brilliant premio

what an honor!

my friend denise lombardozzi

has included me in her list of favorite blogs

THANKS DENISE

i found denise while surfing the web looking at "toy camera" stuff

i was instantly attracted to her wonderful eye for taking photos

and have since been visiting her blog every few days

the rules:

*post the above logo to your blog

*link to the blogger you received it from

*award at least 7 blogs

*link to those blogs

*leave those bloggers a comment about receiving

the brilliant premio

since joining the blogging community,

i've discovered so many wonderful sites

and have been inspired by everyone

I've notice that a lot of my favorite blogs have already

been nominated so here are a few new ones worth checking out

art whisper/ terry berg

carmi art/life world

something sublime/deryn mentock

contemplating the moon/ bridgete guerzon mills

artist at play/catherine anderson

hula seventy/andrea

lemonlightquickie

generations

my great grand parents
my grand parents

my parents


me and my sisters

for mixed media monday,
i went through all my art and photos
i guess we all use our family photos
so we don't have the copyright worries
going through my work i realized
that i have to work on the next 2 generations
i have 9 nieces and nephews
and 5 great ones
now i feel really old!

aince awa, aye awa

time for a little heritage

opening ceremony at the highlands of durham games

i love a kilt

and the dancers remind me of my granny,
dancing on the black and white checked floor
if only i had the chance to go back again


he wis anerlie a bit laddie
drummer in training
i just loved this guys spirit
he didn't miss a beat or a step
"the strang o the trump"
and the bag pipes always bring a tear to my eye


heavy games!
need i say more!



and hamish, the best boarder collie in town

i know agnes was here

i love texture

after playing hookey yesterday i'm still feeling a bit blocked

but hopeful

i thought if i got out and just wondered i would find anges

i looked every where--the gym, the chiropractor, the big carrot,

everything to get my mind and body back into it

then i got myself lost, well not really lost but somewhere i've never been

the todmorden mills

what a peaceful place, just what i needed

historic buildings and a 9 hector wildflower preserve

i took a stroll through the woods

in the museum i met kelly, what a lovely person

i was so glad she took the time to talk to me and found we had a lot in common

and what a wealth of info

thanks kelly for all the help and making my day

i then wondered across the way to the brick works

a thriving environmentally based community in the don valley

that's where i discovery all the texture

i manage to take over 100 pictures of decay

well, i didn't find agnes but i came home inspired enough to do a posting

yellow

something easy to do for Thursdays challenge

the theme is yellow and i just happened to find these two

taken in SanFran last year while waiting for the ferry to Alcatraz

feeling blocked

i'm not sure what it is but i'm feeling a little "out of sorts"

i need to focus or do something to find my muse

if anyone has seen agnes let her know i'm blocked

rust

i hate to throw anything out

someday i might need "that"

i have shelves full of "stuff"

i finally got to use one of my leftover polariod cartridges

i used it as a frame for one of my polariod transfers

and for mixed media monday it works well

this weeks topic is rust

now i just have to deside how to hang it

maybe some rusted wire?

a work in progress

stroll on the beach

i love the water

the sound of the waves have a way of soothing me

it's a great place for me to "be"

lazy days of summer

i've been enjoying the summer

my garden is like a little oasis in the city

the smells of honeysuckle and lavender

the birds singing

sitting on my deck enjoying the breeze

making jewelry and drinking wine

and i didn't have to drive for 3 hours to get here

all i need is a hot tub!!

i found this sign on an outdoor cooler in kingston a few weeks ago

it made me laugh

why wouldn't ice melt in your mouth? and

why would you ever use lake ontario water?

blooms book

i love getting mail

i belong to a photo journal group hosted by

catherine anderson

this months theme was "blooms"

i couldn't decide between 4 so i included them all

it's always interesting to see how catherine will present each book

this one, i'm sure, took a lot of time to put together

each page was sewn to a long strip of fabric and then folded into a book

it will look great as a wall hanging or kept as a book

thanks to all who participated

celebration

it was 46 years ago today that i was brought into this world

daughter number 4 of 5

proud parents Marlene and David Donaldson

i never really thought much of my birthday, just another day, another year

but recently i've realized that my life is great,

i'm very lucky to have a wonderful husband and good friends

and the time to be creative

my dear friend dede fitzpatrick dropped off a lovely handmade card and present

inside the card was a quote from abraham lincoln

and in the end,

it's not the years

in your life

that count,

it's the life in your years

so today i count my blessings

i have had a lot of life

it's a wonderful life

here's to another 46

and i will make them count!

