My poor little blog.  I’ve neglected you so.  I’ve rekindled my love affair with Flickr and it’s become my new blog.  I’ve had a lot on my mind recently – but haven’t been able to organize things in my head well enough to put them out to the world.  The biggest thing is a potential move.  The husband has a job interview if West Virginia and I’m trying to ignore that fact and just go about my business. And thinking about what I really want my life to be about – what is my “Dream Life”?

I’m behind in posting here, but still 13/13 on my 365 challenge. I’m having such fun with this – it’s kind of taking over my life – but I’m still working, Cowing, cooking, laundry, reading stories, playing games, etc. I’m really trying to not just “take a picture”, but tell a small story each day. It’s been rewarding so far – still trying to decide what to do in February.

We went to the little town of Madrid, NM on Saturday. It’s an old mining town that was abandoned when the mine shut down, and was then rediscovered in the 60s/70s by hippies and artists and bikers. It is on the Turquoise Trail that runs from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. It is now half artist colony/half roughneck and is totally fun. We ate at the Mine Shaft a biker bar/local watering hole. We had a great lunch, listened to a cool singer/songwriter, Katie locked herself in the stall of the bathroom (just to add a little excitement to our day!) and had a fabulous time before heading back to Burque and then off to a party. A full day indeed! BTW, Katie is being a sheep in the photo – not sure why!
Oh yes – and Madrid was featured in the movie Wild Hogs!!

Check out more of Mosaic Monday here!

Good weekend, went to a grownup party. saw some fantastic art, made more plans for the gallery. Productive and still relaxing. Currently putting off work by blogging and photoshopping. But that’s ok, the work will get done sometime – just not today – and that’s ok.

This one was fun and scary all at the same time! I am not a “hair and makeup” kind of girl. My husband owns more hair products than I do!! I had to search to find the hair dryer and I bought most of the other stuff you see here. But, doing the self portrait thing has made me see there’s some things I want to improve – whiten my teeth, do more with my hair, lose some weight. So I’m doing what I can, getting ready for my closeup!

And here it is!! I love how it came out!! And I put a lot more on my Flickr (go to the sidebar and click on the Flickr icon to go to my photostream). I’m having so much fun with these self portraits. I thought it would be torture (and it is a little tortuous) but I’m definitely enjoying the process. Now to come up with an idea for tomorrow.

Not an accurate description of how I’m feeling, I’m actually feeling great!! I’m working on a new blog – one with info for NM artists – quite an undertaking!

[View Slideshow]

 

Allow me to introduce myself…

My name is Raine – I am self-named – my given name just didn’t suit
My favorite numbers are 3 and 19 – odd is better than even
I have a very hard time saying no – I leap at every opportunity offered to me
(sometimes to my detriment)

I love music – all music – classical to country to rock
I used to book bands in Seattle – still miss that job!
It was a great way to meet boys

I’m really great on first dates
I’ve been engaged five times,
married three

I love where I live – Burque is the home of my heart – and always will be
Blue skies that make you want to fly
Mountains that rise from every vista
And a ribbon of green that seems to go on forever

Photography feeds me, it is my manna from heaven
my children inspire me – I learn from them every day
my husband my unfailing advocate

I am stubborn as hell
don’t let me shy demeanor fool you
I love to WIN

I am Raine

Felt icky most of the day today – after rallying yesterday for a day of art I went right back to feeling crappy. Didn’t feel like having my picture taken but I persevered and then played with this a lot (obviously!). I did a split tone in my RAW editor, followed by a bi-color filter, and then a high key filter (both Color Efex Pro) and finally did a little dodging on the white of my eyes.

So this is the ubiquitous resolutions post – it’s pretty simple.

FOCUS!

Focus on photography – and by this I mean read every book and magazine I can get my hands on, utilize online sources – including classes, join some local photography groups and SHOOT everyday, even if it’s just silly stuff around my house. I’m doing a 365 Project and a 52 Weeks Project – working on a theme for that one.

We’ve had a very arty day so far. Went to the Albuquerque Museum, it was Family Day so Katie and Will both made art and Will and I went on a special “kid’s tour” of their current exhibition. Then we went to the Open Space Visitor Center and checked out David Cramer’s exhibit of wild horse photography, and then we went to the Factory on Fifth for their art opening. I was cool to see some familiar names of people that show or have shown at The Cow, and some intense work by artists I’ve never seen before. Very inspiring.

At the Factory there was a tree decorated with lots of big silver balls, and I chose those for my second self-portrait of the year.