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Visual Prayer

It struck me today that the photographs that I make and share are a kind of Visual Prayer My photographs are not about words. They are about feelings of gratitude, wonder, grace, and mystery. I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. — Mary Oliver When I pause and look—really look—at the world around me, I cannot help Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

Perfectly Imperfect

Today I’m sharing a short post to share photos of my first hand-made book. I finished the sample book project that I began earlier this week. It is Perfectly Imperfect, like all of life. The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.” ― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle The perfection for me is that I overcame my fear of failure and overwhelm at doing something that looked so hard, and I did it. The imperfections are easy to see. But since I made Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

Squirrel, book-making, roses and more

Yesterday was a day filled with writing, making photographs, working on my sample hand-made book, and enjoying nature right outside my office window— Squirrel, book-making, roses and more! It felt like a Mary Oliver kind of day, perfectly imperfect and full of light. I began my day working on the cover of the hand-made book I’ve been working on. I would give myself a grade of C for my results so far. But I’m happy with my progress anyway. I now know that I need to learn more about gluing down the corners. My efforts were less than successful. But Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

January is the Slowest Month

It’s mid-January and we’re expecting another 4 to 6 inches of snow overnight and into tomorrow. We still have what looks to me like over a foot of snow on the ground. And that snow is more like a big solid block of ice now because of the recent warm days and rain followed by colder temperatures. Already I’m longing for spring. I swear… January is the slowest month! As I get older I’ve noticed how quickly months fly by. But these winter months don’t go by so quickly for me, especially January. My heart is already asking, “When will Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

Experiments in Book-making

Today I was determined to begin making progress on my book-making project, even if the only progress I made was learning what didn’t work. Experiments in Book-making I managed to find a couple of things that don’t work today, as well as make progress on assembling my sample book kit. I began by making six signatures (6 collections of 4 folded sheets that will be sewn together to create the body of the book). Then I sewed the signatures together with linen thread. I also played around with trimming a couple of my sample prints down to the size of Read more…

By Marilyn, ago