The Indecisive Artist

Photos Around the House

One of the priorities I’ve had since we moved into the ‘new house’ (it’s been nearly 3 years, but it still feels new to us) has been to get some meaningful photographs up on the walls. And by photos, I mean big, space-filling photos – not little 8x10s.

I have this series of 11x14s hanging in my kitchen – just everyday photos of my daughter, my husband, and myself in black and white and framed with a thick black frame.

In my living room, I have a series of prints on standout from our trip to Italy in 2000. These photos may seem small in perspective, but they are actually 20x20 each. My goal is to add 6 or 9 more photos from Italy to this wall and go for a really powerful grouping. I have the photos chosen, but am doing them in groups of 3 until I finish. I’m thinking another group of 3 will be added this summer. With the standout mount at this size, these are a bit of an indulgence/investment.

 

In my dining room, I have started a “Places We’ve Been” wall featuring our favorite photos from our various trips. These are all 10x10 sized (I regret not going 12x12, for the record) and are mounted on a sturdy styrene backing, which allows me to easily place them on the wall with the use of some velcro hanging tabs. No hammers, no nails, minimal frustration. The best part is, it’s easy to rearrange them. Actually, I’m thinking once I have a few more photos added, I might squeeze them together a little more and get another column in there.

Here’s another angle, which shows the photos themselves a little more clearly.

Sonoma, San Francisco, Aruba, Barbados, and Florence are all represented. New Orleans, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Vallarta, Grand Cayman, and Las Vegas have yet to be represented. My hope is to fill this wall as much as possible!

This next set is a little more difficult to show properly. It’s the staircase heading down to the basement. It’s a big wall to fill, and I used a series of 3 20x20s and 3 20x24s to fill it up.

I was a little nervous to undertake this last one – the mathematics of measuring all of these photos out in relation not only to the walls, but also to the stairs themselves… well, it freaked me out a little bit. I told myself that it didn’t have to be perfect, but it did have to look good (in that I couldn’t visibly notice any discrepancy). As luck would have it, the picture-hanging gods were on my side that day. The fuss and the math were about as easy as I could have hoped for, and I had these photos up and on display in no time. Like the photos in the dining room, these two are on a styrene or masonite backing, allowing me to hang them directly on the wall with velcro tabs. Swapping them out and rearranging them should be a piece of cake if I decide to take that on.

This next set was actually the first set I hung in the house. I wanted something big and attention grabbing for the entryway, and I searched through my photo archives for just the right pictures. At the time these were my favorites – if I were to redo things, I might swap out for something different. I do like the grouping, though, and they provide just the right scale for this entryway. Once I can get a console table added below the photos, I think this area will be complete.

Wrapping up 2009, Looking into 2010

Wow, what a year! I have been a horrible blogger. So much has gone on and yet so little of it has been recorded in this blog. I started the year with the goal of doing a photo a day (project 365). I mostly succeeded on that one, but failed miserably at keeping the blog up-to-date with photos. I will keep that blog open and hopefully catch up! I have not yet decided whether I will do a project 365 in 2010. In fact, I’ve been thinking about my “word” for the year of 2010. In 2008 it was ‘create’ and in 2009 it was “explore.” I’m thinking that for 2010 my word will be “quality.” Part of my rationale for that word has to do with a certain level of frustration I felt this year in thinking I had to get so much done in terms of quantity. Like project 365… I had to take a photo a day, even if I didn’t feel like taking a photo or the resulting photo was total garbage. It didn’t matter if it was garbage, only that I took one. Late in the year I eased up a bit on that expectation because honestly it felt as though I were forcing things, and that was definitely NOT what I had intended. I intended to take on the project in an effort to improve my skills… but when it felt forced and created only garbage, it was hard to feel that my skills were improving. It only felt like a chore.

