Lost Aussie on the loose

Flowers That Bloom in the Spring

I hope all my US friend enjoyed a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and managed to spare a thought for the good men and women for whom the day is set aside.

Here at Casa Otero enjoying the sunshine was the name of the game, well that and taking pictures.

We roamed over to Robert Moses beach one day for a long walk and on Saturday headed out to the North Fork of Long Island. Today I just tinkered in the garden with my camera (and weeding tools).

The roses and peonies are finally in glorious bloom!

Perfection in petals, indeed!

Here's wishing you all a good week and a little exercise after all the BBQ's (and beer)?

Meet Marcie...

(Image credit: Marcie Scudder)

For sometime now I have been an ardent follower of Marcie Scudder's beautiful photography blog, Daily Practice.

Paraphrasing from Marcie's About Me Page ...
Her photographs act as a visual journal. They provide her with a voice of self-expression and a reminder that the smallest of details and moments, when strung together, tell her story.
And they do just that and so very eloquently too.

Marcie has graciously invited me to be interviewed on her blog as a featured artist in a new segment that she is debuting this weekend called "Saturday Salons".

It's been a fun experience to scratch my head and come up with succinct yet interesting responses to her questions. I hope you will take the time to visit Marcie's blog and read all about it.

Marcie is also one of the co-authors of the wonderful Vision and Verb so don't forget to pop by and enjoy some of the wonderful writing and beautiful imagery found there too.

Colorful Days

I'm snapping this picture of a Spring bouquet snagged at the grocery store, but behind it and through the window are the shades of pink and purple that are beginning to show in the garden.  Rhodedendrons, salvia, impatiens...

My husband is full of "achoo" and watery eyes.  I somehow escape the allergy thing and am content to enjoy the beginnings of colourful days... at last.

The Thrall of the City

(16"x20" mixed media on canvas)

Sights and sounds

that make your senses ring

much taped and torn

some high brow and expensive

amidst edges of winter worn

the City beckons

her music calls

and on each kerb corner

you can sing

or dance

in tune with the rest

of the pedestrians

as Spring unfurls.

                                                                   Marie Otero 2011

Our Big"D"

He looks kind of grumpy and he sort of is.  A very peculiar personality has our " Dazy" man. 
By my reckoning he is around 12 years old now.  A rescued feral cat ( at great personal cost - ergo physical injury and attack) from a building site that was adjacent to a house that I used to live next to in Houston, many moons ago.

Big "D" as we call him, is now the Grandpa of "saved" cats in our house, of which we have four (not counting the dog, who thinks she is a cat too!).

But he has developed a bit of a limp over the last few weeks.  No sore paw that I can find or any other injury that suggests something gone awry.  I think perhaps it's just old age and his shoulder giving him pain and he is fine and feisty in all other respects.

But the feral part of him (that I understand) makes me reluctant to take him to the vet.  They will have to subdue him severely to do any sort of examination and I know he will hate that and probably bite the hell out of them, which is not really who he is.... but he will do it anyway.

So I'm rather in a quandry.  Upset the cat big time to have them tell me he has an arthiritic shoulder or let him deal with it himself and be at peace? ....

I don't know.

Have A Heart - to Exchange

Many moons ago, one of the things that I used to do a LOT was SWAP art.  I have tomes full of Artist Trading Cards, participated in big collaborative projects, signed up for LOTs of FAT Book swaps and have many burgeoning boxes filled with fabric art, photo book swaps, you name it, I did it.  And I loved it.  Lots of it was published either via Cloth Paper Scissors or Sommerset Studio.

And then I decided to stop and focus on gallery work and my own portfolio and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

What I did not factor in was the loss of community.

Yes, sometimes art swapping or exchanges can be a pretty hit and miss affair and I have suffered plenty of angst when I have opened an envelope and thought "WTH"? is that??? (other than garbage)?

On the other hand I have framed art on the walls of my home that I have garnered though exchanges and boy - is some of that pretty handsome!  (way better than some I have seen in galleries here in NYC).

