Staying Focused

Seemed like a good title for right now. I wanted to share a few more pictures from the My Still Sunday class. But first some thoughts. Yes I do have some.

The days have been so grey, wet, & dark for a few weeks. It doesn't help that the days are SO short. SADD takes hold. But hey, as of today they are getting longer.

Listening to Darren Rowse pod casts recently. Lots of inspiration and help with blogging, goal setting, social media. I'm always curious to learn how others manage their lives. Check him out.

Another fun look into the lives of others is My Morning Routine Most of the folks featured are much younger, but it's fun to peak into their days.

Here lies some of the problem. Spending too much time looking for inspiration and not getting into the studio to play. I need to heed my own advice from the last ATCs.  Remember?

So on to photos. This simple set up seems soothing to me. Used some pieces of the vinyl flooring in my studio space for the base. Did lots of tweaks in the VSCO app. It really is a great one.

 This was from a couple weeks ago. But the I like the focus on the Queen Anne's lace  at the higher level.hand made paper of mine as the back drop.

 No idea what I will do with this, but wanted to play with depth of field with my "real" camera.

OK all you artisits. Let's get into our creative spaces and get something going!

Background Bliss

I was fortunate to have a nice chunk of time Sunday to devote to scouring my home for items to photograph and things to use as backdrops for the My Still Sunday class. Blocking light & going for dark & moody was the name of the game this time.

  
In the above the backdrop is an old cookie sheet, much used & abused obviously.
The VSCO app is proving a wonderful tool. I can take pictures with my phone OR take pictures with my Canon S5IS then import them to my phone and to the editing.


 Pre cropping and editing...

 
 and post...
 Once again the man cave came through. Hubby had a large piece of black vinyl I ended up taping to the wall to get the "dark & moody" look we were to go for.

 
These old shoe keepers were my Dad's. I love them. They were made in Detroit! I have two sets that migrate around our home as adornments.

 Around 60 pictures total were taken to come up with the few that were worthy of messing with. I find myself waking up at night thinking about compositions, backdrops, props I might have around the house. I think I may need help. Hi, I'm Linda and I compose still lives to photograph. Better sign up for photographers anonymous.

Just one more.

Metalica

I recently found a picture on Pinterest that struck a cord using aluminum duct tape as an art medium. It just so happens my husband had a roll of the stuff in the "man cave". How convenient. Plus there was a roll of the mesh tape used in dry walling I needed for texture. Click the  picture to link to the page.

  

        

So here is my leap from that image...

 

Yup, Cheez-It boxes. I have to admit that I bring home the large boxes from crackers we have in our break room at work. You can make book board with several layers of them glued together, and use them as substrate of all kinds of things. 

Then the madness began. Cutting teeny weeny pieces of the cardboard for the letters I wanted. Then gluing them to the board.

 

The final result with a simple message.

After bone folding all the parts for the best relief I brushed black acrylic paint over the entire surface then wiped off most of it leaving the aged effect. Time consuming but it got me" in the zone". That's what is seems to be all about. Hoping my ATC group enjoys them.