52 Weeks of 2014: Week 4 - Transport.

A couple of my friends had posted on Facebook recently about their children participating in pinewood derbies, which led me to dig out the car that Mark made when he was in Boy Scouts.

Next week's theme is another "take a photo of a stranger" type thing. After last year, I'm weary of taking photos that I don't want to take, and since I don't see myself as ever being that type of photographer, I don't look at it as a growing experience either. I may just skip it and substitute my own theme here next week.

Also, I back filled all my sketchbook journal entries from the last three weeks. So if you scroll back through the blog, you'll see them throughout the month of January. I'm still working on this week's, so I'll probably be posting them a week behind going forward.

2014 Sketch Journal - Week 3

In comparison to week 2, this was a pretty laid back week, so here's a pretty laid back layout. Now that I'm getting better at the drawing part, I need to figure out a way to incorporate ephemera into my pages. I also have some cute stamps and washi tape that I'd like to get in the mix. Maybe I'll make that a goal for week 4.

52 Weeks of 2014 Week 3: - Rule of Thirds

Another week with a wide open topic, and I still had difficulty coming up with something. I hope I can shake this off soon.

Last month, Lauren had to do a book report on a biography. She chose Neil Armstrong. The assignment included a paper bag. She had to place inside the bag three objects that were meaningful to the life of the person. Neil Armstrong was inspired to become a pilot because as boy he was fascinated by airplanes. Eventually, he joined the Navy and flew planes similar to this one. The other two objects were astronaut food (freeze dried chocolate chip ice cream) and a miniature wind-up moon rover.





Some bonus photos from today - how funny is this odd couple? We're very lucky that are pets get along so well. Sure, Kitty Coconut likes to give Marcus a good smack now an then, but that's only when he gets into her personal space.

I also finally caught up on my sketch journal, but I'm still debating whether I should back fill the prior week's pages here.

It's a three day weekend for Mark and I, so hopefully I can use the extra day to be more productive on the photography front. Lauren has to go to school tomorrow because it's a make-up day from the teacher's strike. She is sitting next to me as I type this and has insisted that I clarify that we will be authorizing her early dismissal.

2014 Sketch Journal - Week 2

When I was considering starting a journal, the thought had occurred to me that I was going to have to document a bad day at some point and how I would go about doing that. Little did I know that I was going to have tackle that problem so soon, and it wouldn't just be a day, but a whole week!

This layout was inspired by a card that my cousin Noreen had to sent me years ago. Photographing people is not my strength, and neither is drawing people. I *slaved* over Wonder Woman. I also came to the realization that I'm in desperate need of a flesh colored pencil. I ended up using a couple of Lauren's crayons, which unfortunately mixed with the graphite. The layout is much more dynamic than last week's, so I think I'm getting the hang of it!

52 Weeks of 2014 Week 2: - Square

I was so optimistic and excited about the new year, getting started on new projects and making changes, but this week just completely crushed my enthusiasm.  It was extremely stressful, all related to work and outside activities, and I will just leave it at that.

So now I'm in a funk. This week's theme was completely open, and you could take a photo of just about anything as long as it was cropped square. I still couldn't come up with anything. Today we went to a music store to pick up a small amp for the electric guitar that Lauren got for Christmas. They had hundreds of guitars on display, so I just snapped a quick picture with my phone. I spent all evening trying to come up with something better, but my mind is a creative void right now.

I also didn't get a chance to work on my sketch diary this week. I almost finished the pages for the first week -  I just haven't had a chance to post them. At first, I was at a loss about how I was going to depict this week, but then I thought of something perfect. So maybe things are looking up after all.

2014 Sketch Journal - Week 1

Here's my very first attempt at sketchbook journaling. Since I'm new to this, I've been heavily inspired by the style of Jenny Firth of Jenny's Sketchbook. She is so amazingly talented. I could just burst with happiness everytime I look at her artwork. I can only dream that my art could have that same effect on someone.

Anyway, hopefully once I get the hang of things I can develop my own style. I have to admit that several time during my first and second attempts at this, I wanted to chuck it altogether. I wasn't completely satisfied with how these pages turned out, but part of the point of this is to get over my perfectionist tendencies and just do it, because if there's one thing that photography has taught me is that you have to actually do in order to get better. Part of the problem was I didn't plan out my layout. I plan my photographs, so I have to learn to apply that to sketching. I do like how the confetti running up the side of the page turned out.

A couple of notes about supplies - I chose a 5.5 x 8 inch Strathmore Visual Journal in mixed media / vellum finish. The size is perfect, but I'm not wild about the spiral. It's not enough pages to last the whole year, so once I finish it, I'll decide if I want to switch to another type. Also, I picked up a 24 set of Koh-I-Noor Mondeluz Aquarelles Watercolor Pencils which I just *love.* I'm still figuring out how to use them, but I already wish I bought the complete set of 72.

52 Weeks of 2014 Week 1: - Out with the old

Took a break this week from photography. On Thursday, our first day back to work and school, it was very strange not to have to go work on something photography related after dinner was cleaned up. Strange but nice.

Until today, I wasn't feeling motivated to shoot. Not only was I not feeling motivated, I couldn't think of anything to shoot. So my first entry into this week's project is sort of underwhelming. This kind of photo has kind of become my bread and butter, so to speak, and if I have a photography resolution, it's to do less of this and more "moments." We'll see.

This wasn't even my first photo of 2014. This one was:



And I like it much better. :)