"Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way." -- Edward de Bono

“We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust.” ― Rumi

Back to my series of frozen flowers. I personally have been feeling stuck, and this series is a way for me to explore that theme. Getting immersed in a project is what I need right now and hopefully it helps me move forward or at least inspired. How do you get yourself unstuck?

After I declared that I was going to photography frozen food this week, I was fed an article about foods you didn't know you could freeze. Hmm, seems like that isn't a coincidence, I'm not really a fan of the virtual spying.

Unfortunately, we have become a world where things are replaced instead of being repaired. Companies oftentimes make it difficult or impossible to make easy repairs, such as change a power cord, a gasket or switch. It leads to unnecessary replacement and extra garbage being sent to our landfills. We need to go back to more sustainable practices.

"No matter what twists and turns your life offers you, your ability to be adaptable and flexible will help you to stay open to all of the hidden gifts that difficulty may offer." -- Mandy Ingber

“Art has the power to render sorrow beautiful, make loneliness a shared experience, and transform despair into hope.”

― Brené Brown,

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for." -- Georgia O'Keeffe

The theme for the Macro Mondays group is wood. This is the edge of my husband's preschool toy. It's the old- fashioned bench and nail set that his Mom gave us when we had kids. You tap the wooden dowels with a hammer and flip it back over and start the fun again. I guess this is the beginning of when he learned how to build things. Thanks for looking, HMM!

“We have to make a mark, even if it's only a scribble.”

-- John Steinbeck

While cleaning out the cupboards, we discovered some outdated sprinkles and decided to see what they would look like in ice. The colors did bleed a bit but surprisingly not as much as I expected. This is so out of touch with how I am feeling about things.

I added the built-in bokeh blades to create the liney bokeh effect. This is still the Sol 45 lens with a fixed 3.5 aperture and a macro filter.

I have placed the flowers in a clear container filled with water with a pink blanket beneath it. Midway through my photoshoot we had a neighbor stop by to say hello. It was a nice welcome surprise and I appreciate the positive interactions more than I needed a perfect photo.

Just wanted to play with the out of focus lights on the tree. Instead of showing it in tree form, I flipped the image sideways and played with the processing.

"What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue." --Henri Matisse

Today's Macro Mondays theme is string. I opted to shoot the strings of tea bags and I wanted a splash, but I ended up with a tsunami of tea. HMM

Today, I created this abstract image using a knitting loom with purple pegs. I waited until the end of the day to shoot and desperately searched for a subject. Luckily I could find something interesting and check day 6 of Purple Week is complete.

"I believe that life is chaotic, a jumble of accidents, ambitions, misconceptions, bold intentions, lazy happenstances, and unintended consequences, yet I also believe that there are connections that illuminate our world, revealing its endless mystery and wonder." -- David Maraniss

“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” - Denis Waitley

Experimenting with tissue paper and light painting today.

"Life is about growth and exploration, not achieving a fixed state of balance. You have a very limited time on earth to experience all that you can. Figuring out how to squeeze the most out of your family, work, and spirituality is your life's purpose. Go do it." -- Mel Robbins

Well, I am still trying to use up the expired milk and love the way the fluid looks in splash photography. My table was slanted on the lawn when I set it up, but I thought I could fix it in post. However, I forgot that the milk would also be higher on the low side. Oops. It was 30 degrees F outside and a bit breezy this morning while trying to shoot this so I wanted to make quick work of it. I need to place time limits on my playtime because the hours slip away. What activities do you do where it's easy to lose track of time?

I somehow like the tension in this piece. It's not really how I wanted to present the blood oranges but it was the best I could do with the time constraints.

My intention this morning was to set up a fun beach scene with my mini figures and they are quite challenging to work with. They don't really stand well and they are very poorly painted so using my extension tube on the macro lens really makes that obvious. Although this doesn't feel like what I envisioned play time is over, and I am posting to honor my project.

PS - the sand is just brown sugar

Processed with VSCOcam with s2 preset

“Every day you play with the light of the universe.”

― Pablo Neruda, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair

“Love your neighbor, even the ones who do not show you the same courtesy. You can’t expect to receive love if you’re selective and not really willing to give it. What you put into the world, you will indeed get back, even if it’s not from the person you’re expecting it to be.”

