Colors on my mind: July 2008

I got this from Arete.com and it so applies to me right now.

I feel that tension, that doubt and it is so damn hard to resist and not snap back to what I have done in the past.

The tension is almost unbearable.

How have you managed when faced with this type of tension? I could use some ideas:)

“The way you create any outcome in your life is to hold the vision of your deepest desires. At the same time, though, you must honestly and accurately assess your current situation and how it relates to your greater vision. By doing this, you engage tension between what is and what can be. This tension is the primary creative force behind the manifestation of any outcome. It’s as natural and powerful as the force of gravity.”

~ David Emerald, Author of “The Power of TED*”

Pick up a rubber band. (Imagining it will be fine. :))

Put it between the biggest finger on each of your hands. Pull your fingers apart, stretching the rubber band. Now, imagine that your right hand is your ideal, pulling away from your left hand, which is your current situation.

Feel the tension?

Nice.

That tension between your fingers is the same type of tension that exists when you dare to dream and envision your ideal life. The moment we do that, we create what TED from “The Power of TED*” calls “Dynamic Tension” between our ideal and our current reality.

Here’s the challenge: What do we want to do when we feel that tension between our fingers and between our ideal and where we are? Relieve it, right?

As TED advises: “In the case of dynamic tension, you can resolve the tension in either direction. You can let go of your vision and snap back toward your current reality, or you can move from your current situation toward your vision.”

As Victims, we compromise our ideal vision and then bitch that someone’s persecuting us.

As Creators? As Creators, we know that “It’s impossible to invest your soul in a compromise.” So we hold that tension and take what TED calls “Baby Steps” toward our goal.

“It is the Baby Steps you take, the everyday things you do,
that eventually lead to the manifestation of your outcome.”

“Some of the steps you take may end up being detours or out-and-out mistakes.
By staying focused on your vision, though, you’ll find even those steps useful in the creating process.”

Feel the tension and take a Baby Step, baby!!! :)

Here are a few of my favorites from a recent shoot.

I have been spending a ton of time trying to create a logo and business card/marketing brochures. I used Rhonna Farrer's Cheer digi kit through two peas and a bucket store, for the logo and am awaiting clearance to purchase commercial rights. The wonderful Ez from Creature Comforts has been a stupendous help with creating the layout of the front of the card.

Here is the latest version:

SALE

Blow out sale at Monarch!!!!!

I am liquidating my jewelry shop to make room for my portrait and fine art photography.

The universe has mysterious ways of working because a few days after announcing my sale last week, I was contacted by a jewelry designer who contacted me through my photo etsy, asking if I would work out an agreement where she could make pendants from my photos.

It was perfect timing!

I will let you know when she has some up in her store.

In the meanwhile, everything but the tutorial is part of the sale. I have more items that I will be listing in the next few days.

Buy one item and get one of equal or lesser value FREE!!!!!!!!

This is a great time to start your holiday shopping. All items will be wrapped beautifully ready for gift giving.

I have spent the past 5 or so days free time prepping for a gallery show in downtown Troy. The last Friday of every month in the summer they have Troy night out, where all the places in downtown Troy along the river have open houses, and the gallery I am showing in introduces the new show for the month.

I thought my ttv images would look gorgeous in framed in old windows, so I have been stripping, sanding and preparing these frames. Ummmm yeah what a PITA. But I am super happy with the results. In addition, my last minute decision left me without custom mat cutting options due to the time restraint, so I decided to also teach myself how to cut mats and frame myself.

That has been an interesting process. LOL.

A few things I learned:
if you use the outer side of the window to insert the artwork, you may want to remove the caulking along the edges, as it is sloped and uneven, as well as impossible to insert the tacks into. If I had realized this I would have saved a lot of mat board and the resulting settlement on duck tape to hold the mat and backing in.

Cutting Mat board takes some practice but for a reasonable price you can do it yourself with just a few materials.

