Walk in the Woods

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield is just waiting for exploring. The battle of June 27, 1864 left behind  many earthworks to explore. Now there are many trails on the mountain. The park is just 3 or 4 miles off of highway 75 at Barrett Parkway just north of Atlanta. We went hiking with the puppy on a leash this past weekend. What a great family outing! Here is my treasure from the trip. Just listed on Etsy.

Open Doors and Windows

The New Year is fast approaching... In many ways the holiday is like Yom Kippur where personal reflection is in order. I like thinking of a couple manageable new habits each year. Once children are in the mix, life is so different and not about ME. So, it's a good time to take a look at my career and jobs and see what directions I should pursue and/or continue next year, too.

I believe very strongly in writing down my goals. I remember when I wanted a BMW and didn't have one. I cut out a photo in a magazine and voila. Bought it! I loved it! And, I miss it, but I long since traded that in for more seats, but it's a good lesson to write it down!

Professionally, next year I would like to be featured in a gallery show. I have already met with an Atlanta photographer, John Clemmer, who had some pointers. Take a look at John Clemmer's work for his great photography. My favorite of his shots is the black and white of the girl... running with such speed... on this page. I would also like to participate in at least four juried art festivals. I really enjoy being outdoors and showing my work.

Personally... that's another story, but I'm going to write them down. I think it takes 21 days to learn a new habit. I think I'll get a head start.

Pictured is my latest treasury which is expiring shortly. I was thinking about all the opportunity awaiting me through so many easily opened doors. Happy New Year!

Juried in SouthEastern Flower Show

Wow! I applied to the SE Flower Show recently, as my biggest work of art is flowers, and 4 of my images were juried into the show. Here is a list of images that were juried in and will be on display at the show. It is February 4-6th at the Cobb Galleria.
Pictured to the right is Waltzing. The links below are to listings in my Etsy shop.
Christmas Mag P09 Flowers, Flowers, Flowers
Waltzing P09 Flowers, Flowers, Flowers
Joy P13 People and Other Critters (not for sale)
Spring P09 Flowers, Flowers, Flowers
 
And, as if that weren't enough... three flower canvases (and other works) sold at the chanukah bazaar last weekend: Perfect, Zinnia c/o City of Pittsburgh and Spinning. I'm not sure if I should spend the day celebrating or working! I have printed 13 more canvases and am painting away!

Ballet Treasury

My ballet treasury is about to expire. The artists in this treasury were very generous with their kind comments. Thank you! GoodLookinTreasures said, "What a beautiful treasury! Thank you for including my little red carrying casse amongst such GoodLookinTreasures (PS... For those who look at this treasury, also take the time to visit the curator's shop. She has some lovely photographic prints.)" You can find all these items below on http://www.etsy.com/.

Introducing ACEOs

Don't miss my work at the OVS Chanukah Bazaar tomorrow, Sunday December 6th from 11 AM - 7 PM. This synagogue serves the most amazing food. I can't wait to have a potato bureka!

Just to make the day special I am introducing ACEOs of five of my photographic images and 4 of my religious works. I can't wait for you to see them. One is this Spring image shown to the left.

ACEO stands for Art Cards, Editions and Originals. Learn more on Wikipedia. They are art trading cards, which fit into baseball card sleeves. The movement to create, sell and purchase these works began in Switzerland. I think the Challah card will be just the right size to display in the kitchen. Can't wait to show you!

Here is the link to my ACEO section of my MagMoment shop on Etsy. Take a look.

Mints and Olives with Pepper

I really LOVE making treasuries. It is so fun to pull together random items from Etsy that look good together and form a theme.

"Definitely my favorite color forever... I love green!" was my comment on this treasury. I thought it funny to use the food names for this treasury right before the last listing expired. Kind of a take on Christmas without using the traditional Christmas green.

Treasuries expire soon. So click and comment right now. Mints and Olives with Pepper.

Lots of Christmas treasuries out there. And, tons of items tagged with Christmas. I added my Christmas Mag as an alternate in this treasury, but in the end decided to use other people's work. Here's my image. It is a photograph I printed on canvas and then highlighted with acrylic paint. I am enjoying painting and look forward to creating many of these works. Ultimately I want to sell these in art festivals. This retails for $39. Here is the Etsy link to Christmas Mag.