― Alexandra Elle, Words from a Wanderer

The irises have just started blooming in my yard and I am thrilled to see the colors. Freezing the flower changed and darkened the petals a bit and the petals did not hold up as I had hoped they would. Every day I have to shift my expectations to the outcomes I was able to achieve. Tomorrow we begin again.

Sharing my work regularly helps me feel accountable to anyone who may be following along. Even if it is just for me, the effort of creating helps me feel connected to the world. I am trying to master this type of imagery but feel like there is so much more to explore and that it may extend beyond 100 images.

I haven't felt inspired to work on my photography lately, but I decided to take a few minutes to play while putting away the holiday decor. How do you find peace in your life?

"Creativity itself doesn't care at all about results - the only thing it craves is the process. Learn to love the process and let whatever happens next happen, without fussing too much about it. Work like a monk, or a mule, or some other representative metaphor for diligence. Love the work. Destiny will do what it wants with you, regardless. "--Elizabeth Gilbert

"We need to realize that our path to transformation is through our mistakes. We're meant to make mistakes, recognize them, and move on to become unlimited." -- Yehuda Berg

Today was a struggle. I attempted three different subjects, and most of the hundreds of frames I shot were failures. This was the most interesting of the group. I wanted to get a milk splash in my coffee but it was windy outside and things kept blowing over. Next, I tried to do an acrylic paint image, using vibration to get the paint to dance. There was no dancing, just flat plaint. Finally, I thought if I dripped water into the watercolors I would get colorful paint splashes but no, that wasn't effective either. I felt defeated but thought that this was sort of fun and I loved all of the bokeh.

This is the final image for my 7 Days of Black series. I chose a microphone as the subject to remind us to speak up and use our voices.

“When you find the courage to use your voice, it has the power to positively inspire & change the lives of others”. -Nicole O'Neill

For the holidays we received an exquisite flower arrangement from some dear friends. I decided to add two macro filters to my Lensbaby lens to create this shot. I tried a bunch of different images but struggled to get good focus and an interesting composition. It is still a learning process, I admire the beauty that others can create.

These are bits and pieces of three clematis blossoms that my son donated to my project. He has been so generous by letting me collect flowers from his yard. This entry is 58/100. I am glad I still have a little less than half of my project left. There is still much to explore and discover, I love the whole process.

I spent the morning creating a "stencil" for the vw bus. I like how one side looks like the bus but the other looks as if it could be a skull. Maybe I'll try more drawing but because I am working mostly in the dark it is hard to look at something and draw it in light.

I've been feeling like I don't have the energy or focus to work on creative projects. The heaviness of the past few weeks makes it difficult to find the joy in creating and makes the effort seem like wasted time. Anyone else struggling like this?

I took a little time this morning to play with the set up and processing for the artichokes. There is so much more I could do but for this is what we have for today.

#100instantwalkers

See the entire series here. Read more about The 100 Day Project here.

"Inspiration is some mysterious blessing which happens when the wheels are turning smoothly. " -- Quentin Blake

"Weave me a rope that will pull me through these impossible times." - Tim Finn

I am glad I decided to make this my 100-day project because there is so much more to learn. For example, the way the flowers shift in the water, the way the color of the flowers change with the color of the background paper I choose. I get everything laid out and once I add water everything moves and I have to fix it, it is a labor of love and frustration. My dried flower stash has come in handy this week. I am thinking that I might do fruits and vegetables next week, in the spirit of Irving Penn but with my own twist.

It's been quite some time since I took a self-portrait. For whatever reason, I decided to do it today without any prep. This was taken with the Lensbaby and triggered with my phone but without the luxury of a preview. During the COVID lockdowns, I stopped dyeing my hair and my reading glasses are always with me. Totally outside my comfort zone to post but alas this is who I am these days.

View on Instagram instagr.am/p/CGBV6ggBqK1/

I created this panel several months ago from these incredible and unusual green and pink leaves. My son and his beautiful landscape donated many of my 100x frozen panel project subjects. Shooting in the golden hour is always a treat, but I got sidetracked, and my panel fell and chipped. I really am ok with the chip since there were no leaves in that section. Life isn't perfect so art should be a reflection of that truth. There are bright and dark spots and disappointments, and this image incorporates those ideas.