Mostly Ghostly Jerome: Photo Essay

Jerome, Arizona, is a small, terraced city most known for being a mining town, then a ghost town, & now a strange combination of both. We caught it on a rainy, cloudy day, which really added to the effect. 

Unexpected Loveliness

You'll never guess where I found this beautiful, dew-covered rose bush: a mall parking lot! These were a great reminder that delight & beauty can sneak up on you in unexpected places when you keep your eyes & heart open.

Willy Wonka Hand Lettering Series

How do you get better at anything? Practice, of course- usually lots of practice. Inspired by Halloween & my love of candy, I figured, what could be more perfect to use than lyrics & quotes from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie! The whole movie is swimming with lovely verses. Plus, all the whimsy involved made many of these quotes perfect for practicing color compositions. I also specifically used mainly pencils, instead of the ink I tend to favor. Pencils give a very different texture, & they are more mobil than a wet medium. 

Happy Halloween! Enjoy your candy & colors. 

No. 1 Lotusland Botanical Gardens: Photo Essay

Adventuring through the Ganna Walska Lotus Land Botanical Gardens | Montecito, CA

 August 2016

Halloween with Hamlet

As much as I love free candy, there is a lot about Halloween that I'm not into- like blood & guts & body bits. This can make decorating challenging sometimes. However, this year I found some amazing inspiration from the blog, The House That Lars Built. They sided with a more Taxidermy Museum approach, making the bookworm/science geek in me do a happy dance.

To add my own spin, I added some Apothecary Spook to the arrangement. Old books, bell jars, a crow, glass vials, a lone skull, a set of scales, candlesticks, & greenery. Basically, if Shakespeare & Edgar Allen Poe were in charge of Halloween decor, I'm pretty sure it would look like this!

PS. I almost didn't include the skull (even in styrofoam they freak me out), but I'm glad I did. 

PPS. List of places I found almost all of these lovely objects: Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Target, Goodwill, Marshalls, my front yard.