I love art.

#20 and #29 are officially crossed off the list, and this painting is proof. It's a little funky, but not bad for my second painting, eh? I love the colors and the abstract subject. The old adage, "Don't quit your day job" comes to mind though, so I'll continue to rely on my photography skills to make dough, but I'm looking forward to infusing a little watercolor into my repertoire. After taking just this one class, I've been reminded how much I love art. I've been delightfully "stuck" in this photography thing for so long that I forget other mediums exist. One medium I've always been interested in but never tried is printmaking, and I'm thinking of taking a series of printmaking classes beginning next month. I'm looking specifically at mixed media, woodcut and linocut, but I'm pretty much open to anything. I just want to do it!

Something else I'm getting into is a new collaboration. I'm working with four other girls on a photography collab called Words to Shoot By. Although our first post won't be up till Monday, April 6th, check out our blog to see who's who. I'm really excited about it, and need to get out shooting for it!

Fresh

Another week of paired images is up on our blog, Common Places Different Spaces. This time, Elizabeth and I shot at a food market in our cities. She at a produce stand, and I at Liberty Heights Fresh here in SLC. I'd never been to LHF before, but after meeting Steven, the owner, and some of his great staff, and of course seeing what his shop has to offer, I'll definitely return. He was wonderfully accomodating, interested in our project, and he was extremely friendly, so thank you Steven! I left with a few Polaroids, a finished 35mm roll from my K1000, a Fizzy Lizzy pineapple soda (that I added peach schnapps to when I got home - YUM!), and a deeelicious candied hazelnut chocolate bar from Charles Chocolates. Almost good enough to die for. I've got to get back to LHF for more!

Winners and Watercolors

First things first, the winners! Last Friday, I announced that my new website was live, and I did a giveaway, and the winners are Juli and Nadia! Would you guys Flickrmail me your addresses and I'll get your Polaroid prints in the mail. Congrats you two, and thank you both for frequenting my blog and commenting, and to everyone else who did/does too.

You might remember the list I posted on my 31st birthday back in January. Well, I'm happy to say that I can cross two more things off of it: #20 and #29. I've always wanted to learn how to paint with watercolors, and I finally did. I'm not an expert, I'm hardly even a beginner, but I did it. Tomorrow night is my last session of an eight-week class on Beginning Watercoloring taught by Richard Vroom through the University of Utah's Lifelong Learning program. By the end of the night tomorrow, I'll have five finished paintings, three of which I'll be proud of (one is already on my fridge), and two that will never see the light of day. I'm looking forward to using some of my Polaroids as reference photos and painting on my own here at home. I hope I don't forget what I've learned!

And since I've mentioned the list, I might as well report on my progress. I'm never crossing #7 off because you can never have too many, but I've made a few; #11 is well underway; doing ok with #12 thanks to a Moab road trip; getting a lot of practice already on #18 thanks to the beautiful spring weather; #19 is more than half done, gotta work on the Lubitel; #20 - done; I kind of cheated on #23 by finding someone who made it so I can update my website via Flickr, so that's done!; #29 - done; I don't think I'll ever cross #30 off either because you can never have enough good music, but so far, I'm loving Stephanie's Id, Iron and Wine, Kings of Leon, and The Uglysuit. All in all, pretty good progress I'd say!

Thanks again to all of you who visited my new website! I'm so happy with it and it was so nice to hear such great feedback. Thank you!

It's Alive! And a Giveaway!

My new website is alive! Very big thanks to Bryan Donovan for making it, and making it look so good. This new site has all of my new Polaroid work and new Local Color images, and lots (lots) of other new photos too. I'm so happy with it. Oh, and I've got a new logo too. I painted it! Thanks to my new skillz with watercolors, I painted the camera and the skinny black line. Yeah, I know pretty much anyone could do that, but I am just really proud of myself for thinking of it and actually being able to create something I love. To celebrate my new website's launch, I updated my Etsy shop with 17 new Polaroid triptych prints and two new diptychs. They are printed and cut by me, to actual Polaroid size (3.5" x 4.25"), so they're small and sweet.

And to further celebrate, I'm having a giveaway! Simply leave a comment here by Monday, March 23, about my new site, your favorite shoes, the weather, whatever, and I'll draw two winners. You'll each receive the following set of Polaroid prints, printed and cut to actual Polaroid size:

Please check out my new website if you get a chance, and feel free to let me know what you think of it. Have a lovely weekend!

Firsts and News

I'm happy to announce lots of new things. First off, I'm in the process of updating my Etsy shop with this image and close to 20 others, in celebration of the upcoming launch of my new website. Stay tuned! For the Saans Polaroid show last month, you might remember how I framed all of my Polaroids. I decided to post these on Flickr and on my new website, and sell the prints this way on Etsy. I'm really excited about it and I hope to make a few sales. Hint, hint!

This weekend was full of new things and firsts. All four of my tulips bloomed and are so pretty. Saturday, I found myself trying corned beef and cabbage for the first time in my life. We went to a St. Patrick's Day party at the home of one of my husband's friends, and he and his wife crock-potted the Irish fare. It was good but different. Later that night, I played Guitar Hero for my first time. It was so fun! I played "Crazy Train" on my second try, but just with the strummer. A couple songs later, I started playing the buttons on the beginner level. I could have played all night. I told Travis to absolutely not allow me to purchase said game. I would be so addicted. He agreed.

Sunday evening we walked over to the park around the corner and played disc golf for the first time this season. The weather was perfect, and after a few initial bad tosses, we remembered how to throw our discs. I'm looking so forward to a summer of playing in the park.

I finished out my weekend yesterday with a ride on Frontrunner with my sister and niece and nephew. They had never ridden it before, so we decided to go for an adventure. We had lunch at The Counter at the Gateway and it was tasty. We spent some time at Build-a-Bear so my niece could do just that, and we grabbed some cookies, caramel apples, and an ice cream cone on our way back to the train.

Please check back for the launch of my new website (hopefully this week) and for Etsy shop updates. I'm very excited about it all. It's high time I dedicated some time to both.

Skipped

My heart skipped a beat when this Artistic TZ shot developed in my hand, and then I believe I skipped down the middle of the road, full of happy, happy, joy, joy.

Go Red Devils!

I only work four days a week, so it's not like my work weeks are ever that long, but when Friday rolls around, it's always a good feeling. And to think that we've got a night of bowling ahead of us tomorrow, well that makes today even sweeter.

These two Polaroids are from the swanky (ha!) Gravel Pit Lanes in Moab. The name alone pretty much explains it all. The parking lot was - you guessed it - gravel. The building looked like a giant shed. It was very small town, to say the least. We walked in and everyone in there had lip-curled, squinty-eyed, "You ain't local" looks on their faces, and I was convinced that someone in the place would have called their buddies at the local mechanic shop to tell them some out-of-towners were in bowling, and the mechanic shop folks would be in cahoots with the town sheriff, who would look the other way while they stripped my car. I was pleasantly surprised to see my car in one piece when we walked out later that night. Oh, and the best part, after we'd all bowled a frame, we cheered because one of us got a strike and immediately got asked by a kid in a Grand County High letterman's jacket if we were foreign. Huh? Go Red Devils!