…

Happy New Year to everyone...hope your holidays have been filled with goodness!