A Little Holiday Inspiration

I have been so neglectful of my blog! I apologize! Between the last week of school before break, the awesome success of the trunk show, holiday shopping, parties, decorating, wrapping, cooking- oh and the plumbing going on upstairs!, I barely have been able to focus on anything.

I am taking a vacation from jewelry making until my real vacation from school begins. I am just feeling so burnt out and need to recuperate. I want to start 2008 fresh and full of inspiration. I did manage to snap a few pictures that I am feeling inspired by though. Enjoy!

Inspiration

Imagine my surprise when this guy visited me on Thanksgiving day! He was spotted on the windowsill of my sun porch and I quickly grabbed my camera and macro lens. Now I know I just posted about my love for black and white yesterday, but how could I not be inspired by this guys color? Up close he (or she actually) looks like some sort of alien creature, and regarded me and my picture taking with an almost quiet contemplation. I was able to get so close to it yet he didn't startle or fly away. He just seemed to be enjoying the sunny and warm windowsill. I shot probably 30 images of him, and ended up printing a large 8x10 of this shot. The very next day I was in my studio and was flipping through some of the images I had shot before getting to work. I didn't realize it at the time, but that Praying Mantis, really influenced my color and material choice for this pendant below. I called it "lily pad" but in hindsight it really is more insect like don't you think?

"Lily Pad" Enamel and glass on copper

Coincidentally I was looking up the proper spelling for "Praying Mantis" and cam acros this interesting word root on wikipedia-
"Often mistakenly spelled preying mantis (an eggcorn, since they are notoriously predatory), they are in fact named for the typical "prayer-like" stance. The word mantis derives from the Greek word mantis for prophet or fortune teller."

"Praying fortune teller"- very interesting........!

Almost Famous!

Well, at least Coco is!!! Pick up a copy of "Hopeful Tails, Stories of Rescued Pets and Their Forever Families," by Shelley O'Hara. Coco is featured on page 4! That's Coco above with her book! If you would like a copy, Borders and Walden Books carry it since the book was a project with Borders and the ASPCA. The best part is that a donation is made to the ASPCA from every book sold! So check it out, the stories are both heart warming and humourous. Hopefully, these stories will encourage you to open your home to a shelter animal, or if you already have, remind you of how special they are. These are the stories of the "lucky ones," animals that were given a second chance. Also, October is "Adopt A Shelter Dog Month!" And for those of you who want a "signed" copy, I think I can arrrange that! The photography isn't too shabby, if I do say so myself!

Yes- that is my brand spanking new digital camera in the bathroom sink, underwater. And yes that is me taking a picture of myself with said underwater camera, taking that picture of the camera in the sink! Make sense??? Anyhoo, I broke down and bought a "point and shoot" digital camera. I am headed off to Europe in a couple of weeks and really didn't want to be lugging around my heavy Nikon D200 and lenses. Nothing screams tourist more then having to stop every 10 mins pull that big boy out, change a lense, what have you. Plus I am super paranoid of dirt, dropping it, water, thievery.... So I broke down. And bought an Olympus.....
(gasp) I am a Nikon girl all the way, I have exactly 5 perfectly good Nikon's in my possession. True, some are film cameras leftover from (shudder) my prehistoric wedding photographer days, but as you can tell, I am dedicated. So why the Olympus? Well for starters it's waterproof, (hence the bathroom sink) drop proof, and freeze proof. Plus it's 7.2 mp, tiny and slim, and relatively cheap (when compared to the D200 that is)! I did some research and settled on the Olympus Stylus 770 after reading about a woman who's kid tried to flush it down the toilet, and then her dog got a hold of it all in the same day. I was sold- I have a bad habit of unintentionally throwing things on the ground, Consequentially I carried very high insurance for my equipment when I was working, but that's another story... I wanted something I could throw in a bag, stuff in a pocket, take to the beach, on a boat, in the rain, whatever and not worry about it. I won't be giving up my D200 any time soon, but this little thing is awesome! I am actually going to be unloading some of my other cameras soon though, anybody interested in a practically brand new Nikon D70s???? I've got one for relatively cheap....!