waste not

last fall i had the opportunity to take a class with michael demeng

hosted by my friend carmi here in toronto

i always wanted to take one of his classes but they sold out quick

so it was nice to have him in my home town

it was a fun and interesting class

this was my finished project

just another reason to save polariod

mixed emulsions

another reason to save polariod -- emulsions!

when i first learned how to do polaroid transfers

i was wondering what to do with the leftover, under exposed photo

they really didn't look like much but terry insisted that

in the afternoon part of the class

we would "do something" with them

well, i had not idea!

what a wonderful surprise to see the jelly goop

turn into something great!

i wish i started earlier,

now i keep looking at the 3 boxes of 669 film in my fridge,

checking the expiry date , hoping, by some miracle that there

is a warehouse full of film waiting to be discovered

I will pay extra for it!

save polariod

i had the opportunity to take a polaroid transfer class at A&S virginia in 05

with my friend & wonderful photographer & artist terry berg

by lunch i was addicted and bought her day lab

i just love the unexpected things that happen and have had fun

discovering new things with this new medium

unfortunately "they" have decide to discontinue this product

looking at one of my favorite blogs denise lombardozzi

i found this link to save polariod

i just thought the more people know that maybe, just maybe

we can get something done

this photo was taken in jerome, Arizona while visiting my friend sylvia luna

on our way to the grand canyon

playing around

just having fun playing with some of my montreal photos,

i tried everything once just to see how they looked

this one i'm happy with for now

i'll play some more later

i spent all day in the garden cleaning out one of my flagstone paths

and i'm really tired, tomorrows another day

mixed media monday

I found this great new challenge at mixed media monday

i used one of my old posts of a digital collage and got some wonderful responses

what a nice group, thanks to everyone for looking

i looked at every ones entry and felt bad,

i should have posted a "real" MIXED media

so here it is

i have taken several classes with claudine helmuth

and learned some really cool tricks
this one is a photocopy of one of my favorite angel photos

an architectural photocopy, old book pages, decorative paper and

tissue and some gold findings

i colored it with a antiquing glaze

i've been so busy learning "stuff" on the computer

i haven't spent much time getting my hands wet

i think this group will inspire me to do more

campfire

what a great weekend

i got to spend some time with my favorite people

paula and randy and their little boy sammy

who i kissed a million times and not one complaint

(sammy loves his aunt nancy)

we ate, drank and swam, and sat by the fire

i managed to take 50 shots just sitting and staring

maybe it was the wine?

hidden surprise

while in montreal, hubby and i stumbled into a wonderful gallery,

or as they say in french galerie

one of their feature artist was a local named

nicolas ruel

he is an inspiring photographer who prints on stainless steel

i just love his work and wish i had the $6000 to splurge on one that really called to me

it was from his 8 seconds series

i wish i could describe it but words wouldn't do it justice

one of my simplist shots was of a letter slot on an office building near our hotel

hubby was confused and curious as to why i "wasted" my time taking this picture

but i said wait and see what i do with it when i get home

well i finally got to play and was surprised as to the outcome

what do you see?

fierce creatures

as i walked up to the parliament buildings in ottawa i thought WOW,

this is going to be good

the architecture is amazing and there was so much wrought iron

as i moved closer i could see more and more details, everywhere

gargoyles, coat of arms, owls, beavers, rams, indians, thistles, fleur-d-lis,

fish, frogs, and mythical creatures!

i think i will have fun playing with all these images

i posted these fierce creatures for illustration friday

montreal part2

old montreal, rue st. paul

the city was founded in 1642 and established in 1832

the port area is full of cobble stone streets

and wonderful architecture

so everywhere you look they is something interesting

the best shopping, for men and women.
styles have a more european feel and everyone dresses up!

we started out in the morning walking the streets of old montreal
we got to see the wedding party going to the church, and then several times
found them on their photo shoot here and there
during lunch we saw the flower girl skipping by,
excited to be apart of the party and then later she looked alittle tired



don't forget to look up!
after spending 2 weeks looking down making jewelry
it was nice to stretch the other way
so much detail , no wonder i took over 900 photos

montreal

it has been 10 years since the last time i visited montreal and it was even better than i remembered or maybe i have a greater appreciation now

my last trip, i use only b/w film and thought i had taken alot of pictures but this time i went crazy with my digital camera and ended up taking over 900 photos

it was hard to decide which ones to post

i better make a filckr page to accommodate them all

here are just a few

Happy Canada Day!!!

Parliament Hill, Ottawa


Sir John A. MacDonald