miles beyond the moon

A Year on Blackberry Mountain

When I was growing up in northern Minnesota I spent every spare moment exploring the woods and fields around my home.  There was always something new to discover - the first of the spring flowers, wild strawberries - tiny but so sweet, the song of the redwing blackbird in the marsh.  Though I did not realize it at the time, nature has been my most important teacher and the lessons I have learned there have remained with me all my life.

A Year on Blackberry Mountain is a new series of images that seeks to recapture that feeling I had growing up in nature -  that sense of wonder and discovery of the natural world.  The characters are some of my favorite vintage photos collected from here and there and the settings are places I have visited in my ramblings with my camera or around the internet.

This piece is called More Than Words Can Tell.  It is inspired by a line from Walt Whitman - "I swear to you, there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell".  The two girls - the Brough sisters - are from the George Edward Anderson Collection at BYU - an old image that I have restored and colorized.  The background is a photo I took on a walk near the Padilla Bay Interpretive Center, which was once the Breazeale family farm and orchard.    I've processed the photo with Topaz Restyle and the Oil Paint Filter in Photoshop.

 

Happy 2014!

I love this time of the year.  A whole new year stretches out before us with all kinds of possibilities. 

Today I've been doing some digital art journaling.  The Art Journal Caravan is getting ready to embark on it's final journey - kind of bittersweet.  I know Tangie will have all kinds of creative ideas for our journals in the weeks to come.  First up is picking a word that I want to focus on for the coming year.  It is amazing how a single word can be a catalyst for motivating you toward the direction you want your life to take.  The word I have chosen this year is bloom.  To bloom ... to grow and flourish ... to thrive. 

 

 

Published!

 

I am thrilled to be featured in the current edition of Art Journaling magazine.  You could say I am over the moon :-) 

 

 

Four digital journal pages that I created for the Art Journal Caravan are featured.  I also wrote an article about how I create my journal pages - everything from that first spark of inspiration, to process of gathering images and finally arranging them on the page and adding my journaling.

 

 

I never know exactly where I am going when I sit down to create a new journal page.  It is that creative journey that is the most important part of art journaling for me.  I am convinced that our art journals are more than just pretty pages.  I believe we can use our art journals to move our lives in the direction we want to go.

 

AND I feel so fortunate to be featured in an issue that also includes Teesha Moore.  Teesha is the person that really got me excited about art journaling in the first place.  I feel as if I've come full circle.

 

 

Louisa May Alcott

“She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.”

Louisa May Alcott ~ Work:  A Story of Experience

 

“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.”

~ Louisa May Alcott

 

Created for Art Journal Caravan

An Afternoon Walk

I went out for a walk yesterday afternoon with my camera.  The light was just beginning to fade.  It was just past the golden hour - that time photographers favor when the lighting is softer, hues are warmer and shadows are deeper.

 

“On the motionless branches of some trees, autumn berries hung like clusters of coral beads, as in those fabled orchards where the fruits were jewels . . .”  ~Charles Dickens

 

There are some beautiful colors in unexpected places if you just take the time to look.

 

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." ~Albert Camus

 

I'm off for a busy day of shopping and errands.  I do want to share with you the pages I've created for my December Daily/ReVerb11 Journal - but that will have to keep for just a bit longer.