I used :
mat board( local cool art supply)
foam core( local cool art supply)
large metal t square (jo annes)
tape measure (junk drawer)
pencil (junk drawer)
logan model mat knife ( local cool art supply)
freestyle basic model 1100 mat cutter ( local cool art supply)

To finish the framing you can use;
logan fitting tool or duck tape (LOL) ( local cool art supply)
screw eyes (michaels)
hanging wire (michaels)
metal cutter (Lowes)

Arete

I have blogged about notes from the universe many times. My darling Meg forwarded me a link to Thinkarete.com and I love it just as much as notes from the universe. In some ways it feels like a bit meatier.

Areté--a word that literally means virtue or excellence but has a deeper meaning...something closer to “constantly striving to reach your highest potential.”

Today I got this from them:

"Success is the result of good judgment, good judgment is a result of experience, experience is often the result of bad judgment."

- Tony Robbins

Hmmmm…so if success is the result of good judgment, and good judgment is a result of experience and experience is often the result of bad judgment, then…

Where do we start?!!?

Well, failing, of course!

(Quit taking yourself so seriously and…) Get on it!

:)

Emerson tells us that all life is an experiment anyway, so what’re you worried about?!?

Frog symbolism

Instead of one huge-o post I broke it down into three:) hee hee

Tonight it is raining and cool. I went to get my camera from the car to take a photo of the squam package and this beauty leaped right out in front of me. It felt serendipitous so I looked up and found this about the frog:

The frog speaks of luck, purity, rebirth, renewal, fertility, healing, metamorphosis, transitions, dreaming, and opportunity. In many cultures, the frog symbolizes shamanism and magic as well, teaching us to leap swiftly from one level of consciousness to another - from this world to the Otherworlds. Frogs help us to find courage in accepting new ideas, to foster a sense of self-nurturing, and to discover connections between ideas.

When a frog jumps into your life it may be indicative of the opportunities that can be discovered in the now of your transition. The frog has a unique growth cycle and undergoes some incredible transformations in its progression and attainment of full adulthood, just as we humans do. Hence he understands what it feels like to endure some serious growing pains, and uncomfortable and even yucky feelings, along that transition. And their ability to lay enormous amounts of eggs lends to their fertility symbolism as well as being synonymous with abundance.

As the sun reaches out....

Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful
than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone--
and how it slides again
out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower
streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance--
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love--
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure
that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you

Part of Mary Olivers beautiful poem The Sun

There has been a stirring in my heart as I see a style emerge in my portrait photography. I have longed to recognize my artistic voice, in my photographs since I started photography a couple years ago. It felt like I was all over the place, exploring different cameras, photography techniques and Photoshop processing styles. I love and continue to feel moved by the images I created, but always got stuck on the question "who is your target audience?". What????? Recently I reached out to a handful of people I admire and asked for some help. One of them asked me this question and I found that after the initial moment of panic and silent exclamation: "oh shit, this question again?" I actually found that I had an answer.

Even though I have been craving it for a long while I find I am now a bit nervous about embracing it. I mean if I embrace my style, I won't be able to try to please everyone will I? I won't please everyone. It took me a year or so to realize as a teacher that not every student was going to love my teaching style. Then I embraced it, and worked at being as organized and informed as possible so that I was a good teacher to all and a moving/memorable one to some.
In photography this means continuing to hone my skill. To build and feed the foundation so that i can be sure what i produce is not chance but my style.

Sometimes I call my friends or sil and ask for feedback. Inside I have felt like a child in need of a pat on the head. Some encouragement, some excitement to be shown back to me. To tell me whether I am headed down the right path.

Now the more I am allowing my inner eye to guide me, the more I actually FEEL when looking at my photos. It is the strangest and most beautiful gifts. It is not every picture, sometimes one in 1,000 (like this one above) that when I look at it a happiness and joy fills my heart. I start to get that chills feeling you get when listening to a singer that blows you away, and it spreads and dances in my chest.

I had a beautiful thing happen-recently-when I asked a person what they thought of some of my recent photos and I could tell that they just don't speak to her the way they do me. At first my I noticed doubt picking at me. But it never really found a scab worth peeling. What I did find was my self. Albeit a wobbly knee, just born calf, aspect of myself, but it feels like more than enough.

This week my son was completely and utterly in heaven being with his cousins-especially this lovely sunny girl above. I noticed that he was all smiles and giggles and happiness when she was too. When she was in a slightly different place I saw him sometimes patiently wait for her mood to change, and a few times he seemed upset by it. I really can relate. The best place to be it seems is in your own joyful happiness open to anyone to come join you but not getting upset if they don't.

