The Muse

Lately all my posts have been about the outdoors; that's kinda ME in the summer time! My art friend Michelle sent me a lovely piece of inspiration for my birthday last week, "Dreams are the Key to Life". She and I have had a few conversations about the elusive "muse" and finding time for art so I decided to post this journal page. She has been up against some compelling personal challenges lately so I am SO flattered she would take out time to make something to inspire me and I can only hope she found some joy and relaxation in the making!

This journal page is part of an exercise I have been doing based on Lisa Sonor Beam's book, "The Creative Entrepreneur". The book focuses on finding the courage for "Making Business Ideas Real" so is not directly related to my personal dilemma of finding my voice and figuring out what I want to do with my art. When I started reading it I realized it was really making me think about what makes me tick and why I do what I do so I decided to (roughly) follow the journaling path and I find out what I could discover. Interestingly, I HAVE gotten a lot of insight into what I really like to do and what my dream life would really be like. I still can't say I know what I want to do with my art but I think I have made some pretty big steps toward finding my voice. The orange colors on this page are not right and let me just say - I DO NOT THINK DIGITAL ART IS MY GIG! I do not much like to figure it out so I might just NOT.

Right now I an working in series. Now that I think (maybe maybe MAYBE) I have found a style I feel comfortable with I am doing it over and over to really make it mine. Maybe I will post a piece someday soon. We'll see if it sticks!

Bonding with the camera

I didn't spend all of my time on the campout walking and crafting and sitting in the sun. My son (thank you Andy!) introduced me to some of the features of the digital camera. Who knew you could switch to black and white and sepia? Probably everybody but me! I love black and white photos. I love the way black and white removes the distraction and makes everything "match" and the unnecessary details fall away. Love it love it love it! Imagine how different this photo would look if you could see the color of the ground and the rock and my shoe and jeans. In black and white it says (to me!) step up, step out, put your best foot forward, go out into the world. There will be more black and white in my future!

Let me just say that this crawdad was not forced to "walk the plank" for this photo. He met his crawdad maker much earlier in the day. It was a quick and to the point dunk in a boiling pot - yum! I did a little editing to brighten it up and ended up with some funky streaks so I have more to learn on that topic. One thing at a time....

Ah, camping! I can hardly wait for the next one!

Camping on Mt. Hood

We spent this past Sunday through Wednesday camping at Timothy Lake on Mt.Hood. How lucky are we to have a place like this just a little over an hour from home!
The weather was beautiful by day and by night. The first morning a mist slowly rolled in over the lake where it settled just until full daybreak and then lifted like a curtain rising to reveal the stunning mountain behind it. The stars at night filled the sky like glitter, un-obscured by competition from the city lights. Refreshing all the senses, the body and the soul! Ahh!

This is my son sailing his canoe - yes SAILING the canoe. He rigged it for sailing himself and gets quite a few questions about what in the world is it. It is quite sea-worthy and has even been out in Columbia River chop. He took me for my first ride on this trip and it was marvelous to glide along in total silence.

We were 9 campers in all, plus a 90 pound dog and a 4 pound dog. A fine circle of campers! There was mountain biking around the lake (not me!), canoeing, fishing, crawdadding, target practice with the bow and arrow, swimming (not me!) and sitting in the sun. I especially enjoyed the canoe and walks around the shore, observing the flora and fauna. We saw chipmunks (they might have been ground squirls), stellar jays, along with many other birds and even watched an osprey daily and once were lucky enough to see it swoop down and snatch up a fish from the lake. The bear grass, bunch berry, queen's cap and lupine were all in bloom. Something to do or see everywhere you turned!

I know myself well so I brought along a little pre-made paper bag journal in case I felt like making something. Like anybody thought I wouldn't! I put a very limited number of supplies in a shoebox and challenged myself to use only materials that an early settler might have on hand. I had three grease pencils (black, blue and red), a pencil, pen, a little coil of wire, a ball of artificial sinew, scissors, needles, pliers, a mystery novel from the '40s to clip words from and my one real nod to modern convenience - a glue stick. I just didn't think we would have time to butcher a mule and render some glue! The book is filled with pressed flowers, moss, bark, feathers and various bits and pieces I picked up on my walks. The picture is too small to read the found poetry but the cover says... I'm going down and look around on the ground for it, she said... Oh, well, that will keep her busy for awhile anyway...

The found poetry on the following pages:

...enjoy yourself this afternoon, just as though it was any other day of your life...

...I am getting to the age where I am capable of

doing some thinking

let imaginations run away

there could be no more welcome sight

I was just his minute thinking

rushing lickety-clickety

without rhyme or reason....

...sometimes I wonder...

...a moment to come back to earth...

...activities had been confined to a small area

pondering something

someone told me to tell you something

tell you what you do

I'm listening

let's take it where there's a good light

and see what we can see...