I had seen these photo montages chronicling pregnancy and I knew if I ever got pregnant I so wanted to do it...so I did! Unfortunately the first twelve weeks I was very sick and did not have a great urge to try to look decent and document my journey. I could barely get off the couch and make it in to work or really do much of anything. By about fourteen weeks I was feeling much better and started this process.
I am not much of a photographer, hence the varying lighting, sometimes fuzzy shots and various distance issues but I thought for a final product these turned out incredible! In addition to the first thirteen weeks I missed a week here and there but you get the picture, heehee!
Scrolling through these again is so interesting to me, watching my body grow and change, seeing the joy on my face as well as some of the more tired moments. Those honestly weren't captured too much because those were typically the weeks I missed out photographing.
I have a chalkboard wall in my art room so that is the back drop. I set up a camera on a stack of books on a ladder and used the ten second timer to go back to my place by the wall and snap a picture. The bigger I got the slower I moved so some of those last few weeks took many, many attempts to get a decent shot.
I am really proud of this project, the art of creation. I was kicking myself a bit for not doing any art work for many months until I looked at all of these photographs together. This was my art and I am very, very proud and happy. Thanks to everyone on facebook for sharing this journey as well, these pictures probably look familiar to everyone who put up with seeing my belly grow in my profile pic each week. I appreciate all of the love you shared with me, helping me see the beauty when sometimes I did not feel so beautiful with the physical changes. Your lovely comments meant a lot.
A big thanks and credit to Cassie Rosch who took the final picture with me and Oliver during our newborn session two weeks after his birth. Check out her site, she is an exceptional photographer and captures the most beautiful moments in her work.
ps. I laugh at myself now because at 21 weeks I thought I was huge, little did I know what huge was going to mean...
And these are some outtakes! Mainly with my sweet dog Cooper who always wants to be a part of the action.
A few weeks ago Jenn came into town for a spa weekend. We only see each other maybe once or twice a year (we have been a lot better about that which has been great) so it was fun to get away and enjoy...
cupcakes, tech storage drive, more cupcakes, room service (angel food cake french toast, um yes please) the superb acting of J-Love, a "couples" massage, cute stuff at even cuter stores ( I bought a turtle plate!) the beauty of Boulder CO, orchids and bath salts (not those zombie face eating kinds), very cute maxi dresses (we never took a picture!) and a whole lot of driving courtesy of Jenn and her trusty GPS. ( I hate driving and I miss Jenn's big red truck too)
Thank you Jenn, for making the trip out here. It was so much fun and I always enjoy spending time with this wonderful person/art soul-sister I used to live with :-) I was lucky enough to travel the very next weekend to spend Jenn's 30th birthday with her. I wish I had some pictures of the absolutely gorgeous party she put together. It was lovely!
Here is the evidence of our trek around beautiful Colorado...
30 small paintings that all together resemble my creative process...
metallic colors, patterns and words inspired by Jenn, I'm so glad you love them :-)
supplies involved are 30 6x6 inch canvases, drawings from old sketchbooks, some fancy hole punch designs, soft body acrylic paint, craft paper, canvas scraps, floral stamps/ink, palette knife, silver sharpies, oil based sharpie paint pens and an index from a book about female artists...and lots of PVA archival adhesive.
I want to make more!! maybe in shades of purple/lavender/lilac plum? with some pops of green/turquoise and silver?
I have never been the spontaneous type. It makes me uncomfortable and I can't quite wrap my head around it. It's probably the fact that I have to think about it and how it makes me feel that is telling as to why I will never be spontaneous.
We decided to go off for last minute hike/venture into Evergreen this past weekend. Jeff had seen a hiking trail on this hiking blog and we thought we would check it out...so he wrote some quick directions on a post it note and after a quick (and spontaneous!) stop at sonic for cheese fries we were on our way.
I am kind of sick of...everything. Does that make any sense? I meant to post this two days ago but life kept getting in the way.
Anyway...It was probably in the seventies around Denver but the higher we got the more we saw snow. And we were wearing tennis shoes. And t-shirts. And shorts. See why it doesn't always pay to be spontaneous? We couldn't even find the trail at first although we did drive by a billion cyclists who looked like they were on a final death march up the mountain. I don't know how they do it! We also saw some wild turkeys and two billion elk/deer wandering across the road and one wandering man Jeff branded as a "squatch"
We finally did see the trail after we noticed two people walking down and through the snow out onto the road. Because we were not totally prepared :-) we couldn't manage the trail in our summery gear but we made plans to go back in the next couple of weeks. We are finally making an effort to see more of Colorado, knowing we may not live here forever!
Jeff and I found some lovely weather at a lower elevation and spent some time taking in the scenery.
It was so nice to have a little break away from life, just out in nature, enjoying each others company...
one day I open up my mail excited to find a thick envelope from Vesta Precast...which means from Jenn :-)
Inside were these inkblots she made and I instantly fell in love with them.
I dressed them up with a bit of my fancy new tape and stuck them to some little canvases.
They speak to me perfectly...I am so in the whole "want a baby" mode and they are like little fertility symbols calling out to me. I see history and evolution and everything that reminds me of creation. I see goddesses and strength.
What do you see?
