Exploration #9 - Case of Curiosities

Miniature Museum: Collect only very small things.  Store them in a mint tin or small box.

My collection is of one of my favorite things: words.  In keeping with the theme, I collected words that denoted "small".  I placed them in different handwriting and fonts on top of my watercolor.  I then added a texture to the top.

This was actually pretty fun to do, as it touched on all my favorite elements =)

Exploration #8 - Cracks

CRACKS - Map out pavement cracks in your neighborhood. 

The parking lot where I live is nothing but cracks, so this came fairly easily to me :)  Not necessarily the most sightly things, but like fingerprints and snowflakes, each are unique :)

World of Color

Exploration #7: Collect paint chips from a paint or hardware store. Find colors you respond to in the world. Attempt to match them using the chips. Make note of where you saw the colors.

My friend, agreeing most of the paint chips I gathered are totally wrong for this job:

~ Golden Bronze / rust on pipe ~

~ Lemon Grass / hue on part of this seed ~

~ Very Berry / hue found partially on this plant ~

~ Lemon Tart / pretty yellow flower near where I park ~

~ Silver Birch / Color found on part of stem and upper lining of feather ~

~ Sunflower / fire hydrant ~

~ Vibrant Day Lily / flower screaming with hues of this color ~ 

Archaeological Dig

Exploration # 6

Collect objects that relate to your childhood or inspire memories.  Write a brief story to accompany each object.

Alternate:  Re-create objects from your childhood using found objects or readily available materials.  You may choose to re-create your childhood room on a miniature scale using found materials.

My first one is a house of books.  To re-create, I used hardback covered books in my possession.  As a child, I used to make this all the time out of children's books, including those by Dr. Seuss.  My brother and I would play pretend, and the subjects entering the multiple "houses" (with secret passageways and many rooms), comprised of Barbies, army men and farm animals, lol.

Another thing my brother and I would do while indoors is create our respective forts, made up of bedsheets and surrounding furniture.  While inside, we were transported to other times and places.  Sometimes we'd take turns visiting each other's forts to chat about fanciful kid stuff. :)

For as long as I can remember, I've been an animal lover -- especially, a dog lover.  This is Novie, our second family dog.  Our first one, Blackie kept escaping from under our yard's surrounding chainlink fence.   His last escape was the last time we saw him.  I think it's because my parents were too tired of retrieving him from the pound.  My family considered Novie my dog because whenever I was around, he would stay by my side and bark at my other family members.  He disappeared one day, as we noticed our yard gate was open ... similar with what happened to my last dog, Shadow ...

Seeing the chainlink fence (Novie is biting) also reminded me of I how would habitually climb those fences, walking across them, as if walking on tightrope.  I had soooo much fun doing that.  

The last picture is one of mollusk shells, collected from my backyard.  They were left, compliments of my backyard friends (Green Herons and Limpkins), who pull the mollusks from the pond/lake and dine on them on the grass -- The action of pulling stuff from the pond brought back memories of me and my relatives hanging out near ponds and ditches, collecting tadpoles, minnows and small critters resembling crawdaddies ... I'm also reminded of the time I lost my balance and toppled in.

Lastly, it also reminds me of how bucketfuls of oysters were brought to our house for our family and relatives to feast on.  It's where my love for raw oysters originated.  As it takes time to shuck them, my impatience would have me attempting to shuck them myself but my dad never allowed me, fearing I'd cut myself.

Speaking of impatience, my impatience is having me wish I were nearly done with all my explorations, and sighing a breath of relief that I'm one step closer, lol ...  ;)

The First Thing You See

Exploration #5

Start a collection based on the first found object you see on your walk, whatever that is.  You decide what the connection between the object is (can be based on shape, color, size, etc.)

I was disappointed that the first object I saw was a dark, broken, paperclip ... and decided to instead wait until I found the next object (which I hoped would be more glamourous) ... only, my next found object was a bunch of flattened wires, resembling a witch or witch's hair, so I took it as a sign my collection would be wires :)

Laura love helped me out (during our PhotoWalk outing) by finding the bouquet of wires wrapped in yellow, as well as the long wire that I coiled up for the photo.

Wires have never been my thing, but who knows?  An interesting array of them (possibly put together as a wire sculpture) would make for a great conversation piece. ☺

Daily Walk

Daily Walk: Collect objects only on your way to work or school every day. (Try to collect thirty).

Considering, my walk to work consists of walking to and from my car, this didn't lend much in the way of opportunities, as the parkings lots where I live and work are for the most part, debris-free. So to avoid setting myself up for failure, I collected half of what was assigned.

The nature collection was fun, but the parts of me that felt like I was picking up trash was not so fun.  I passed up cigarette butts and used bandaids, ick! Aside from the flora, each piece has a history ... and makes me do what I do best: wonder ... :)

Laura, congrats for collecting all 30! I didn't find any toys in my path :(

Kym, after seeing your Light exploration ... I so can't wait to see the items you collect for this exploration :)

~ Pink flowers ~

~ Small red flowers ~

~ Orange blossom ~

~ Branch of leaves ~

~ Purple leaf / bud ~

~ Pods, young and old ~

~ Spotted Leaves ~

~ Piece of a plastic wrapping ... to I don't know what ~

~ Small rock ~

~ Smooshed top to plastic cup ~

~ Small piece of broken plastic ~

~ Small chip of what appears to be granite ~

~ Receipt of which peanut butter was purchased ~

~ Sizeable chunk of a roadway ~

~ Tiny, white feather ~

Let there be Light

Exploration Number 3: Light

Collect objects based on how they reflect light. List the different qualities such as reflective, translucent, refracting, mottled, etc. (try to collect 30 objects). -- Alternate: Light vision. Start to pay attention to light patterns, reflections, and projections. Consider they are everywhere. Document them.

I did a little bit of both ... indicating some qualities and light patterns. Here's my museum of images relevant to the assignment:

~ Bokeh of colorful, hexagon-shaped patterns

~ A given: Spherical reflection on mirrored surface

~ Clouds and nearby building reflecting on water's surface

~ Sun's reflective glimmer on water's surface with sprinkles of hexagonal bokeh light

~ Patterns of light projected through the railings, offering contrast to the shadows

~ Light projected through the leaf onto the sidewalk, leaving an interesting pattern of light and shadows

~ Lit lamp refracting on the glass sliding door, giving it the appearance of floating on my flowered "spring" sign

~ The backlighting brings out the plant's highlights

~ The surface of the spiderweb reflects iridescent light

As a photographer and visual artist, I found this assignment an easy and fun one.