This Week in Art & Photography

My week in art & photography:

Winter Song

A page from my Doll Dreams art journal.

Pages from the nature-inspired Watercolor Journal:

Pinecone Collection

Lime & Wildflowers

Orchids

On the Sweet Almond

Images processed:

 Country Lane Reflections

Spring's Last Hurrah

Sunny Days Ahead

Fantasy Inspired

Okay. I've accepted my cats fate and am handling it the best I can. Thanks for all your kind words!
Time to get back to being inspired and inspiring others!
Oh. my. gosh.
I am so in love with George R. R. Martin's series A Song of Ice & Fire. 
Last month HBO premiered Game of Thrones, a series based on the books. I was only able to watch one episode before I left on my travels to the East Coast. Of course, I recorded all the episodes but I couldn't wait until I returned to find out what happened next. So I bought the books. Best fantasy writing since Tolkien. And that's saying a lot because he's my favorite writer, like ever! I'm diggin' every second of this story, both in written form and in HBO's amazingly created series. And, it's inspired my art. Here are a few pages I did in my Doll Dreams journal while I was in Maryland. Inspired by Martin and his first book, Game of Thrones.

Winter is Coming

Colored pencil, ink, acrylic

This is a big journal, too big for the scanner which means even clicking on the image, you probably can't read the words. On the left page, I wrote a quote by George R.R. Martin. One that I completely and utterly agree with:

Fantasy is silver and scarlet, indigo and azure, obsidian veined with gold and lapis lazuli.

Reality is plywood and plastic, done up in mud brown and olive drab.

Fantasy tastes of habaneros and honey, cinnamon and cloves; rare red meat and wines as sweet as summer. 

Reality is beans and tofu and ashes at the end. Reality is the strip malls of Burbank, the smokestacks of Cleveland, a parking garage in Newark.

Fantasy is the towers of Minas Tirith, the ancient stones of Gormenghast, the halls of Camelot.

Fantasy flies on the wings of Icarus. Reality on Southwest Airlines.

Why do our dreams become so much smaller when they finally come true?

We read fantasy to find the colors again. To taste the strong spices and hear the songs the Sirens sang. 

There is something old and true in fantasy that speaks to something deep within us, to the child who dreamt that one day he would hunt the forests of the night, and feast beneath the hollow hills, and find a love to last forever, somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La.

They can keep their heaven. When I die, I'd sooner go to Middle Earth.

~George R.R. Martin

Then I added the line "Why so sad, daughter of the forests old?"

On the right page, I included a line from the series:

Winter is Coming...

Fear is for the winter when the snows fall a hundred feet deep.

Fear is for the long night when the sun hides for years and children are born and live and die all in darkness. That is the time for fear, when the White Walkers move through the woods.

~Old Nan

Stark Sisters

pencil, colored pencil, acrylic

For the Love of Pi

The week did not start off good. My oldest cat, Pi Ling was diagnosed with Intestinal Cancer. It's possibly in one of her kidneys as well. She has lost two pounds since March and is now down to just 4lbs. She is skin and bones, so fragile. I cried most of Monday while she was at the vet but it was not a completely lost day. I scanned in all her old pictures from film. She is just over 15 years old (that's 79 in human years!) and digital wasn't around back when she was a kitten. The process helped me decide what I was going to do and that was, bring her home. As long as she's eating, I want her to finish her days here, with us, naturally. I'm not going to put her through surgery or chemo. I've opted to treat her with some holistic medicine, as there is always hope. A fool's hope, but hope nonetheless.

I have also done some sketching in my watercolor journal and will post the pics tomorrow. Art is very healing and when you are doing it in the garden, even more so. Til then, I hope you enjoy some of these scanned images of my Pi girl.

Pi & her Poppa, 1996

Thirsty Kitty! 1996

This is the life, 1996

Caught! 1999

And here is a more recent picture of her:

On Any Given Sunday, 2011

Nature inspired Art

I rocked yesterday. Yes I did. I was AC/DC compared to the day before when I was Yanni. I managed to knock out the laundry, cleaning and gardening. Which led to some picture taking of cute and pretty things sharing my outdoor space. Pictures I managed to process the same day! Shocker, I know. :)
I even started my gardening journal!
Temp: 79°
Humidity: 73%
Wind: 18mph
Wildlife spotted: Three Greenhouse Frogs, Zebra Longwing, Rambur's Forktail Damselfly, Shiny Orbweaver, Common Grackle, Bluejay, Morning Dove, unidentified caterpillar and Wasp.

I had been looking for the perfect Garden journal and found this one while visiting Annapolis.

Documenting the activities in the garden will help with future plantings but also will yield ideas for art, sketching and watercolor. It might even inspire a story or character. You just never know when and where inspiration will strike. And, I could always use another journal. :)

I named him "Bruiser" and tried to get him to tell me about his black eye but mum's the word on that!

This little Greenhouse Frog tries to blend in.

Garden Diamond. If only I could pluck it and wear it to some fab dinner party in Milan.

Abstract Hedge. Shot courtesy of my elbow while the camera was slung around my back. Cool beans.