I also had set a monthly goal of creating 20 scrapbook layouts. Some months I failed horribly. (Like the month we moved!!) Other months were uber productive. But as the year went on, it started to feel like it was more about the number and not so much about the quality of what I was creating. True, I set a number as a goal, thinking that by doing more, I’d be more likely to strike gold once in awhile. However, I think that for the next year my goal will be not about volume or quantity but instead about taking the time to think through what I’m creating and approaching each work as though it were a masterpiece – whether it’s a scrapbook layout or a photo shoot. No need to take 100 pictures in hopes of getting one good one. Instead, I want to focus on doing more with less. (OK, I really dislike that phrase in the way it’s used in corporate America…) Which really means that I want to make sure that whatever effort I’m putting forth, I’m doing so from the perspective that I’m setting out to create quality instead of creating volume in hopes of finding something worthwhile in the heap. Basically, I want to improve my quality to crap ratio. :)

I thought I’d share some of my most recent scrapbook layouts. This was a self-portrait I set up one day when I was working from home. I’m sitting in the sunroom in my house. I am terrible about getting myself in photos, so this was an attempt to record part of my day-to-day life.

 

This next layout contains an image of Gianna I took one night while photographing some friends. Gianna wanted to have photos taken, too, so I snapped a couple of her. This one was a keeper. :) I wanted to try a technique of blending the photo into the paper.

 

At Thanksgiving, Gianna thought it would be appropriate to bake a cherry pie instead of traditional pumpkin or pecan. She was very insistent that we try a cherry pie. So I let her tackle the making of the pie! She rolled out the dough and poured the cherries in. She actually did quite a good job! Unfortunately, she realized she didn’t actually LIKE cherry pie, and she refused to eat any of it on Thanksgiving day!

 

I was busy wrapping up a year-in-review scrapbook to give to the grandparents, when I quickly took some snapshots of Jay and Gianna in Santa hats sitting by the Christmas tree. I thought this was a fun, seasonal layout to include here.

 

 

And finally, the year-in-review layout of Gianna. Each photo represents a month of the year… from her birthday in January to sitting by the Christmas tree in December.

 

 

Christmas has been very good here. I’m just amazed at how quickly this year has passed. So much has happened… the move to our new house, the sale of our old house. Gianna participating in soccer, t-ball, gymnastics, and dance. And so much more everyday stuff that has made this year so rewarding and exciting.

I’m busy refocusing my energies on new things for the coming year, too!

Sing

Christmas has come and gone, and now comes the fun task of cleaning up and sorting out all the new goodies and finding homes for everything. In a few days the tree will come down, too. But it's all good.

Our Christmas festivities were good. Lots of time with friends and family. Gianna thoroughly enjoyed all the presents and visiting Santa. She got a lot of fun presents, too.

Here she is with one of her new Hannah Montana microphones, singing her heart out! This was taken on Christmas Eve. She was wearing her new Christmas dress (the one she wore when visiting Santa earlier in the day).  I can't believe how grown up she's looking in this photo. My the time goes quickly!!!

I've been working on my Photoshop skills, and I tried a few new things on this photo. I like how it turned out. I tried some new skin retouching techniques. It's hard to see without comparing it to the original, but trust me, it's definitely noticeable. Also, I used one of the Pioneer Woman's actions on it to give it that trendy colored look. If you haven't read The Pioneer Woman's blog, you must check it out. She has lots of Photoshop and Lightroom tips, as well as a pretty extensive cooking section, with GORGEOUS photography of her recipes - start to finish! Even if you don't take photos and you don't like to cook, her blog is a worthwhile read. The woman is a total hoot!!!

Earlier this year I had started a goal of scrapbooking 15 pages a month, so when I made the goal in May, I intended to scrap 105 pages for the year. (I had scrapped a number of pages before May, but I didn't keep track of how many.) I am happy to say that last night I finished my 105th page. In fact, I'm working on 108 right now. :) I have a few more days off from work before the New Year starts, so I'm going to keep on scrapping as time allows (and since the move in date hasn't been scheduled, no point in wasting precious vacation time doing something as practical as PACKING.... ).

