Yea! Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap is Back!!!

Wow, it has been a over a month since I shared any news with you and I apologize for the lapse in time. Today I'm stopping by to share with you the news that the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap is back for 2012!

I am beyond excited about this and can't wait to begin sorting through the many shots I have taken this year to choose the art I will set free and share with the many participants.

For those unfamiliar, the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap comes from the creative treasure trove of photographer, blogger and instructor Kat Sloma. Kat is such an inspiration to photogs around the globe, with her inspiring courses and her true belief that what each of us creates is a form of art, and that we must embrace it and share it with the universe.

I'm feeling pretty good about some of the shots I will be able to share this year because I can definitely see growth in my work.

To learn more about the Swap, click here and join the fun - It is Liberating!

Samples of the Art I received last year.

My Creative Story

As I peel back the layers and expose my creativity in Kim Klassen's Beyond Layers class one of the challenges or prompts is to tell my creative story. This was our first prompt last week, but it has taken me almost a week to conceptualize this story and sit here to share it with you.

I hope you'll grab a nice cup of your favorite beverage and take this journey with me.

As a youngster I did my fair share of coloring, but I was not one prone to start an art project - give me a book and I would be lost for hours. One of my favorite photos of me as a child is of me lying on the floor with my legs bent at the knee with a book in front of me. At first glance you see a child reading, but if you inspect that photo closely you will find I have fallen asleep!

Now my Mom was one to have you involved in several activities and having studied Early Childhood Education she also had many projects for us that included painting and creating. I eagerly joined in, but I can't say I was pleased with the outcome so I concluded art was not for me.

Early on I did have fascination with cameras and even had a Kodak Instamatic that I used to capture early memories. This would be the closest I came to being creative - or so that's what I thought at the time. I'm not sure if it was my efforts to emulate my Dad or an early notion of recording history, but photography planted itself in my life and has since become a fixture. By the time I was about 13 or 14 my parents gave me my first and only 35mm Nikon FG that I still own and use from time to time today.

As a voracious reader it would naturally follow that I would love the written word and follow some sort of literary path. My path was not literary, but journalistic. I'm not sure when, but I was fascinated with the news and newspapers specifically. So I took all the English classes offered in school including AP and studied journalism in college. While seeking out English classes I avoided Art classes if at all possible. Unfortunately, I came up during a time when Art and Music were still a part of the curriculum so I really didn't have a choice. I toiled through the assignments and my Mom even displayed my art.

Creative - not me. As a journalist with a weekly newspaper I used my camera to help tell my stories, and to document family events and my travels. I never looked at this as being creative. Over the years I learned how to do page layout and design at the newspaper, which I used later to create computer generated cards and invitations - creative, not me.

I didn't take to crafts either. My Mom and sister loved crafts from needle point to sewing and finally knitting - not me. When my Mom took up knitting she and my sister tried to get me to join but my response was "I have two left thumbs." I did give it a half-heart try, but to no avail. Then a few years later my sister announced she was pregnant with her first child and I decided I would try knitting again. I knit a cute, but imperfect blanket for my niece and I was hooked. Creative - not me.

About a year later when I was planning my wedding I created the invitations and a friend of my Dad's - a tenured Art Professor and Artist received the invitation and was so impressed he framed my "artwork" and gave it to me. Creative - maybe I am.

My framed "Art" Wedding Invitation

Since that time I have taken up card making, I knit regularly and I have created wedding invitations for a few people. I have also taken up photography again. Today I still struggle with the designation of "Creative" but I'm working on accepting the "Creative" in me with Beyond Layers and renewed confidence.

Wrist Warmers I knit for a friend.

As I close I want to give a shout out to my "Cyber" friends! Over the past year I have met many women who have offered a wealth of advice for free, but more importantly have given me and many others the confidence needed to continue honing our skills. Also, the many participants in e-classes who have offered their kind words when viewing my work - it gives me hope and inspiration! The ladies I speak of include but are not limited to Shutter Sisters, Karen "Chookooloonks" Walrond, Kim Klassen, Kat Sloma, and Big Picture Classes.

The Task of Choosing Favs

Over the last several days I have been tasked with choosing favorite photos I have taken and choosing my best or favorite shot from the Worldwide Photo Walk, which has proven to be a challenge.

