Tennis Shoes & Tiaras

Marathon Weekend finally arrived!

Loran and I met in Orlando at Disney's All-Star Movies Resort on Friday, ready to run our first marathon, the Disney Princess Half Marathon.

After checking in, we headed to the Expo at Disney's Wide World of Sports. The place was packed full of tiara-wearing gals of all ages!

We picked up our race bib, tracking tag (which will record our official time) and our goody bag which contained a shirt, socks, instant camera and a power bar.

My race bib said "Princess Laura". :)
On the back it said "Team Double L".
And it was suppose to have Snow White on the front and instead it had Tiana, a princess I didn't pick and one I've never even heard of! I had to take Loran's bib which DID have Snow White on it and have the hotel make a copy, cut it and paste it on top of mine.  Weird request, but they did it for me and I was much happier to have my proper Princess on my race bib!

After the Expo we had dinner at Planet Hollywood and then headed back to the room to relax and just hang out with each other.  We hadn't seen each other since our trek last April so it was good to have some girlfriend time. Of course, we had to do some farming. :)  Here is Loran, in her beloved bunny robe I bought her some Christmases ago, harvesting her crops.

Saturday was a great girly day of shopping.  When I found out that race day was going to be 45 degrees and we were going to have to be up at 2:30am, my running gear of a Nike Skort and sports bra was not going to work. Luckily, I was able to find some great Nike running pants and a quick dry jacket at Sports Authority.  We did some shopping at Florida Mall and found some lovely Chamilia charms for our bracelets.  I got a Birds Nest and Loran got a spider dangling from a web.

Of course, what shopping day would be complete without a visit to the bookstore, where Loran got some travel guides for her upcoming trip to Provence and I purchased *another* Alice in Wonderland book and the new Somerset Gallery magazine.  After a day of shopping (and a trip to Starbucks) we had dinner at Mimi's Cafe.

Loran checking out travel books on Provence

We *tried* to go to bed early, around 9:15pm because we had to get up at 2:30am but we both got very little sleep during the night, tossing and turning.  Okay, so why get up at 2:30am for a race that doesn't start until 6am?  You have to take the bus from the resort to Epcot and you have to allow 30 minutes to get to the bus, get on the bus and get to the actual park.  Everyone is required to be at Epcot by 4:30am, your bags checked by 5am and in your corral by 5:30am. We got to Epcot about 4:00am and then proceeded to stand around in the super cold temps until 6:20, our official start time.  Everyone was huddled together, who cared that they were strangers! We needed body heat.  Your standing there for all that time, with your muscles tense, teeth chattering and then...BAM! now go run 13.1 miles.

We were in corral D and with Fireworks going off, we counted down the previous corrals until if was finally our turn at 6:20am.  There were so many people that the start of the race was like running through an obstacle course of bodies.  Loran and I got into a good rhythm and kept a steady pace.  My neck muscles were hurting about mile 4 and lasted a couple of miles, at mile 8 I could feel a blister on the bottom of my left foot, at mile 11 Loran got a cramp but we never stopped to walk...we ran the entire way.  I thought we were only at mile marker 11 with 2.1 miles to go but when I got up to where I could read the sign it said 12 miles!  I looked over at Loran and said "I thought we were only on mile 11...I lost a mile somewhere." She replied "That's like a gift from God"! Mile 10-11 must have been an out of body experience because I really don't remember it!

There was a lot of encouragement on the course, Disney employees lined up cheering you on, DJ's and high school bands playing music, Disney Characters (there were lines of runners waiting for their pics to be taken with them...not us, we were serious about finishing in a good time) and other random people shouting positive words of motivation.

People were running in all kinds of outfits...princess costumes and tutu's seemed to be the main choice of clothing.  Some were wearing their tiara's and tons of women had their hair done in elaborate updo's with glitter and rhinestones as if they were going to a wedding instead of running a marathon. It was so much fun seeing all the different and interesting people running the race.  Even thought it's suppose to be for women, they can't discriminate against men so there were a few running the race.  Most were wearing tutus!  The best one I saw was a tall guy with spiky blond hair, naked from the waist up with a huge shark tattoo on his back.  He was wearing a light baby blue tutu. :)

The course started at Epcot and went to Magic Kingdom where we ran down Main Street, through Tomorrowland, Fantasy Land and Liberty Square before heading back down Main Street and along the road, over a couple of bridges and up a couple of hills before running into Epcot and across the finish line.

13,000 people started the race, a little under 12,000 finished and Loran and I finished in 2:28:31 (11.20 minute miles), a personal best for me and placed 4,400 overall and 558 in our division.  We ran the whole way and never stopped.  When I crossed over the finish line, I had a few tears and hugged the woman who put the medal around my neck.

I didn't see my face afterwards, but it sure looks from this picture that I had the classic "Tomato Face!"

Our medals are so pretty...gold and shiny with pretty rhinestones. Perfect for a couple of princesses like us!
After returning to the room to shower, I found I had blisters on top of blisters as well as a toenail that was coming off (what a surprise,lol).

