Food photography

from Lara Robby Photography

One of the projects Christie & I are planning together is a cookbook. Her in-laws are phenomenal cooks so we're going to take their recipe's and combine them w/ some of my food photography & voila! Cookbook magic :) I've been researching food photography and came up with some photographers that I LOVE! Check out Lara Robby's Photography at http://lararobby.com/1food.html

Sneak Peek

Thought I'd share some "before" pics of the boxes I mentioned in my 'New Desk' post. These are the pieces of wood I'm going to upcycle into a new work desk for my studio. They were actually pretty easy to take apart-surprising with the amount of rust on the bolts! I have a few design ideas for the table but have yet to pin one down. Right now I'm going to use the spray painted side boards for the top surface, some of the bottom boards as side panels, & the steel pieces to anchor the legs to the table top. Doesn't make sense? Stay posted for some "in progress" & "after" pics!

I still love the idea of having a one of a kind desk built from old wood, which was part of the burgeoning community in which I live and work. It's kind of like taking a part of history bringing it into your own life & lifestyle. I can't wait to have it finished! :)

Btw: found this site today-LOVE the photography! http://www.noa-noa.dk/

Start and stop, start and stop

Geez, you'd think with all the millions of ideas running through my brain I could pick one of those things to write about. Nope. Start, stop ,delete is what I'm doing. Maybe it's the humid weather that we're finally getting here in West Michigan.

Family seems to be a topic I've been dealing with lately. So my grandparents are having their 50th Wedding Anniversary this year and they want to have an updated extended family picture (thank goodness, the last one was in 1995 or something). So we've been toying around with different ideas, some standard white and khaki, but I was reading one of my many blogs the other day and came across this idea:

(photo from: http://lifeisallaround.typepad.com/)

I found out from her post that they used teal, navy and white top with jean or khaki bottoms. I love the look of this picture as it breaks up everyone with pops of color, not overbearing and they don't look like a generic family. Along with the different color scheme, she made it look a bit vintage with a little help from Photoshop I'm sure. Now to convince 27 other people that this is the way to go..... I still have a couple months. :)

Bringing it closer to home, we're trying to make some adjustments in our unexpectedly growing family. I found this bed idea for our daughter Anna (on http://www.designspongeonline.com/) that 1: my husband really liked a lot, 2: it works with our multipurposed theme we're trying to do throughout our house with the chalkboard back which could be anything and storage/dresser under the bed and 3: it's super cute and we could probably make it (with a little help from dad I'm sure)!

This also reminds me the bed I had made when I was in college for my summer stays with the parents. Because I wasn't home much anymore, I had switch with my brother from my huge room to a tiny room. It had 4 drawers underneath my bed so I didn't have to fit a dresser in there. It worked out well and now my brother, after using it for quite a few years himself, is passing it off to some cousins that need it and will fit on it. :)

Personally, I'm working on a few ongoing projects at home. Nothing as cool as what Jenn's been up to, but I'm repainting a childrens bench (the one with the wrought iron sides and wood slats) a bright yellow to add to our newly landscaped front yard. I'm also hoping to pick up some flower pots this weekend, repaint them the same yellow and place them on our front steps. As yellow seems to be my theme this spring, I'm hoping to repaint our main floor bath a #2 pencil yellow and use an Etsy purchase and other items I'm repurposing for this "remodel" job. I'll post pictures upon completion (don't hold your breath)!

Have a happy, hot and humid weekend b/c we are!

New Desk

I've been getting more and more into recycle, reuse, and upcycling these days. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upcycle) Most of the time I recycle because I'm financially limited, but I think being creative about old things-furniture especially, can lead to really creative cool pieces that are one of a kind & better for the environment. Here's a pic, sorry no before image :( I forgot, of a desk I acquired from my Grandma. I re-painted it a la Pottery Barn, using a semi-gloss Behr paint from Home Depot & the original hardware. Before it's green make over it was a worn brown stain & some of the drawers had chipped veneer's. I sanded it down before I painted, took off the chipped veneer, & filled cracks w/ wood putty. The whole project cost about $20, was really easy, & one of my sisters actually commented that it "looked right out of Pottery Barn!" :)


The next project I'm working on is a work table for my studio. I'm using re-claimed wood from some factory boxes that were out on the curb for free! Is there any other way? ;) I'll post pics of the progress so we can see the before & after of my upcycled worktable!

