book artist (it is tuesday again)

for many years i've dreamt of being a book artist (an artist not a writer) - i just love book cover art. in fact, though i am an avid reader, i will admit that i regularly pick up and often bring home books whose covers attracted me (i have no idea how the story will unfold). so - how does one go about becoming a book cover artist - is it a straight career path?

the more i research i do, the more i realize i'm just out of the know (big surprise), book artists are graphic designers. there are awards and fan clubs and cult followings. it is more than just the image, it is the font and texture and layout that say something about the story inside (if the artist/publisher/author are on the same page). i stumbled across this fantastic site [the book cover archive] while trying to learn more. here are some great covers:

sometimes i feel like a photo of mine could be on a cover - here are some in the making:

vote hope

i'm taking my place as one of the sistas!  a very cool and worthwhile assignment has been taken up by two of the shutter sisters crowd; their assignment, to  travel abroad gathering and sharing images of hope: 

Here's how it works: This amazing community will generate the most powerful images of hope we can find. From those images we'll create tangible hope notes for Jen and Stephanie to take with them wherever they travel to tell the world we're listening. At each destination, Jen and Stephanie will introduce the world to a new story of hope while the Shutter Sisters at home show us all the ways hope flourishes in the hidden everyday spaces. From these images and stories, together we'll generate a visual catalog of hope--images that that can be transformed into practical print resources and literacy tools for the hopeful people we've met from around the world.  People who know and embody the essence of hope in spite of war, poverty, loss or the threat of despair.

you can too...

panda wrestling

when i was a little girl my grandfather had a toy rooster that collapsed and jumped back to his feet when you pushed & released the button on the bottom. since then - i have loved these toys : simple, sweet & nostalgic. when i saw a few for sale @ moule - i was immediately charmed & showed my husband the panda (pictured below) 'look, isn't it wonderful?' i gushed - he responded with : 'is that panda humping that tree?' i bought it.

jean-marc's esl colloquiallisms

recently heard on tv (sytycd-canada):

1. "they are a force to be recognized"
2. "they put the stage on fire"
3. "give it away for" (surely he meant "give it up for")
4. "i don't think so there are one like you out there"
5. "you are so far more than that, so far more!"

i'm not really laughing at - i'm laughing with.

j'aime ca

create something tuesday

ok- i'm running out of excuses. perhaps i will move my challenge day to wednesday... i did find a couple of cool things this week though (out foraging)... the chair actually made me giggle - funky / antiquey take on the eiffel chair. & the bowls were a bit of an 'ah-ha' & another reminder of what my dad would say: "we could make that"! 

as seen in *TLC

favorite photos - never realized

1. city of fire - i've tried to capture this one but don't believe it can be done. you have to be on jericho hill on a evening when the sun is settling down between a blanket of cloud and the horizon. the light is crushed perfectly between those two forces so that it aches out through that gap to glint of off a certain few perfectly aligned windows across the north shore and bursts with burnished glory off of the city of glass... when seen, the moment transfixes
2. exoskeleton- i was in the back of a cab heading to the airport - i'm not sure where i was going but i will guess montreal as i always saw things differently when montreal was involved. it was barely sunrise & the sky was the softest sky-blue-pink (that's what my dad used to call it)... the strangest thing happened as we passed a high rise - the reflection in the windows and the background became the exact same colour all i could see was the window frames of a momentarily gloriously transparent building.
3. golden rain - driving into ubc one fall afternoon along the tree cavern of 10th ave. the sun was streaming through the branches and suddenly a slight breeze blew up startling leaves from their perches & they fell trough the light like hundreds of golden coins - i gasped out loud.
4. goldfish shower - i was sitting at the window of stella’s during happy hour; a young woman walked by in the rain. she wore black: a skirt and car coat, her knee socks were dark stripes up her leg, she held a man’s umbrella up over her head with one hand and in the other hand she held a shiny bag of water and one gold fish. it took everything i had to stay in my seat (one day i will learn to run after those great images).

there are more to come & more inside...

176 days & counting

baby boy turned 6 months old this week - i guess that means that i am half way through this year of living differently... he's eating solids (if you can call strained pears & rice cereal solid), he's sitting up (for some minutes at a time), he is well on his way to crawling (still)... i, on the other hand, have lost a good portion of my brain cells (i'm not convinced they will return), and still feel like i could snap in the middle @ any time (where o where have my core muscles gone)?

i'm so lucky to be able to share these days with baby boy's dad (thanks the affect of the economic crisis on local real estate) - we take daily outings, we thrive on new developments, we enjoy every laugh, coo, giggle and squeal. as much as i love my job - i think we should start the weaning process now (i'm sure baby boy will do ok without me - i'm not sure how i will do without him). 

 

create something tuesday...

yes i did think about creating something all day again today - all week in fact - another week has just flown by! i am following a new blog & flickr group called shutter sisters (loving the sisterly camaraderie & fun photo exercises) - i am taking up the tag challenge...  

now you have to note that the challenge was put out in the am 03-mar; i was sitting @ the computer reading the blog while nursing baby boy; the camera was across the room on the tripod... i thought why not? gathered up nursing pillow & baby boy, lumbered across the room, somehow switched camera on with one finger balancing baby boy etc. under the other arm & on one knee (i'm sure there is a book or a million other moms that say 'don't do this'). i set focus to manual & sort of looked through the view finder (could not bend down the whole way so just peeked in the top). set timer & lumbered back to desk to look nonchalant & snap... 

laughed out loud that only the keyboard seems to be in focus (how apropos considering my life & state of mind these days)... it has taken me another entire day to load the photo & write this blog (this explains why i created nothing else on tuesday).

rules:

1. Sit down.
   
2. Take a picture of yourself right now. don't primp, just snap one!
   
3. Upload it.
   
4. Tag 3 people to do the same.
   

That's all!

tangonovemberbravo

shutterpixe

tashabelle