Parenting by Counting to Ten

Ok, so I found myself counting to ten today while I was waiting for the puppy to "Come" as I commanded. I laughed my way to ten, and I ended up carting her indoors. But this has worked great with my children all these years, so I thought I would share...

Originally, we started counting to ten when the children were first learning to buckle their car seat belts. They had to be finished by the time we got to ten.

In the preschool days, I found this a great way to keep calm and it gave me something to do while waiting. I paced the counting according to the child's ability. Now that my children are in grade school, I just breeze through all the numbers and it's an or-else kinda thing. But it still moves them into cooperation. We use it to stop inappropriate behavior and to elicit desired behavior. I just start counting after several requests to stop or start a task.

It's like magic! No yelling required. P. S. nothing happens when I get to ten and they aren't cooperating because this rarely happens. When it does happen some love and attention are in order because something is very wrong.

Etsy -- The Place to Shop

Etsy is an on-line shop with three categories of products: Handmade, Vintage, and Supplies. For holidays searching handmade or vintage will save you lots of time and you will end up with a really unique gift. Just now I ran some searches in handmade. Click on my links to see the current results.

I personally am looking for a purple initial, which found 285 items.
A search for a forest green scarf yielded 131 results.
Search for Love is in the Air and then selected Art yields 64 items.
For that man, golf love found 29 results.
Searching for ballet dance and selecting mixed media discovered 32 results.
For the boys, I searched lego art and found 85 results.
Also, I am a member of the Photographers of Etsy Team, so I searched on poe team kiss and found a few good shots. This was the subject of my latest treasury.

So with a little refining, searching among the 4,982,408 items isn't as overwhelming as it could be. Imagine going to the mall and looking through that many products. Yuk!

Vision in White -- Fiction about a Wedding Photographer

Just picked up the latest book in Nora Roberts' Bride Quartet, Bed of Roses, which was published in November. This book is the second in the series and is about florist Emma Grant. Roberts' romance novels are perfect for a nice escape from everyday.

The first book, pictured to the left published in May 2009, is about a wedding photographer and her relationship with an English teacher. I enjoyed this book because I am a photographer. It was interesting reading about Vows, a full service wedding planning business. But, the reason I recommend this story was because of the honesty presented in Roberts' interactions between characters. This relationship includes some real-life fear of getting involved. My favorite part was when Carter Maquire cooks Mackensie "Mac" Elliot dinner. I've added a link to this book on amazon on the left below.

Shadow Assignment Week 8

It is our last week of class this Friday. Hope to see everyone! We will be shooting shadow shots this week. Please bring in 5 images... also bring your SD card with the past assignments on it, so we can print your work and discuss as a whole. I will try to give everyone direction for the future and challenges. Keep up with my blog because I will post more assignments even though we are not having class.

For inspiration check out a fellow Photographer of Etsy's blog, Hey Harriet. She has a shadow Sunday post every week.

Check out our photography on Etsy by searching in handmade for POE Team. Click here for the current results. There are some very talented artists on our team!

Halloween Fun! Photography Assignment Week 7

The assignment for this week is to take a photograph that tells a story. Please bring at least 10 images from this assignment and past assignments to class. Please print one or two of your images (even black and white is good), so we can talk about them and examine them.

Black and white is a great test of the contrast in your image. If the photo is flat without a lot of black and white range, try again.

At class, we will work on creating a scene. Bring in your Halloween costume (to get a second use out of it) and we will have some fun creating a set! We will use some props I will bring in (bring your own too) and create a mood! We will take photographs of each other dressed up  and ourselves with the self-timer and a tri-pod.

Whose Ball?

Ever gotten to the green and wondered whose ball was in the hole? Don't let that happen with these marked balls. Let me know if your guy will play with hearts!!! Buy this photograph on Etsy. 

Buy the box of balls (below) on Etsy too. You can specify a brand if you would like me to paint a different type ball.

Photography Assignment Week 5

Lyrics... please print the lyrics to a favorite song and then... illustrate it with a photograph. Have fun with this... and pick more than one? Concentrate on framing your image with a natural or man-made frame.

Happy Shooting!

Here is my illustration of Van Morrison's "Moon Dance," a song I really love. And the link to purchase on Etsy.










