OUR GREAT ESCAPE

We have been working so hard on our endless kitchen remodel that we barely ever come up for air. We do show up for scheduled meetings and commitments, but that's about it. However, Saturday we were invited to take a break, and while we were buried in kitchen chaos we are so very glad we said yes. Spent an amazingly perfect day and evening on The Great Escape, a beautiful carver boat owned by the generous Adams family. We spent the afternoon enjoying the Coronado sights, dinner at Peohe's and incredible waterscape reflections once the night set in. Just what the doctor ordered. I took plenty of photo's for my visual fix and future paintings. I posted several fun photos on my Facebook page. But here I'm posting a few inspirational ones that got my creative juices flowing.

FAVE!!! must experiment with blurred lights on water with paint.HELLO!!

Another potential; I envision a semi-abstract? This one is very grainy from zooming in to get the shot I wanted, but that shouldn't stop me, right? Right.

ABSTRACT INSPIRATION

Now, back to reality. We made tremendous strides on the kitchen this weekend, despite our much needed Escape. I think we are now far enough along now to not snooze you to death with info and images. Promises to share valuable tips for those who love DIY or learn enough to hire an expert. Hold on another day or two; as my Photoshop crashes every time I try to do a reveal. War on!!

MARRIAGE IS LIKE A ROLLER COASTER

We halted gutting and remodeling our kitchen to focus our creativity on our church's annual Marriage Retreat. Marriage is Like a Roller Coaster had my mind rolling on how to maximize this theme. Tim and I went all out on the photo booth. I mean ALL OUT. 

My husband made the process so entertaining. One morning I walked past the guest room and this is what I saw under the bed out of the corner of my eye. 


If that wasn't enough to startle me, when he finally completed the get-up he sat them in my family room. I admit I jumped every time I turned the corner.

While Tim was creating the coaster cars I was painting this 8'x8' background on my dining room floor…..

and packing up gift boxes at the dining table.

All for this thrilling moment!

All our hard work paid off, and everyone got into character for their photos. The night before the photo booth was revealed we watched some hilarious videos of couples reactions on roller coaster rides. One guy passed out, another lady screamed OH MY about a hundred times and another lady swore she would never forgive her husband. The next day the couples got into character; some guys faked passing out, a gal mimicked the wife who held onto her husband's hair.  

You should have seen the back seat of our car as we transported these legs up to Newport Beach and back for the retreat. If we had been pulled over we would've had a lot of Splainin To Do!  Can't say we don't know how to celebrate and laugh at the ups and downs of marriage. 

SILL TO CANVAS

I have been busy bee since I last posted.  So much so that I'm a year older now.  Those birthdays sneak up on me when I'm not paying attention.  We have also been working on getting the courtyard and back patio in better shape.  One of our purchases was a white rose topiary that thanks us daily with new blooms.  I decided to paint this little bottle of roses sitting on my sill.  I popped the wet canvas in this frame to take a picture.  It helps me to see it as you would, and now I see what I need to change.  The flowers I painted had tiny stems, barely visible.  But now they will have proper stems.  Do wish I had noticed that before now.  Live and learn.  You seem to always see my "not quite" finished pieces.

A couple weekends ago we drove to Santa Ysabel to attend an art gallery reception.  It was such a beautiful drive that we took some photos with our phones.  I think it's amazing how a tiny camera in a phone can capture some pretty decent images.  You be the judge:

FLOWER FIELDS FOREVER

It is no surprise that I have a love affair with flowers.  I have my usual favorites, but more recently I've fallen head over heels for ranunculus.  Just so happens The Flower Fields in Carlsbad have acres in bloom right now.  I had no idea what to expect.  It quickly became clear as we got closer that this must be the tenth wonder of the world.  Finding parking was near impossible and the sheer number of people there from around the world made me unsure of how much I really needed to follow through with this idea.  Apparently the Red Hat Society converged for a worldwide meeting, or so it seemed.  Never saw so much red and purple in my life.  But once I saw the fields all the stress and craziness became secondary to the amazing beauty.  I took enough photos to produce a lifetime of paintings.  Here are just a few images. 

I went for a wide range of photos from rows as far as the eye can see to clusters to closeup.  So many more colors, but I don't want to overwhelm you.  Those are condos; can you image that view?  It might be balanced by the hoards of people, and traffic, I'm sure

These are for my followers viewing pleasure and I want you to enjoy them.  However, please don't take them for your personal use.  Thank you. 

PUSHING MY BUTTONS

Often times when I'm asked what I do I hesitate and quickly assess who the audience is before I answer.  I know I do some things well enough to declare it as what I do.  Truth is I'm also a dabbler.  In fact, I have many years of dabbling under my belt.  I pick up on some things easily, like I was wired that way.  Then there are other things I tend to shy away from.  Technical or mechanical things with lots of buttons that require manuals scare me a little so I learn just enough to get by.  Computers, cameras, iPhones are what I'm talkin bout.  For instance, I'd prefer painting a flower than take the time to create one in Illustrator. I know I have to be able to do both; I just clearly prefer my way.  Lately I've dared myself to go to the next level....to push those buttons.

So people, I signed up for a Fundamentals Photography class.  Had my first class last night.  O.M.G.  I was so lost.  I didn't even know my camera had a memory card.  Go ahead and laugh, it gets worse.  I never wear my glasses when I take pictures because they collide with the camera's eye piece.  So did you know there's a freakin Dioptic Adjuster?  Of course you did because, unlike me, you probably read manuals.  Now I can wear my glasses and actually see all those other buttons I've been avoiding for so long.  

My goal is to move beyond the dabble stage when it comes to photography.   In fact, I'd like to be above average.  I can't wait to take photos like these.

Jennifer took this of Wyatt "the Mangler".

Loree Alayne Photography

You can see more of our family photo shoot with Loree over on Jennifer's blog

  I'm headed back to San Diego for another couple weeks.  I'm going to miss week 2 and 3 of a 4 week photography class.  I bought a book and I'm going to see if I can find that camera manual.  I'll be practicing and practicing cuz Practice Makes Perfect.   I'll be posting.  Are any of you from San Diego?