31 day painting challenge

So grateful to the wonderfully talented people that share their knowledge by teaching classes. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to Creativebug and Creativelive two of my favorite places to learn. This is a 31 day watercolor daily painting challenge with Yao Cheng. She's amazing!

drawing inspiration

When I'm not photographing flowers I enjoy drawing them. A couple of books that I am currently using for learning and inspiration are "How to Draw Modern Florals" and "Flow" magazine.

peonies in june

I look forward to June every year the beginning of summer.  It is the month I get to celebrate Dave's birthday, and many other family and friends that I love so much and also because the Peonies are blooming. I would say that they are my favorite flower but my favorite flower is usually the one I am photographing at the time - so I will say they are one of my favorites. I love that they open quickly and one of my goals is to catch them on time-lapse video opening. I am fascinated that their centers are so amazing and that they change color as they age. 

grace is amazing

Grace is an AMAZING gift.  I am so thankful to do the things that inspire me and bring me joy.  At the mall a few weeks ago I spotted a sign in the window of a stationary store for a Brush Lettering class, I couldn't believe it because usually Los Angeles is the closest location to get any classes like this. When I was telling my friend about it she immediately said I want to take it too - I love that about good friends! I had only practiced calligraphy not brush lettering and didn't really know what to expect but I did know we would get a cool packet of ink, watercolors, and practice sheets. What a great evening full of plenty of learning and laughing. Brush lettering with a #1 or 0 size round brush is so different than a pointed pen - it's so much looser and more difficult to control (that's why I think I like it so much) just letting go and enjoying what the brush will do is very freeing. Just attempting our upstroke had us in stitches and at one point I looked over at my friend's 0's which looked more like googily eyes which she quickly tried to hide from the teacher who was walking around it was hilarious.  Seriously tho, I really enjoy practicing with the brush it's very relaxing.

When I look back at my practice papers from that night I can see improvement which is a great feeling and encouraging feeling.

 Two of my favorite brush letter IG's to follow are: Luminous Lines which is who taught the workshop and I really like the style of Linea Carta.

the dark room

My first photography class was a film class at the local community college over ten years ago. That's when I decided I wanted to learn photography and start at the beginning - film. Little did I realize at the time film is such a beautiful, expressive art. My husband had taken the class many times and I used to tease him about smelling like chemicals when he got home after lab, despite my teasing he agreed to take the class again with me.  The class was hard but amazing at the same time - I learned about f-stops, shutter speeds, and if that wasn't enough the whole developing film process - there was a lot to accomplish.  The lab hours flew by with time spent loading film into canisters in pitch black and laughing until your stomach hurt with friends while trying to not ruin your film.  There were hilarious circumstances involved,  how could anyone learn to load film onto those holders and get them into the canister, sometimes it required using and passing scissors in the dark!  My photos were definitely not award winning and that's ok, what I learned about photography and the respect I have for film developing was the prize. I became truly impressed at all the weddings my husband had done using film. Not having the instant gratification of knowing if your photo turned out until you were in the dark room was difficult, but watching your photograph develop before your eyes was very cool.

Another bonus of taking this class was the teacher, he has one of the most inspiring life stories to tell. He has explored and hiked for over 60 years and he still does. Lee takes amazing black & white photos of nature while he hikes. Students get to go with him on monthly field trips to isolated desert and mountain areas for the weekend where they take photographs and explore and camp(he's all about roughing it no glamping for him.) In his spare time, he teaches survival classes and his second book is about his 35 day hike from Death Valley to the Salton Sea.

Putting this blog post together has inspired me to take Lee's class again! Hopefully I will improve my black & white photographs since I have a better understanding of photography.