Saddle Up

After a little health setback which was causing me to not want to do anything, I'm trying to get back in the saddle. Not literally a horse's saddle, although I'd love that. The figurative kind. Creating, to be exact.

It's a terrible thing to lose your mojo. You think, "well, that's it. Guess that's all I had." But you know better! You know that's not all you have! As a believer in THE Creator, you know art is yours to make as long as you have breath in your body. It's just amazing how that body can drain your desire to create anything when it's not working properly.

 But, got that little issue fixed and now I'm doing things to get the juices flowing again.

I needed a local iconic photo for a work project. This neat sculpture was installed to celebrate this year's Route 66 anniversary. Problem is, they located it in a roundabout surrounded by light poles, wires, trailers, and all kinds of unattractive structures. It's really unfortunate. But, it gave me good practice in editing and spiffing up images! 

I made myself get up early one Saturday morning, determined to get back to doing one of my favorite things - drive-by photo shoots. Just grab the camera, put my dog in the car and take a drive, looking for something interesting to photograph. Discovered this abandoned boat near a country intersection, only a couple miles away.

I was inspired by a book on mixed media to make a photo collage about one day in your life. As I was going through the house this morning, putting things away & straightening up, I realized something. Everywhere I land in my house, I have something to read. There's always a stack on the kitchen island. The bathroom window ledge. Top of the sewing machine. A basket of art magazines next to the desk and galvanized bins-full on top. Bibles and spiritual books on the dresser, next to the bedroom chair. Stacked on the nightstand. And a Kindle charging on the recliner. (The center image is a sculpture in front of the library).

I've always been a reader. My grandmother was a reader and so was my dad (Westerns were their favorite genre). And thank the Lord, so is my son. I started reading to him as soon as I got him home from the hospital. He started recognizing the alphabet as soon as he could talk. All grown up now, it's a delight to discuss books we're both reading.

And speaking of saddles, I do have another set of photos coming from that aforementioned Saturday drive-by. It's a pasture full of miniature horses. I can picture (pun intended) how I want it to look, but haven't quite put my finger on it yet. I'll be working on that next!