day 293.

I have been doing a lot of art lately. Mostly watercolor and some mixed media. I haven't done so much so consistently since I did Art Every Day Month last November. I've just been really inspired and the inspiration and motivation just keeps increasing. That's really cool.

One thing that hasn't changed much is my desire to make abstract photography. I love taking pictures that look more like drawings or paintings. I plan to start incorporating more photographs into my journaling and artwork.

Digital Field Guide: page 102

Images: I looked at other Project 365 photos on Flickr.

pin it forward.

The lovely Victoria of sfgirlbybay has hosted another blogger mashup, called Pin it Forward! Similar to the Blog it Forward mashup that she hosted a few months ago and in which I participated, this one employs several bloggers over the course of several weeks sharing what inspires them. This time, we are sharing things that speak to us and say, "Home."

A little different this time is our mode of sharing the home-y things we love. We joined a site called Pinterest and created virtual inspiration boards, called "pinboards."

I have to admit, I didn't even start adding things to my pinboard until today, because my time has been spent doing a hundred other things. But I have to say, I love this site. I love the look of it, following other people's pinboards, the ease of adding things to my own pinboard, everything about it. It is a beautiful site. It strikes me as a blend of ThisNext (of which I have been a member for years) and Tumblr. Although my Tumblr is more personal, I have seen many people use it as a site for sharing their inspirations. On Pinterest I can do the same thing but I do not have to write any recommendations. I can just pin the things that I like to my board, just as one would do with a real inspiration board. I am going to really enjoy adding things to it.

I love Victoria's blog. It is just so gorgeous and she keeps it chock-full of eye candy. She is a genius for putting these blogger mashups together.

It is my pleasure to share my humble pinboard with you. But first, a few quiet, personal images of what home means to me.

And now, here is the link to my pinboard! Enjoy!

day 292: genius inventions.

Got a lot of fun pictures of my kidlets on the playground.

Playgrounds are some of the best things ever invented, methinks. Kidlets are definitely some of the best things ever invented.

Do you ever wish that sometimes you could press a button and stop time or rewind it, not to change anything but to re-live the great moments, and reset it to the present whenever you were ready? Yes? Me too.

Digital Field Guide: page 102

Images: my LIFE Magazine app.

day 291: krispy krack.

Few things satisfy a sweet tooth faster and more effectively than a warm Krispy Kreme doughnut. It's not uncommon to find those that can polish off a half-dozen, even a dozen, by themselves. That's because there are narcotics inside. That's right. It's Krispy Krack.

I'm kidding. But they are addictive. That's why I call them Krispy Krack.

Digital Field Guide: page 101

Images: Alicia Bock. Gah how I love her work.

day 290: beach bums.

We spent the afternoon at a man-made beach today. It's a lovely park with beautiful scenery, warm water, a nice playground and clean beach. My kidlets had a blast. I think I'm gonna have to take them there often for the rest of the summer, since it's not too far from where we live. We'll definitely be going in the late afternoon/evening. I don't do well in extreme heat. And I was completely wiped out afterwards.

Digital Field Guide: I packed it in my beach bag, but alas, I did not read it while at the beach.

I realize that merely having it in one's possession doesn't count.

Images: mobile browsing on Flickr.

day 289.

Spaghetti Junction. The design of this thing has always been wildly interesting to me. Fun to drive on too.

Digital Field Guide: page 102

Images: browsed images of art journals on an art site that I have joined, called Art Journaling.

day 288: too many cookies.

I struggled to get a decent shot of my daughter's cookie-stained face. She just wouldn't keep still.

And I need a softbox. Or an umbrella. Or some flashlights. Or something.

And now, I need more Oreos.

Digital Field Guide: page 102

Images: surfed around on Tumblr.

day 287.

Yay for signage at night!

Digital Field Guide: page 101

Images: HamWithCam on Flickr

day 286.

Some more art.

It's been months since I pulled out my little Moleskine, and that's a real shame. I actually did this page last week, but neglected to get some pictures of it until today.

Digital Field Guide: page 101

Images: firefocus on Flickr

day 285.

Saw this monk in a person's yard. That's all I have to say about that.

Digital Field Guide: page 101

Images: Henri Cartier-Bresson

day 284.

My children spend a lot of time at the refrigerator. It's due to the letter magnets. They like counting them and making words. They also like opening the refrigerator and potentially making trouble. :)

Digital Field Guide: page 100

Images: looked through the Flickr of one of my favorite photographers, Alicia Bock. So much awesome goodness.

day 283.

Not a whole lot to say here. On the road, camera out, snapping randomly.

Is Gwinnett great? Does success live there?

I don't know. I've only been there a handful of times. Most of the time I am only passing through.

Digital Field Guide: page 100

Images: Ansel Adams

day 282: smile.

The theme for the last day of Creativity Boot Camp is "Smile."