Having not eaten anything except power bars before the run, we were starving and went to Denny's, (with our Tiara's and Medals showcased proudly) for a "big-ass breakfast".  Chocolate Chip and Blueberry pancakes, sausage (just me, Loran's a vegetarian), hash browns, eggs, toast and lots of coffee. Our celebration meal!

We weren't moving too well after the race...sore muscles, sore knees and it was painful to be walking around on my blisters.  We just wanted to sit for a while so we headed to the AMC theatre at Downtown Disney and took in the 3D showing of Alice in Wonderland.  It was amazing! We both loved it. I especially loved HBC as the Red Queen...she was hilariously perfect for that role.  All the theatre employees were wearing the most amazing Mad Hatter Hats...I so wanted one, so we decided to hit the stores at Downtown Disney to find one.  Unfortunately, they were all sold out.  But I got a great coffee mug featuring the Red Queen with the words "I don't do tea parties".

Towards the end of the day, we bought some salads and headed back to the room to just relax, read and watch the Academy Awards. However, since we had been up since 2:30am, we didn't make it through the entire ceremony and were fast asleep by 10pm.  It was hard to say goodbye to Loran the next day.  But I know we'll have another adventure together someday soon. For now, we both are enjoying our accomplishment of reaching another goal and thankful to have our wonderful friendship.

Proud Finishers of the Disney Princess Half Marathon!

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!

Transitory Dreams

Yesterday the sun barely made an appearance.  But, at the end of day, it lit up my garden with the warm glow of last light.  I was closing the blinds on a bedroom window that looks out onto the Flame Vine and the light was bouncing off a dying bloom.  I stared at it for a moment or two entranced by the mixture of the golden light and the orange tint of the flower.  Then I hurried off to get my camera knowing that the ever so fickle light could be gone in an instant.  I knew I didn't have time to waste by putting on shoes, and going all the way to the garden.  I had to shoot it through the window, so shoot I did.  What I got was exactly what I saw, with the exception of the dirty film covering the window.  I really need to clean that window. However, the hazy look of the photograph appealed to me.  I added a texture and using earthy tones, I found myself creating an image that turned out to be more than I expected.  It was a moment captured, a moment that was now gone.

The light, the flower, my memory. These things are transitory, like dreams.

But I can always look back on this image and remember that last light, that dying bloom and my memory of it.



(Thanks to Missy for the signature idea!)

Quad Collage Tutorial

Digital collaging is a great way to be expressively free in your art. You can piece together completely unrelated images and end up with a very unique work of art. However, collaging can be daunting as well, especially for those of us who can't decide between hundreds of images we've stockpiled in our computer files. Quad Collaging limits the pieces in a collage to just four, two images and two textures. By following the Quad Collage guidelines you can quickly create simple collages that still have a wow factor but eliminate the stress of trying to overlay tons of images onto your canvas.

There is only one rule in creating a Quad Collage and that is only four pieces are allowed. Pick from your files two random images and two random textures. You don't have to have a set idea in your mind, the goal of this tutorial is to just let it be completely free and open. So, are you ready to see just how easy it is to create a Quad Collage? Let's begin!

Image #1 is your bottom layer, or background layer and this is always going to be a photograph. Here I've chosen a birdbath...a throwaway shot...but wait, there is already a lot of great texture in it. Hmmm...maybe this would look good in a collage?

Image #2 is always going to be a texture. This is put as a layer on top of image #1. I'm using a text texture by Dark Yarrow. I really want the words to stand out so I'm going to set the blending mode to Multiply at 100%.

Image #3 is going to be your second photograph. This is layered on top of Image #2, your texture. I'm using this shot of the word "hope" found on a park bench. I want this strong so I set the blending mode to Multiply at 100% and go over just the letters with the burn tool. I also rotate this layer a bit so that the word is at an angle across the rest of the image. You can play around with each layer. Try rotating, scaling, different blending modes and change opacity.

The final image, image #4 is always going to be a texture. I've chosen this great texture called Exquisite Lace by Pareerica. I like how it's dark on the edges but light in the center. This is layered over image #3. I want this to be dark so I set the blending mode to Multiply at 100% and lower the brightness and change the hue to reflect more green.

My last step is to use a butterfly brush and add a butterfly into the very bottom corner to balance out the composition. Using brushes is a quick an easy way to add something to the image without breaking the Quad Collage rule of just four images. I adjust the saturation, hue and contrast until I am satisfied.

The final image: "Hope"

Even though you make think an image is not worth keeping, you may want to hang onto it for collage work. In collaging, there is no such thing as a bad picture! Create a file just for future collage work and stick your "less than perfect" pics in there.

Let's do another one using the same techniques. I've decided on this shot of a man walking down the street as my image #1.

Next is a texture layer. For image #2, I'm using the same texture as above, Exquisite Lace by Pareeerica. I will set the blending mode to Overlay to make the image lighter and brighter.

