Theme Thursday Challenge

This week's theme is girls... When I was a little girl, the only "girlie" thing I did was tea parties.  I had numerous tea sets, real China ones and little plastic ones that came in a little plastic bag from the 10 cent store in my parent's home town.  I still have tea sets... heirlooms past down through generations, vintage McCoys, Asian sets that my mom and I exchanged on birthdays and Christmas...and various tea pots from around the world.

A digital collage memory...

Thanks and good night...

Wow! I can't believe all the wonderful comments I got for my latest creations and the Weeki Wachee mermaid photos that I posted!  Thank you all so much!  Tonight I'm sitting in a hotel room in Ft. Myers, FL on the Caloosahatchee River at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor. It's my fave hotel, even though it's decades old... The restaurant downstairs is old timey Florida and they always put me in a room with a balcony. It's been a very long day, as I worked most all day in my Brooksville office, then had to take my dog, Fred, to my dad's in Tampa (because Bruce is in New York) then drive to Ft. Myers.  I'm so tired, I don't  know that I'll get to commenting on everyone's latest creations.  I'm sure they are as lovely as usual. In the mean time... Here's Fred...

I used to have a Florida Foods business. I sold Key Lime juice and honey and citrus jellies, tropical fruit and spice marinades, and salsas... lots of stuff... It was called "A Green Window".  The name came from the 5 wine bottle bottom windows in the treehouse I used to live in.  Anyway... This was taken at a tropical plant fair where I had set up my goods for sale...

He looks hard at work doesn't he... the snoozing Schnoodle!

This one is on mine and Bruce's honeymoon... We had to sneak him in the cottage we were staying in, because Hurricane Francis was coming onshore and those that were able to make the wedding (many couldn't because of Francis) were evacuating! So Bruce, Fred and I spent the weekend and weathered the storm in a 100 year old cottage. It was behind the Victorian bed and breakfast that we got married in. Right after the post ceremony dinner... they boarded the windows up... lol

And here's Fred the Biker Dog! in his too cool Doggles!  Yes he rides with us!  Have a great night everyone!

Hope is the thing with feathers...

Steff's Stuff Challenge Theme for Monday was Reading/Books. Here's a digital collage for that challenge...

 

Most all of the images came from the internet...I already had the image of the photo in the album frame, can't remember where it came from.

T(ea) Tuesday

This is my first post for T(ea) Tuesday. Tonight I'm drinking decaf Tetley Black Tea - British Blend.  I'll probably add a shot of cream liqueur later... It's been one of those days.  Going with the Water Theme... here are some vintage photos of the Mermaids of Weeki Wachee. Weeki Wachee is one of the Florida's last "roadside attractions."  Guests sit 14 feet below the water surface of the Weeki Wachee Spring in a theater where glass separates the guests from the water. It's truly a unique and beautiful show... and today's mermaids still perform. There's even a Mermaid Camp for girls that want to learn to perform when they are old enough.

 

 I hope you enjoyed my swim down memory lane... Now for that shot of liqueur....

Is there such a thing as a digital ATC?

I've never made an ATC... Unless I print those I just created out... Is that really an ATC though? A print could be traded... Well... whether it is or not... here are my Think Monday Think ATC Challenge Entries...
The theme is EXOTIC...

 

  

 

The Cherry Tree painting (#1) is from piddix.com, the backgrounds in #2 and #3 came from Green Valley Studio, the bamboo (#1) and the writing came from the internet, the tea stained linen background is a Microsoft texture. I can't remember where I got the Geishas.

Katie's Warbler

I haven't felt very inspired today. I've been here alone all day... quiet... nursing my eye... creating nothing. That's one reason I haven't been inspired today. Conjunctivitis puts a damper on anything I need both eyes to do... drive, be in the sun (which is finally out in 3 days), take pictures or create visual art... or even type for that matter....
So... I'm going to leave you with a photo from a very talented young photographer. She's a part of my crazy, extended family (stepdaughter of my first husband - we are all one big happy family, full of current and former wives and husbands and biological and step children with multiple sets of grandparents). She says she thinks she's addicted to selective coloring... and this is one of my favorite photos of hers...

Here's a link to her Flickr stream if you'd like to see more   http://www.flickr.com/photos/katiechapman2/

Gypsy Spirit - Collage Obsession (Longing) and 4x4 Friday (Spirit) Challenges

She longed to leave her sedentary life behind... to travel... and dance... like those that came before her....

This is a digital collage for the Collage Obsession and 4x4 Friday challenges. The background is an image of an oil painting by Adrien Moreau (1843-1906). The vintage portrait photo is from Collage Obsession for the challenge. 

This was difficult for me to finish because I've come down with Conjunctivitis. So... I probably won't be able to do much art for a while... it's very hard on my eye. Happy Valentines Day to all...

Rainy Days and Sacred Work...

Today was a typical Florida, cold front burdened, rainy, winter day. The temperature dropping all day and rain running down my window making the trees outside look like they had been painted by Monet.

 

Poplars on Epte - Claude Monet

These are the days that I feel most creative. Unfortunately, like today, I'm usually at the office, working to conserve the very things I find most inspiring... water, habitat, the Florida that I grew up in... the Florida that brings so many here to destroy it. Maybe not on purpose, but the more that come... the less there is.

Years ago when I worked for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, a speaker came to our office... He told us that what we did for a living was "sacred work". Indeed it was.. and is today... and will always be.  I've worked in the field of natural resources conservation most of my adult life. My childhood predisposed this.  We spent countless hours in woods, lakes, swamps and rivers... We learned more from these experiences than we ever would have in books or school.  But I took it further and made it my life to experience and learn... and to teach and protect the things I love and feel most content with. It's no wonder my art and prose are so influenced by nature... I've been immersed in it my entire life.

 

Photo from freefoto.com

Fortunately I prefer to write on rainy days, rather than collage or paint... I become introspective... I feel like the rain washes the prose from my soul onto the paper.  So I try to steal moments between meetings, phone calls and comprehensive plan reviews to put bits and pieces of thoughts down in ink.  If I'm lucky or with what talent I may have, those snippets of thought find their way into complete sentences later and end up in a journal or here.  Sharing these thoughts is, in essence, sharing my sacred work... perhaps opening some minds in the process.

Photo from freefoto.com

"It is a soothing employment to overlook the pond and study the dimpling circles which are incessantly inscribed on it's surface..."  Henry David Thoreau (journal entry August 23, 1853)

Theme Thursday - Flowers

I've been experimenting with digital collage lately. It's very fun... At this point I'm using Microsoft PowerPoint and Publisher because they are what I know... I bought Photoshop 7 for Dummies, so maybe one of these days I will be able to use a real photo editing software. But for now...

 

This is for Edna... my lovely mother in law, a wonderful artist... who won't be here to see the spring bulbs come through the snow.

B is for Butterfly

I thought I might send some springtime out to everyone... Here's is my tag for Tag Tuesday. The theme for this week is monogram. I rubbed a spring green ink pad onto a white tag, adhered a green leaf skeleton and a black paper cut-out B that I colored over with a ballpoint pen with glue dots and glued a feather butterfly to the card. I added acrylic jewels to suggest dew drops and tied raffia and art fibers to the tag. I hope it brings spring a little closer to those in the snow!