So now I have started to tiptoe my way back into some exchange projects.  I am a little bit more discerning than I used to be but regardless of the outcome, there is something really nice about crafting a well thought out piece or package that meets Swap requirements.  Getting to know the person you are sending stuff off to - even if you have never met them and then the anticipation of what you might receive in return.

It's nice to put yourself out there sometimes.  Make new friends.  Kind of like the pen pals we had in 7th grade and ended up staying with for a weekend when you were 30.

You never know how or what you send OUT THERE will come back and greet you.

And?  Are we ever too old to make a new friend with a lovely gesture??

FYI these fabric hearts are about to wing their way off to Poland, along with an English book and some other good ephemera as part of a swap that Lawendula organised last month.

(AND....My thanks to everyone who left a comment or emailed me about yesterday's post.  I really appreciate your support!)

Voir en Rose

Digital Collage 16" x 24"

I applied streaks and blobs of colors

onto the canvas with a palette knife,

and I made them sing

with all the intensity I could...

(Wassily Kandinsky)

***********

So, I made this piece in Photoshop today.

  I seem much less prolific of late.
  I usually have folders of work that stretch over each month that are filled with pieces that I share, and sometimes not.

Either way, the folders are slim these days.
  I know why.
  You don't.
  And that is OK.

  I am not one to bare my soul on the pages of my Blog.
  Not that I don't want to be authentic
and nor do I subscribe to the "everything is perfect" mantra either.

The last 12 months have been different and we will just leave it at that.

I will say that mental equilibrium plays a great part in creativity,
for me anyway.

I've pretty well come to the conclusion that finding "that" place again
will be up to me and no one else.

Here's to finding my Rose Colored Spectacles again......

Memorable Moments

This past weekend #2 Son attended what the US folk would call his "Senior Prom" ( in my language it's the Senior Ball). 

Heart wrenching and achingly proud to see him all dressed up and looking so dashing.

Well done Honey .... I love you!

For Better or For Worse...

Shortly we will be attending a wedding of the Son of a Friend of ours.  The Mother of the Groom is a long time art friend of mine and ever since receiving the invitation I have agonized over what we should take as a gift.  They apparently have no "list" at anywhere where you can just order something banal and acceptable and I have a horror of just giving "money" - I think that is so tacky!

So.... for better or for worse, and considering that the soon to be newly weds are die hard "New Yorkers" I've cooked up some custom artwork that I will have framed for them.  A one off piece which I hope will float their boat and add a bit of pizazzz to their Brooklyn apartment walls.

Better than more teacups or linens - I hope!

*News* - Photo Magic - a new Online Class

Well I have finally got my "A" into gear and posted a new Online Class.  This one is called "Photo Magic" and will be geared for all levels of of Digital Divas (and Dudes).

We will be looking at basic photo editing - cut, crop, straighten adjust, doing the Fab Face thing (ie. erazing zits and some frown lines), employing a little creative Mojo with the texture, blur and bokeh thing as well as getting your images all zippy and slim for the web, blog and even teaching you how to make your own Crackin' Header and stuff.
And that's just the short version!

Anyway, I'm excited.  I think it will be fun and applicable to just about anyone who has a camera, be it a Point and Shoot or super dooper DSLR,  and wants to make their images SING! - Beethoven or Kings of Leon - your choice!

And yes, there may be a little crossover from the Digital Magic class but there will always be snippet or two that I did not tell you last time and hey, you don't want to miss out? right?

ALSO - I have set the Digital Magic and Journal Magic Classes to run as self-paced learning modules.  So if you were waiting for those to appear again, the good news is that now you can sign-up and take them any time.
They really are quite different from the new class that is on offer.

So, now I feel like I am in good shape.  NO, the videos are not made yet, ask any good friend (or my husband) - they are usually done in the wee small hours and the 10th one at that.  For me, the conceptualizing of the Class is the hardest part.  Production we can deal with!

I just hope you will join me for the next fun ride!