Kaleidoscope Web

Poised for the Top

The Language of Rainbows

Coreopsis Backside

Mushroom Study

The mushrooms were found growing under the Ornamental Lavender. I've not been able to positively identify them but I think they may be the poisonous Deadly Dapperling. How's that for a name? Seeing these magical mushrooms encouraged me to finally start the long desired watercolor journal. I was inspired by Vivian Swift's book When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put.

I discovered the book at the famous Kramersbooks & Afterwords Cafe in Washington, D.C. The book jumped right out at me. I had been traveling for nearly two months and something (besides my grandmother) told me to "stay put for a while". I was captivated by the book. I'm ten years younger than Vivian but I could relate to her book in so many ways. I started traveling as soon as I was out of high school and haven't stopped. The wanderlust always seems to kick up and just a few months after one journey ends, I'm itching for another. In 2007 I traveled for two months straight and in 2009 I took six different trips. Her book has inspired me to "stay put" for a while and start a watercolor journal of my everyday...finding the same sense of magic and wonder in my own place as I would if I were riding a camel through the mountains of Israel or staying at a monastery in the South of France. Vivian's book mixes her everyday with tidbits from all her travels. A memoir of sorts. I liked that. As did both Missy & Phoebe who ordered the books as soon as they saw mine!

Of course I had lots of reasons NOT to start the journal now...I should wait until my travels this year are done, I should wait until the New Year, I should wait until I can watercolor better. I decided if I wait, I'll never do it. Yes, I have lots of projects in the bin marked "unfinished" but what the heck, it's fun to start something new! So here is my first entry in my new watercolor journal...inspired by my garden mushrooms. 

Garden Mushrooms, Ink & Watercolor

I did also manage to do some art while visiting Missy in Maryland and will share that tomorrow. For now, may you all dream in watercolor. :)

Back home and a long list of "to do's"

There is no place like home. Except when you realize just how long the "to do" list is. Opening a teetering pile of mail, paying bills screaming for attention, returning long-unanswered emails and phone calls, tackling a mountain of laundry, tending to a sorely neglected garden, cleaning up messes made by both human and animal, restocking the emptied fridge, processing hundreds of photos from two different adventures, blogging so the world knows I'm still alive and trying to find the time to create art, start a watercolor journal and resume a gardening & wildlife journal. Did I mention that exercise needs to be added in there somewhere?
ah heck. It all can wait while I take a nap. :)
In the meantime, enjoy these photos taken on day 2 of the Cumbria Way. My favorite day of the trek.

Chesters by the River

Where we stopped for tea, lattes and scones!

Happy Girls!

These were without a doubt the BEST scones found during the trip.

Magical Latte

Wooden Reflections

Annapolis, Maryland

Hello friends!
It's been five days since my last posting and needless to say I have racked up the miles and images since then! I wanted to post a few pics from each day and catch y'all up, but alas, I could only get through a few of the shots from our day trip to Annapolis, Maryland before my energy level went kaput. Trust me when I tell you that I will have lots more to post in the future, including day trips to Nutter's Neck on the Eastern Shore, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and Inner City Harbor in Baltimore. Til then, enjoy this short little post while I catch up on much needed sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Dock Street

(Where I had the most delicious Ahi Tuna salad!) 

 Green & Blue

Shore Call

Iron Rose

Table for One

Roaming Richmond

Missy met Phoebe and I in D.C. and the three of us took the train down to Richmond. Our B&B was located in the quaint town of Ashland; a small town feel that reminded me of home. In fact, we even found a piece of home in Richmond!

Dodge City Girls
(pic by Phoebe)

Reflections of a Small Town

Simple Pleasures

We strolled around CaryTown, had lunch at Can Can and snapped photos of a Chalk Art event that was taking place. We saw lots of interesting people and Phoebe showed us some of her favorite places.

Chalk Artist

He Doesn't Want Your Chalk

Lunch at Can Can (pic by Missy)

As the sun was setting on our first day in Richmond, we took a quick walk along the Pipeline. I will definitely have to come back and do more of that...what a cool thing, to walk on a metal pipe just slightly above the muddy waters of the James River.

Fishin' for Dinner at Sunset

Our second day in Richmond was spent at Hollywood Cemetery, a vast valley of the dead that sits high on a hill overlooking the city and the James River. It houses two US Presidents and is filled with twisted iron, sulking trees, cobwebbed tombs that house souls long forgotten. Unfortunately for me I spent the entire day, from morn until late eve with a migraine. Of course, I wasn't going to sit in the room so out I ventured with the girls and just dealt with it the best I could.

A Lady's Favor

Beyond the Shadowed Lands

It was a excellent location to play Make-Believe and don some of Phoebe's famous masks:

Stalked
(a true collaboration: pic by Phoebe with Missy's iPhone and processed by me!)

I found some time to just sit and relax and watch a Swallowtail flutter, a river flow and a train roll by:

Overlooking the James River

(pic by Missy, processed by me)

Richmond is full of interesting homes, history, people and culture. It was a great place to spend some time with friends.