I Gather....

 More for Week Three of Inner Excavation:

These are some of the things I gather into my world...

Words
 

Supplies


Sacred Space

Inner Excavation: Week Three

I'm not finished playing around with week three yet but so far this is what I have done:

Here's the section page I made for the journal I'm using for this adventure:



I started the week with many "on the ground" photos:


The whole set can be seen here on Flickr.

I also wrote a poem note sort of thing and combined it with a picture:


I've also been writing some other poem bits that I'm not sharing here right now. My plans for the rest of the week are some photos of what I gather to me and more poetry. Then I'll put it all in my journal book when I'm done.
 I'm really enjoying this adventure.

That Kind of Day

I'm feeling very stressed today. I've taken many pictures to help keep myself from completely falling apart. It is helping a bit. I'm hoping to relax and read for much of the rest of the evening. Wish me luck in making that happen.

Inner Excavation Week Two

First up is the chapter page in my journal for the project...

This one is a collage type thing consisting of copies of photos and journal entries from 1992 when I spent a semester abroad in London. I also made side trips to Scotland, Wales and the Island of Rhodes in Greece. The text says: "Once upon a time I had adventures" This is in contrast to my life now and really my life in general except for that time period. I'm mostly a homebody. One might say that these days I'm borderline agoraphobic. But one time I did have adventures, small ones but they were mine.


The last one is about my dad who passed away three years ago. It is also about dreams left behind and about him discouraging me against following my own dreams.


You can click on the pictures to see bigger versions at Flickr.

Instant Fun

A couple of weeks ago I treated myself to a new toy...

and a new book...
 
I've been having a bit of fun experimenting with it. My daughter is fascinated by it since she's new to the whole concept, having only been exposed to digital cameras before this.


I need to scan in some of the pictures I've taken with the my new instax. It's not a Polaroid but it is still fun. My first camera was a Polaroid back in the late 70s early 80s. Looking through my old photo albums when I was a kid it seems several family members had them since many of the pictures of my are Polaroids. Maybe I'll scan some of those in and share them at some point.

Scenes from My Birthday

I turned 41 last Wednesday and we had a small gathering with family...

Take a Walk...

Thursday June 14, 2012 I did the "Take a Walk" prompt from Inner Excavation... I took a walk downtown with my husband and daughter. Daughter needed her new glasses adjusted so we all walked down together (we don't have a car) and I took pictures along the way...


and then I did a a two page spread in the journal book I'm keeping for the read-along.



 It was a lot of fun. I love being behind the camera. It really forces me to focus outside of myself and notice the world around me.

 I almost forget my favorite photo of the bunch...

This little guy I spotted on a very damp stone wall under a railroad bridge. It stinks like crazy under there and the wall oozes water or something I probably don't want to know about, but this little one seems to like it.

The whole set of photos from the photo walk is here in this set on Flickr.

I also ended up doing a small collage for chapter one last night:



That completes my work with chapter one.

This week work with Chapter 2 starts. I'm so excited!

Taking Pictures to Clear a Bad Mood

A few days ago my nearly nine year old daughter was in a bad mood that she just couldn't shake herself out of. She decided she wanted me to come outside with her and that I should take pictures.



The sun was starting to go down and it was a little cool.



but there were some pretty things to see and soon her mood improved.







By the time the mosquitoes started biting her bad mood had lifted.

 

We watched the sun start going down and then we headed inside.

Scenes From This Day...

I took these on Monday June 11th. It was an ordinary day at home. I used my little point and shoot and kept it on me all day. I took over 150 photos.
These are what I cut it down to. ..

I did these 4 collages with PicMonkey! I'm really loving PicMonkey.

 The set where you can see the full sizes and read some of the descriptions of these pictures is over here on Flickr.

Painting Again

I've been painting again. This one was a bit of an experiment. Playing around in something not quite my usual style.
Acrylics on pre-stretched canvas that I've had lying around for years.

Here are some earlier paintings done in watercolor and pen...

It feels good to get back into my creative groove. I had been doing very little creative since last fall. I just fell into some sort of slump. I think Photography has pulled me out of it. I know that taking the e-courses I have the past couple of months have really helped. It feels good to be coming back to myself.

inner EXCAVATION time!

Liz Lamoreux's Inner EXCAVATE-along begins today!

I'm so excited! Last October I bought the book inner EXCAVATION: Explore Your Self Through Photography, Poetry and Mixed Media by Liz Lamoreux. I read through it a bit then put it aside intending to work through it eventually but had yet to motivate myself to do so. I had been in a creative slump that started sometime last fall and lasted until I started taking some e-courses this spring.

Soon after picking up the book I started checking out Liz's blog. I took her POEM IT OUT e-course recently and just finished up with her CREATE SPACE e-course. I loved them both and am so excited that she is doing this read-along for her book now.

I've got some ideas about what I'm going to be doing this week for chapter one. I've already started getting a notebook ready and I'm doing the SCENES FROM THIS DAY prompt today. I'll post those photos later on in the week if not tomorrow. It depends on how long it takes me to go through the pictures and edit and upload them. I still have a backlog of photos to go through and upload from the last few days. I've been taking a lot of pictures lately. It really seems to ground me.


 

Missing YAYOM

Last month I took an e-course called YOU ARE YOUR OWN MUSE: RE-WRITING THE STORY with Vivienne McMaster. It was awesome.

I  joined up just a day before the class began on a whim. It seemed interesting and I felt really drawn to it so I jumped in.

 I had such a good time doing YAYOM: Re-Writing the Story. I felt good taking these self-portraits. I loved checking out the new lessons Monday-Thursday. I loved each assignment even the difficult ones. Emotionally difficult, not technically difficult. It isn’t a technical class really. But it is one about growth and personal development through self-portraiture. The community on the private Flickr group was all very supportive. Vivienne was super supportive. It was just such a great time.

 I'm really looking forward to the CHAKRA PHOTO WORKSHOP that is coming up in July. It's a new class and sounds like so much fun. Until then I'll just keep taking pictures. I find it so relaxing and important to my mental well-being lately.

Beginnings (awkward first post)

 I've been wanting to start a new blog. I've been wanting something different, something new. So here I am today starting this new place. It just feels like now is the time. I've been taking some e-courses and things are shifting for me.

Here I am.

Let's begin...