Dreaming of Italy

digital collage

Me and my shadow dreaming of a visit to Italy.

I've was going through boxes of slides that I liked to
have scanned to digital and I came across pics of my travel
in Italy in'92. I traveled throughout the country for one
month.

The city of Florence (image used here in my digital collage)
was just one of the many beautiful places I
visited during this time, but the Cinque Terre known
has the "Five lands" was by far one of my favorites
and most memorable. It was here in the town Vernazza
that I stayed in a small fully equipped apartment with a
balcony overlooking the Ligurian sea.



"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for
travel's sake. The great affair is to move. "
~ Robert Louis Stevenson

I hope your days are filled with all good things.
Thank you for your visits and kindness.

Andrea~ "The Way I See It"

Have A Heart

I collect heart-shaped rocks. Are you surprised?

Here is my latest heart find, so I'm sending love to all
of you.

Today should be like any other day, filled with love.

My heart also lives here: "The Way I See It"

A Walk In The Woods

A peaceful walk in the woods, deafening silence.
No one is home. The only thing you hear is the sound
of the hard-packed snow breaking beneath your feet.
The birds are hibernating. You can see your breath,
so you know you're alive.

"We do not remember days, we remember moments"
c. 1940 -Italian poet, Cesare Pavese

May you all have precious moments that mark your
journey. My best and thank-you for your kind words.

My other blogspot is here: "The Way I See It"

jUsT anOtHeR dAy in PaRaDise

The girls... me, Julie, Kim (our visiting blog friend from Wisconsin a.k.a. the North Pole) started the weekend off Saturday morning, at o'dark thirty...6:45 a.m. first stop Starbuck's, then off to the local swap meet.

Now mind you, our day wasn't complete until we had traveled to a myriad of thrift stores, a stamp supply store, a fabric store (which we quickly left because we were overcome by color and texture) followed by lunch, Border's for more art books, Dick Blick's, Artist's and Craftman Supply, Dick Blick's again... because A&C didn't have a colors we were after and then off to the beach to meet Heather, kick the sand, pick up shells and watch the sun go down, which was topped off at "The Harbor Beach Cafe" with a cold refreshment, some delicious fish tacos and wonderful company.


Flowers at the swap meet



Carlsbad State Beach- Carlsbad, CA

the boy

the sand

the surf

the end to a perfect weekend

Now it wouldn't be a perfect weekend without a splash of creativity and more camaraderie.

The same group of girls along with a few other friends, got together early Sunday a.m. to take class from our favorite Chris Cozen who is a "working artist" for Golden Paints.

Chris is a remarkable teacher and has just released a new book called "Altered Surfaces" which is chock full of instructions for creating all types of interesting surfaces utilizing the wide range of Golden products.

With Chris our classes generally begin with some type of color study on different papers or substrates. Today we began by choosing our favorite color palettes and painting background papers, using watercolor paper, canvas paper and some type of acrylic/linen paper.

Once our papers were complete we put together small collages and embellishments for our glass paperweight and then decided which portion of our paper we would use for the background.

Here is a sampling of my background papers:






Below are my finished glass paperweights.
These were a bit tricky to photograph due to the glass and reflection but you get the idea.





Thanks for your visits and kind words.

Have a wonderful week! My other blogspot: "The Way I See It"

Buddha in the Northern Light

My contribution to this weeks 2things challenge Night/Light.

"Enlightment must come little by little---- or it will overwhelm us."

Namaste.

("salutatory gesture," 1948, from Hindi, from Sanskrit namas "bowing" + te, dat. of tuam "you" (sing.). Used as a word of greeting from 1967. )

My other blogspot: "The Way I See It"

My UpSiDe DoWn WoRld

When you're feeling like your world is upside down, why fight it?! This is what I saw when I looked out the window. I immediately grabbed the camera and ran outside to capture this reflection in our swimming pool. It was a sign... of the times... and a forecast for the weather.

me and my upside down shadow


Nothing like a different perspective to stir things up.



Remember this song, "Signs" circa 1971 from "The Five Man Electrical Band"



Things will be looking up soon. Thanks for stopping!

Won't you please visit my other blogspot: "The Way I See It"

"F" Street ala Peter Max

While my friend Julie and I were meandering through the streets of Little Italy, making our way to Dick Blick's for more art supplies, I decided I would hold my camera out the window and rapid fire.

Who did I think I was kidding? I am. just. not. that. good at utilizing the 'rapido' fire button on my camera and... especially since I kept accidently closing the lens instead of shooting the picture, leaving me with some 'not so' interesting subjects, like this street light on F.

So, I decided to give it an extreme photo makeover ala Peter Max utilizing PS's neon glow filter, manipulating the brightness levels and enhancing the image.

Hey, I'm a child of the 60's, I love Peter Max. Learn more about him here .

My other blogspot "The Way I See It" Thanks for stopping by!

Our Backyard Friend

I'd like to introduce you to our backyard friend who came to visit this past summer. We couldn't be anything but in the moment for this little fellow to stop by, as it is most unusual for these wild finches to ever come close to a human. My husband and I decided to stand absolutely motionless, watching about 15 of these guys feed off of a thistle bag I have hanging on a shepard's hook in my yard.

We placed a small amount of thistle seed in our hands and stood, motionless, like statues with our hands extended to see any one of our feathered friends which venture into unknown territory, when all of a sudden this little one took a liking-- first to my husband.

He clung to his shirt and then slowly made his way to his hand for some feed. My husband then gently picked him up and placed him on my hand for this photo op. Everyday for approximately 12 or so days, as soon as one of us stepped outside he would fly to us, land on our shoulder, shorts, arms. He'd sit with us on the patio swing, keeping us company, feed and visit for as long as we'd have him and then one day I think one of his fine feathered friends convinced him it was best to move on. This intimate interaction with our little friend was one of life's simple joys. It reminded me of being in the moment and how good it felt. It reminded me of the warm summer days.

Thanks for stopping by. "The Way I See It"

Hope

2" x 3" mixed media collage
-with the following ingredients, some hope and imagination:

collage image
a piece rubber shelf lining (painted with *Modern Options)
aluminum sheet (run through crimper)
picture hanger
Radio Shack resistor
multi-color seed beeds
cool button
metal heart(painted with *Modern Options)
wave crimper
"hope" metal ephemera
brads
wire 24g
metal slide
knock out seal(painted with *Modern Options)

As you see here "Hope" comes in all shapes and sizes.

Here's a photo I took off of Highway 67 in Ramona, CA just after the Cedar Fires in 2003. I wasn't living here then, but we had happened to take a weekend drive and I came upon this photo op. It was fitting for the time and it seems fitting now.


Hope for 2008.
we find each other in good health
we are surrounded by loved ones
we continue to share with others
we reach out to those in need
we practice kindness
we find forgiveness
we practice peace
in this spirit, we are happy

To my friends, Happy New Year! 2008 ... thanks for the visits and your kind words on my blogs :"The Way I See It" and "The Artful Eye"