Creative Groove

Wow.  What a busy week it's been!

Lita and I made a "Creative Commitment" at the beginning of the year, a commitment to stay daily in our creative groove.  Since then, I have been rockin' that groove and have been loving every minute of it.  It started with a luncheon with my Flickr friend Rachelle where I introduced her to Somerset Studios "Artful Blogger" magazine.  She later sent me a text saying that she was inspired by our conversation at lunch about making a commitment to fit creativity into her life. Inspiring other people is what I hope I'm able to do with my art and my love for all things creative. I'm inspired by Rachelle's Photography which always tells a story and is intimate, allowing the viewer to feel a connection to the image.

The week continued with a "Creative Friday" at Lita's place where we both worked on Digital Painting Tutorials.  I'm still working on mine which is a digital painting of a Phoenix.  Unfortunately, it couldn't be finished in a day and I'm still working on the details but here it is in process:

I still have work to do on the feathers and I will be adding flames to the background.  It was more painstaking than I thought it was going to be when I first picked out this particular tutorial. Lita worked on painting a Self Portrait which I think turned out beautifully!  We both had frustrations following the tutorials as well as joy in learning new things.  And, of course we had a lot of laughs as we usually do whenever the two of us get together.

The next day I was with Daniel and his best friend Andrew for a fun day of "Gangsters and a Gal" shoot.  The boys are both 9 years old and were hilariously fun to be around.  Daniel, ever the actor, stayed in his "gangster" character throughout the shoot.  When I asked him how he knew all the mob speak and the dialect to go with it, he replied in a Cagney-esque voice "I don't like Dames who ask a lot of questions". :)

Here is my favorite outtake from the session:

On Sunday, after my 10 mile run (with no stopping...finished in 1:58, the Marathon is next weekend!) I continued to feed my creative spirit by working on the images from the Gangster shoot.  The main idea I had in my head when I set it up was this:

For this creation I used a Newspaper background from DeviantArt and added in my own news worthy items from 1929.  I ran a Sepia filter over it and added texture.  Some punchy light added to the center image completed the look.  At one point during the shoot, I told the boys to just relax while I checked the camera settings.  They were sitting on the trunk, shoulders relaxed just talking to each other but yet they still had their eyes fixed on the camera.  I quickly snapped a shot and it was the inspiration for "The Little Rascals":

For this image, I started with my own background of train tracks on the Kansan plains.  The building and windmill in the background were stock added from DeviantArt as was the train which was warped to seem like it was coming around a bend.  Bird and smoke brushes and a couple of textures were added to give the other worldy look.  I added the clock for symbolism.  It speaks about a time gone by and also about how short time is.  These "Little Rascals" won't be little for too much longer.

On Monday, the new Spring 2010 issue of Somerset Digital Studio arrived at bookstores and my copy arrived in the mailbox!  I'm so honored and proud to be included amongst such talented and inspiring artists.  I have two pages in the Gallery section showcasing two of my digital creations. It was a thrilling day!

Today I finally found a Photography iPhone app that I actually love.  Most cell phone pics disappoint me because I'm so used to the high quality RAW images of my DSLR.  But, I'm in love with this new photography app for the iPhone called "Hipstamatic" which mimics vintage cameras.  You can change the lens, film and flash.  I adore the John S lens with Ina's 1969 film.  I used it to snap some shots around the house and it made everything look like it was taken in dim French lighting in a antique shop in Paris...well, that's what it looks like to me anyways.  Here are a few:

I'm glad I had this week of creative mojo because the next week is going to be busy in a different sort of way.
I hope I can steal a creative moment here and there to keep this creative groove going!