Photo Albums Revisited

When I lived in Charleston, SC I worked for a photographer, Anne Darby Parker. She took the most wonderful photos of children and their families in and around her beautiful home and the plantation-like home of her family. She would often take these photos and place them in handmade books (from the now defunct Two Hands Boxing or was it Two Women Boxing by Hand). I loved working with her doing this..seeing the creativity she put into the placement of each photo in relation to each other so that they worked together to tell a story.
When I left Charleston and moved back to Texas I thought I could reproduce her work to earn some money of my own. I found that the guilt of copying her was too much and so it didn't last long.

Now, 15 years later, with 4 kids of my own and some thousands of pictures stored on various computers, I decided to start making my own photo books for my kids to have over the years. Luckily (or sadly, depending upon how I look at it) I don't have to have a darkroom to get this done. All I need is Snapfish. So now for Christmas each child will get a book of the past year and then I'll play catch-up from the past years with books on their birthdays. So today I am working on a May birthday book. What fun! It takes me back to the days of working with Anne, inside her beautiful house...bringing just a touch of creativity back to my everyday. For that I am always grateful.

Spreading my wings...a little

I finished these pieces a couple of weeks ago. Although I feel they still lean towards the Kelly Rae Roberts stuff that I've learned, I'm proud of myself for venturing off some on my own.

This one is from a drawing I did based on an image I awoke with one morning. Her hair got pretty wild. I had to cover up a background collaging mishap.





This one was more fun in that I started out with one idea and it just didn't seem to fit when I got the collaging and paint on. Then the image (that I ended up with) came out like when you look at clouds and see things. I just looked at the piece and saw the shape of the body. I'd like to work more like this. It's freeing. Takes me away from my need to control the outcome.





Now I'm wondering if there is something that I should be putting on these pieces once they are done, like a final coat of something to seal them.

In need of some me time

Been thinking about how when I want to do something but can't do it as well as so and so or it doesn't turn out the way I want it, I have the tendency to just give up, or not even get started in the first place. Just can't figure out those small steps it takes to get from here to where I want so badly to be. Need to work on this way of thinking.

Wish I could just let go like this...



...not concerned at all with the sticky running down my face, arms and legs because I'm so wrapped up in the goodness of the Popsicle itself.


Having those feeling-like-a-crappy-mom days again. Where I just want some me time and can't seem to get it. Feeling like a zombie just trying to make it through the days to bedtime. Craving creative alone time. Not feeling connected.


I'm taking 2 classes through My Creative Classroom. One is altering books which I am LOVING!



The other class is on image transfers. I'm struggling with this one because my images aren't working out right. They keep coming off with the paper and aren't very vibrant. I'm beginning to wonder if I need to have the laser copies made onto different paper. I'm excited about what I'm learning with the transfers though. If I could just get the darn things to work right. This whole online class thing is awesome for me. The price is right (usually around $35-$50) and I can work at my own pace (although there are days when I wish I could leave to go to a classroom to actually work longer than in 15 minute spurts).