So I sit here with tear filled eyes, doing a dance in my chair as I embrace that I am starting to find I do in fact have a style emerging that speaks to my joyful self.

my style of photographs will often include:
the sun
soft and dreamy qualities
eyes
sun flare
yellows, blues and greens often with a splash of pink
images with both high contrast and blurry softness

Hmmmm these words do this absolutely no justice. This is so HUGE in so many aspects-way beyond photography...........

SQUAMALICIOUSNESS

I have been away on vacation with my in law family for the past 8 days. It was so nice to be with family and to get a break from the day to day stuff.

It was strange and a bit uncomfortable for me to write a few posts ago about creating a Squam fund. It seemed like a great idea but didn't quite feel like it was going to be enough to get me there. I am very glad I did put it out there though, because to put it out there-to say it out loud helped set things/law of attraction into motion.

All my dreams about Squam....well they are now even more than I imagined. I get to be the event photographer!

There couldn't be a more perfect way for me to experience this event. I look forward to capturing joyous moments between all the beautiful artists, that range in experience with technique, from beginners to teachers, all in one magical location. What a gift.

I hope I get to see you there.

Wordle

What fun wordle is. Thanks Deni for the link:)

Jessie got me again;)

I went over to check in with Jessie and found one of the most powerful posts with an equally powerful video. This video clip represents such love and beauty. I started to cry a minute in. Amazing!

"LOVE KNOWS NO LIMITS AND TRUE FRIENDSHIPS LAST A LIFETIME"

~maive~

~maive~
Originally uploaded by mistybliss

oh my goodness look at this one.

I am melting

"close your eyes...

"close your eyes...
Originally uploaded by mistybliss

How amazing is this photo? This photography is so amazing.

New Fairies

As a child I loved picking my mother nosegays of delicate wildflowers I found while taking walks. The other day my son and I arrived before the doors opened at his camp, so we wandered around the school grounds identifying flowers. My son has grown to love flowers almost as much as I do. We picked a pretty little nosegay for my son to give to his teacher. Never to early to teach my son it is nice and easy to give women flowers, right? hee hee

I have been spending little time photographing flowers lately, so when I found I really wanted to photograph these flowers we were picking it felt familiar and made me smile. When I went back later to pick up my son from camp I brought my camera and took a few photographs. Ever since that day I have noticed flowers everywhere. My desire to photograph them is there but not quite as strong as it was last summer.

Yesterday on a walk to the park down the road, I noticed a bunch of delicate wild white flowers that I realized would go beautifully in a series with Fairy White. So we came home, got the car and my Duaflex and headed back to the park.

Now in my rush, I forgot the light blocking tube I made for the Duaflex, and so I had to improvise. This was definitely a funny sight, but I wasn't laughing much.

It was sunny and warm and I am pretty crabby when I get too hot. The reflection on the viewfinder of the Duaflex camera was terrible. I tried to contrive a makeshift sun blocker.

The setup for getting the above shots involved me perched on a step of the play gym in the park with everything else on the step below me. I brought a small cork board with a piece of turquiose paper pinned to it. The cork board was resting on a rail, the Duaflex camera was balancing on a soft pack of baby wipes. I took the yoga mat from the back of my car and tried to keep it folded around the outside of said baby wipes, somewhat being held in place with my legs and one hand, and I must say not very successfully. I also was holding and navigating a not big enough cloth umbrella over my head with the same hand that was holding the yoga mat. With my other hand I was trying to take the picture of the viewfinder but my macro 100mm lens is long and I need to get a certain distance away to get the whole viewfinder in. The problem was as I backed up my head hit the umbrella and the higher the umbrella had to go, the more the yoga mat became displaced, and then light creeped in onto the viewfinder from like a million angles. I was a sweaty cursing mess. I was barely able to ignore my sons sudden request to go in the baby swing, or to deter him from wanting to play with the vase of flowers I was photographing; but what really pushed me over my thresh hold was when he was on the top of a very high slide and started standing up on the platform saying in an urgent voice that he had to go pee pee.

