* so far this year .....

To quote a great lady, Elinor Roosevelt: "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

Its been a long road to my future, dreaming of being where I am today.  As a kid I only wanted to have a space of my own, to do with as I pleased.  My colors, my ways.  I have had the pleasure of making that dream a reality each and every day.  As a young adult my dream was to be a photographer.  This led to education and years of practice.  That dream evolved into having my work in a gallery, to sell my work, to be considered a photographer.  Last year that dream was realized when the call came from Karen at Grapevine Graphics Framing and Gallery. Later that year, when I was chosen to be part of a public arts exhibit by the Clackamas County Arts Alliance, the dream added another dimension.

 ~ so far this year ..... my work has been installed at the Clackamas County Services Building on the 4th floor via the Arts Alliance. And even tho they are mine, and so familiar to me, the photo's impress me as I watch the elevator doors open to the hallway they hang in.

This was the view as the elevator doors opened. 

Uncommon Everyday Art. The frames are each around 16 x 20 in size.

Long view of the wall the photos adorn, on the 4th floor.

It was when I was in junior high that I had a fantasy to become a writer.  But the pull that photography had on me was too strong, and that small dream became even smaller.  This past year, typing to you, I have realized that small fantasy and upgraded it to someplace between a wish and a dream.  This blog was supposed to be a means to an end, and has become in some ways the actual end ! It would be great to find a larger audience someday, but for now my energies will have to go towards making the photographer / artists dream a working reality.

~ so far this year ... Having created a New Years; time for Changes ! essay in my journal, I am on my way to keeping some of the promises made to myself.  I would like to blog on those next week for you, having taken them out for a few days and tested them a bit.  Seems like a list I can live with for the remaining 353 days of 2012.  Until then, here is a review of the photos I chose for my exhibit ....  I invite your comments.

Early evening summer sunshine highlights this succulent. 

A prominent landscape plant at the Oregon Coast, taken in Canon Beach.

A sunflower planted by the birds, next to my feeders in the summer.

 Wait Park Gazebo … you can see my red truck in the background if you look hard.

This bike was actually my brothers, taken outside my childhood home. 

This shot was taken as the balloon I was riding in was landing. 

From Victoria B.C, at Butchart Gardens, it was one of my first published images.

Blue Carrot Cafe in Victoria, B.C.  after a summer rain.  

* hello, leap year!

The past few days I have been putting up the 2012 calendars around my house.  If you don't know this about me, I love them. I even have a collection of past calendars that I use again when the year fits.  I have enough now from saving them, I think  some years I could just use my collection to populate my house. But then I wouldn't get to shop the calendar stores at Christmas time.....

Leap years are different though. I have a chart telling me what years match.  The calendar we are beginning today hasn't been used since 1984 (and won't be used again until 2040).  I dug to the very bottom of my collection, to that calendar that I have been saving for 28 years.  I have been looking at it each year, as I sort in search of the proper ones to re-use.  1984 was actually a pretty significant year for me. It was the year that I was married, and we began our new life a few thousand miles from home, on the island of Guam. The actual calendar is very different from the type that I typically chose or even create for myself now.  Its the Lynn Hollyn's Town and Country Cat Calendar, illustrated with beautiful paintings by Robert Goldstrom.

As I change the pages during the year, I will be thinking of the first time that I leafed through this calendar, and what I may have been doing that day.  And I realize with amazement that I would never have dreamed when I put that calendar up in my Michigan house 28 years ago everything that I would have seen or done.  The people I have met, the experiences I have lived.  And the ways I have both changed and stayed the same.  People say this all the time, but it has truly been an adventure.

And I made this computer desktop calendar to share with you, my readers.  You may have guessed, I like to change things up every so often.  When I update my own computer wallpaperI will post updated versions throughout the year for you to download and use as you please.  I only ask that when you download the image, please click the like or leave a comment.  Its nice to know when I have made a connection!

* click on the calendar to open the image in its own window.  from there you can save the image to your computer, and add it to your desktop wallpaper. if you have any questions or requests, send me a note ♥ 

Oregonshar * a review of 2011

To begin something new, sometimes a look back is a great way to start.  Before we get to my promises for 2012, I wanted to review my writings from 2011 with you, and choose some favorite images and ideas.

