studio photography (without the studio)

when I post a photo online (either here or on etsy or on facebook), what you see is just a tiny slice of a bigger picture.

my college photography teacher used to tell us to get the garbage out before we shot our pictures.

meaning, literally, look through the viewfinder and if you see garbage, set down your camera and go get rid of the garbage.

I thought you might like to see exactly how I set up for this particular kind of shot: pre-cropped.

magic

(p.s. these are photo transfers on beach glass)

iLove my iPhone

The last few blogposts have been made entirely on my iPhone. I love the handiness of that!

And today, while still lounging in bed on a Saturday morning, I changed my header as well. All on the iPhone. Headers are a little tricky because the pixel width has to be just right.

The apps I used to edit the photo were: Snapseed for color/texture; and SimpleResize for changing the pixel width.

Then I used Phonto to add the text ... and all before tea and toast ... thank you Mr. Jobs!

*this post was created using the Blogger app

prayer flags and socks

Each spring I make scads of these prayer flags. I string them into a garland and call it "praying for spring." I make scads of them because it's just easiest to make a whole bunch all at one time.

They're for my shop mostly - but it's nice to have them on hand for birthday gifts and stuff.

It's a bit of a production - stamping, painting, gluing, stitching - and we know it's prayer flag season when they're strewn hither and thither about the house.

But everybody loves them :)

***

And, oh my goodness, here I am it's almost May and I've begun a wool sock. I was burned out a year ago after having made 5 pairs through the winter. So this will be my only pair this year ...

.... "praying for autumn" socks? How ironic!

fannie buchanan

I painted a little picture on the back of the clam digging/funeral check list. Poor Fannie Buchanan - I doubt her book is in print anymore. I've decided the funeral was hers.

lost and found - a bucket list

I found this checked off list at the grocery store in among the bags of sugar. Not a grocery list but a to-do list for a week at the seaside? Including a funeral and making waffles with grandpa. (wonder why crabs were crossed off?) Sweet.

The flipside shows it is an old card from a library card catalog. I miss those. Don't you?

Oso means bear in Spanish

You may or may not know that I live in the town of Snohomish in Snohomish County, Washington State. A tiny little town nearby has been in the news - Oso, Washington. There's a beautiful drive we take in the summer which winds through the Stillaguamish river valley up to the mountains - Diablo Dam and Washington Pass are favorite places to stop. Oso is in the foothills and is a "don't blink or you'll miss it" little town on a bend in the river. This is where the nightmare mudslide was. 

When it rains for 40 days straight we try to remember the rain is a gift. It's why we have towering trees and rushing rivers. Salmon and eagles and great white snow geese. It's why we mow the lawn 3x a week and have cabbages the size of basketballs. It's why one little pumpkin seed pushed into the ground by a five year old chubby little hand will six months later produce 10 pumpkins on one vine. The rain. It is a gift.

So this is hard.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and well wishing for this corner of the world. I and my family are miles from the disaster and are quite safe, but the mud has touched us all in some way.

lost and found

a small masterpiece I found on the street .... it was encrusted with mud and gravel 

lost

found

rescued

treasured