The Pond Behind Our House This Week
It’s been a week of low key photography (for 52Frames weekly challenge), watercolor painting on new watercolor paper (yay!), physical therapy and foot pain (nay!), and more fall-like weather. I’ll start with
Low Key Photography
Last week’s 52Frames weekly photography challenge was to create a high key photograph. This week the challenge is to create a low key photograph.
Since I tend to do a lot of high key images I was much more comfortable with last week’s challenge than with this week’s low key photography challenge.
But I find that it’s good to get out of my comfort zone regularly. That’s where the most growth happens for me.
I began making photographs of the fading hydrangea flowers that I used for my high key images last week. Unlike many people I find as much beauty in the fading flowers as in the emerging buds. Because I photograph so many flowers, I decided to push myself a little more out of my comfort zone by using other subjects for my low key images. First I tried making a few low key still life photographs and then yesterday I decided to try a low key self-portrait.
I started with a chair—not just any chair—but a chair that came from my grandmother’s house. I love this chair and keep it in my office as a reminder of grandmother.
Then I asked Jon to pose on the chair so that I could check the placement and the light.
Finally I made a self-portrait.
As I was working on the images this morning I thought it might be interesting to put together the portrait of Jon with my own portrait and ended up creating this…
I called it, “This is Us,” and it is the image I submitted for the 52Frames challenge this week.
How Ideas Evolve
The reason I’m showing you all of these images is to illustrate how the creative process works for me and perhaps for you also. When I decide to work on a particular challenge (this week it was low key photography) I often begin inside my comfort zone and slowly try things that move me more and more out of my comfort zone. I never would have imagined creating the image above. But I like it a lot. And I would not have created it without taking all of the baby steps along the way.
“Creativity is sacred, and it is not sacred. What we make matters enormously, and it doesn’t matter at all. We toil alone, and we are accompanied by spirits. We are terrified, and we are brave. Art is a crushing chore and a wonderful privilege. Only when we are at our most playful can divinity finally get serious with us. Make space for all these paradoxes to be equally true inside your soul, and I promise—you can make anything. So please calm down now and get back to work, okay? The treasures that are hidden inside you are hoping you will say yes.”
― Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
You can create your own challenge like I did with my painting challenge to create 100 small paintings over the next few months. Or you can join an online challenge like I did with 52Frames. Creativity, like physical fitness, requires regular practice and sometimes moving outside of your comfort zone. Is it time for you to make space for your creativity in your life?
The Joy of New Painting Supplies
After several weeks of painting on a Blick Mixed Media tablet (works great for mixed media, not so great for plain watercolor paintings) I started longing to do some watercolor paintings using better quality paper for my 100 painting challenge. The quality of the paper you use for watercolor painting has a huge impact on the painting process and your results. I decided to purchase wire bound pad of 8×8 inch handmade watercolor paper this week (Indigo WaterColor WiroPad).
What joy! Here’s my northern lights impressions painting from a couple of days ago.
The joy of painting is influenced by the materials I use. Though it may seem an indulgence, it is another way to choose joy.
Listening to My Body
I’ve been doing physical therapy for sciatica pain in my left leg for a few weeks and during that time I’ve also had increasing pain on the heel of my left foot. Thinking that I needed to keep walking I pushed through the heel pain the past few weeks, intending to ignore it until it gave up and went away.
“Pain is the body’s voice. Listen to your body.” – Pete Egoscue
But a few days ago is as we figured out that the pain was probably caused by achilles tendonitis I realized that it was not going away on its own. I finally decided to start listening to my body and I’ve been limiting my standing and walking for a couple of days. Today I feel a lessening in the pain in my heel for the first time.
Have you ever tried to push through something, thinking that you could will your way to the other side of it? I keep learning the lesson of listening to my body over and over again. And when I think I’ve finally got it, I get another little quiz in the form of pain that shows me how much I have yet to learn.
Wishing you a week of creativity, beauty, and ease.
May you walk in beauty.
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