Cabinets are Ready

Some more progress on the house. Yesterday when we went to check on things we found the cabinet installers on site with our cabinets!! There are cabinets everywhere while they measure up everything and get it all placed. I snapped a few photos, though it probably won't make much sense until they are all placed. The doors aren't on them yet. Neither are the counter tops. But at least the photos show how they look. (They don't show how we agonized over the painting and glazing choices!!!) I'm excited to see the real thing and not just samples and drawings!

These are sitting in the master bedroom and are being installed in the bathrooms. (Well, I'm not quite sure where all those drawers are destined to go...)

This is the laundry room. You can see the paint color - Classic Sand - and the pretty pink marble tile. Ok, pink wouldn't have been our first choice... LOL. The cabinet in the corner will have a laundry sink in it, and the space to the left will be where the washer and dryer will go. The other cabinets pictured will go along the wall to the right and will hold baskets for laundry. There will be upper cabinets above both sets.

This is the dining room. Those three cabinets will sit together and form a built-in hutch. The middle cabinet is a bit deeper than the side two. There will be uppers here as well. The angled corners on the middle piece will get some column posts added to them..... as shown in the next photo.

These are the column posts that will adorn the middle part of the dining room hutch and also the bump out below the cooktop in the kitchen. I think they look way cool.

And finally some more random pieces in the kitchen. Not sure where these will actually end up.... the two smaller pieces are actually pull-out drawers - probably for below the cooktop. The taller piece... probably an upper for somewhere in the kitchen (though it's upside down... the smaller opening will have a glass door, and those are on the top.)

The installers were there working all day today, so I'm excited to go back and check up on the progress!

Tiny Dancer

Gianna had her first dance recital this past weekend. Despite the snow, freezing temps, blowing wind, and a county-issued no-travel advisory, the show went on. Dozens of dancers and their parents and grandparents crowded into this tiny gym (and tinier hallway) to watch these little dancers perform. It was a cute show. The costumes were very nicely done, and all the kids did a GREAT job. As I said, this was Gianna's first performance. I was worried that once she saw all the people that she wouldn't be a willing participant. But there was no reason to worry. She did a GREAT job! Their dance was called "Lullabye" and the routine involved waking up, doing ballet, and going back to sleep - complete with yawns and stretches. When the dance was over, Gianna looked right at me and gave me the big thumbs up - with supporting wink to boot. :) The crowd laughed.

The dance lasted probably 45 seconds total, and during that time I snapped 30 photos. Didn't want to miss any of it. :)

Normally I operate the digital still camera, and Jay operates the video camera, but because of the cold weather and snow, we decided it was better if Jay didn't go out. Snow and wheelchairs just don't mix well. Plus, throw in getting a stubborn toddler into an unfamiliar gym on time into the mix. So Jay stayed home and got updates via cell phone and text message. As it turns out, the gym wasn't exactly wheelchair friendly and it would have been difficult to get in and out - again while needing to get Gianna to and from all the right spots as well. So we didn't get a video of the performance. However, my cousin sat right next to me, as her daughter - who is 5 - was also performing that night (albeit with a different group). And her hubby was there with a video camera, so they got the WHOLE thing on tape. So it's great that Daddy will be able to see the whole dance as well.

Lesson Learned

When, at 11 pm, you decide that the fish's bowl is just too dirty and that something must be done before the fish DIES from swimming in filthy water - cleaning the fish bowl has been a task you put off since your darling little girl emptied the WHOLE bottle of chlorine treatment directly into the fish bowl the week before and you just haven't made it to PetSmart to buy a new bottle - and you realize that untreated tap water is better than filthy fish poop water, and you put him into a temporary bowl - the square tupperware container that's sitting so handy right on the counter anyway - and you pour the fish and some of his water into the new 'bowl' while you clean the real bowl, and decide the cleaning can wait until morning (because, face it, you don't have the water treatment stuff anyway so it may as well wait until morning) and the fish spends the night in the little tupperware bowl....

