Can’t deny it’s winter!

But I can try!
2 weeks ago I was raking and bundling the leaves from these trees in 60 degrees F and thinking what a wonderful fall it was…NOW, we have this, and 4 more inches on top.  Two days ago it was –20 Celsius ( or –4 F!)….talk about a quick change!  Now we are skiing again!

                                                      
                                        

Now that I’m looking 4 months of winter in the face, I just want to post a few last glorious photos of autumn in all its intensity – it’s really that I’ll be missing the color!  I suppose I’ll just have to make do with the boxes of color in my studio between skiing expeditions.  Here are a few shots from our last fall walk in Gatineau Park…


                                      


They’ve mowed the fields to make them ready to become cross country ski trails – the mountain bike trails will be smaller classic ski trails.

                                     


Across the flat and up the slopes…
                   

                                       


Glorious color and shadow everywhere

                                              


 Stopping to look at stuff…sometimes it’s hard to move forward!

                                             

Fern and bark

                                       
                                               


Something dried and wonderful and wintery…not sure what the plant is though

                                                         

In the middle of the forest with long afternoon shadows…




                                                                        


Bad long shot, it was as close as I could get…nevertheless, I like the bad horror movie intensity of this photo!


                                                  

Framed…


                        


A doe and her two clunky fauns…closest I’ve ever been..

                                                                         
                                              

And suddenly, we were too much for them…understandably!

               

And here’s my last burst of color for the winter….I’ll have to enjoy a subtler palette for a few months. 

Back soon with some new work!

Ruby and lush green macro

I’m jumping in for a quick word before the holidays swallow us all up – in a good way, of course.  I took these pictures in the summer and found them again while cleaning up my photos.  Just fooling around with macro shots in the kitchen…it struck me that they are Christmas colours, well, sort of!  Close enough and just full of wonderful detail.  My afternoon glass of cranberry juice never looked so rich!

                                                       
                                                 

                                     

                                             


      Translucent ruby veils of colour… followed by the cut up Spring onions on the board to be tossed into the Jerk Pork Tenderloin marinade! (One of our favourite meals…)

                
                   


                           


Hmm, some polymer connections too, which is probably why I whipped out the camera in the first place.  I recall ,too, solemnly chopping up garlic cloves and admiring the wonderful shapes of the cross-sectioned garlic.  Can’t seem to find the pictures so maybe I just went ahead and cooked them!

Happy meals with your families!  Happy holidays if I don’t get back before Christmas!

Shamefully overdue shop update

Just to let anyone know who might be interested that I'll be doing a big shop update at noon tomorrow. I have been diligent about working and finishing, but so much less so about listing.  I confess that I have at least 150 listings to add to my shop - by this, I mean work that is finished, tagged and ready to be photographed and written up.  There won't be 150 new listings tomorrow, but there will definitely be close to 30 or so -  some pods sets, some single pods, and some interesting new beads in sets, pairs and singles.  ( and some old bead friends as well.....)


I can’t explain this delay except to say that lately, I’ve felt compelled to experiment continuously with all kinds of stuff. Some ideas have proved to be fertile and interesting directions, others… not so much…but – I feel compelled to try anyway.  As though it were a race to the idea I have in my mind.  This may have something to do with the fact that the polymer world changes so rapidly and images and ideas go viral almost instantly.  For me, this creates a self-imposed tension ( I stress the self here) to try to resolve ideas and incorporate them into my vocabulary.  Perhaps a kind of ‘taking possession ‘ of the idea!  It’s ridiculous really, but there it is.

I think I just need to turn off the computer for a while…except to list, of course!


Listings will go live at Noon tomorrow in my Etsy shop!




                                                            

                                           


            If you’re wondering what these are, well….


I think my kids might think I’m a little nuts getting out the camera to take picture of the sanded paint ridges on my old, old front door.  My wonderful kids are helping me with painting the trim on the front of the house – you know, sanding, scraping, primer, then 3 coats instead of the optimistic one coat you were hoping for.
I didn’t sand these cracks until after the first coat of the final paint  ( shoulda…).  But the paintings created by sanding back through the layers are so beautiful in their simplicity.                            
                      



             

                                            




And now they are gone…

Permanently covered by 2 more coats of this blue (totally influenced choice after seeing the Van Gogh exhibition…).  I will play with these images in my computer and see what else can happen!

Camera talk

When I first started listing on Etsy and posting to Flickr (and all the rest) I thought that the whole photographic process would be the death of me.   I hated EVERYTHING about it and I'm sorry about the capital letters here, but in my mind that everything is ten feet high at least.  Composing the picture, the background, the lighting, the 'branding' (or lack thereof!!!), the editing, were all uniformly tough to deal with.  The only spot of light here is the view of someone raised in the film era, at least one doesn't have to wait for processing and you can cheerfully format over all your hideous errors.  This is where I can love technology.

All this hatred coincided with the purchase of my first point and shoot SONY, (can't remember the model) which actually took quite decent macro shots. Although, it took me a long time to learn to use it effectively...Then it was stolen in our house burglary in 2008 (along with all the photos in the computer which I had only half backed up...).  I bought another SONY (DSC W210, around 200$) which, as I discovered, did not let me get nearly as close in macro mode as I would have liked as it had a wider angle lens on it than my original.  Grr, no money to buy a better camera.....

Of course, as I embraced technology, I realized that I would really like to have a DSLR, but the cost was high for its primary use.  Do I need to shoot RAW format, shoot in low light a lot, need massive telephoto lenses as long as my arm - or indeed, do I need to be able to change lenses at all?  No, I don't think I do - to all of those things, really.

Long story short, I started checking ebay and local sales for used high end point and shoots.  I was looking for 12 mp, really decent macro shots and some manual focus capability and some aperture and shutter control.  Missed out on a Canon G10 for 250$, but finally found this:  (free shipping, too!)

 

In case you can't read it, it's a Canon Powershot 650is.  All for only 125$, perfect body condition and function (so far, at least...).  It is the next step down in the Canon line from the G series (roughly, DSLRS, G series, then this series.)  It's worth checking out the used route as there are always people upgrading and this camera does everything I could ever need!  I'm not attempting to shill for the Canon corporation, merely pointing out that there are great cameras to be had used from the top manufacturers that are now outmoded, but perfectly serviceable for internet stuff.

I also like the swing out monitor even though I thought I wouldn't.  It swings shut and protects the monitor from clutzes like me - also the camera is large, but very comfortable to hold (curved grip), which again I thought was a negative, but turns out to be a plus as I find the tiny point and shoots kinda difficult to hang on to!  This camera just melds into my largish hand.  Also, it takes 4 ordinary alkaline batteries, which is also a plus, as  I can't count the number of times I've forgotten the charger for the custom batteries of my other cameras while travelling.  So far, the battery life is impressive.

And wow, aperture control on macro!  Now I can do those lovely background (or foreground ) blurred shots that really bring the details of the work into the eye of the beholder!  Gee, I might make the Etsy front page!  It has a host of other features that I haven't even explored yet.  The best thing about digital photography is that with each camera, the learning curve is shorter - really!

 It will focus as close as 1cm from the object!  Excuse all the not very informative pictures, but immediately, I love this camera!  The swivelling LCD makes it very easy to get shots from strange angles, or over people's heads, for that matter.

Hey, maybe I'll actually enjoy photography again.   And not just studio work either....