‘Nother one

I did this shoot the same day as Trina’s at the old depot in town.  I was pleasantly surprised at the potential there.

Matthias is from my youth group and also related to me.  It was kinda a last minute decision to get me to do these, but I’m so glad I got the chance.  He’s graduating from high school this year. Congratulations Matthias!

Not feeling particularly wordy today, so here they are:

What could be more fun?

Seriously, this had to be one of the most fun photo shoots I’ve ever done.  Never mind that it was a bit cold, and in the middle of a very very busy part of a very very small town.  I was hanging out with one of my best friends, laughing, talking, taking pictures, ignoring the curious stares from the millions of cars that went by.

Not that I’ve done a ton of photo shoots or anything, but it can’t get much better than this.

This is Trina.  We met in kindergarten. We’ve gone through the usual childhood friendship ups and downs but have been friends always, and considering that we live only 15 minutes apart, don’t see nearly enough of each other.  But even though it can go for ages and ages without talking to each other, the minute we’re together we’re right back where we quit last time.  No awkward pauses, just right into the unstoppable talking and idiotic laughing. One of those friends that you can’t live without.

She’s graduating from college this spring with a Bachelor’s in Nursing, so we headed out to take a few photos to celebrate.

**Edit: The colors are fixed now.  It is not a good thing to put CMYK files on the web.  Not a good thing at all. That’s what happens with someone who’s used to working with files for a print shop.

Any comments or critiques are welcome!

Until next time,
Mari Jean

Nameless

Inspiration has been avoiding me all week.

So this shall remain nameless.

I wanted to put a quote on it, but couldn’t find one.

So it shall remain quoteless as well.

Unless you have the perfect one for me?  I’d love it if you’d leave on in the comments, then I may just post the new and improved product!

So without further ado I present to you:

The Nameless, Quoteless, and Otherwise Unfinished Except It Almost Works This Way Project

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Until next time,

Mari Jean

Alas and Alack

I have nothing new to show you.  Just wanted to let you know not to expect anything for the next three weeks.  Today, not possible.  Next week…. maybe, but only maybe, and the next week? Nope. I’m traveling folks.  And I’m up to my ears in work.  Fun work, but work.

Sorry about that!

See ya in three weeks!

Books to Borrow | Books to Buy

Isn’t it a beautiful day? We have temperatures soaring towards the seventies.  And wind! Lovely wind!

Back to the subject at hand: Have you ever been in a store, or browsed through books at an antique mall, and suddenly wished you made a list of all the books you want to buy? I have. Way too often. Somehow when the time and opportunity comes to actually look for them, every author’s name and book title just escapes me.  Inspired by several beautiful tablets at Borders which I was too cheap to buy, I decided to make my own.

It created a few challenges I’d never thought of, and it didn’t turn out as neatly as I’d wished, but it will definitely get the job done. I like the fact that it’s like two notebooks in one, due to it’s accordian fold pages.  With this added bonus, I was able to make one side for a list of books I wish to read, but might not want to buy.  Maybe I’d seen a book somewhere and thought I should get it the library, but can’t remember the details.

I hope I’ll just remember to use it now.

I Know it’s Friday

And I’ll post something tomorrow.

I started something late last night and totally misjudged how long it would take me, so the project is not finished yet.

I’m very sorry. I really am.

My inconsistency is a plague.

Stick around, though. And come back tomorrow. Please?

Thanks!

See ya then!

Before Midnight!

Yes, actually posting on a Friday before midnight!

I won’t waste too many words since I’ve got things to do this evening, but I do want to explain that this is only the second time I tried anything in oils.  Scary stuff! I wish someone would be around to tell me what’s what, but instead I’m wading my way through very educational experiments. I don’t like to look at this too long because I see all sorts of things to do differently next time. I cringe at the thought of real artists seeing my work…

But since I said I would post my projects, I’m posting it. Enough said.

Presentation | Bonus post

It’s all about presentation.  Gift giving is all well and good, but I think the presentation says just as much as the gift itself.  To me, it says something about the time and thought put into the gift. When I wrap gifts, I shun gift bags and pre-bowed bows, preferring to wrap a nice box and tie it with real ribbon or an embellishment.  Of if it’s not wrappable, to place it in nice basket or other vessel of choice, again with complimenting embellishments.

And that’s why I nearly had a fit on Monday.  I didn’t actually.  Have a fit, that is.  It was a more of a collapse of the tiny Mari Jean inside my head, a heavy sigh, and then a dogged determination to find something in which to present a bridal shower gift for that evening.  I had three objects that wouldn’t cooperate and fit nicely into the box my mom found for me, nor did they at all stack or fit into each other so that I could merely tie them together.  They were a general nuisance. And frankly, I shun gift bags.  Did I say that before?

And then I remembered!  I’d been visiting a friend, and her mother showed me an ingenious way of using a very simple everyday object in a new and delightful way.

First you grab one of these.

Yes, that is a paper bag.  Yes, it is wrinkled and torn at the top.  No, that does not matter.

Then, you start folding the top down, kind of like you’re trying to turn it inside out, but more like you’re folding your socks together by turning the cuff inside out.  Oh, that didn’t help either? Sorry. Here, let me show you.

Did that help? Is it making more sense?

Once you’re finished folding, it will look something like this.

You can make it as tall or as flat as you want it. When I was shown how to do it, there was more of a folded band around the top of the bag, instead of the folded part being the entire height of the finished thing.

Next I stuffed it with some tissue paper as filler.

Next, to keeping it from looking so much like the paper bag it was, and to add a bit of femininity to it, I grabbed some lace that was lying around

and tied it around the top of the bag, like so.

And voila! Your gift is ready to give!

And what really makes this special… it costs next to nothing. And that’s always a good thing!

May you be inspired to see gift wrap in paper bags, throughout everyday, in everything. It is a very useful habit. And cheap!

Presentation.  Get it? Present-ation? See? Ha!

I can hear the sobs of agony at my lameness.

Words

Two weeks have passed.

And nothing new up here.

I have not been sitting around twiddling my thumbs.

I have not been huddling in a corner in cowardice, either.

I simply have not had the time.

But you know, this site still has not been a complete failure.  There’s something in the fact of at least aiming for something.  Friday rolls around and it bothers me that I haven’t gotten anything new done, but at least it bothers me! Before there was no real motivation to start something.  There was no reason to finish something, for that matter.  Which is generally the problem.  Now I have the motivation to complete a project, and to think of something new to do and buy the supplies for it.

It’s something.  And after years of nothing, I consider that progress.

But then again, progress should not be an excuse for continued delays.

I will try to do better.  To try harder.  I will.  Because progress doesn’t just sit there and look at itself and boast at how far it’s come.

______________________________________________

And that’s my Friday project.  Words.

Compared to the last two weeks, Progress!

A humble cup of coffee

Very humble.

This is the Very First Experiment with watercolor.  No wait, there was that other one…. but you don’t want to see it.  Since it was so new to me I was experimenting with different things I’d “heard” you could do.  They didn’t work so well.  And that’s why its splashy.  And lowly.  And extremely humble.

I need to keep on experimenting.  Do you WANT to see my experiments? They could scar you with their weakness.  Forever. And that would not be good.

So to help heal a few scars I took some pictures, too.  I know they’re better than that… that…. gulp…. coffee cup.

And these…. I can’t look at them enough.  So small, so fragile.  So breathtakingly beautiful.

Have a beautiful week.  Because God is in it.