One thing that has me smiling lately is the extra time I have to myself during the summer. It has given me the opportunity to jump back into doing art. I've been able to sit for about an hour and do something creative most days this week. I am so pleased about this.

Digital Field Guide: page 99

Images: Added several new favorites to my Flickr.

day 281: smooth.

Today's theme at Creativity Boot Camp is "Smooth."

I didn't have to look far for this one. At my husband's job there are lots of cars, pre- and post-makeover (that's what I call it because they are having body and paintwork done). This one has a very smooth paint job, and it looks lovely.

Digital Field Guide: page 99

Images: Elegant Images on Flickr

day 280: hush.

Today's theme at Creativity Boot Camp is "Hush."

I'm out and about almost every morning for about an hour. I love how everything feels and looks so quiet at the beginning of the day. I especially love how some mornings have this foggy haze about them. It's so dreamy. And if you have read my blog for any amount of time now, you know that I like all things dreamy.

Digital Field Guide: watched a video online about photography techniques.

Images: Jenna on Flickr

day 279: full-bodied.

Today's theme at Creativity Boot Camp is "Full-Bodied."

While dinner was cooking, my husband made some sweet tea. It's always delicious but hot when it's first made. I really needed my tea cold by the time my dinner was ready, so I put my glass in the freezer. And took pictures of it. Just because.

It wasn't quite cold enough by the time dinner was ready, but it was still good.

For technical reading and images, I hung out at PetaPixel.

day 278: drizzle.

Today's theme at Creativity Boot Camp is "Drizzle."

Okay. This is slightly more than a drizzle, but work with me here.

You know that old song by The Carpenters, about rainy days and Mondays always getting you down? Well, they don't do that to me.

I somehow managed to go through my entire day without carving out time to read any technical stuff or hunt for images today. I totally fell asleep on the job.

day 277: fly.

Today's theme at Creativity Boot Camp is "Fly."

And I am still having this struggle of thinking outside of the box when it comes to what to shoot. I've got a wheelbarrow's worth of other ideas, so much so that I've had to start to keep a running list. But with the themes... I just don't know.

So I went for the obvious interpretation and just looked up. Hopefully these next few days will prove to be more original. I certainly can't make any promises though.

Digital Field Guide: read an article online about technical stuff.

Images: Andreas Feininger

day 276: fluid.

Today's theme at the Creativity Boot Camp is "Fluid."

Something odd is happening with me.

(Sorry for that sanguine segue there.)

What is happening is, as I am reading the assignments for journaling for each day, I am getting really inspired to try all sorts of things artistically, and I'm very excited about that and think it's cool and all of that. But I am almost hitting a wall when it comes to my chosen medium and the themes each day. Odd...

Anyway, I made Chicken Parmesan for dinner tonight. It's always a big hit at my house. So there was this large pot of "fluid" boiling on the stove, and I took a picture of it. Yeah, I know. Super-creative.

Digital Field Guide: I have two DVDs that came with Niki when I bought her. They had been packed away and I just found them. So I watched one of them.

Images: Man Ray

day 275: grow.

Today's theme at Creative Boot Camp is "Grow."

Growing is certainly a part of life, isn't it?

I don't know how I feel about it right now.

I mean, I look at my children and they are growing so fast and I feel like I can't keep up and I wish that there was a way to slow it down a little and I want to savor every single moment I have with them and I get upset sometimes because I know I can't really do that TECHNICALLY because there are moments when I am not physically with them and there are other moments when we are all asleep and there are still other moments when it is just not possible, for whatever reason.

Then I look at the students that I teach and I get excited about watching how much they are growing in their studies but at the same time I lament the personal choices of some of them and I wish they would listen to me or any other adult that has wisdom to share with them but they don't because they think they know better because they are more grown up and they don't need any help or advice or instruction from anyone so what am I supposed to do when I have to sit and watch helplessly as some of them whom I have watched grow from little children are now marching like lemmings toward a proverbial cliff?

Then I think of how I, myself, am growing. Older.

And that's just weird because in my head I am still 27 years old but my knees are 36 years old and my hair is 36 years old and my eyes are 36 years old and well pretty much everything is 36 years old and 36 years old doesn't always FEEL quite as young as it may sound. To me, anyway. Because 36 years old sounds young. To me.

A lot of things run through my mind when I think of the topic of growing. It is a bittersweet topic.

I need to keep my mind on growing grass and gardens and trees and stuff like that. Note to self...

Digital Field Guide: spent the wee hours of the morning watching Zack Arias' Studio Lighting Workshop at Creative Live. And glad I did.

Images: Andrew Hetherington Photography

day 274: heavy metal.

The theme for today at Creativity Boot Camp is "Heavy Metal."

I wanted to have a picture of my husband's ring in a "serious" or "somber" setting. Because marriage is a sacred covenant that is not to be entered into lightly, but with reverence. So, you know, it's "heavy."

