Silhouettes And Little Gem Moments

Finding joy in our life journey can be as simple as appreciating when the sunshine makes a shadow of our face on the wall. It's moments like this I'm thankful for these days.

In one of the rare moments of the past few months in Seattle, the sun shone in the morning. As the rays of light burst through the window, I saw this silhouette and snapped a photo. Visually, I decided it would make a more interesting pattern in a 9-square grid.

As I gaze at the image above, it brings self-reflection. I love to observe, and this sparks my curiosity to learn. Researching and following threads of information bring a nonstop, colorful river of imagery and ideas into my imagination.

After taking the above silhouette photo, I saw this magnificent bald eagle enjoying the sunrise. With the zoom capabilities on my iPhone camera, I could enlarge the image so the eagle was visible amongst the misty, distant landscape. Over all my years of creating, I realized that a bald eagle has never been a design element in any of my art.

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Here’s an interesting fact to share with you today. President Biden declared the bald eagle the United States national bird on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2024. It has taken 250 years for this to happen.

Daily walks are critical for my mental and physical health and offer me great creative brainstorming moments. I walk by this tree regularly, and every time, I imagine a friendly character popping up to say hello.

Here’s a short animation, and I hope it sparks your imagination the next time you see an opening in a tree on your walk.

Creating this animation, I realized how much joy it brings to my creativity. You’ll see one of these or a stop motion in almost every newsletter. My skills are improving, and I will share more of the learning process with you. Let’s have some FUN, and I hope these bring a smile to your inbox.

Paintings in Progress On My Studio Wall

Sitting in the morning having breakfast, I look at a white wall full of paintings in progress. These are not pieces I work on regularly, and they quietly await their turn to be finished.

Sometimes, there is a creative game that I play with myself to see if one is ready for change. I dab a few random color blobs to see if they spark a new direction. If I feel bold, I use white gesso with a big brush to block out a large section of my painted canvas and shake up the composition. Today is a blobby day, but it’s only noon, so a couple more dabs may shift that momentum.

This painting shown below frankly irritates me! It needs to move on.

Elephant Painting Phase One

At first, the elephant was working with the yellow background, but then it was not!

Elephant Painting Phase Two

I thought adding the red would add exciting energy, but instead, it made me want to scrap the elephant.

Goodbye Elephant Painting Phase Three

The duck became a gull, and the fish cup transformed interestingly, so these two will stay…I think. The vase and blue ball now show as uncomfortable elements that will be painted over. Acrylic paints are fantastic to work with for this reason.

My latest epiphany about this painting happened the other morning as my very strong cup of coffee hit the bitter, not-tasting good phase. As I gazed at the painting, the title, “Dog, Duck, and Gull With A Cup,” flashed overhead. The design layout is clear…I think!

I’ll share the final art in my next newsletter. Right now, I’m off to dab away and simplify my composition!

Visualizing Ideas Is Powerful

I came across this stop motion, which feels as powerful today as when I first filmed it. People need to envision the world they want to live in more than ever to make wondrous things happen! I’m definitely on board for this!

What are you envisioning for 2025?

Mount Rainier At Sunset With Ikat Clouds

As the sun slowly sank, the shape and colors of these clouds were awe-inspiring!

Mount Rainier With A Sunset Cap Cloud

When a cap cloud appears over Mount Rainier, it usually means the weather is changing. Did you know there is a Cloud Appreciation Society? Here’s an informative share about cap clouds if you’re curious.

Unsettled Weather Brings Rainbows

The joy of unsettled weather in Seattle is that the rain showers bring colorful rainbows! This helps one shake off the weight of weeks of grayness. I’m not phased by this as I grew up in Syracuse, New York. It’s ranked as the 8th cloudiest place in the United States. Do you know which city is number one?

Thanks for being here.

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