 

well, just remember to cover the bowl with something

 

because

 

fish CAN jump

 

out of their bowls

 

and onto the counter

 

where you find them

 

the next morning.

 

I thought the little guy was dead and that we'd have our first family lesson in what happens to pets when they die.

But then -

I saw him flop his little head.

I quickly scooped him up and put him back into his bowl, where he began to swim around.

So he's alive.

For Now.

And there's a cover on the bowl now.

(You know what's weird.... last night as I was putting him into this little temporary bowl, I had a crazy thought run thru my mind.... like, what if i find him on the floor in the morning.... But did I think to actually cover the bowl last night???? NO. Note to self... START LISTENING to these inner voices.....)

Koi Pond, Pottery Urn, Herbal Wash

I have some photos to share of the new house! The painting was started this week, so there's finally something to SHOW! (You know, photos of heaters and drywall and elevators just aren't very exciting.)

I was standing in what will be the kitchen, facing the dining room and the entry way. The kitchen is painted Koi Pond, the dining room is Pottery Urn, and the entryway (and most of the rest of the main areas of the house) is Herbal Wash. The kitchen color is actually a slight bit lighter than the rest of the house - it just looks darker because there's a lot of light coming thru the entry way making the Herbal Wash seem like it's lighter. The two colors are very close - in fact, we debated about doing the kitchen a shade lighter to differentiate them some more. But we are going to leave them. I think the color will look nice with the white/glazed cabinets with black countertops. The trim and doors will all be painted white.

This is a better representation of the kitchen color. This is facing the stairs up to the loft. The opening you see on the left is going to be the door to Jay's elevator. There's a little bit of open space in the kitchen - just to the left will be the breakfast nook. The door covered in plastic is a small bathroom (3/4), and just to the right of that is a huge laundry room.

 

This is the master bedroom. It is painted the same color as the dining room: Pottery Urn. I wasn't 100% sure of this color, but now that I see it on a whole wall, I do like it. It's not the deep chocolate brown I had in my current house, but it's still nice.  That wall once housed a see-thru fireplace. (That's the master bathroom you see thru the doorway... not painted yet.) We sheetrocked over it. (The previous owners took the fireplace out, and we didn't want to replace it. One fireplace in the house is enough for now.) Jay added that little nook thingy up there as a place to showcase some art or some photo or something. He put a matching one in his office.

This is a view from the living room looking into the master bedroom. You can see the Herbal Wash color - though it's not the best reflection of it. It's a green color, but there's a gray-ish feel to it. It's earthy. I think it'll look nice nice to the dark wood floor that will be going in. Just to the right is a big sunroom overlooking the backyard. There are doors to it off the bedroom and also off the living room. It's not painted yet, and it's currently overflowing with samples, drop cloths, tools, and whole bunch of other crap... so no photo of it yet.

So that's my house so far. You can see there is still work to be done. We are working on approving the design for the cabinets. We bought some stone vessel sinks for the two major bathrooms on Saturday, so now I can finish up ordering plumbing fixtures. Then it's just a matter of putting everything together. I'm hoping it goes quickly!

Halloween, Halloween, Trick or Treat

Thought I'd share a photo of our little goblin on Halloween. We were so fortunate this year that the weather was nice. I remember so many years when I was a kid trick or treating where the weather was sooo cold. I guess that's the nature of the seasons here in Minnesota. But this year was very nice. It was nice and warm out, and with the extension to daylight savings time, it was still light outside for the first hour of trick or treating.

We bought the bat costume at Old Navy 5 or 6 weeks ago. I tried suggesting a girly costume - like a butterfly or princess, but G really wanted to be a bat. So a bat she was. She asked her grandma to make her the little felt mask she's wearing. (In all the Dora and Diego stories, Diego is always wearing a similar bat mask on Halloween. Grandma even used the image in the book as her pattern.) Of course, after hitting all the neighbors' houses, we went back home before heading out to visit a few friends, and G decided that she'd had enough of the costume and took it all off. I finally convinced her that in order to continue trick or treating she would need to wear at least part of the costume, so we compromised on wearing just the top and mask, and she wore some plain black pants.