Moon Dance by Van Morrison

Well, its a marvelous night for a moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
neath the cover of october skies
And all the leaves on the trees are falling
To the sound of the breezes that blow
And Im trying to please to the calling
Of your heart-strings that play soft and low
And all the nights magic seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush

Chorus:

Can I just have one a more moondance with you, my love
Can I just make some more romance with a-you, my love

Well, I wanna make love to you tonight
I cant wait til the morning has come
And I know that the time is just right
And straight into my arms you will run
And when you come my heart will be waiting
To make sure that youre never alone
There and then all my dreams will come true, dear
There and then I will make you my own
And every time I touch you, you just tremble inside
And I know how much you want me that you cant hide

Chorus

Repeat 1st verse

One more moondance with you in the moonlight
On a magic night
La, la, la, la in the moonlight
On a magic night
Cant I just have one more dance with you my love

Turquoise, Teal and Aqua Dreams

So, what is in a dream? I am talking about the rich kind we can control, change and affect. I find that writing them down and talking about them gets them out on the table and happening. Inside my head, they fester and die.

In June 2007 I visited Spain, specifically Barcelona. I was shocked at how different the city looked than the states. I could not put my camera down. In all I took 886 photographs. On the way home on the airplane I told myself I would become a professional photographer. I have been busy at this since stepping back in the U.S. By now, I have developed several different products. My business and dream are growing!

I created this Etsy Treasury with a house, couple, height, ocean, quiet, crafting and dance in mind. Hopefully there is something for everyone here. Open a word document and start typing -- What do you want?

My Treasury has expired (They are only around for 2-3 days) but here is the picture of it below.

Buy the Pound

I haven't ever been to a pumpkin patch, but it was fun! So was the carving and cooking dinner afterwards. Here are three pumpkins that impressed me! Thanks Rusty!!

Capturing Movement in a Photograph Week 4

This week's photography class will focus on movement. We will spend time in class practicing panning (moving the camera with the subject) to try and stop the movement. We will also test out our camera's sports setting to see what a fast shutter speed does to stop motion. The assignment this week is to

Take many shots to still movement.
Take many shots to illustrate movement.
Take several shots to capture moving lights at night.

Bring five best images to class.

Musicals about Music

There have been many musicals featuring the music of a musical artist.

Mamma Mia
Movin' Out
Jersey Boys
Rain

My favorite will probably always be Mamma Mia because I love it and have seen it at least three times. The movie of the show is very well done as well. This show features the music of ABBA. I listened to the music of the show many years after I saw it the first time. Dancing Queen and Take a Chance on Me both strike chords in my heart.

Movin' Out is interesting in that the music is sung by a pianist like Billy Joel would have done had he been in the show. I don't remember this show as well, but I've seen it.

I loved Jersey Boys because it really made me aware of Frankie Valli's life and obstacles. My rap-listening son downloaded at least three songs from this show on to his iPhone. This was very nice. Click on the Jersey Boys link to see my previous blog about the show.

Most recently, I saw Rain at the Fox last week. It wasn't my favorite show. I felt like I paid a lot of money to watch a video pieced together with Beatles' songs. Yes, the tribute band was very REAL... but there wasn't a plot to the show except to convince us through the video and players that they were an authentic copy of the Beatles. Having purchased multiple seats, I was hoping for a nice story line and some information about the Beatles besides how their appearances changed over the years. As my ex-husband said, "I don't want to go because I saw the real thing in Piedmont Park a few weeks ago" (about the Paul McCartney concert) I should have listened.

Photography Assignment for Week 3

Had a busy, busy weekend. This time I was looking forward to Monday to relax.

Our photography class assignment for middle schoolers is

Take a still life photograph of your favorite collectible. Take a still life shot of a stuffed animal. Take a still life shot of your choice. Bring three images to class.

For the class I created a simple one page photography critque questionairre. This may be helpful to all beginner photographers. Take a look!

Quick Click -- chirping your way!

Very cool birds out there on Etsy... But I'm sure you know you can search on anything and everything and find exactly what you want or need and need and want. So, I've collected them. Click to see them all and make a comment. Remember treasuries are only there for 2 days, so act quickly. This treasury has expired, but you can see it to the left.

