a few randomosities {thoughts and link love}, but hopefully i can tie them all together in the end

randomosities... i thought maybe i made that word up in a stroke of "genius". but i looked it up. it's been used before, even if it's not a real word. oh, well. speaking of looking up words, i looked up a word a little while ago to see what it meant. it's a word i had heard before... often enough to recognize it. but i never really knew what it meant. and i must not have been curious enough to know either, because it wasn't until today that i made the effort... this time, i was curious! i'll get to all that in a little bit, though.

so, last week when i created the above superimposed image, i wanted to post it {and others like it} and title my post "doubly good"... or something like that. but, i never got around to posting or writing. so the images sat on my computer desktop and my thoughts sat on a shelf in my head.

i had created my image after discovering the images of a photographer whose work sort of stopped me in my tracks. her name is misha ashton. {even her name is cool, no?} i think i discovered her by clicking on a link in a fab.com e-mail or something like that... a daily e-mail that showcases different artists' products and work for sale.

well, upon clicking over to her site, i instantly knew i would love what i saw if i browsed around. and i was right! i am very drawn to the look of her images. and i completely love the "double exposure" work she creates. i'm not sure if she is doing true double exposures with her camera or if it is just a superimposing of two photos with editing software the way i did. but either way, i love the results!

anyway, i've wanted to experiment with combining different photos that i took for a while now. but i never got around to it until i was uber inspired by ashton's photography. {oh, by the way... she also sells the COOLEST one-of-a-kind photography belt buckles. i REALLY want one!}

it's sort of funny how i started the experimentation process out. i simply worked with the photos that i happened to have open in photoshop at the time, rather than going out and looking for two photos that i thought might work well together. {sort of like how professional fashion designer wanna-be creatives are assigned to work with only the clothes they are wearing at the time of the assignment to create a fashion piece/statement on the show project runway.}

i had open, already, this recent photo of my "good morning" coffee mug, as well as the bird photo you see on the left. {i also had several other photos from that winter bird photo shoot open... all taken years back. they were recently found on a c.d. i had in a box of discs, while looking for something else. more of those to come at another time.}

here is another crack at it, combining those two shots...

this "random" process of pairing two images was very similar to how i came up with this image and this image... actually, the first was more of a happy accident than anything. i had both images open in photoshop, and because the branch shot was larger, it could be seen behind the "window" of the trees shot, and i really liked how they looked layered together... so i combined them just as i saw them there on my monitor. it was like it was meant to be.

so now it's official... i've started {hopefully habitually} playing with photo combinations. and i don't think i'll ever stop! whenever i post any here, i'll label them "doubly good".

okay... now to the part that is the reason for my learning the definition of a word today. how can one be forty years old and just learning what a word means for the first time, even though they've heard it before? in my case, probably because i'm not a big reader, and i'm not really a proficient writer, either...

and what a nice segue that makes into this... you see, the other dose of inspiration i have lately received {today, actually} also came in the form of a link in an e-mail. it was an e-mail from typepad featuring a couple of their notable bloggers {sort of the way blogger has blogs of note}.

well, i don't really follow any blogs that are not photography blogs of some sort. the ones i do follow are either strictly for photography or a blend of photography and writing. but i don't consistently visit any that are solely writing... although that may change as of today. i was intrigued when i read in the e-mail about the blog called keitharsis. this blurb about him and his blog was what hooked me...

"keith jennings is an essayist whose beautifully, compelling blog is designed to be a sanctuary for creative writers, featuring missives that encourage his readers to treat our lives and work as portfolios, rather than paths. it's about thinking creatively and staying rooted in what really matters."

so i popped on over. and i really liked what i read!... the most recent post, especially. not only do i quite agree with what he wrote, but i found it very inspiring to myself as both an artist and as a tends-to-be-emotional person who is often affected by tension. his thoughts made me consider embracing tension, rather than avoiding it. and that would have a big impact on my blog, my photography habits and anything else i do that is creative.

i was SO happy to find his blog, because i've been lately considering taking a writing class. he is a writer who seems to want to inspire writing in others. i think i'll be one of his new readers! oh, and i almost forgot!... the word i learned {because he used it in his most recent post}. it's cathartic {purification or purgation of the emotions primarily through art}. i think i am sometimes cathartic! or at least, i hope i am, because i like to think i am artistic {even if not a great artist}, and i know i am emotional... so i hope i am also able to superimpose the two. {hey, do you like how i just brought it all back to the beginning of this post? *wink*}

okay, last but not least, one more link-love link. i promised i would link to a new blogger and photographer who i recently discovered through texture tuesday. her name is mona, and after she saw my first texture tuesday contribution, she e-mailed me and told me that i inspired her to take several photos of her own books and asked if i'd give her permission to link to my blog in her post, as well as mention me as her inspiration. i said, "of course!" and that i would love to return the gesture of a mention. so please go visit her lovely blog and beautiful photography. you'll be glad you did.

isn't it great how artists inspire artists? someone's photo inspired me to take one like it. then i, in turn, inspired another photographer. and a different photographer inspired me to take a leap and try something i had always wanted to dabble in. and finally, another artist of a completely different kind inspired me to be more free with my creativity, by freeing myself from the notion that tension is a bad thing.

i am reminded of one of my most loved song lyrics of all time... "tension is to be loved, when it is like a passing note to a beautiful, beautiful chord." {i wrote a bit about it a while back in this post.}

hoping your day {and art} is full of harmony and inspiration. thanks for reading!