We walked around one neighborhood, and I went with her to the door to each of the places that had their lights on. After about the 6th or 7th house, she had it figured out, and mandated that I stand in the driveway while she went to the door to ring the doorbell herself. Little miss independent. So she definitely enjoyed it, and that little pumpkin bag she's carrying was FULL by the end of the night. We have enough candy to last the whole year. LOL.

Monday Update

I can't believe how quickly summer is going!

Gianna just finished up a session of swimming lessons. I didn't get any photos because I was in the pool with her, but we had a good time and I'll scrap it nonetheless. She even jumped off the diving board (but would only do it once! LOL). Of course she had a life jacket and her goggles on. The last night of class she wore her life jacket, and she swam the length of the pool three times by herself. Boy she was tired that night! She slept the next day until 11 am. (Ok - little rant - why is it that she can sleep in when DADDY is home with her, but when MOMMY could use a few hours to get things done, she's up at the butt-crack of dawn?????)

The ramp at the new house is nearly complete. Courtesy of the crew at Winkelman Landscaping... my little brother Scotty built us a paving stone ramp behind a retaining wall. It looks really cool!! So progress is happening...

I moved 80% of my crafting items to the new house. I painted the studio/loft last weekend. It's a pretty color called 'Wheat Penny" which is kinda funny, actually, because I've been known to collect wheat pennies in my day...Some days I think I pick my paint colors based on their cool name.... Anyway, I thought that with the loft almost done I could safely move my stuff over there and get it out of this house that we are trying to sell...

I scrapped a few pages this weekend. Nothing too elaborate. Wanted to get a few more pages in my Shutterfly book done and also just needed a creative break. Life has been so hectic that sometimes I feel overwhelmed. Scrapping is my therapy.

This is my favorite page from the weekend.

Now that Gianna is nearly three and a half, I finally got around to doing some 'formal' photos of her at age 3. I bribed her one day with a sucker... She was wearing a new pink and white polka dot dress. Plus, she found an old white hat from a past Easter (back when she didn't refuse to wear fancy dresses... so TWO years ago... LOL). I got her to wear the hat. Told her let's go outside and take a few photos. She agreed only when I said she could have a sucker if she'd just do it. Yeah, that session lasted about 5 minutes and then she was running away from the mommarazzi....

Anyway, I love this photo from that day. And I was sooo anxious to scrap it. I want to do a bigger spread of more of the photos. But I love one-page layouts so much, and I was just itching to scrap this photo. It's such a simple layout, but I'm really happy with it. Paper by Holly McCaig. Flower by Jen Wilson. Frame, Stitch, Alpha, and Journal paper by Gina Cabrera.

That's all for now. Except I wanted to say that some of our California wine finally arrived. I'm enjoying a glass or two of it right now. ;)

I've been busy...

...and here's why.

We bought a new house recently. We put in an offer and closed a month later.

But here's the fun part: It is a foreclosure, and the previous owners took out everything. EVERYTHING. Well, not the floors... but the cabinets, appliances, interior doors, light fixtures, plumbing... it's all gone.

So we have some work ahead of us.

We also have some work to do to get our current house listed and sold.

Like I said, it's been busy. LOL.

But it will be nice when it's done.

Once we get rid of that  hideous blue door.

And grout all that rock.

And build a ramp to the front door.

Then we'll get started on the inside.

My favorite part is the studio/loft above the garage. It's going to be my own personal retreat. It will house my studio so I'll have some space for my photography as well as for my stamping and scrapbooking, too. Once I get it painted and trim put on the walls.

Lots to do!

We hope to be moved in in about two months, but we'll see how things go.

And should anyone know anyone who might be in need of a 1700 square foot patio home, completely wheelchair accessible, with lots of maple cabinetry, a big office with maple bookshelves and desks, laminate hardwood floors throughout, well, you send them my way, will you. :)