Presence... or absence?

I had a powerful reminder of my chosen word of the year the other day when I decided to use up some rare spare time by walking with my camera in the Lexington Cemetery. I was between appointments and didn't want to waste time with eating or shopping/spending money (I've had more than enough of those the past few months!), plus wanted to exercise and enjoy the snowfall.

I couldn't have lucked upon a prettier time or place. I'd actually only been in Lexington Cemetery once years ago when the huge weeping cherries were in bloom and I will definitely make it a stop again this spring, as they are spectacular. There is so much history there, both in the people memorialized and in the trees, some of which are the finest specimens of their type in the region.

Henry Clay's memorial stands tall above the rest, with his figure facing toward his beloved home, Ashland on Richmond Road, and I enjoyed reading the fascinating history of Henry Clay's funeral(s) and the development of the memorial itself (noting that the statue's 350 pound head came off in a storm one time, and was found 6 inches in the ground!). The cemetery website has the history.

As I meandered through the winding paths, my own footsteps the only prints in the snow (except for the native creatures), so many thoughts ran through my mind.... I have fond memories of our family visiting my grandparent's graves in beautiful Woodland Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio. One time we were there late on a Sunday and when we went to leave we discovered that we'd been locked in! There were lots of jokes about having to spend the night, but my brothers climbed the fence and found the caretaker to let us drive out.

I recollected the time in college when a group of us, dressed in costume (one tall guy with a real pumpkin on his head), went through the old cemetery in Oxford Ohio on Halloween night to try to scare the wits out of each other- it worked.

I thought of the attempts we made to clean up the old 1800's graveyard on our farm, pulling up weeds and cleaning up branches and putting a split rail fence around it. I'm sorry to say that nature has once again reclaimed that patch of sacred land; maintaining a cemetery is a lot of work!

As I walked, I felt a lovely peacefulness. This is why people come to cemeteries, to reminisce, pay respects, and find serenity. I felt the kind presence of those long gone, and also that of God. But as I saw some tents standing over newly-dug graves, I also had a sensation of the absence and grief that is experienced there. Absence = the opposite of presence, a harsh reminder that I am here, now, but won't always be.

I also revisited my own decision to be cremated, not wanting to take space on this earth once my life is over. I don't want toxic chemicals added to the soil on my behalf, don't want a fancy coffin or any of the other traditional accoutrements of death. May my ashes be spread wherever loved ones find comfort, but hopefully in a place of nature and peace. I know that I'd like being close to water and whether it's the Kentucky River, the Bahamas, or a lake in a cemetery matters not to me.

There was plenty of nature in this space in the middle of the city, I saw a Cooper's Hawk, Great Blue Heron, ducks and geese, and the tracks of many small birds and mammals.

It seemed quite apt that a friend had this thought-provoking link on her facebook page that evening (don't let anyone tell you that facebook is all trivial, I find many nuggets of inspiration there from wise friends). It fit quite nicely with the ruminations I had as I left the cemetery. They revolved not around death, but LIFE and how best to live the rest of it.... and only God knows how long that may be.

CARPE DIEM!

Pin It Now!

Gates of the Bluegrass

I went on a photography binge around the holidays, taking shots of the beautiful entrances to some of the area thoroughbred farms as well as a few other sites such as Woodford Reserve Distillery. I decided to post them with a simple "artistic" effect applied from Photoshop. I hope you enjoy them!

Pin It Now!

Creative happenings... of all sorts!

Marti and Gringo, Eastern Kentucky, 2009

My creativity has been able to manifest itself in ways other than dressing up my horse... time to move on from all of the equine emphasis here and back to some of my other outlets.I've actually been on a roll in the studio, with tons of felting, dyeing and other crafting going on (more on that in a few days). In addition, I'm still trying to learn Adobe Photoshop Elements, and recently came upon a fantastic site and free online class.

It's still not too late to get on board for this session, follow the link from the Kim Klassen Skinny Minnie class button on my sidebar. These are some of the fun photos I've produced lately (the frog was the result of my first "homework" assignment in Kim's class!) Mirian is doing the class as well and is having a lot of fun with it; she's a very good photographer!Kentucky Horse Park, October 2010

The digital photo work is really addictive, just what I need- another distraction in my loco life! Pin It Now!

Fiber Friday

Felted Pillows

Even when my time is short, I love taking pictures. A friend suggested that I participate in Wordless Wednesdays (photos only, no words), and it occurred to me that this would be a great way to keep up blogging without having to spend a lot of time or thought in composing an entry (hence, the recent frog and water lily photo).
I've decided to begin Fiber Friday as well, where I post either works in progress or recently completed projects. Sometimes I may not explain much about the product, but feel free to comment or ask questions! I've recently been making pillows from felt, and am having a lot of fun with it. (By the way, you can check out our upcoming felting class schedule here- they're filling up quickly!)

I was just going to show the above pillow in progress and complete, but really liked the image of swirls on this one and it led me to playing around with the design in PhotoShop. Which effect do you like best?

Pillow in Progress
PointillismMezzotint
Stained Glass (my favorite)Palette Knife
Mosaic

Pin It Now!

Wordless Wednesday

Pin It Now!

Digital Scrapbooking

I recently discovered a new hobby… digital scrapbooking. It should be useful and have some overlap with a lot of the other things I like to do. I kind of enjoy traditional scrapbooking, though I haven’t done a lot of it and am turned off by some of the emphasis on perfection and the lack of authenticity which is common (though not always so!) I love and covet fancy papers (not quite as much as yarn!), and a friend in advertising always told me I should have pursued graphic arts or been an art director. I do some of our most simple advertising, but am even more interested in the possibilities of creating with a hybrid of my own art, digital photos and other realistic-looking digital elements which can be purchased and downloaded or scanned.
I bought the software program Adobe Photoshop Elements a few months ago, but hadn’t found the time to learn to perform more than the most basic functions, and was frustrated when I tried to learn on my own as it is complicated with hundreds of features. I stumbled across an inexpensive online class at www.jessicasprague.com which teaches Photoshop in a class called Up and Running, with an emphasis on digiscrapping; here are my first two layouts. I can’t wait to learn more, and see all kinds of possibilities for using Photoshop here on the blog, on yarn labels, and with scrapbooking the highlights of my children’s lives!

Pin It Now!