Journals!

One of my stuffed journals :)

"To lose a passport was the least of one's worries. To lose a notebook was a catastrophe." -Bruce Chatwin

I attended a virtual lab on book binding last night on Etsy, and one of the presenters had this quote on the inside of one of their journals. I think it's perfect in defining my attitude toward journaling/sketchbooks.

I started really journaling when I was a high schooler & the majority of the pages were filled with teenage angst. What a world! hehehe. Now days I keep a journal handy for any snippets of inspiration I need to put down on a page before I forget them. I use them as records for photographic information, for example exposure settings I used for a certain frame. I also tend to dedicate entire journals to projects I'm working on. I put all sketches, ideas, polaroids, information, and literature into the journal so I can quickly reference anything I need to bring a concept to fruition.


I am definitly a person you could define as someone w/ a wander lust, and I travel as much as I can afford. When I am on a trip I'm addicted to writing in my journal. I love taking some time at the end of my busy adventure filled day just to write down what was going on during the day, do some sketching, write down some ideas to test when I get home, and paste in some photos. The journal to the below features time I spent in New Mexico, Utah, & Colorado. I really feel like journals can be finished pieces of art, & I have scanned journal entries, sized them up, & used them as full size images. But my journals have been primarily totable records for myself, little individuals treasure troves that I can go back to years later and see what I was thinking & where I was.

Journals are also places where I can write, draw, paint, and explore without edit. I don't have to worry about who's going to see it (b/c usually I'm the only one), I don't have to worry if the image I've pasted in is perfectly cropped, color corrected, and ready to print. I can freely put down ideas & don't have that little voice in my head that asks "Is this right? Is this too out there?" Although most of the time I try not to worry about the answer to either of those-try being the operative word. One of my favorite sketches is the sketch I drew of my hand. I was sitting out on an old wooden porch attached to an adobe art studio in Magdelena New Mexico. The group was being led through a discussion about how to do Modified Countour Drawing. I was so intent and focused on creating the likeness of my hand that I zoned out the teacher! When I came back to real life the class had moved on and I had this lovely drawing. :)

I happened upon a whole collection of featured sketchbook artists on one of the websites we mentioned in our "Favorites" list: Book By Its Cover http://www.book-by-its-cover.com/category/sketchbooks/. There's a whole archive of artists who've been kind enough to open their journals to all the artsy people of the web. Very inspiring!! I love how each journal is so different yet very alike in their goals. Beautiful beautiful work.

Inspiration Wall

So this weekend I took a crack at creating an "inspiration wall" which I've seen on several blogs. Basically you hang up whatever's inspiring you at the moment. For instance, I've hung up magazine articles, pics, my polaroids, a card, a cool compass printed on the hot sleeve of a Starbucks cup. The list can be endless! They're pretty easy to make: twine (or whatever string is inspiring to you), a few nails, some binder clips, and a level. I've seen other blogs that used bull dog clips, which look really great too. When I was at Staples buying the binder clips, I noticed they have tons of different clips to choose from, or you could customize the binder clips w/ contact paper or anything else you can think of.


I really like how this isn't a concrete/permanent wall hanging. You can change/add/ subtract anything at your own pace. Once I stood back & took a look at the wall I noticed how collaged, organic, and textural it had become. I think the wall really reflects my work and working style. I couldn't have it perfectly aligned or unlayered, as I find things w/ too much neatness sometimes a little intimidating.

I love having all these little inspirations hanging in my workspace! It gets me in the creative mood, and I think it also can give you a starting point to work from if you're "stuck". For me the simplest combinations, like the bright blues and yellows, could inspire my color pallette for the next print design or photo collection. Yay for inspiration!!