Not that our life is necessarily heavy; we do have lots of fun and tons of laughs and have built a life already full of fond and precious memories. We've also had what at times feels like more than our share of ups and downs. Our faith in the Lord and our commitment to each other has helped us weather some pretty serious storms. The things that would have torn other couples apart have drawn us closer together, and we have a bond now that is like an anchor for us, keeping us grounded and secure.

So, yeah. It's heavy.

Digital Field Guide: watched a video on photography techniques.

Images: D. James on Flickr

day 273: multilayered.

Today's theme for the Creativity Boot Camp was "Multilayered." Thankfully, upon getting through all of my photos today, there was the one above that definitely looked like it had some "layers" of... something... on it.

But then I decided to play around with some of my photos from this week, and grabbed one from my father-in-law's shop and tried a bunch of different things in Picnik. I literally put it through several editing layers, until I got this:
And I really liked it.

Digital Field Guide: read an article on my Nikon School app.

Images: Christopher Wahl

day 272: picnic.

For Day Two of the Creativity Boot Camp, the theme was "Picnic." I had a hard time at first trying to figure out what to do for this theme, seeing as how I wasn't going to have a picnic today. I didn't want to do any photos of food. Or picnic baskets. Or... anything.

Then I thought of the characteristics of a picnic, and what makes picnics so much fun. Many things came to mind. Of course, good food in a basket. But also... sunshine. Family. Games. Ants. Grass. Breezes. Flowers.

And I happened to be in a place where there were some pretty flowers, perched upon some nice green freshly-cut grass. Here is one of the flowers that I spotted. It was indeed part of a lovely spot to have a picnic.

I did not get to any technical reading today. I was up to my slacker-ish ways.

Images: the Explore section on Flickr

day 271: ivory.

I signed up Sunday night to participate in this e-course called Creativity Boot Camp. I'm already a day behind in starting it, but that doesn't matter to me! It's only two weeks long, so I'll finish a day or two after the actual end of the course. It's been a few months since I did any kind of participatory activity!

The theme for Day One of the boot camp is "ivory." We're supposed to work in our medium and follow the journal prompts and all of that. I have yet to complete the writing assignment, but the obvious inspiration for my medium of choice (my camera) would be the ivory keys on my piano. I tend to have a soft spot for out-of-focus, dreamy images, so I went for that. It may be predictable, but whatever. It was the first thing that popped into my mind. And I like the resulting image.

Digital Field Guide: read a technique article in Popular Photography Magazine.

Images: browsed the images in the Creativity Boot Camp Flickr pool.

day 270.

We ended up having to go back down to my father-in-law's house today to pick up the car that my husband worked on. He had to put another coat of paint on the whole thing, so my father-in-law did that for him this morning and then there's the period of waiting for it to dry. But it certainly looked nice when it was all finished. And I found more stuff around the shop.

Digital Field Guide: read an article on my Nikon School app.

Images: browsed several of my Flickr contacts' photos.

day 269.

Here is my father-in-law's collection of screwdrivers.

Not that he doesn't have more than these in other places; this is just what I saw and noticed right away.

Digital Field Guide: read an article on my Nikon School app.

Images: Shana Rae on Flickr

day 268: monkey wrench.

In my father-in-law's shop, I've noticed that he has several collections of things. Like this collection of wrenches.

Digital Field Guide: read an article on my Nikon School app.

Images: Yvette Inufio on Flickr. She is one of my favorite photographers. Which reminds me, I've only done ONE photog crushing post! I really need to get my butt in gear and share more of my favorite artists with you.

day 267: stuff.

My husband is working on a car down at my father-in-law's this weekend, so we'll be traveling down there. My father-in-law has his own body shop in his back yard. There's quite a large bit of stuff. And when I say stuff, I mean STUFF. Maybe I'll do a small series of what I find when looking around the shop.

Digital Field Guide: read an article on my Nikon School app.

Images: browsed images in my LIFE Magazine app.

day 266.

I'm in the city a lot.

That's not a complaint or anything. I love being in the city, and I'm glad that I'm there often.

I'm a city gal, born and raised, so it's only natural.

Traffic can be a real pain. Traffic IS a real pain. But at night (and other times), when it's clear and un-congested, it's just a great feeling to be out and about.

Digital Field Guide: read an article in my Nikon School app.

Images: MariaJC on Flickr

day 265: rust.

Rust on a grill.

My teenager saw this photo and thought it was cool.

So I guess that means it's cool.

Digital Field Guide: watched a video on photography techniques.

Images: browsed some of my Flickr contacts' photos.

day 264.

My daughter picked up this little rock and wanted me to take a picture of it. "Look at this, Mommy! Look at this!"

So I did.

Digital Field Guide: watched a video on photography techniques.

Images: Madeline Bea Photography