Did Someone Say "Quirky?"

I was busy making jewelry today and I lost track of time. I hadn't been out at all and was getting a little claustrophobic. I had to mail off a birthday card to my brother Eric, so Suki and I climbed up into my truck and off we roared.

I've passed by a thrift shop in the Garland District a number of times since moving here. The shop is Drop Your Drawers, at 716 W. Garland, Spokane, WA. Every time I've driven by vintage music is blaring and these oddly posed quasi-mannequins adorn the store front; it seems to epitomize the ambience of the neighborhood.

I loved pushing my way through selections of vintage clothing, shoes, jewelry, bones, musical instruments, masks, keyboards, bicycles, vinyl records ... you name it! They only trade or take cash. Their FB fan page states that David, the owner, can even make you a spoon ring.

I couldn't do just one photograph, so here are a few for today. There was something quirky about each of them that totally delighted the child in me! These are all unedited iPhone camera images.

July 31, 2011


Everything Goes w/Doc Martens(iPhoto)




Slim's Jeans (iPhoto)




A Face to Launch a Thousand Ships (iPhoto)




Ticklin' the Ivories and the Femur (iPhoto)




Cash Only Register (iPhoto)




More Cowboy Boots?  Ya Gotta be Kidding! (iPhoto)



Attention Class: All assignments will be ... no exceptions!

July is coming to a close, August begins, school is right around the corner! My children are grown and I don't have to worry about the annual rush to buy appropriate school supplies, book bags, computers, new clothes, shoes. It's pleasant being merely an observer, watching anxious parents going up and down the aisles of the stores, trying to decide what they need to get for their kids. There are so many choices!

I did stop to photograph composition notebooks in their boxes. Oh my! Memories flooded me of all the class assignments that had to be submitted in black and white composition books. Colors have brightened, but I wonder if students' assignments have changed.

Today's photograph:



Composition



Crochet is so old-fashioned ...

When my mother was alive and not working in her garden, or reading, she loved to crochet. She created all manner of crocheted items from toy balls for Ginger her dog, Christmas angels, tablecloths, table doilies, edging on towels, afghans for the grandchildren, to slippers, and more. I think all of my siblings and I have something or another than she crocheted.

In culling through my possessions in preparation for my recent move, I came across some of Mom's doilies, and I marveled again at her skill and patience in her hobby. It heightened my awareness of crocheted work that I've recently seen for sale in thrift shops and antique stores.

I've taken one of my photos and have played with different textures and combinations in the editing process.  I took one image and converted it to black and white, and then converted it to a negative image. I like the patterning and the overlapping that occurred.

Mom was an old-fashioned kind of gal, but I think she would have liked it.

July 29, 2011




Negative Image




Positive Image



Day 209 of 365

The days they are a-movin' right along, no? Yes, I would say they most definitely are, but the moving aspect I hope is done for awhile. The days can keep moving, but I want to stay put for the time being.

I'm having fun shooting blossoms out in my sister's garden. I even enjoyed photographing my sister's teacup and saucer with the rose embellishment. I'm not a bone china kinda gal, but this was part of a collection our Mom kept, and she was a bone china kinda gal.

The one photograph of the tea cup and saucer with the napkin and the orange slices was fun. I liked the dynamic diagonal of the edge of the table, and how the slices repeated the pattern of the shadow cast by the spokes of the chair.

The other china cup and saucer photo was edited with a glow filter. And the pink geraniums has a watercolor filter. Oh, and the purple climber--can't remember the name of the plant--was edited with a film grain filter.



(Watercolor filter)




(Film Grain filter)




I edited with a glowing filter/can't remember the technical name.
 I'm sooooo professional; not!



A little late ... so what?

A rather defensive title isn't it? Yes. I wanted to get today's photograph uploaded. Don't want to get behind. So, Spokane! I didn't go anywhere today, so I rambled about the garden and house. Here are two. One was of my lunch ... the other of a dog toy on a glass table. Go! Fetch, Darby! (No, Suki doesn't fetch. Suki doesn't play with toys. Whatta dog!) And I threw in a 3rd, close up of a feathery pink poppy.

July 27, 2011 ... sort of ...

My friend, Terry, sent a link for another one-a-day-photograph blogger, and I was struck by the difference in our styles. Mine is very tight and structured, while the other photographer has a very loose, spontaneous approach. I rather liked the other style. I think I'll make an effort to loosen up, experiment with other images. It will be interesting to see what transpires. This old dawg needs a new trick or two!