People photographs Week 2

Continuing the photography class this week. We will discuss Annie Leibovitz's work. She is an amazing portrait creator. Here is a link to a recent New York Times article about her financial problems, which seem to be on-going. Regardless, her ability to capture amazing shots of people is something to study and learn from. While we discuss Annie's work and style, we will talk about capturing people on film. Most cameras these days have many settings to "get the red out" of eyes and photography programs help with that as well. Try different settings and lighting to determine what is best for your camera. BUT the most important part of capturing a person may be to turn the camera so that it is portrait. See my blog entry about portrait shots.

The assignment for next week's class is to create a portrait of a family member(s) only one person per shot please. This will require many practices to acheive a final image. Please bring multiple examples to class.

Here is a recent portrait I captured. This July, at a performance for http://www.culturedkid.com/, Michael Levine played and sang for a summer camp. Michael is an amazingly talented singer, song-writer living in the Atlanta area. He is especially gifted at playing guitar. CulturedKid is my birthday party business. I create art and science parties. Learn more at www.culturedkid.com/party.html.

New Etsy Treasury

Go on take a look. It's very fun to curate a treasury. I created one titled "uP, OVER and under." I found 12 beautiful bridges on Etsy. The treasury has expired, but the collection is to the left.

Camera 101 at Roswell Visual Arts Center for Middle Schoolers Week 1

Today is my first class for Camera 101 at the Roswell Visual Arts Center. The class lasts eight weeks and there are still a few spots. Click on the link above to learn more. Then click on Youth Visual Arts. I will post the assignments here on my blog to motivate you and just in case my students forget...

The assignment today is to practice off-centering the subject. Take ___ landscape shots. Bring 5 best to class next week. And, find another shot of Ansel Adams' that you like on the internet. Bring a copy to class. I found a nice bio and photographs on this site.

We will discuss the tic-tac-grid. Here is a visual reminder of where to place your subject. Place the main subject in the green areas and avoid the center or red ex.

New Menorah Image

I changed this just a touch...

Chanukah

Chanukah will be here before we know it! I really enjoy lighting the candles each night. Choosing just eight presents for my children is a nice exercise. With Christmas, we had no limit... I like the limit, but I do admit to wrapping several items together when the kids were younger... now their wishes are too expensive and eight is just the right number. But Chanukah is really about the lights, oil and the miracle of the oil lasting eight nights, the victory of the Maccabees, and reconsecrating theTemple in Jerusalem.

This is my favorite menorah!

EastCobber Parade was FUN

We attended the EastCobber Parade Sat., Sept. 12, 2009. Johnson Ferry was lined with moms, dads and kids. The parade was complete with several high school marching bands, politicians, area businesses and not-for-profits. Here are a couple shots of a band because I carried a base drum in high school! Go Wildcats!

High Museum Film -- Dorothea Lange

Atlanta:  Sure to be informative. There is a film and panel discussion titled Women in Photography on Thursday at the High Museum in Atlanta in the Walter C. Hill Auditorium Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 7 PM. Dorothea's son Daniel Dixon discusses Dorothea Lange and Her Impact on American Society in the film. Click on the Women in Photography link to learn more.
Lange was an important photojournalist of the great depression. One of her most poignant images is the Migrant Mother. Clearly this image is of a woman with so many thoughts, worries and troubles and several children. So much is captured in one click of the shutter.

Where to Hang a Child's Art?

My children attended Montessori schools for many years and I enjoyed learning Maria Montessori's philosophies. In general my belief in life is to gather lots of information about a subject and come up with my personal way.

One of my favorite Montessori views is of art. The littlest children are not too young to learn about the greatest artists! In the classrooms the art and work is easy for a child to reach. I set up our house this way. I am now moving the images up the walls, but I still have to bend over to pull out the china for the dinner table. (Don't worry... I think I've accidentally broken more china than they have!)

So, the next time you put a nail in the wall, check with your youngster to see where his eyes are on the wall.

Busy Puppy Potty Training

As if I had nothing to do, I am now also training my sweet puppy I adopted in Tennessee. We named her Tennessee. Here are a couple photos so you can get the picture about why I brought her home with me from my parents' farm house. I am using Everything You Need to Know about House Training Puppies and Adult Dogs. The logic of praising during the act and not punishing is very smart and seems to be working. Keep your fingers crossed! She is my full-time job right now. The kids LOVE her!

