OLW: Paramount, April 2013

Every year, I choose a "one little word" on which to focus my intentions.  This year, I chose "paramount."  You can read more about my choice and the project by clicking on this link.  When I chose the word and through much of the first few months of this year, the word was necessary to save my sanity.  Things in my life were so unsettled and difficult that I needed to keep focused only on the essential in order to get through each day. Now, as things in my life have gotten more settled, I am trying to hold on to the power of my word to keep me focused on those things which are truly important.  
Like spending time with family. 
For the last few years, I've gotten tickets for the four of us to attend a San Francisco Giants game during opening weekend. I almost forgot this year, but I'm so glad I didn't. The team gave out Championship Rings to all attendees, and we each put ours on for this photo opportunity. When I look at this photograph, I am filled with gratitude. I am grateful that we were all able to attend . . . grateful that we have come through this rough time in our lives with our family intact and together, enjoying an annual tradition. Grateful that I have kept focused on what is paramount. And resolved to continue doing that for the rest of the year.
*************************************************************************
How are things going with your One Little Word?

Hello Monday

Hello Monday (a meme started by Lisa Leonard) . . . and Hello Aria!
Hello Back to School . . . both the kids have been out of regular school for two weeks! Henry was in Dallas playing soccer and then had spring break; Clara had an interim week and then spring break. It will be tough to get back into the regular swing of things, I'm sure.
Hello Blustery Days . . . huge winds rattled the house last night; waking everybody (especially the dogs).
Hello Mad Men . . . happy that one of my favorite shows is back TV. But, oh my, last night's season opener was dark. I also watched "Zero Dark Thirty" over the weekend. For me, it was a little talky and slow and hard to follow. I definitely preferred Argo.
Hello College Decision? . . . Henry has to decide by May 1. I'm hoping he doesn't wait that long, although he is still waiting to hear about potential scholarship money at a few places.  The smart money is still on University of Oregon.
Hello Hair Dresser . . . I'm off for a cut and color this morning; Gypsy needs to get to the groomer this week, too.
Hello Passport Office . . . Henry will be going to Costa Rica on a senior trip in ten weeks, and his current passport expires in four.
Hello To-Do Lists . . . only a few more weeks until the end of term, which means that I have lots of planning to do for finals, reviews, etc. Plus networking from our successful lecture event last Thursday and various other things.
Hello Long Runs . . . from here on out, the training schedule calls for alternating shorter and longer runs on Saturdays. This past weekend, we only ran six miles. This coming weekend, we're scheduled for twelve miles!  Yes, I'm a little scared. But I will think of all the wonderful supporters I have and the cancer patients for whom I am running, and I will get through it!
What are you saying hello to this week?

Storytelling Sunday: Buster B. Bear

On the first Sunday of every month, Sian of From High in the Sky hosts a round of storytelling. For 2013, Sian has suggested that people tell stories about the precious things in their lives, "those things from your past you can't bear to throw out . . . Or the thing you love most in a room."  For this month's story, I want to introduce Buster Brown Bear.
**************************************************************************
My husband Paul gave me this teddy bear while I was in law school, a year or two before we married. When he arrived, his fur was  a soft brown, and he wore a blue satin ribbon around his neck. I named him Buster Brown Bear, and we joked that he was a constitutional law scholar.  We both found this very funny for some reason. Buster B. Bear traveled with me from Cambridge, Massachusetts to Ithaca, New York after we got married.  For almost thirty years, this well-loved, well-traveled ball of fur has shared our bed. He's definitely the worse for wear these days, but I still love him.  He's very precious to me, and I definitely couldn't bear to be without him!

Class Review: "Marvel - Your Precious Life"