The first challenge came as a result of my enrollment in Finding Your Eye, and eCourse offered by Kat over at  Kat Eye View. In order to home in on what your eye gravitates to and enjoys you were asked to go through your photos and develop a "favorites" file. The problem with this task is going through ALL those photos! Boy have I taken a ton of photos over the last year, and that doesn't even account for the many photos I've taken prior to this time - sheesh I am exhausted just thinking about it.

I really believe before even tackling that task that my favorites are people photos. I really enjoy capturing the spirit of a moment, the feelings that they are portraying. Now recently I have also become enamored with urban/city views. Really this boils down to seeing the world around me in a different light and seeing things for the first time.

For example I initially chose this picture to enter into the WWPW photo contest - a contest I must say that I'm not really familiar with, but this is my year of taking a leap of faith so enter I will. I chose this particular picture because I thought it was a good find and because it illustrates the resiliency of this tree which is very similar to the strength of Cleveland and its residents. We may suffer, fall down and reach the brink but in the end there is a seed of hope that is planted giving us the ability to strive and survive even during the bleakest time.

Really - have you ever seen anything like this?

After some thought and consideration I decided to change my photo to one that has more photographic feet so to speak. It has color, reflection and a feeling of art.

Reflections

Do you feel my pain? Well not pain really, but choices are difficult. Hope you enjoyed!

Link Love

As I attempt to formulate my thoughts into cohesive thoughts I thought I would share some link love! The links below are some of the sites I regularly follow..places where I find inspiration and just some great information. I hope you learn something new, or meet a new webfriend!

Chookooloonks - Written by Karen Walrond of Houston, TX. This is a wonderful blog both for the fabulous images and the wonderful stories she shares. Currently traveling in Kenya with The One Campaign, her travelogue will move you to action!

The Kat Eye View of The World - Written by Kat Sloma of Corvalis, Oregon. Looking for photography tips or inspiration! Well this is definitely a place to start! Kat is the brains behind the Liberate Your Art Swap I recently participated in. Check her out!

Tayari Jones/Author of Silver Sparrow - The name says it all. This is the blog of author Tayari Jones and currently she is keeping readers abreast of all things Silver Sparrow, but when not promoting she offers a wealth of good information on writing, publishing and great reading! If you're a bookie as I am it's a must!

If you're looking for varying views on the world, family or just about anything in between then check out Vision and Verb a collaborative site written by women from all over the world. These women also share some great photos with wonderful in sight and wisdom!

White Readers Meet Black Authors - Looking for something to read, stop here first! Author Carleen Brice started this site and seeks to encourage an open minded look at some of the great material written by authors of color. Check out her site as well here. Currently she's releasing a chapter a month of her new work for .99.

Photo Inspiration can be found regularly at Shutter Sisters!

If you're looking for groundedness and creative inspiration try going to Summer Camp! Find details here.

Enjoy!

Liberate Your Art...Join The Kat Eye View Postcard Art Swap Today

I have decided to take a leap of faith - faith in myself and my abilities and participate in Kat Sloma's Postcard Art Swap.  So why a leap of faith? It is a leap because, I like so many others suffer from self-doubt from time to time and often  I don't see the beauty in the work I produce.

In an effort to alleviate this doubt I have participated in a number of online classes and workshops aimed at helping artists find their passion, practice their craft and just find the beauty in the world around you. Most of these sessions have been at Big Picture Classes Online, and that is where I first met Kat.

I was drawn to Kat's site after she posted a link for capturing the moon in one of our class forums. After browsing through her site I was hooked and added her to my daily feed. When she first advertised the Swap I just sort of looked at the post and thought 'that's cool', but I never thought of doing it myself. After a few weeks I toyed with the idea and finally I said I would give it a try. In other words I would have faith in ME!

So if you are an artist in just about any medium, you should take a look at this site and liberate your art. Briefly, what you will do is create five postcards send them to Kat who will then prepare them to be sent to five people around the world. You in turn will receive the art of others. Doesn't that sound like fun?!
I would really enjoy seeing some stampers, scrappers and card makers join the Swap!

If you missed the link above, click here to join the fun! Don't wait - the deadline is this Friday, June 4th!