Fall Leaves

Fallen Leaves, watercolor, 10 x 6 inches

I've had fall leaves on my mind since, well, fall. So I decided to do a little experimenting with watercolor techniques and a fall leaves theme. I had fun with this and I like how it turned out. What more could you ask for?

SF: Travels

This week's topic for Friday January 12th suggested by Hanne: TRAVELS!

"Travelling is a wonderful possibility to open for new inspiration and ideas. I´ll say it´s actually one of the greatest advantages to travelling!

A lot of new impressions and probably also new materials to bring home for future artwork. Maybe new friends - who knows? Anyway, I thought it could be very interesting to know where other bloggers travel. And if you don´t travel right now because of limited econonomy or other restrictions - I think we always travell in our mind: dreaming of somewhere in the countryside - or maybe a big city loaded with museums, galleries and flea markeds for new "input" for our studios and art."
~ Hanne

The first place I thought about when I read this week's topic was our trip to the Grand Canyon in Arizona year before last. Pictures just can't express that feeling you get when you first see it in person. Miles of ordinary desert landscape suddenly drop away into an immense canyon. I've gotten more inspiration from the Grand Canyon and its history than any other place I've visited.

When a major trip isn't possible, though I like to visit a museum.

See more Studio Friday here.

Studio Friday: Changing Names

This week's topic for Friday January 5th suggested by Susan: CHANGING NAMES...

"I've been reading Twyla Tharp's book The Creative Habit and here's an idea from her book - " the ancient masters of Japanese art were allowed to change their name once in their lifetime. They had to be very selective about the moment in their career when they did so. They would stick with their given name until they felt they had become the artist they aspired to; at that point, they were allowed to change their name. For the rest of their life, they would work under the new name at the height of their powers." So let's presume we are at the height of our careers - what name would you choose and why? "
~ Susan

This is interesting. I am currently reading this book and I just finished this section. (It's a good book, by the way.) When my mom named me, she wanted me to have a different name. As a kid, though, I hated my name. It didn't help that at the start of school every year, I was always on the boys list instead of the girls list. My middle name just added to the confusion. I would spend countless hours thinking up new and "better" names. One of those names was Gloria. In my mind, I was Gloria for about a year. It seemed the complete opposite of my given name. But as time went on, I started to like my name. I liked the fact that it was different. I didn't mind the gender confusion. Now my name seems like a part of who I am, or maybe I am who I am because of my name. At one time I volunteered on a crisis line and I chose an alternate name for privacy reasons. It never did feel like it fit me. So while I can fully understand why someone would want to change their name, I'm happy with mine now.

Read more Studio Friday here.