3D inspiration

This week, I've found inspiration lying underneath this canopy of trees in our front yard -

I love how it's 10 degrees cooler in the shade and how the branches and leaves and light intersect to create interesting patterns.  I found these feathers on the ground.  The way their color goes from white to gray to blue reminds me of a blue ombre dress I once tried on.  It was a very simple shape with beautiful color.  I wish I could find some of that fabric now.

Lately, I have also been intrigued by clothes with different shapes and details like the clothes made by Renske Solkesz as shown on her blog.  She spent a year making her own clothes, so I feel a little bond with her.  Her clothes are interesting without being flashy.  She talks about using 3 dimensional elements in her design, so I thought about her when I saw this piece of bark -

It looks like a sculpture to me.  It comes from this tree whose bark is continually peeling off.  I don't know if that is OK for the tree or not, but it is really pretty -

I have a few "normal" looking projects in the pipeline, but after that, I'll see if I can come up with something more creative...

Inspired by dancers

I have watched a lot of dancing this week.  My daughter's recital was this week as well as a friend's.  I have decided that I enjoy watching amateurs better than professionals.  When you are watching an amateur, you can still see all of the hard work and the ideas.  It is great but not yet effortless.  It is inspiring but still attainable.  It makes you feel like you can work really hard and be good at something, too.

Here's my little ballerina, who is totally inspired by the older dancers -

I'm a little old to be a great dancer, so I'm going to go work on my sewing.

Retrospective

I thought I would spend this month cleaning out closets and re-purposing and recycling items.  I started off well.  Before giving away a huge box of clothing, I pulled out one of my husband's suit jackets to turn into a vest for myself.  But I was slowed down by the padding, the lining, and the pockets...and then I quit.   I did buy a Diane von Furstenberg dress from a consignment store.  That's recycling other people's clothing - right?

I was so inspired by the art at the museum and elsewhere (which I will show you later this week), that I've been working on several art projects.  I was also inspired by my inability to find pants that fit to attempt to make a pair of pants.  So far, the process has been pretty funny.  Maybe I shouldn't have started with a pattern that included in the "skills list" - "you need to be able to assemble and apply angled pockets and construct a fly front opening with a zipper."  I've realized the reason I like photography better than sewing is that if you mess up in photography, you don't have to spend 30 minutes taking out the stitches. 

My inspiration for today comes from nature that I saw at the museum.  I think the bark on this tree looks like an abstract painting -

And the sun that day was just gorgeous and bright -



I will keep you posted on my pants and art projects, and I will definitely show you the DVF dress soon. 

My faith project





My blog flows out of my real life, and I never know what I'm going to write about from week to week.  For someone who is performance oriented, that is a little scary.  Some days I sit down at my computer and say, "I've got nothing."  Then other weeks (like last week), I have more material than I can process.  Having such a public forum for my "performance" strikes at my identity of "I am what I do".  It turns my blog into a huge faith project. 

Every day I ask God, "What am I supposed to write on my blog today."  Sometimes it's nothing.  Other times, I feel like he moves mountains in order to get me great photos - like sending me to New York.  My husband's trip with college friends just "happened" to get canceled long enough for us to decide I had time to visit my friend Elizabeth in New York.  Elizabeth and I just "happened" to settle on the weekend of September 9, and it just "happened" to be the beginning of Fashion Week.  Then, Greg's trip was back on thus causing extra pressure on his work schedule.  My mom and dad just "happened" to volunteer to babysit my children on Friday.  And a friend just "happened" to mention 3 times at church that she likes to babysit, so she came on Thursday afternoon. 

After all of this "mountain moving" and the best photos of my life, I received mainly unenthusiastic responses.  Not what I expected.  I like your honesty, because it keeps me balanced.  But all of this did bring up the question in my mind - "How much of what I do is for applause and how much is to honor God?"  I'm still pondering that thought.  I want my blog to be helpful and inspiring to others, and I have to balance that with the expression of my personality. 

I am always inspired by people who persevered in what they felt they were created do in spite of years of obstacles.  Maud Montgomery, author of the Anne of Green Gables series, was one of those people.  Here are excerpts from her autobiography The Alpine Path (written "to encourage some other toiler who is struggling along in the weary pathway I once followed to success") -

"Well, my book was finally written.  The next thing was to find a publisher...they all sent it back...That finished me.  I put Anne in an old hat-box in the clothes room...The manuscript lay in the hatbox until I came across it one winter day while rummaging...It didn't seem so bad. 'I'll try once more,' I thought.  The result was that a couple of months later...my book had been accepted.  I wrote [in my journal]: 'The book may or may not succeed.  I wrote it for love, not money, but very often such books are the most successful, just as everything in the world that is born of true love has life in it, as nothing constructed for mercenary ends can ever have."



Civil War memorial





* All photos were taken in Riverside Park in New York City on 9/11/11.

Street Photography at the Museum

Last week, I took my daughters to the High Museum of Atlanta to see the Henri Cartier-Bresson photography exhibit. 




I told them to "go stand by that sign".  They took me quite literally. 


Once again, I cannot show you pictures of the actual exhibit, but I can inspire you with it.  Henri Cartier-Bresson was one of the first "street photographers".  He not only was an artistic photojournalist during periods of great change (WWII, Communist takeover of China, Gandhi's funeral), but also captured amazing portraits of significant individuals such as Coco Chanel, Henri Matisse, and Truman Capote.

I usually talk to people before I take their picture, but in honor of the Henri Cartier-Bresson, I took some candid photos of people at and around the museum.  Many of them were taken through a window, so I felt very "Rear Window" about the whole process.

Cute wedges.

I really like her whole outfit.  If you look closely, you can see how she accessorized with a multi-colored headband (which I don't see very often) and red sunglasses -

I love it that I got caught on this one -

And almost got caught on this one -

I really like her black tennis shoes.  I am going to add those to my list of comfy shoes to try.

I like the simplicity of the navy dress and the suede tote bag.  I have been considering buying a wide brimmed hat for the summer, because I really hate to wear sunscreen on my face.  Do you think I could pull this off?

Come back tomorrow to see a few more shots...

Inspiration from food

I decided to really challenge myself.  Today, I am inspired by food -



Chocolate truffle pie as featured in Bon Appetit*





You can be inspired by anything!  I had to end the post with a bite of real food -

* I would have posted the recipe except for the fact that it seemed unnecessarily difficult.  If you feel a strong urge to bake a truffle pie right now, let me know and I will send you a delicious (and simpler) recipe.


Photo credits for this post go to my father.

Growing into our dreams




As I grow older, I am inspired by people who create something significant later in life.  I had no idea until recently that Laura Ingalls Wilder (author of the "Little House" book series) falls into that category.  Hours and hours of my childhood were spent pretending to be Laura from the "Little House on the Prairie" television show.

Laura Ingalls Wilder was born in 1867 and spent her early adulthood raising her daughter and helping her husband on their farm.  She published her first magazine article in the Missouri Ruralist at the age of 44.  Almost 20 years later, she submitted her first book to publishers.  It was rejected.  After making significant adjustments to the book, Little House in the Big Woods was published in 1932.  Mrs. Wilder was 65!

"Laura felt a warmth inside her.  It was very small, but it was strong.  It was steady, like a tiny light in the dark, and it burned very low but no winds would make it flicker because it would not give up."
         - Excerpt from The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder