Advent

"twas the night before Christmas, and all throught the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse" C.C. Moore

click on the above to get a larger view of the collage

I recently found a project I had started before we moved into our house (2 years ago!) An Advent Calendar that didn't involved chocolate. I incorporated the classic story into little cards and envelopes to turn around and read. It's really a lovely piece. I'm going to be taking it to the Craft Fair this weekend and see if it sells! If it doesn't, you'll see it on Etsy by Monday.

U2 360 Tour

"Music is what feelings sound like." anon.

I love U2. Always have. And now I'm going to see them when they come to Edmonton next June. How cool is that? Too cool. Gotta love eBay. And Bono. And the Edge. But mostly Bono.

thank you and thank you again

Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. ~G.B. Stern

Just got home from the craft sale and had to say a big "Thank You" to the people who purchased from my table - a photograph, 4 paintings, and a couple cards. WooHoo! And the people who I met there were just great too - one lady made comfy pants and another made bathbombs and soap and those bags you heat up and wrap around you - her Mom was fabulous as well. It was a great day. People were very receptive to the collage ideas I added to the paintings, which, I have to say, made me very happy. It's nice when people like what you do. I guess I'm not supposed to be attached to this type of ego boosting, but.... I am! (haven't quite reached that "be unattached to the outcome" zen like state).

craft sale

I'm always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning... Every day I find something creative to do with my life. Miles Davis (1926 - 1991)

It’s that time of year again – craft sale season. I’m starting off in my home community at the Riverbend Community Center this Saturday from 10am to 4pm. I’m going to have a variety of paintings and collages for sale, and if there’s room on the table, maybe some photography and notecards. There’s a variety of other crafters at the sale as well, so please stop by. It’s always nice to see some familiar faces!

Saturday - October 24th, 2009

10am to 4pm
Riverbend Community Centre
19 Rivervalley Drive SE, Calgary, AB T2C 3S1
Glenmore to 18th Street South, second right onto Rivervalley Drive, large building with parking lot on the south-west side of the intersection

Kennedy Ink
Shoppe - www.kennedyink.etsy.com
Website - www.kennedyink.ca/creative
Flickr Photography - http://www.flickr.com/photos/36679604@N06/
Flickr Paintings - http://www.flickr.com/photos/43155425@N06/

happy Monday!

"You don't take a photograph. You ask, quietly, to borrow it." ~Author Unknown

I'm taking an on-line class on photography. I'm finding Manual mode to be challenging and my usual subject (my dog Maggie) uncooperative. So I took my weeping Buddha from his usual post and used him for this lesson on Focus Points. I look forward to the feedback (perhaps too much) and feel really happy to have received the comments from the instructor (below). It's nice to know it's not just myself who likes my photographs! (To see more of my photographs, you could go here.)

Class Exerpt
focus
K100D - pentaxAperature: f/5.6Shutter Speed: 1/350ISO : 800Focal Length : 55mm
I put my weeping Buddha on my Dragon's Blood Stonecrop and began taking shots focussing him on the left. It didn't look right, so I put him on the right and decreased the Aperature (the automode wanted f/5.6, 1/350). This could have a sweet quote off to the side, a texture and/or filter applied, and voila! Art.

candice*stringham
[Oct 05, 2009 at 01:01 AM]
Michelle, this is art as is. The focus on the Buddha is perfect, and from an artistic standpoint there are so many ways to interpret this photo: A tree was cut down to be carved into this statue, which is placed back into a natural environment. One can ponder why the Buddha is weeping. Typically when an item is "looking" to the right and is placed on the right, the viewer's eye drifts off the edge of the frame. However, since the Buddha's face is down covered by his hands, the viewer is stopped by the frame and is brought back into the photo. You have a great eye for combining color, texture, and composition in your photos.

is that a chill in the air I feel?

The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August, and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Okay, so I'll admit it - as soon as the first leaves start to turn colour, I start to think about the upcoming Christmas season. A little early, I know, but I thought I would make up this decidedly non-holiday themed pdf sheet as a reference for card orders. I had a couple clients last year surprised by the square card overages, and a couple clients this year whose wedding invitations went over the 30gram allowance. Both situations translated into higher postal costs for them. So I thought I would be preemptive this year and do the research and post it for all to download.

