Today was, in a way, productive, though, once again I don't have much to show for it.

I was out in Dinkytown today (ok, yes, my mom and I went to get massages at The Refinery – that place is amazing!) and since it was another gorgeously sunshiny filled day, I tried taking a few photos. I got a couple of Polaroids (which I will scan in later this week sometime) and I took a few photos with my Holga. Right now I have 35mm film loaded in that. I'm anxious to see how it works.

I started working on the book of photos from our Japan trip. So far, it is easier than I expected it to be! Blurb has a set of templates that you can use in Adobe InDesign. So far it makes it pretty easy to create your own layouts. I think it will take me awhile to finish, but someday you'll see it!

In the mean time, I get to go through our trip photos again, and I'll post more here! I have plans for Thursday to spend the day printing and working on some new compilations. Maybe there will be more new things here later this week!

Also, I cleaned part of my studio today. That actually is a pretty big accomplishment.

Downtown Osaka, our first night.

Until tomorrow!

~Peace~

I have a lot to post about today!

Katie and Josh were an awesome couple to photograph! This was my last wedding (not at all because of the couple! There are many many reasons for me not working on weddings anymore) and I am so happy to be ending this little stint as a wedding photographer with such a great couple. I have many happy memories from this, and really really hope they do too! 

After finishing this over the weekend, I spent today getting back into working on artwork. 

Along with taking many polaroid photographs, most of the peel apart type films create a negative as well as a positive image (the positive is the polaroid print). I read somewhere (if I ever find the blog post again I'll link it here) that you could clean the negative portion, and with a bit of chemicals (mostly bleach) make a transparent negative (like regular film) that could be scanned into a computer, or used as a negative in a darkroom to make a print. That is what I set out to do today. I failed pretty spectacularly. I didn't lose any negatives I was terribly fond of, but I did learn that this process works much much better with the Fuji polaroid film and not so much with the Polaroid brand polaroid film I have been using. So, after many chemical mixings, much elbow grease, and a couple of pairs of rubber gloves later, I decided to give up for awhile. Not completely! I'm still convinced this can be done, but I am realizing I won't be able to perfect the use of any of these in time for my project. So, it is something to work on later. Sometimes, you need to see the failures as progress. While I don't have a lot to show for my work today, I did learn a lot.

I am back to working on our photos from Japan (this ties into my project because many of the images I took in Japan have been intended for use in this series). I am working on creating a book through Blurb with all of our photos and stories. I do enjoy looking back through them all again. I can't wait to finish the book.

It has been a long time since I just went around, taking photos of almost everything. It is something that is hard to do at home, and much easier to do when you are visiting another world. I am working on shooting like this again, but it isn't easy. I'm not giving up on that either though.

Until tomorrow.

~Peace~ 

Today I have all of our Japan photos back on my laptop, so I can start working on laying out our book. 

I am setting up one of my cameras to take some overnight photos again.

I am planning on taking more film photos this week, and have a darkroom day planned for Monday including film developing and a bit of work with some of my polaroid peel-apart negatives. 

It feels nice having plans. 

There are more deadlines coming up now: another Holiday sale, an artwork request, but everything seems manageable…at least it does tonight.

I'm going to hold onto that feeling as long as I can.

Here is to a weekend of preparations, and a week of work ahead.

Until Monday.

~Peace~

Today I spent a lot of time finishing up a project to be able to send to the people it belongs to. 

I worked on cleaning up a few other things on my dear little laptop to make space for the next things that I'll be working on. I also wrote quite a bit today. All great things. 

Tonight, I got a chance to hang out with my friend Joni. I haven't seen her since we got back from our trip to Japan (she has been teaching English there for the last two years) and it was so much fun to hang out. We met in the darkroom of Anoka-Ramsey Community College, and went though many many many many college art classes together. We have an amazing understanding of the way each other thinks – perhaps it  has something to do with all of the photo chemicals we were smelling those first years, perhaps something more. Either way, I am so very happy she is back living in this country! 

We rarely take photos together. I'm not sure why, but we just don't. We didn't take many together in Japan either. It isn't a bad thing, it is just a thing. 

Tonight I decided we should take a photo, and instead of reaching for my digital, I grabbed one of my polaroids. We took 3 shots (one didn't work out), I scanned both into my computer, then she kept one original, and I kept one original. For some reason, it felt so much more fitting, more of an event, and more authentic than a digital photo. I don't hate digital cameras at all. I do think they are great, and I love using my little Canon Rebel DSLR – it is fast, it takes great photos, and most of all it is convenient, but there is something about having a print immediately from a moment in time, that just can't be beat. So here are the photos. I don't know if they will end up in my end project, or if they will just be great prints as a memory of a fun night. Either way, I think they are awesome and they have gotten me thinking about photography and digital and analog in a different way tonight. I think even more than I do already, I'll be putting down my digital camera and using one of the many analogs. There was a time when I didn't have a digital camera. I enjoy exploring that time again.

Until tomorrow.

~Peace~

Population density only meant that things got a little slower around here at times.

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More of a process day again. I made it to Wet Paint after work today to pick up a few things and learn how to clean my fountain pens. 

Tomorrow will be a full day of artwork. I'm looking forward to it.

Until tomorrow.

~Peace~

Somedays are just a process. 