I just completed my art journal for an online class taught by Kelly Kilmer called "Marvel - Your Precious Life."  The class focused on creating collaged art journal pages using paper, pens and images, but no paint. Therefore I referred to it as my "dry" art journal.  If you click on the "art journal" label below, you'll be able to see more of the pages I created for the class.
The class ran for 31 days and cost $25.  On each day of the course, I received an email which included a "template," a sample art journal page based on the template, a few design ideas and a journaling prompt.  The "template" is similar to a scrapbook page or card "sketch." It suggested places for a focal image (or two) and an arrangement of background papers and embellishments.  These made it really easy to construct a page.  The design ideas were fairly simple (but fun), and the prompt was typically a fairly basic question.  In addition, Kelly gave each class participant a collage tutorial PDF discussing how she approaches making a collage page, and instructions for stitching your own journal.  During the month, Kelly hosted a few facebook chat sessions where students could talk with each other and ask questions. I didn't participate in these, but they looked like they worked just fine. She also hosted an ephemera swap in which I intended to participate, but I (sadly) missed the deadline.
In addition to the daily emails, Kelly set up a yahoo group where students could ask questions and discuss issues. She posted the daily emails in the files section of the yahoo page for easy access and suggested that participants create photo albums where they could post their pages. This worked fairly well, but it was a little difficult to tell when new pages were posted and when new comments had been left on the pages which I posted.  Overall, 27 students set up photo albums, and about a third of these participants remained active throughout the length of the class.  Kelly was meticulous about following the discussion and answering any questions that arose. I don't recall her commenting very often on pages posted in the gallery, but I could be wrong.
Overall, I enjoyed the class. It was very low-stress, easy and fun. And I LOVE the journal I created.  The class did not contain a lot of  challenging techniques. In fact, it really focused on teaching one technique (dry, collaged, layered art journaling) and gave participants lots of opportunity to practice it and adapt it to fit their own style.  I feel like the class accomplished this. In fact, I feel like I probably learned everything I was going to learn from the class after about ten days to two weeks.  After that, for me, the prompts, templates and design ideas got a little repetitive. I think the class could have been improved by either being shorter or adding some new,  challenging techniques in the second half of the month. I'm glad I took the class because it gave my art journaling a much needed kick start. I also think it was a reasonable value (given the templates, tutorials, chats, etc.), but it would have been better for me as a $15 two week class. The class would be especially great for beginners who don't know where to start with collaged art journaling and for those who don't want to mess around with paint. For intermediate to advanced collage artists/art journalers, it's a fun class to take when you want to get back to creating quick, fun pages that don't involve a lot of challenging technique.
Overall, I'd give the class a good, solid B.
Anyone else take the class and have any feedback? And for the rest of you, do you prefer a class that has a lot of difficult challenge for you? Or one where you can relax and enjoy learning a few easy things?

PPF: Inspired by Nature

I just finished up my art journal for the Kelly Kilmer "Dry Art Journaling" class, and I thought I would share this one last page with PPF, since it's been a while since I've stopped by. It's just about how much I'm inspired by nature. Layered patterned paper, wrapping paper, butterfly images from Stampington, stickers, washi tape, focal image and postage stamps from my stash.  Hope you enjoy looking at the page as much as I enjoyed making it. I'll be posting a class review tomorrow if you want to stop by.  
To visit others participating in Paint Party Friday, click on this link.

Look Up//Look Down #13: In the Garden

At the beginning of the year, I joined in with Helena's "Look Up//Look Down" photography meme.  I'm really glad I did because it's a great reminder to document the everyday.  Almost half of my up//down photos, including this week's entries, have been taken in the backyard. The up photo is the newly blossoming pear tree and the down photo shows the detritus from putting in the new spring vegetable garden. I like how both show that the beginning of spring is more full of twigs and bare branches than green leaves and flowers. That will come later.
I think it will be really interesting to look back on all these pictures of my back yard years from now. I am learning the visual potential of a limited subject matter. Thanks Helena! 
If you've participated in a long term photograph meme, what have you learned from the experience?

PHC: "Come here, Coach."

Kat Sloma hosts a photography exercise she calls "photo-heart connection," in which she asks participants to go through their photographs from the current month and select the one which has the greatest connection to their heart. I've noticed that many of the photos are selected by participants because of the emotion they evoke in the photographer or viewer, while I tend to choose photographs because of the emotion contained in the image. Not always, but many times. And this month's selection falls squarely in that category.
I took this photograph at my son's soccer award ceremony.  If you look closely, you can see that his coach is on the verge of tears. He had just given my son his participation certificate and talked about how much he will miss having Henry around after coaching him for so many years. Coach is a gruff man, a man of few words, and perhaps a bit embarrassed by his show of emotion. He was about to turn away, but Henry said, "Come here, Coach." Henry put his arm around him and told him he wanted a photograph with him. In that moment, I was so proud of my son. Proud, not of his soccer skills, but for the maturity and poise he showed in getting Coach out of a potentially awkward situation and of validating Coach's emotions. In that moment, I caught my breath because I saw Henry grow up a little bit, acting like a young man instead of a high school kid. I saw a glimpse of the man I hope he becomes. 
And I relive that moment and feel that emotion every time I look at this photograph. 
And that's what the photo-heart connection is all about for me.
There were a few other contenders for PHC honors this month. First, another one of Coach - this time staring at the Senior Award he is about to give Henry:

One of Henry, showing his fiery competitive spirit in his spring sport (baseball):

And a few which evoke a strong emotion in me, rather than display emotion:

As with all photographs on my blog, you can click on the image to enlarge it and get a better view of it. And, as always, I love to hear your feedback on my selections.

To check out other photographers sharing their photo-heart connection, go to this post. You can see my other photo-heart connection posts by clicking on the label below.