Cabbage Rolls

My Grandmother was from Lithuania, and she loved to cook! I enjoyed making cabbage rolls tonight with my father for dinner. We steamed the cabbage for 15 minutes. and then stuffed them with cooked rice and raw ground beef. (1.5 pounds meat to 1 C cooked rice.) We used toothpicks to secure and filled the very large pot with tomatoes (1 can), tomatoe sauce (2 cans), carrots, potatoes and water. We simmered for about 1.5 hours.

Arthur Leipzig

So. One of the lessons from school is that we artists are influenced by all the images we have viewed before our next work. Click on Arthur Leipzig's Chalk Games and then let me know how it compares to my Kickball in Parc Guell, left, taken in Gaudi's parc in Barcelona. Streetball Barcelona is shown here to the right. I studied Leipzig long before taking the Barcelona shots. Leipzig was born in NY in 1918. Leipzig has a lot of neat shots of children playing in the streets of Brooklyn. Click to read a short bio on the photographer. Study Leipzip's works and go shoot an image in his style.

Pittsburgh

WHAT A COOL CITY! I guess I am in love! I will return to Pittsburgh and just purchased the Moon Handbook titled Pittsburgh and a detailed street map to study up! Here is my latest shot.

Behind the Scene at the Art Festival

279 miles to Beckley, WV

Beckley is my father's old stomping ground... My grandfather worked in the coal mines repairing equipment in Minden, WV. There is a coal mine here in Beckley that we toured a couple of summers ago. The Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine was operational and really portrays the hard work that went on in the mines. The tour takes you underground into the mine. The facility includes a coal camp and a gift shop.

So what is it like to stand in a booth all day? Honestly, I love it! The compliments were flowing this weekend. One of my favorites was a woman who told me she had just taken 16,000 photographs for a film. Clearly this was a true professional, and she told me I had a "good eye!" Thank you to everyone for the two days of compliments! A realestate professional asked me to shoot his properties... But I don't live there. This is an idea though!

I especially enjoyed talking to Julio (send me your links) and also Pete (I'll look for his card when I unpack) who are both photographers. One woman invited me to join in dancing next time I was in Pittsburg because of talk about the "Waltz" image. (If she only knew how tired my legs were at the end of the day...) And another neat lady told me about a purple bridge about an hour from the show. I can't wait to track that down!

Yes, I took many bridge shots in Pittsburgh. Here's the first from the Rachel Carson Bridge.

Pittsburgh Bridges

Okay, so today I learned 11 minus 4 is way more than 7. (Four hours to Knoxville actually made the trip longer instead of breaking it up. )

But I made it to the city of bridges in plenty of time for the Shadyside art show tomorrow morning. I had no idea there were so many bridges. The structures are all different colors: yellow, blue, green and black. There are 455 bridges. The city actually holds the world's record beating out Venice, Italy. There are so many bridges because three rivers connect here. The Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers weave around Pittsburgh. Here is a shot from tonight.

And, a driving tip in Pittsburgh. The Liberty Bridge is not on Liberty Street. I got it! Hope to see you at the show tomorrow...

Crazier's 3/4 time is a Little Crazy

Very few popular songs are written in 3/4 time or waltz tempo. George Michael penned Cowboys and Angels in 3/4 many years ago, but currently as part of the Hanna Montana Movie soundtrack... Taylor Swift sings Crazier in 3/4 time. I bring this up here because it's a great opportunity to teach your children about waltzing, and I found a flower doing the waltz. The song is a love song. She says, "You lift my feet off the ground. You spin me around. You make me crazier crazier."

What Will the Kids Remember? The Music...

Loving music, certain songs remind me of particular days. I clearly remember there was a day when my son was in 3rd grade, and he was so mad on the way to school. I played Terri Clark's "I Just Wanna Be Mad" say 6 times in a row. She says in the song, "Please don't make me smile. I just want to be mad for awhile" We've all had these days! And, this morning we were all sick of the song by the time we made it to school, but it made it's point, and I turned a little anger into a very good laugh because I couldn't help laughing... and he did too!

And, most recently, I can't remember what show we saw, but my daughter and I cranked up Toby Keith's I wanna talk about me all the way home from downtown. We had a blast being together singing. Toby says, "Wanna talk about I. Wanna talk about number one. Oh my me my. What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see I like talking about you you you you, usually, but occasionally I wanna talk about meeeeee." We love this song for belting because we try to hold some of the chorus notes out for forever!