I don't mean that necessarily in a bad way. Some days are just a lot more of getting things completed, and working step by step through them. Days where you find any creative time is smooshed in between certain other things that have to get done. I'm thankful that the creative times are still there even when the time is scarce. 

Today was a process for me.

It started with many drop-offs (more cards for Dabble's holiday sale and dropping off artwork for the North East Minneapolis Art Association member's show this weekend) picking up more printer ink, and thankfully some coffee. Studio time was spent mostly on sorting through pottery to go to the various holiday sales, and completing the application for the Bloomington Art Center's holiday sale. (I'll find out in a couple of weeks if I got into that one or not.) By the time I finished with that, dad was back from work and it was time to work on loading pottery into the kiln and finish a few other pieces that will hopefully be complete in time for the glaze firing the week of Thanksgiving. 

In between it all, I did manage to write a bit. Something that as I have said before, I am trying to do more of during the month of November. Recently, when looking for something else completely, I found a fountain pen that was given to me by my granny when I graduated high school. Today, while I was in my studio, I dug out my bottle of purple india ink, and used that pen to write for a bit. I must say, it is a very nice pen to write with, and not hard to use at all, unlike some fountain pens. It does make you slow down though. You have to take the time to fill the pen with ink when you want to write, and take the time to clean it when you are done, but in between, the ink will flow smooth. I found that it made me want to keep writing, even when my mind was going blank, which is a great thing. One of the things they teach you in writing classes is to just keep writing. Maybe this is something that will push me in that direction more.

When I went to drop off my artwork this afternoon, I took my Mamiya C330 with me. It has been awhile since I have taken any photos with that camera, and it was really fun to have it with again. It is another little thing that makes me slow down just a bit. There is no seeing what I have taken immediately. The film has to be developed and all that first. It is a process. It was nice to be back in that process again though. 

Next week I'm planning on being at my studio Monday and Tuesday. I'm planning a few more things to work on that can only be done there, such as film developing, and maybe playing with my Polaroid negatives a bit.

I'm looking forward to it.

Until tomorrow.

~Peace~

I actually accomplished things this weekend. 

Actually, quite a lot.

Saturday and Sunday, between working at the restaurant, I finished two big jobs (one will be posted later after one last look over of the photos). 

One job was a set of family photos for my friend S and her cool family. She blogs about them here, and it is a pretty great blog! 

They were a lot of fun to work on!

Today I spent uploading their photos, (this website didn't want to cooperate a whole lot!) getting artwork ready for the NEMAA Fall Members show (to be dropped off tomorrow), making cards to drop off at Dabble for their special event this weekend, and getting art work ready to photograph tomorrow for one more holiday sale application. To say I'm a bit beat would be an understatement, but I feel like I have accomplished something and that means a lot to me right now!

Until tomorrow.

~Peace~ 

No, I am not ready for Christmas yet! I might be ready by Christmas Eve. Maybe!

There are many other wonderful people that are much more prepared than I am, and many of them are putting together some great Holiday Sales for you to get a bunch of your Christmas shopping done at!

Here is a short list that I will keep updating of some of the best Holiday Art sales coming up that I know of, and all of the sales I will be participating in.

Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, it is a great time to go shop anyway!! So support your local businesses and artists and go spend some money! :)

The last late Holiday Shopping day on Johnson Street including Dabble is over! But you can still go shop there during their normal hours. They have lots of great items left!

I always have some artwork up for sale at The Countryside Family Restaurant in Roseville. Many framed photos, and lots of pottery! Come check it out, and get lunch while you are there!

The Holiday Art Sale at Bloomington Art Center is over and was a success! Thank you to those who came!

The Annual Holiday Sale at Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts is always a great place to find wonderful handmade fine arts and fine crafts for yourself or someone you <3 (I will have some pottery and some photographs for sale here.) The sale opens Thursday, December 4th at 7pm with a tea party and silent auction benefiting the art center's programming. The sale will be open regular shopping hours through December 19th. More details soon.

My aunt is working on putting together a holiday boutique at the Corner Coffee House in Little Canada. It starts Friday, November 13th, from 5-8pm, and will be held every Friday night until Christmas. (I will have some photographs, cards and pottery at this one!) I've heard they have great coffee and great snacks too! Eating, shopping, drinking coffee, life is good!

Keep checking back! I'll keep this post updated.

I'm finishing things. I don't know how many times I have already said this in this blog, but I really am. I feel like I made more progress today anyway.

There is still a long way to go.

Tonight was the first night of Art Attack. John and I went, I saw many creative friends, and came home feeling a bit more inspired and renewed. 

I dropped off some new pieces at Dabble. They are having a big shin-dig on Friday, November 13th from 4-9pm with lots of arts and crafts and many cool things. Please go check it out! My work will be there too!

I took these polaroids yesterday. I'm anxious to work with them a bit more.

That is about all of the scattered thoughts I can fit into one blog post.

Until Monday.

~Peace~

I framed 3 compilation prints and glued together quite a few cards to bring to Dabble tomorrow.

I also made prints of two of my polaroids and framed them. We'll see where they end up. 

I finished off the pack of expired Artistic Z film that was in my Sx-70 today. I had a wonderful time taking pictures for just a little bit while the weather was so nice outside today. It renewed my brain cells just a bit.

Until tomorrow.

~Peace~