Anyway. Just thought I could share a little back story behind these photos......

Squam

I keep thinking about Squam. The thought of gathering with a bunch of creative and empowering women, some including my dear friends makes my heart skip a beat. All year I have been craving the feeling of being inspired and rejuvenated after such an emotionally taxing year.

These feelings have intensified since I had to cancel going to Artfest this year. I was dreaming of going to Artfest but the timing was wrong, it was a bit longer than what works for our family that includes a three year old and only has one set of grandparents to help with childcare. Oh and the cost, that was a big factor as well:)

Right around the time I had to back out of Artfest, I started hearing about Squam. I decided I would not sign up unless I got my business debts down to a certain limit and had the money in hand to go. Losing my deposit for Artfest because there were so many people trying to sell their spots last minute and I had no takers to buy mine, taught me not to put down a deposit unless I am super duper sure I can go.

One of the factors that makes Squam seem so much more manageable for me and my family than Artfest, is that it is only a 4 hr car ride away. Ever since I have started blogging I have envied all the bloggers on the West coast that are within driving distance of so many yummy gatherings.

Now I have a yummy gathering within driving distance from me and I feel this deep pull to go. To be surrounded by nature, creative and business ventures, friends I know and friends I am meant to meet is such a dreamy possibility. It feels like it would nourish my heart on so many levels.

I have been talking to some of my girls about how I could manifest this into being. Deni told me she heard about Christine Castro creating a fund for herself to help get her to Squam. She is selling prints and all the money for her prints will go towards her trip. I thought it was a great idea because it gave people more of a purpose with purchasing her art and they would feel like they are contributing to something bigger.

So folks, with all of that said...I am staring a Thea Squam Fund. I will be posting items in my sidebar for sale. All of the monies from these items will go towards my dream to attend Squam. To be with my girls and hopefully meet some of you. I just can't sit back and wish this idea into being...I am putting forth a larger effort to get me there and help manifest more healing things in my life.

For Sale:
~ The Eye action set $ 15

It contains the following two actions and texture image.

1. A separate rounded corners action that can be used to make 150 px rounded corners on any image 5000x5000 pixels or less. An 8x12 at 300dpi is 2400x3600 so all of your photos are probably under the size limit.

2. A Collage action to produce the above sample collage (with your own photo) using any size image of your own.

3. A 8x12 300dpi jpeg of the following texture to be used in the collage or any other photo project.

~ The Eye Collage Print $30

An 8x10 matted and signed Peek print (this is a photo I took of my friend Deni's gorgeous eyes when she came to visit this Spring).

I have been swirling in my nicotine withrawal spacey head. I keep meaning to post and then there seems to be too much to say. Too much concentration required. LOL. So a bit of a rambling post.......

I am working on fine tuning my portrait offerings. I am finding it all sooooo fun!!!! I created this order yesterday. It turned out so lovely.

I am listening to a podcast about the poetry of Rumi. Can I say how silly I feel that I have been very slow on getting keyed into podcasts. What a great thing to listen to while doing computer work. The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi (December 13, 2007) 53:00 12/12/2007 Fatemeh Keshavarz brings Rumi's exuberant poetry to life

Quotes that I had to rewind and write down as they are so key for me right now:

"Wherever you are, whatever you do be in love"

A quote that made me think of my closest friendships

"when pain arrives side by side with your love, I promise not to flee"

and for Deni specifically: "your charm has taught me the way of love"

and from the podcast: Love allows you to feel the pain and still go forth. Steadfastness supported by love.

I am working on getting my business info organized. I have a big goal to manifest: paying off all of my business investments in time to be able to go to Squam. To do this I need to use my time wisely. Organization is key in being efficient. I am investing today and tomorrow while my son is at camp to get this aspect set. I just downloaded Blinkbidpro4 for a free trial. It looks interesting.

I also am looking for a link I stumbled upon the other day and now cannot find:) But in sitting to look for it, I have found a lot of other yummy things by looking through all my favorites.

A friend of mine asked me if I knew of any nice summery bags on etsy. She feels a bit overwhelmed when searching etsy. This is a downside for those unfamiliar and many of us that are somewhat familiar:)

I have a Tracy Joy camera bag that I love.