For the first time in a while, I’m feeling right. Not sick. Not anxious. No belly full of butterflies, nausea in the pit of my stomach, afraid something is bad, bad wrong. I can’t put my finger on why exactly I was feeling that way, but that feeling has overtaken me for months, paralyzing me. Maybe it was just a string of random events, maybe it was just the winter doldrums. Does it really matter? I now feel like I can breathe, like there’s fresh ideas that might spring forth. When I look over and see Milo contemplating the Buddha, I can just laugh, feeling light and free and happy.

Filed under:
Day in the Life, Happy, just a picture, Milo, not just a picture, Observances, Stresses by Courtney

Elephant & Obelisk, Rome

Oh when the elephants, come marching in! When the elephants come marrr-ching in! Oh how I want to be in that square, when the elephants come marching in!

Elephant and Obelisk really has nothing to do with Louis Armstrong, but when I see this guy, he reminds me of the elephants in Disney’s Jungle Book, who marched and sang as they trampled through the countryside.

Which brings us to the Roman elephant. What is he doing here? Elephants don’t belong in Rome. Nor do obelisks. But here they are, a focal point of Piazza della Minerva. The obelisk is a bit easier to explain. (more…)

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365 days of stories, Italy, Music, My Art, not just a picture, Rome by Courtney

Ponte Vecchio, Florence

I had one of the most wonderful, most eye-opening experiences about a week ago. As many of you know I sell my work on Etsy – a great place to find handmade work by artists & crafters (if you didn’t know that, you should pop on over to my shop and check it out). CBDImagination – another Etsy shop owner – messaged me to tell me how much she loved the picture posted above, that it brought back many memories for her.

I do love this photo, the way the light pours out of the windows and reflects on the rainy streets. The life that is portrayed down the street, the person in the red jacket who pulls your eye down there.

But as much life as I see in my pictures, I sometimes can’t shake the art school feeling. “It’s just a pretty picture,” they would say, “… it has no meaning, no depth, no insight into something greater.” Like everything you have to make as an artist has to make that big, political statement. It has to generate some controversy. And, somehow, any work that doesn’t do that, isn’t as good.

So, CBD, she made me realize that a pretty picture can be more than a pretty picture. Photographs, just like music, just like a scent, can bring back waves of memories for a person. That’s how I feel every time I look at one of my photos – and often how I feel when I look at the work I own from other artists. Photography is documentation of a moment, a particular point in time. And just because something is beautiful, mainstream, doesn’t make it any less worthy of the term “art” for some people.

To each their own – their own feelings, their own memories, their own opinions.

Filed under:
Life Changing Moments, My Art, not just a picture, Observances by Courtney

I just love it when people look at my work and that is the first (or second) line out of their mouth. As if my camera jumped out of my hand, ran back down the street, centered the scene perfectly, focused and snapped the shot, noting that it didn’t need a flash to get the best lighting.

My hubbie once said this about a friend, but after some thought (I said nothing, neither did his friend) he came to the conclusion that maybe there has to be a smidgen of talent at least to get the camera to produce a nice picture.

And for the record, I do have a nice camera 🙂 I also have some others that might not be qualified as nice, but will produce some fantastic results if it’s the effect you’re looking for. Because in the end, the camera is just a tool that the entire world has access to, just like paint, pastels, pens, and clay.

Filed under:
Florence, Italy, My Art, not just a picture, Observances by Courtney