Fall is so darn beautiful here! I can’t get over it! I’ve been hiking so much recently – I’m almost drunk on the colors, sounds, textures, and smells! A few more photos. There are all done using my weird little projector lens and then layered and altered in Photoshop. Superyummy! And speaking of yummy – I have a new blog, Hot Vegan Mess, that is documenting my foray into veganism.
This summer has been a loooooong creative dry spell. Wild and wonderful West Virginia just did not inspire me the way New Mexico does. I knew it was going to be ok – the same thing had happened when we moved to Albuquerque six years ago. I was cemetery-obsessed then and the dry, dusty brown cemeteries of NM did absolutely nothing for me. It took me about a year to fall in love with them – and I fell HARD! The beautiful, soulful statues, the unique decorations that appeared around holiday times, the elaborate metalwork on the fences and gates. Aaaah, just thinking about it makes me happy. And the rest of New Mexico grew on me also – it is truly a magical space – I don’t think anyone can live there and not be inspired by it’s rugged beauty and uniquely mashed up culture.
So, I’ve waited – stayed away from my camera – allowing my inner eye to slumber – knowing it would awaken in due course. And awaken it has. Fall is here and it’s amazing! I’ve been on several hikes around the Huntington Museum of Art this past week. And gone on nature walks with the kids – collecting leaves and sticks and images.
The leaves on the trees are so bright and vibrant – and the leaves that have fallen make such a decaydent (my own made up word) crunchy yet spongy mottled carpet. I have this urge to record the sound of me crunching through the leaves!
And I’ve been playing with a new lens – it’s actually a vintage lens from an overhead projector. It makes everything so…altered. It’s like being drunk or high – not that I would know anything about the kind of feeling 
. The light is brighter, the shadows are shadowier, and everything bends with the shape of the lens. Sooooooo lovely and cool – no Photoshop needed – crazy cool images SOOC. And I’ve been playing with having no lens at all on the camera – very bokeh-y color-saturated images – nothing is identifiable – it’s all just color and light. So heavenly.
And layering these images with some of my glass negatives has given me a whole new lease on my creative life. Heaven!
is finally here! My parents flew into town from Washington State this past Monday – and I had been fretting that the fall color was not all that it could be. But since they’ve been here the trees have turned and it is gorgeous here. We drove down to Princeton to visit with Chris’ parents and it’s even more gorgeous down there, the trees look like they’re on fire! My parents left today to visit my brother and his family in Maryland and will be back to Huntington next Friday for a little more visiting before flying out Sunday.
Tomorrow the kids and I are going to Bridge Day with Chris’ brother and his partner. I’ve heard of Bridge Day and have ridden over the New River Bridge, but tomorrow sounds like an amazing experience – and I know the trees are going to be a blaze of color – lots of photos ops for sure!
I’ve been playing a lot in Photoshop recently – just did the above image today. The face is one of my glass negatives and the leaves are pure West Virginia.
Why, hello, little blog, it’s been a very long time. Apparently moving 1500 miles and completely turning my life upside-down is harder than I thought it would be.
I left with such high (unrealistic?) hopes. And upon finding myself in such a foreign land immediately fell apart and lay in bed for the better part of two months. And then slowly, I started exploring my new surroundings, meeting new people, learning about my new environment and my new position in life.
And I’ve changed a lot, and yet am still me – still the crazy, kooky, social butterfly (yet totally shy) moonchild I’ve always been. I’ve rediscovered passions that I’d placed on high shelves and totally forgotten about. Reconnected with my kids and husband. I’ve made new friends – actually I’ve made new family – people I already love.
And I’ve found God. This is huge. I’ve never believed in God – even growing up Catholic I remember being a kid and thinking the whole God thing made no sense. I couldn’t understand how my parents (so unfailingly logical) could believe the whole ridiculous thing. Things came to a head in high school when I refused to get confirmed and I quit going to church as soon as I turned 18.
The almost 20 years since then I’ve considered myself agnostic – acknowledging the possibility of a higher power but not personally believing. Before we moved I started looking at churches in Huntington (through Facebook!!). When I moved here I decided to check out the local UCC congregation – and – boom. Just like that. It came to me while I was there the very first Sunday – I just knew I was home – I knew I believed.
I’ve also gone from being the main breadwinner in my family to a SAHM. This has been both wonderful and soul-wracking. So much of my identity had been wrapped up in what I did for a living and the fact that I supported my family. I worked on average 70 hours a week between my day job and the gallery. And I loved it – I was bringing home the bacon and frying it up in a pan. I was Superwoman and could do it all. Little did I know about the things I was missing out on.
The first couple of month here I mourned the loss of my job, the loss of the gallery, the loss of “super”ness. Once I got over that I realized how much I’ve missed my children – particularly Katie – I’ve been working a crazy schedule most of her life – went back to work 2 weeks after she was born. So we take lots of walks, draw a lot, go to the library, cook together, joined Cub Scouts (I’m a den leader) and play. And it’s been lovely. I feel so connected to my babies – they are my light and my life and I’m so glad I’ve been given this gift of time with them.
And I’ve reconnected with my husband. We have two days a week where he’s off and the kids are both in school. And we have time that is all ours. We haven’t had this kind of time since before we had Will. Again – lovely.
I’m working now on opening my own gallery – and I know life will speed up again as that moves forward. But, I hope to strike a better balance than I had going before. And a better sense that I am “super” just the way I am and don’t have to prove it to the world by working a zillion h0urs a week and seeing how little sleep I can survive on.
Oh yeah, and I joined a gym (freaky) and enjoy the treadmill (freakier!) and have been cooking exclusively vegan for a month now. More on that stuff later.