'Night!

From west side of the state to the east side ...

I was editing some shots I still had in my camera; a couple from Birch Bay, and a few from Fairhaven. I'm uploading them to catch up with my Project 365.

Tomorrow I start with Spokane, WA daily photographs.

July 25, 2011




Barb Shepard's random street Hollyhocks in Fairhaven




Boat moored on beach in Birch Bay
(Dry Brush Filter)




Can't seem to get away from trash
but I made this one into a Beach Blossom
loved the rings of seaweed that washed ashore




Beach weeds growing in driftwood




Discovered a entire vacant lot
filled with rogue poppies in pinks, oranges, reds
a riot of colors!



(Dry Brush Filter)



Along the beach in Birch Bay




Loved this!
Street Art Series -- Blau S
Fairhaven




Thought I had been stood up
Skylark in Fairhaven



In Birch Bay abit ...

But not for too much longer. Had to get at least one more shell and seaweed fix, I mean pix, before I head back to Spokane tomorrow. Be it ever so humble ...

July 22, 2011

Quits ...

I've been checking contents of boxes, rejecting contents, emptying boxes, emptying files, drawers, cleaning off my desk, cleaning out my studio, throwing away trash, throwing away a way of life. So anxious to be gone. So tired.

July 21, 2011


Couldn't resist playing with these antique metal shoe forms
Outline Filter




One more day as a Realtor; callin' it quits!



Today, the works! As in Violin Works, that is ...

I'm hitting the road again early tomorrow morning. It may be a few days until my next blog entry. I'm heading back to Birch Bay to close the studio, clean up some final details and then point Hi Ho Silverado back toward Spokane, to seek my fortune ... literally.

But today I managed to get in a little walkabout the Garland neighborhood in Spokane, and noticed a workbench just inside a storefront window with all manner of violin parts and tools. I walked the rest of the block, turned, and came back along the block to my truck. This time in passing the shop, a man sat working on a violin. I popped in, rudely (perhaps) disrupting a conversation between the craftsman and another man, who introduced himself as Cody.

Both were quite amiable and when I asked if I could take some photographs, James A. Kytonen, the proprietor and craftsman gave his permission and both men chatted about the Garland neighborhood, and some incredible Jamaican jerk to be found in a restaurant in another area of Spokane that I'll be sure to track down another day. I tried Googling it, but wasn't able to find it. I'll simply call on Mr. James A. Kytonen again for directions.

Anyway, I was quite smitten with the wonderful woods of the instruments ... beautiful! I only took a few shots, which I've uploaded herewith. Enjoy!

I was surprised that this man who repairs violins, doesn't play. Obviously one doesn't automatically mean the other, so there you go.  The other guy, Cody, also doesn't play violin, but is purportedly a master at maintaining elevators and escalators.

I enjoyed the banter and the good will of these gentlemen, and loved the opportunity to photograph something other than cowboy boots, desertscapes and arid mesas.

Thank you, Mr. Kytonen!

Violin Works
818 W Garland
Spokane WA 99205
http://www.violinworks.us/
(509) 327-3079

July 19, 2011



Mr. James A. Kytonen



Cogitating ...

In trying to get my bearings and organization, I looked back through the photographs I've uploaded to this blog. What a progression from sunsets over Birch Bay and heron, to desertscapes and a Trash Collection Series started and finished.

I'm now in Spokane, WA and trying to determine the pulse of this place. Because it is so much larger than Birch Bay, or Grand Junction, for that matter, I'm overwhelmed by all sorts of different energies.

It's been pleasant to wander in Mel's little garden, shed anxiety and as yet unanswered questions, catch my breath, and open myself to new possibilities.

However, yesterday my sis and I (and Suki) drove over to Manito Park, a 90-acre park with bike and walking trails, formal Duncan Garden with a fountain, rose gardens, a conservatory, playgrounds, a lovely fenced Japanese garden with a bridge over a koi pond, etc.

Yesterday there was a Bonsai exhibit and sale at Manito Park. It was an interesting change from seeing acres of wildflowers growing free and unrestricted as I drove to and from Colorado, to viewing these highly structured miniature landscapes. They were exquisite, but forced into their shapes. How ironic to replicate nature by forcing the branches into shapes determined by man to be natural. I've always enjoyed Bonsai, but yesterday I rather favored the open fields of wildflowers thriving in their profusion of unencumbered splendor.

