My Brother is AMAZING!!!!
My brother, Tom, has recently moved to Finland, and has produced (since July 2010) some amazing stories/pix that one could imagine. Tom, you know it’s true! This is only ONE of the amazing shots he’s taken. There are more to come. Tom is not only an amazing brother, he’s an amazing person, and I love that this side of him has evolved. Let’s all enjoy!!!
So, we get to Bonita Springs Wednesday night, a day before the workshop, and I’m starting to get nervous…or, is it excited? I love these workshops, but I stress over the idea if I’ll have good ideas or not. Once Thursday morning came, and I entered the classroom, all those feelings went away. The excitement grew within me and I couldn’t wait to get my hands dirty.
There were 5 tables for 4 in the room, and I went right to the front and picked my seat. I’m definitely a teachers’ pet sort of person (not obnoxious, though) and really like to have the bird’s-eye view. I started to get settled, when a woman came up to me and asked if she could take a spot at the table. “Sure” I said. As she settled in, we talked and found that we were both from Orlando. Not just Orlando…Oviedo, where I live!! She’s literally 3 miles away from me. Weird, right?
So, Claudine begins her presentation on color mixing. That was fun! Most people were there, but two women walked in about a half hour late because they got lost. The only two seats left were at Kim’s and my table, so they set up shop. After letting Claudine finish and we began our first project, the two women introduced themselves as Jane and Ilona. “Where are you from?” I asked. Ilona answered “Virginia” and Jane says “Orlando”. Oookkkaayy…”Where in Orlando?” “Oviedo” says Jane. OMG, can you believe it. She lives about the same distance away from me, too!
Well, the weekend continued and we created, laughed and got to know each other better, and decided we must get together monthly to create together once again. Very cool!!!
I finished 3 pieces with 1 left to finish at home. I’ve started 3 more since I’ve been home and can’t wait to show my friends at work what I did in class. They are my biggest supporters!
I know I am really using the Murder Tree too much. It’s just such a cool picture and my friend Dave has really created some colorful pieces for me to play with. I definitely will work some more of my favorite trees into different pieces, but I wanted to share my latest work.
I love using newspaper or pages from bibles/books/mags, so I decided to create my Murder Tree pic with pages from a bible. I chose pages from Joshua, not that anyone would catch the connection, but I decided to do it anyway!
The Biblical Tree
Tomorrow begins my 2 1/2 day workshop with Claudine, and I can’t wait! You will be the first to hear, and see, my progression!
Ok, I’m leaving next week for the workshop. I ALWAYS take too much stuff with me, but look at all I have. This isn’t even all of it. But, the benefit of working for a paper company, is the access to lots of paper…
Paper...
and more paper!
This is just half of what I have. It’s crazy, but it’s awesome! So, now I have to decide what to take without taking too much! Decisions, decisions!!
I’m also anxious to get organized. How ironic it was to get my latest O MAGAZINE with the focus being on “cleaning up the clutter” in your home. I gotta go start reading!!!!
I need to get organized!!
An artists' mess
Next Wednesday, my daughter, Rachael and I are taking off for Bonita Springs, FL. Rachael’s tagging along for some R&R, but I’m attending Claudine Hellmuth’s 2 1/2 day workshop on composition. I’m very excited, because I took one of Claudine’s workshops 2 years ago and had a great time. In fact, an earlier post of mine includes a picture of “the girls” and some of their creations. I’m really hoping the class helps me, as I need some work on composition. Every once and a while I make that “ah ha” piece, but more times than I would like, I over think it and it takes me forever to finish it. A perfect example…I have been working on a piece for my niece and it was supposed to be her birthday present…in October of last year!! Poor thing! I keep promising I’m going to send and I realize it needs more work! I’ll post the pic as soon as I finish it. I want her to be the first one to see it.
The other cool thing about going to Bonita Springs, is that it’s a hop-skip-and-a-jump to Captiva Island. Here is one of the sunsets from last year…
You gotta love it!!
Again…I can’t wait!!!
My freind, Dave, has taken a photo of the Murder Tree and has changed it in so many cool ways, I just had to share! I plan on putting these on canvas, but I need the weekend to get here. Damn this thing called work!!! lol Just kidding, I’m thankful to have a job, but it really gets in the way of my creative plans!
Murder Tree with water
Frosty Blue Murder Tree
My brother, Tom, started a blog to chronicle his move from Portland, Oregon to Helsinki, Finland. The blog is called Finland on 3 Pix a Day. Check it out! He’s become quite the photographer and his stories are entertaining, to say the least. This pic is one of my favorites that he took using the Hipstamatic app on his iPhone. Pretty impressive, I must say! He’s inspired me to start my blog and I’ve been trying to get the hang of WordPress for a while now, and I’m getting closer to perfecting it.
An icy island retreat
I plan on posting more of his pics, but this was just a trial to see how the page will look. More to come!!!
A moment in time
Hearts…the symbol of love. As you can tell from my blog’s name, I love hearts. I collect them in all sorts of ways. I have beautiful stones in the shape of a heart. I have a heart-shaped post-it dispenser at work. You name it, I have it in a heart shape. But, of all my “hearts” I’ve collected, I think this one is my favorite. Thank God I carry my camera with me. I left work and looked up before I got in my car and saw this beautiful cloud. I grabbed the camera and took the shot before the wind took it away. It’s definitely a sign…to me, anyway!!
This is a picture of Claudine Hellmuth’s workshop I took in March of 2009. Claudine is the reason I have pulled out the creative side of me and started to “play”. Claudine is the blond in the front and you can visit her website at www.claudinehellmuth.com. She’s an incredible talent, and a very sweet spirit, and I can’t wait to take another workshop of hers on February 17-19th in Bonita Springs, once again.
One of my favorite trees
I love trees because they seem to tell me stories. Now I’ll go ahead and tell you a story 😉
I passed a particular tree, I call The Grandpa Tree. I’ll post a pic soon. I passed this tree every day and could not get it out of my mind. It’s this HUGE tree, wide outstretched arms (branches) very low to the ground. It looks like its been there forever! I wondered what the tree would talk about. What has it seen throughout its life? I envisioned myself propped against the tree trunk and letting it tell me its stories. I’ve looked at trees a whole new way since. This is my Perfect Place for a Murder tree. I know that sounds morbid, but every tree has its own personality, and even though this tree looks really creepy, it’s beautiful to me. I love the hanging moss, the tree seems sad to me. But, it’s standing strong, whether people think it’s ugly, creepy or half dead. It’s sticking around!!
jaxofhearts
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