Let me know if you are feeling the Christmas vibe already too! If you feel like jumping the gun on the season as well, we can talk about cleaning up my inventory of the cards I have in stock. If you’re into having a variety of sizes and non-traditional colours, I can certainly accommodate you, and your budget.

home again, home again

“Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him, who will lie under the stars and listen to your heartbeat, or will stay awake just to watch you sleep... wait for the boy who kisses your forehead, who wants to show you off to the world when you are in sweats, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you're just as pretty without makeup on. One who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky his is to have you.... The one who turns to his friends and says, 'that's her.'”
samwilson123 at thinkexist.com ..... below is my guy & me

Well, we're back from our 7th anniversary trip. This time we went from Seattle down to San Francisco along the coast highway in a convertible Mustang. It was a blast. I have a bit of a farmer's tan now, but no burns. And we're a little lighter in our savings accounts, but I think that's why we work... to travel! I would do it all over again, except for trying to drive in San Francisco traffic. I didn't like that part. But everything else rocked.

I'd suggest Seattle Washington, Newport Oregon, Mendicino California to anyone. They were all great and had different things to offer. In particular, I loved the Glass Beach where we found sea glass. I guess the area used to be a dump, and when they cleaned up the dump all this sea glass was there. People have been lugging it out of there by the bucketfuls for decades, which begs the question... why isn't it regulated? oh well. The other strange thing we noticed was the size of the meals - HUGE! Do the restaurants think we don't eat for the rest of the day? It was amazing. I think one place in Seattle (The Pink Door) served a normal size meal that was actually finish-able. Everyone was incredibly friendly (even in San Francisco!) and it was hard to take a bad photograph. The weather was great, until Healdsburg, where it was 100F (so sayeth our car). We just went from tasting room to tasting room and art gallery to art gallery to keep out of the heat.

It was a great trip, and we got to finish it off by picking up our dog, Maggie, from my parent's place. We were both really happy to see each other (thanks Mum for taking care of her and giving her snuggles!) And we're both really happy to be home again. Although I could go for someone else making my bed and cleaning up after me every day! ha!

Out of Pocket

On holidays from Sept 12 - 21. (A great excuse for a photography extravaganza from the Oregon Coast down to San Francisco!)

thought I would include the photo I took at a wedding I attended Sept 6th. I believe this is a Harvest Moon. I had to capture it (as best I could) as my husband and I got married under a Harvest Moon as well. Best wishes to the newlyweds!

summer wedding

Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that. ~Michael Leunig

My old friend Pat got married to a lovely lady this past weekend. Although I didn't get the best photos, I did catch a few that PhotoShop just made better (I love tweaking in PhotoShop). There was a scary photographer lurking in the background of this one, and I cloned him out of there, along with the wall sconces and the ribbons galore.

I tried viewing the wedding with my camera up to my eye, but still able to take in the moment as monumental in Pat's life. Although it was a little hard with the DSLR (it's heavy, and therefore distracting), I did catch a few really heartfelt moments that made my heart go pitterpat. When he pulled a tissue out of his pocket for his bride during the vows, when he closed his eyes as she said her vows, both of them fiddling with their rings after they were put on. And then I had the "ah, this is going to turn out great" moment when they gave each other a high-five after they were proclaimed and did the first kiss. A very intimate moment between the two of them (it's probably something they do all the time and never give a thought to it) and it was on display for us to see.

I didn't attend the reception - I was a B list attendee and as such didn't want to impose on them to pay for an extra dinner at short notice, nor on my husband to attend (he's not much for crowds of people he doesn't know). So I chatted a wee bit with the people I did know, and met a nice lady who made the cake (too bad I couldn't chat more with her; she seemed really nice!) and went on my merry way. A lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Congratulations, Pat!

summer

"Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." ~ Henry James


Sophie, the ever patient lab, sitting and waiting for my sister's kids to drop their licorice. It won't ever happen Sophie. Give it up.

It's been a busy August. Scott's brother in town with his boy (and it rained - great!), and then Andrea came to town with her two kids. We drove up to Red Deer to visit with Mum and Dad, and then back down to Calgary to pick up her husband from the airport and to head out to visit his side of the family in Vernon. Then back in town, up to Pigeon Lake, get slightly burnt in the sun, back to Red Deer, then Calgary, a couple days rest and then up to the airport to collect the car seats from them. Whew! And now friends are in from Dubai, and in the middle of September I'll be driving down the Washington/Oregon coast for fun & photography.

We just don't stop around here. And I wonder why I never seem to really get anything done! ha!