Serendipity with a single keystroke

My thought was to compose a lovely, ethereal tree photo for a Christmas post ...

The roast was cooking, the dogs were fed, a bottle of red

opened, poured and  emptying  being enjoyed.  And then came some spare minutes to play with photos.

This always works best when I have no preconceived notions of an outcome ... 

it's so much better that way (giving up control)

but I have to say, this happy accident 

takes the cake.

With one mistaken keystroke  this  popped up ...

my mind FLEW!

What had I done???

Here was a quilt of my tree,

a  mosaic,  tree-ness broken into thousands of pieces;

I saw a  graphic map  for intricate stitching,

maybe a pattern  sketch  for weaving cloth,

some  boro pieces  on a faded ground.

It was all of these things

and I had no idea how I got here.

This was the tree I was working on.

Tentatively, I began to hit the "undo" button

and traced backwards to see where I'd come from.

Then I began to wonder ... what if I try to make this happen again  on purpose?

Just some used twine from dyeing bundles this summer,

wrapped now around a new idea.

May serendipity lead us all astray.

  

~ December views ~

Read More

Sun ball ...

... the day is so short on the winter solstice,

it fits between my paws.

~ December views ~

For those who care about the techie mumbo-jumbo:

original photo

(of one very wet Quinn, confined in the mudroom & quite anxious to escape)

 shot with iPhone,

altered with Wood Camera + Jazz!

Read More

Dwarfed

... feeling small while the 

mighty

big

wind

ROARS.

~ December views ~

Read More

Baby, it's cold outside

Can't let a little bit of weather stop the training, so we

move inside for the winter ...

gotta keep your paws warm when you're workin' on the fancy turns.

Never know when you might need some of 'em ...

like in February,

when we might be competing in our first agility trial.

yup.  I really just said that.

~ December views ~

Warm thanks to Bev Korse for her original photo:

altered with FX Photo Studio and Snapseed.

Special thanks to Paws on the Rock Dog Training

Read More

Rising ...

... prayers

for Sandy Hook.

~ December views ~

Read More

Shekels and rubies

and pearls.

Beachcombing

with needle & thread ...

stitching the tides.

~ December Views ~

Read More

Night self ...

It is cold.

Dark early.

Searching for light becomes exceedingly important, but it can also lead

to looking hard ... 

intently ...

at things I might not otherwise make time for.

Slowing down.

Opening my eyes.

Time again for December views ... and the opportunity to join a  q.u.i.e.t.  get-together

with others who love to make images,

especially appealing considering the time of year ...

a photo challenge of the very best kind.

Many thanks to hippy urban girl for being a gracious hostess.

She writes, "The idea is to take away the stress of having just one more thing to do during

the holiday season and to sink in and be with what is in front of you, the beauty you see,

the lush imagery that seems to explode in the darkness of this time of year.  That said,

there are no rules and though the idea is to blog images every day, that is not the intention ~

rather the intention is to allow yourself to enjoy the quiet, to allow a month of no stress creativity

and to share a bit of your world with others in a completely different way than you usually do."

Although these days it's not unusual

to find a phone[camera] in my pocket,

nothing could be more unusual than for me to post a self-portrait.

All are welcome & you can join in anytime in December ...

See ya 'round?

Read More

Tongs for dyehards

When our merry band of natural dyers decided (wholeheartedly) to gather one last time

before winter sets in and puts the big kabosch on outdoor *cooking,*

it seemed only fitting that this enthusiastic group of 

dyehards

should celebrate their past ~ and future! ~ successes

with a brand new pair of tongs ...

I think they liked them.

The November day was kind to us.  Plenty of sun, not a whisper of (normally biting) wind

and although we each worried a bit about the slimmer pickins of autumnal plant material,

we pulled it together with great exuberance

and generous sharing from each other's stash ...

including a bit of pilfering from S's hedgerow.

Somehow it  ALWAYS  works out.

We've been lucky that way.

Our brews:

1.  Carrot tops, peach leaves & wild blackberry leaves, with copper pipes in a stainless pot.

2.  Scraps of rusty metal in plain water (no vegetation) in a stainless pot.

3.  Red cabbage with sea salt & alum in an aluminum pot.

Wrapped inside my bundles:

cedar bark, onion skins, rusty washers, frozen blackberries, "ice flower" red scabiosas, 

purple elderberry leaves, madrone bark

and eucalyptus leaves ...

which flew in all the way from California.

(Mercy, THANK YOU!)

Just when I'd begun to think that I was finally achieving a small grasp on this whole dye thing

the eucalyptus has to come along and throw me a curve ball.

What? I thought eucalyptus was supposed to be fairly easy to "manage."

I was dead set certain these babies would leave gorgeous ORANGE-RED marks.

The onion skins did not fail me ... but pale  spring green  from these eucs???

*sigh*

Oh well.  Maybe it's the water.

In any case, I am ever so grateful to my dye pals for their fortitude, unbounded enthusiasm, 

rip roaring senses of humor and most importantly, their kindness & camaraderie.  It truly has been,

"the more, the merrier,"

and I can't wait to see where we'll be heading next spring ...

Read More

Texture Tuesday ... free & easy

Since it's the last edition of Texture Tuesday until 2013, I could not resist posting

a little send-off photo of someone who has no trouble

being 'free & easy.' 

You remember her, don't you, that furry one on the left ...

the one who doesn't like the camera in her face?

Pssst.  She can't see me very well when she's upside down.

Those curled paws are just the sweetest darn thing and lying head-to-head like that

with her beloved hedgie.

Two black olive noses pointing ceiling-ward ... 

just a typical moment in an ordinary day.

Dang, do I love this dawg.

This kind of devotion is no stranger to history ...

I am in delightful company.

Mrs. Walter Rathbone Bacon

~ by Anders Zorn, 1897

Ethel Smyth and Marco, 1891

~ from her book, 'Impressions that Remained: Memoirs'

by Ethel Smyth

I look at these pictures and if I may be so bold to say,

I know what these women were feeling.

Portrait of Elizabeth Jackson, Mrs. Morton Pleydell

~ by Thomas Gainsborough, ca. 1760

Miss Constance Collier

~ courtesy of New York Public Library Digital Library

Miss Carter Mullikin, Holton-Arms School, & her Red Cross dog

~ Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative, ca. 1917

Portraits of a profound connection to another sentient being, not easy to describe with words.

So I won't try.

'Blessing'

~ oil painting, by Jeanie Tomanek

But I know what it feels like ...

I know it in my bones.

: : :

Textures used in the top photo were Kim Klassen's shades of November

and autumn burst.  Linking up with Texture Tuesday over HERE.

Read More

Texture Tuesday ... dream

Do not wake me

for I have written the love letter

and tossed it into the sea ...

tis the only way I can remain with thee.

: : :

Techie mumbo-jumbo:

original photo shot with my iPhone

processed with two apps (but I can't remember which ones, sorry)

textured with Kim Klassen's 'sonnet magic reversed'

and French Kiss's 'Ambrotype' from the Glorious Grunge Collection.

Linking today with the 'Dream' eDition over at the Cafe ...

Read More