Share the music!

Solid as a ROCK! Stone Mountain Park, Georgia

Wow! What a nice surprise... and everyone wanted to return for a longer day.

We visited Stone Mountain park today for the bike ride and laser show. The laser show has been playing most of the summer. The bike ride is good. It is a perfect introduction to climbing hills. There are 2 loops around the base of the mountain. We rode the smaller, and it is about 6 miles.

The laser show was a cool mix of light and music. The music included Georgia songs, Georgia singer' songs and an American section. The lights included neat cartoons and images drawn on the mountain, photographs projected, fireworks, strobe lights and a little fire. Altogether the show was about 45 minutes. We paid only $10 to park and the show was included. We brought a nice picnic to eat before hand and had memorable evening. I even created a couple cool photographs.

The show is playing

Aug. 15, 22, 29 at 9:30
Sept. 5-7, 12, 19 26 at dusk 8:30ish.
Saturdays in October at 8 PM

Don't miss it.

Making a cake? Need frosting?

Today's question is how do you make frosting. My first response (ugh!) was "Use the can." Ah, but they wanted to decorate on top of the chocolate frosting.

For this I suggested checking the side of the Confectioner's Sugar box. I'll half the recipe here for decorating only (double for a whole cake) and add my own directions.

8 oz confectioner's sugar
1/4 C country crock
2 T milk
1/2 t Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract
food coloring

Sift sugar and combine all ingredients and mix with electric mixer on low speed. Divide the frosting into several bowls and add food coloring one drop at a time until happy with the color.

I am convinced that the vanilla in my cupboard is delicious and causes foods like ice cream and frosting to be amazing.

Portrait vs Landscape

Ah! So you have heard these words before....

So which way do you usually hold the camera? landscape

And, which way do you usually type on a page? portrait

And why is it called portrait?

If you are taking a photograph of a person, you will want to turn the camera 90°, so it is portrait like you are typing a letter. And see what happens... Put their eyes about where hers are 1/3 of the way down from the top. Do this because people are shaped tall and not wide (for the most part...) Here's my latest photo titled "Freckles" -- you'll have to zoom in (click on it)!

And, so I will write about one of my favorite children's books, which I did not read as a child, but was published in 1971, so I could have. Freckle Juice by Judy Blume is an endearing story about a little boy who WANTS freckles. It is short, just 47 pages, so early readers can manage. It's about second grader freckleless Andrew Marcus who wants freckles and an enterprising little girl named Sharon who is willing to sell the recipe for freckles for five weeks' worth of allowance. You can just imagine what happens...

At summer camp, everytime I see a child with freckles I ask them if they have read this story because Blume certainly provides a new appreciation for freckles.

Legally Blonde Musical -- Motivating Girls and Women!

Ok, so Elle Wood's style and reason for applying and enrolling in Harvard Law are not exactly what I would wish for my own child... (chasing a guy, Warner Huntington III). But the idea of my daughter wanting to attend Harvard Law is appealing. This show is about much more. If you haven't seen the movie, take a look with your children! If nothing else, Harvard Law and Harvard becomes a place in their minds. My youngest wanted to know where Harvard was. (What a nice conversation to have!)

The broadway musical is based on the original movie and follows it very closely. I saw the musical at the Fox Theater in Atlanta recently and rewatched the film last night. The musical was well done. Even though the songs started out slowly and the "Omigod" song, I could have done without the G-d... the music was fresh. And I did shed a very few happy tears at the end and love the messages: to stick by our honor (Elle keeps her word in spite of a feisty law professor, Professor Callahan.) we can do ANYTHING! And, Elle uses her brain in the show to solve a murder mystery. Oh and contacts in the form of friends and sorority sisters do have a place.

The show is on tour in the U.S. and separately in London. Indeed, it was a mostly clean show except the "Bend and Snap" song and the UPS innuendos about packages. The movie is rated PG-13.

And for your viewing pleasure... there is also a Legally Blonde 2, which I like even more.

All about Etsy -- A Mega Mall

Etsy is like a big art festival and antique shop that is open 24 hours a day. There are both hand-made and vintage items. What a great place to shop for unique gifts that you cannot find at the real mall.