Next is image #3, another photo, this time of fall leaves. I actually took this shot on the same street as the man walking so why not use them together? I will set the blending mode to Multiply at 50% and using a brush at 100%, mask out the areas directly over my focal point of the figure. I don't want him completely covered in trees but rather a frame of trees around him.

The next step is another texture. For image #4, I picked out this antique map and set the blending mode to Multiply at 100%. I want this to be bold and noticeable in the final piece. Using a brush at 100%, I once again mask out the unwanted texture over the figure.

My final step is to convert the image to black and white. Collages don't always have to be in color and the adding of the antique map begged for this piece to be in black and white.

The final image: "Into the World Goes He"

What was just a couple of snapshots of the world around me has now become an interesting and thought provoking piece: "Where is he going?" "What adventures await him?".

Now that you've learned the simple steps in putting together a Quad Collage, I encourage you to create one, or two or several! Feel free to post them in the Fan Photos album on my Facebook Fan page so that others can be inspired by your work! Happy Collaging!

♥Valentine's Day♥

♥A few of my images perfect for honoring Valentine's Day♥

♥My wedding set♥

♥A couple in love♥

♥Lovey, the duckling♥

♥Love♥

♥Heart♥

♥Key to my Heart♥

Serenity

When I think of Serenity, the same image always comes into my mind and it's not Frank Costanza from Seinfeld screaming "Serenity Now", although that is a close second.

Most of the time, the image in my minds eye is a 12th Century Monastery, built on a rock, surrounded by the wild sea. A place where ones mind is quiet and working hands scribe the words of God in illuminated texts. Monks roam long, silent cloisters and naves, lit only by the sunlight streaming through tall stained glass windows. Or by the golden glow of candles during evening prayers.

Perhaps, influenced by my stay on that secluded rock or by Loreena McKennit's song "Skellig" or maybe a combination of both, but when I light a candle, I think of peace, quiet, serenity. I think of my time on Mont St. Michel.

"Serenity" was the next Art Journal Journey prompt and although I began with grand plans for the next page of my journal, I ended up sketching something fairly simple...a few candles. The words from "Skellig" filling in the page, texture and paint added. I have candles lit now as I write. Calming, the soft sent of Rosemary and Musk takes me back to another time, another place, maybe even another life.

Closeup of the texture

Finally, serenity also exists not only in the safe comfort of my own home, but also on my treks and journeys. Usually, it calls to my mind, long deserted roads canopied by whispering trees. Travelling miles on foot down the dusty pathways of old is a perfect way to quiet the mind of a city girl. :)

A Lonely Road in Wales

"The sole art that suits me is that which, rising from unrest, tends toward serenity."

-Andre Gide

Closeness Through Shared Activity

Closeness through shared activity. That was the theme this week which started on "Creative Saturday" with Lita. We've committed to our creative selves, when possible, three Saturdays a month: One for Photography, one for Digital Art and one for Traditional Art. It was a Traditional Art day...hands on, no computers. It was just us, some paints and supplies and a blank canvas. The goal: to create freely and let our hands take us on the journey, not knowing what our final destination was. Although I'm still working on my canvas, Lita finished her collage masterpiece which you can view in its final stage on her blog.

We had such a great time and are already looking forward to our next get together which will be a photography outing. It's been a long time since we went out together with our cameras.

The theme of shared activity continue to the middle of the week when I took Daniel on his first major audition! He auditioned for the role of Michael, Jennifer Aniston's son in her new movie "The Pretend Wife". With head shot and resume in hand, we headed down to North Miami Beach to Lori Wyman Casting.

It was like one of our date days but with a little bit of work in the middle. The work being Daniel's audition. He had to learn dialog which he had down pat. He was excited but calm, prepared but able to take direction and change the script when asked. When he went into the room to give his audition and they shut the door behind him, my heart started racing so fast and I was so nervous for him! I thought I was going to pass out or have a heart attack. He did great and even though it's a million to one shot, we had a great time together and he gained some valuable experience.

This week's theme concluded with Loraine and I heading down to Miami for a day of shopping, lunch, conversation and of course, Starbucks. I love those girly shopping days with Loraine. It's always very relaxing and she's really good at finding the best deals!

We went to Anthropology and I took a few shots including the one below which I titled "Time Turners". I'd like to think these interesting knobs have some magical properties to them. I think I may just have to get some next time! How I love that store.

Speaking of photography, it was a great week as I licensed the following image which will be used in a poster for a Country & Western Musical Festival in Dublin, Ireland!

This image is going to be used by the Somerset, England Heritage Committee in their 2010 Travelling Booklet!

And the company that licensed my Christmas Gargoyle (which I got my royalty check for last month...that was exciting!) purchased this image to be used in the future on architectural cards.

One final update on the gardening: The Forget-Me-Nots and the Lupines have sprouted! The squash are growing rapidly and a new little baby Cassia tree has popped up in the garden.

Looking back on the week, it was certainly filled with creativity, excitement and friendship. All weeks should be like this!