Oops! I got off on a tangent! (Imagine that.)

I didn't take any photographs of the Bonsai, but I did take photos of some plants and flowers in the conservatory.



Note: used Film Grain filter





Very fragrant jasmine





I edited, adding a couple of squares here and there


I have to get back on track with Project 365, but all in good time. It's going to take a while to get acquainted with Spokane and its many sides. But, it's good for the time  being to be in one place and settle for a bit.

I'm off to check my new post office box. Who knows what I might find there? The adventure continues ...

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread ...

I'm lingering still over images of Lima, Montana. I came across a tiny, tiny little house at 8 S. Harrison, with an American flag snapping in the wind, and all manner of antiques scattered over the yard. The sign proclaimed it as F/L Originals, Antiques and Collectibles. I am not a lover of antiques, but I am curious by nature and wanted to see what antiques were to be found in Lima, MT.

I walked up to the front door, and although there was a big OPEN sign, I felt compelled to knock. A woman's cheerful voice from within said to come in. Once inside I was almost pushed out again by all of the antiques and STUFF on display. There was hardly room to turn around. Tucked in the corner, like an antique herself ,barely seen behind the geegaws on the counter, was Lynn Aires--sorry, I neglected to get the correct spelling of her name. Lynn has a sturdy handshake and an unmistakably Wisconsin accent. We chatted a bit and then she invited me to wander through the rooms of the house, while she stayed put.

I wandered narrow pathways through saddles, glassware, furniture, dolls, duck decoys, stuffed bobcat, kitchenware, linens, clothing, mineral specimens, rifles ... oh my golly gosh ... you name it, it was probably there. Much to my delight she also had a mirrored vanity and chest of drawers that was EXACTLY the same as my mother owned decades ago! It brought back a flood of great memories of Mom.

I captured a few images, but as I said, I was there more out of curiousity than to get some great photographs. I went into the kitchen, which was covered floor to ceiling with all manner of pots, pans, rolling pins, trays, dishes. My eye was drawn particularly to some hand mixers in the window. I loved seeing them. I've uploaded one of the photographs today. I'm also including a photo of rolling pins, hence the title above, as there is a plate with that inscription in the background. I'm also including a very unfocused photograph of a pile of crocheted doilies and what naught. I thought about the women who spent hours making those lacy doilies, now piled unused in a dusty dark closet. I may be mistaken, but there didn't seem to be much else to do in Lima, MT but to crochet. I hadn't adjusted my camera to compensate for the lack of lighting in that closet, but I like the dreamy, another era feeling of being out of focus. Rationale? Perhaps.

So, here are today's selections.

July 13, 2011

Oh, I also wanted to mention the flurry of activity today on my Etsy site, http://www.kweststudio8.etsy.com/. I had photographs featured in two lovely Etsy Treasuries: Simple & Vertical by TheLavendarTree ... and Undulations by luluscreations1, and four other photographs of mine were added to viewers' lists of favorites. With all of this activity, someone is bound to make a purchase of one of my photographs sooner than later.

I just checked Etsy and my Fishing Nets n Bouys photograph was featured in Realfaery's treasury: Caught Up in the Fishing Net.

Check out those vendors and you'll be able to see their treasuries:

TheLavendarTree
Luluscreations1
Realfaery

Lima, as in Lima Beans ...

While driving from Grand Junction to Spokane I decided rather belatedly to take the time to drive through the little places where I stopped for gas. I was seeing a lot of landscape as I flew along the freeways, but little in the way of "local color." (Private joke, eh, Terry DP?)

Gas stop in Lima, Montana in Beaverton County, with a population of 231, as of 2009 was one of my gas stops. Lima turned out to be a treasure trove of photo ops.

Gol darn it! I wish I had that brainstorm earlier. I was so intent upon getting from Point A to Point B, that the interesting inbetweens got overlooked. So unlike me not to meander around hitherto unknown places.

There was sign on a ramshackle old building that read, "Lima Historical Society" and my thought was that it was tongue-in-cheek, as there was no way anyone would be safe in that derelict! But it certainly presented all manner of photographic potential.

I'm including a few of them here. I put a B&W filter on them, to set them apart from simply photographs of an old building. I like how it highlights the structure, composition, rather than the colors. Although the wood was so weathered as to be drained of color to begin with. Wait! I'll upload both and you can see which you like better.

I'll be featuring more Lima, as in lima beans, photographs in the next few days.

July 12, 2011