Yesterday, we were busy shopping for back to school... (wait till Thursday in Georgia, for tax free shopping this weekend!) and I wanted some unique items for my daughter, so I started searching on Etsy. Here are some of the items I have found. I created a Treasury called Girls Go!, which is a list of 12 items that are all around one topic. I thought about theme, placement on the page and color as I selected them.

Oh and, it is hard to get a treasury; you have to wait for previous lists to expire. I secured one for the first time, last night at 1 o'clock. http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=62520 Let me know what you think. These earrings pictured are one of the items in the treasury. You can click on the word earrings and move straight to them. These earrings are designed and handmade by BeadDesignsByEllen, not me.

And, don't forget about my photography shop. http://www.magmoment.etsy.com/. Thanks for MayBeads for adding me to a Treasury, so I could learn about curating them!

Degas at the Met

This past week I taught science camp at Roswell Park and Rec. We painted each day to learn about opaque and transparent light. We used matte medium with acrylic paint on 8.5 x 11" canvas boards to experiment. I instructed the children to paint fish, butterflies or flowers because we could experiment with color mixing on parts of the fish, butterfly or flower.

I did not allow the children to use black paint because I don't use black and also because the masters did not either. We talked about this. I mentioned Degas and did not have time to further discuss his art. But, having just visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, I have just the photograph to share.

Pictured here is Edgar Degas' oil on canvas, on the left, titled The Dance Class, 1874. And to the right, is The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer, one of his models out of wax that he created later in life as his eyesight waned. There were many of Degas' ballet images in the Met, 149 total works including a variety of other subjects.

Stone Mountain Bike Path

This past weekend I entertained children at the Mariott resort for Cystinosis Research Network Conference in Stone Mountain park. I am so glad I did because on my way I passed so many bikers. The path to Stone Mountain looks amazing.

To see exact directions click on the Path site. The bike ride starts at the Martin Luther King center and is 17 miles one-way to Stone Mountain Park; 14 miles are on a wide 2-way, paved trail, off-road. The other 3 miles are on the street.

Once you reach Stone Mountain there is a nice bike path around the mountain. And, it is free to ride into Stone Mountain on a bike. For a map of Stone Mountain Park click here. A friend told me it was 6 miles around the mountain. I will check.

I didn't have my camera, but the mountain looked pictorial. Next time!

Photography Assignment

Finished up a journalism camp last week. The kids created a neat paper with lots of information about Roswell in it. I'm hoping the campers will check out my blog and be surprised to find a new photography assignment waiting for them--

Go in your backyard and find something textured in a little bit of sun. Take the shot at 5 PM, 6 PM, 7 PM and 8 PM. (Perhaps a Crepe Myrtle or Magnolia.) How different do the photographs look?

Here is my Christmas Crepe that I was searching for. As you remember these are complementary colors.

Plant Id

Please teach your children to identify a few plants. I distinctly remember the day my little four year old pointed out the window of our home and said, "Look there is a red blue-jay." So, we taught him a new word "cardinal." But you'll get my point, he did not call it a red bird.

I have the pleasure of teaching children in my photography camps, the names of many flowering plants. Right now the crepe mrytle are in full bloom in Marietta, Georgia. Teach your children that the flowering trees, trimmed by many gardeners, are crepe mrytle. This is easy to quiz them on right now... ask them the name on every street in all the pink, purple and white varities as you drive by. To the left is the whole tree for identification. To the right, is my art version.

The reason I bring this up, is I do not know the id of this plant. I so like to name my photographs by their names to help teach... can you help me out?

Thanks.

Home Sweet Home

Mileage 222
TOTAL Road Trip mileage 2884.4

Back home and washing clothes. I think I fell asleep at 10 last night I was so tired. All together we drove 2884 miles. But it is a great way to gain perspective about our country. A large extended family of blue jays have moved in while we were gone. Other than that all is the same. Except that I have three new bumper stickers.

Two canoers pictured "Nickerson State Park Cape Cod" because this was my favorite place.
A Life is Good biker dude to replace my faded life is good bumper sticker.
And a "Basketball is where we live -- Life is just a place where we spend time between games" to support my oldest who loves playing basketball and roots for the Celtics, purchased at the NBA Hall of Fame in Springfield Massachussetts.