For me as a blogger/writer it has been very difficult to write about myself.  The galleries and societies that I have become involved with always want a bio.  The mirror gives different view than what you see.  But the one piece I still like is what I wrote about Oregonshar for the blog pages ~ if you haven't read it yet: *oregonshar.

So, now you know why I came here.  Its been interesting to see what direction my musings took over the last year.  It took a while to get started.  Like many gardeners I know, it was the summer that really inspired me to begin my work.  A few random posts came early in the year; they were admittedly difficult and not very inspired.  It was the work of two amazing women that really inspired me, opened the door that I walked through in July. And without looking back, I have been writing and seeing differently ever since.

Dulcy Mahar and Bee helped me to discover what I had really come here to do .... so today, lets see where we have been.

In May I wrote about the Spring Garden Fair ~ I told the story of our weekend event.

This birdcage caught my eye and reminded me of the one I had when I was a kid.

In July I posted a few photos from a Master Gardeners project:  More Gardens  and began to post more photos than words.

Here is my fave image, a chance photo of a crab spider on a Calla Lily ~

A trip to the beautiful gardens at Laurel Hedge in July gave me some unique images: Just Popping In  * .

I saw an amazing plant I have seen before in gardens around Portland.  A Winged Thorn Rose, I love the cool photos I was able to take with the light that day. 

In July a local garden writer and beloved Portland gardener died.  Her writing was always down to earth and real.  Her weekly columns were both funny and inspirational.  I set out to photograph her garden, and wanted to share what I had seen with friends.  Thus began the format and idea for the blog that I have created since then.  There were two posts: Flamingo's for Dulcy and A Walk Through Dulcy's Garden.

Of the many pictures I took that day, this piece of cats painted on a weathered pain of glass and mounted in front of the window still inspires me.  

In August I wrote about some of the processes I go through to capture and edit an image. I learned a lot with this series: *this and that ... with pictures !

I love the way the focus drops off towards the top of this image ~

By this time I was getting pretty good with the medium and working with Wordpress.  When the time came for me to produce some info about a new gallery show, I posted that info for everyone to see in this post:  my artwork ~ Uncommon Everyday Art 

My homework that week was to get a new headshot for my portfolio. Taking photos of myself is worse than writing about myself and my work !  

In September I was once again in an amazing woman's garden.  I had the wonderful opportunity to make a photo record of Bee's garden for her family and friends.  There were two posts full of pictures of her beautiful Blue garden.  I was so inspired with her work ~ and the way she lived her life.  The photos are only a small part of the woman, and the images I shared here gave me a small taste of what I can do here for you.  Bees Garden and In her Garden  were those articles.

As I was shooting in her garden, I kept returning to this Blue Bottle Masterpiece

Taken from a visit in 2010 to Bee's Garden ....Cobalt bottles, arranged on a glass and rusty metal table.

My next few posts were personal, many were one image posts.  I made the decision to always include at least one image with each post after the success and comments I received from all of you.  As I began writing on a more regular basis I began to think ahead about what I may want to say or talk about next.  If a Picture Speaks a Thousand Words,  friends? , October, Summer Began.., Always the Photographer, Jury Duty and my Veterans Day Series (11.11.11) were all the results of this idea.  Of these posts, I liked this image the best:

I like this one so much because I created it FOR this blog post, the meaning is in the image and the date it was taken : 11.11.11

I think I am pretty much up to date.  I have been talking a lot about the Christmas Season, sharing  pics about the holidays.  Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Zoolights, Christmas Ships and my Decorating stories.  I love talking about the holidays, about taking pictures of the holidays and looking at pictures of the trees and lights and everything there is to do.  It was a very busy time, and of course my mind if filled with ways to make the 2012 season even better than this one was.  I can't choose a favorite image, so here are three:

I always love the Christmas Ships, and rarely miss them sailing on the Willamette 

All the lights were amazing, but the Croc's kept pulling me in...

I don't think I need to explain why this is a fave photo ♥ 

There you have it, an overlook of what I have been doing, thinking and seeing in 2011.  Tomorrow we will set the course for a new dream, the year 2012.

If you need me, I will be in the garden*  either my real one all wet and soggy in this winter rain, or the one I have created here on my computer!