I have started adding photographs from my trip to Etsy and will add a couple other products, so take a look. I will be posting here too. http://www.magmoment.etsy.com

Back to Tennessee

Mileage 276

Like Billy Ray Cyrus sings we made our way back to Tennessee today.This song is in The Hanna Montana Movie, which I saw twice when Disney released it.I viewed it two times because I wanted all of my children to see the film. It is a great show about the importance of family, love, visiting relatives, decisions, priorities and career. Hanna had to make decisions in the show about what was really important.

Everytime I see her and am reminded that it is also amazing that she is so successful at 16. This is a lesson for both children and adults. Hanna/Miley has a huge impact with her clean, fun songs and TV show. Take a listen and buy her movie when it is released on DVD.

The Clinch river is moving, and I found a new spot to photograph, which is above. At Grandma and Grandpa's we saw many rabbits, cows, a beaver, a heron, blue birds, swallows and
at least five cats.

Ride to Roanoke with Scat by Carl Hiassen

Mileage 449.5

It was our longest drive today, but we are ready to get back home. The view of the mountains today was peaceful. Lots of farms. In fact there were so many I wondered if they had very much land. They seem to be almost on top of each other; farm houses and silos within a short distance of each other.

We stopped at Costco before we left Staton Island and I was once again reminded of my idea, which Costco can't do. They just can't have an express lane. It just misses the point of Costco. But for SD cards, it is worth standing in line. I bought two - 4GB SD SanDisk cards for $34 total plus tax.

Can't wait to photograph the farm tomorrow. We will see how my favorite tree looks in the summer minus a huge branch that fell this past winter. On the way we might be able to finish Scat, the latest book by Carl Hiaasen. We really enjoyed his other two books, Hoot and Flush. Hoot was made into an enjoyable movie. All of these stories about taking care of our environment and children and adults who make extra steps to correct wrongs.

Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and the Mets

We had a wonderful day in NYC! We rode the 30 minute ferry into the city from Staton Island. A photographer's viewpoint for sure. We learned uptown and downtown quickly. We saw the numbered subways travel north to south and the alphabet travels east/west. We also learned that not all trains on the route stop at all the stops. Lots of success.

I loved the VanGogh, Monet and Degas works in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My youngest immediately recognized Monet's bridge because of a Monet art class he took at the Abernathy Arts Center two summers ago. The children wanted to visit the Museum because we listened to The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler another summer. E.L. Konigsburg received the Newbery Medal for this book. The story is about two children who camp out in the museum, explore its art and unravel a mystery. The Met has an issue of MuseumKids devoted to the Mixed-Up Files; ask for it and read the book if you attend.

We enjoyed the Mets game with all the tradition of the National Anthem and also the 7th inning stretch. The Mets played the Dodgers at Citifield, which was easily reached via the subway. Here is an image from the game, which happened to be Manny's first game in New York since being reinstated.

NYC via National Basketball Hall of Fame Springfield, MA

Mileage 350

I took a few photos as we left Nickerson State Park today. This is a photo of the pond near our campsite in area 1.

The Cape Cod Rail Trail (CCRT) was amazing. There are times it crosses streets (road Xing), but it was really beautiful with scenic overlooks. Here is a shot below.

We stopped at the National Basketball Hall of Fame. It was a nice exhibit and a large store (which needed a little more merchandise) and some fun games for the kids. It wasn't crowded, so we got to do some activities more than once. All of the employees were very professional. I appreciated the positive spin on all the coaches and players.

We definitely drove through the city again. I thought I would stay in Staton Island, so I wouldn't have to drive through New York. We will be riding the ferry to Manhatten tomorrow.

Provincetown, Massachusetts

Sunday

Mileage 17

Bike Mileage 15.4

Provincetown is located at the "fingertips" of the arm hook of Massachusetts. Here is a shot of the town from the beach. We are driving to Nickerson State park, which is 17 miles from our hotel in Dennisport to camp for a night. This park has a nice bike path. I don't think we will have internet today, so I am uploading two photos from earlier.

Hydranga is one of my favorite flowering bushes. Hydranga is abundant here on the Cape. The bushes are old and larger than any I have seen. These must have been trimmed because the large blooms are all sticking out like bobbing boats or a sea of people.