Wait! Woooooaaaaahhhhh! Slow Dowwwwwn!!!

WOW! OK! SO! I guess I will definitely be posting once a month! I was shooting for everyday, but...life has been way too wacky busy for me to manage it daily, but I am shooting photos, creating jewelry, posting to flickr, and trying just about everything I can at this point!


One super cool thing I have just done = I re-opened my etsy shop and am now feverishly taking some photos of some recent makings and will post those (hopefully) in the next 24 hours.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/StarrySkyFirefly
I got inspired at the mention from someone who was liking some photos I was posting on facebook. So, having a little inspiration is always a good thing! SO, now I'm feeling really motivated to make my works available to my friends and anyone who might find them and love them too!

I just finished a whirlwind weekend of "collectors" marketing - selling stuff with my mother and her dolls down at the Expo! It seemed everyone did a good bit less than they normally do, it was the talk of the whole show, but we all commisserate, visit, sometimes buy from each other, and go on and try to have fun and hopefully make some money...


So, not only have I been making really cool magnets, pendants, I also am trying to get a huge amount of photographs put out to print and then framed and readying to hang some things around town!

As always, check out my new works on my flickr pages!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootgirl429/5486903457/

Thanks for visiting and be creative!! More soon and it may not be a month! I'll hopefully post something else before the upcoming weekend!
xox

I've Been A Very, Very Busy Girl....

WOW! How do I get caught up? Life seems to be on fast forward as things keep changing almost daily 'round my little bubble of the world! But! I work on my lists daily, and after those chores are done, I set about creating new images of some kind or another....I still can't get over at the swiftness of the month of January! And now, almost the middle of February! I can tell from here, it's gonna be a fun, wild year! With a new addition to my family = my son's child - on the way, I've got lots of creative projects coming every day, week and month of the year!! I sometimes shock even myself at the amount of stuff I can accomplish in short amounts of time, and still sleep too!

Not only did I make about 150 magnets last week, I also created about 30 odd pendants!! Some really cute ones for Valentines Day! the Queen & King of hearts pendants and the new stuff I've been making can be seen here.

I have set up a whole new booth at the Antique Alley my mom and I share space selling our stuff. Check out the brand spankin' new photos and video I put together to give an idea what I have for sale! If you are local, and you like to shop, do come and see what we've got!!

Here are some updates of things Ive been creating since my last post:

the i love you seattle video with hdr images and insanely cool soundtrack to go along with the seattle travelouge! ENJOY!

Michaelangelo is always having adventures as well....He can't help it! He's famous!!!

I put together a piece to hang in the Love show that is coming up here in Portland in a few days. Sadly I'm not actually hanging my "Hearts & Love" piece in the show as I ordered it with a special paper and it took for damn weeks to get here, so upset, I missed the drop off deadline. I was upset. I cried that day.

I have also since my last posting created a little creative blog for my mom!! She makes beautiful and amazing dolls. You have to check 'em out!! Jeanie's Dolls With Love.

Right then! I'm off to work on printing up photos to frame and hang!!!!!

Babies.....

www.flickr.com

New Projects Daily!!

While I am behind on my "daily" postings, I am not behind on being creative everyday!

I have been working hard on a lot of projects simultaneously -- and here is the most recent one!

http://www.dollswithlove.blogspot.com/

My mother is a folk artist and makes really beautiful dolls from antique quilts! Well, go see for youself! We travel to shows to sell our hand made items at collectible and antique shows throughout the year. People come to see her year after year to see what she has made recently.

Today, I also designed a new business card to have handy when networking with friends and new folks, and just getting the word out to people about what I do, and how they can find me.

I am also currently working on a grant proposal, which is quite a lot of thought process especially when you are going through an in-depth questioning process of (in order to accurately express) what you are funding, and why someone else should want to help you fund it! It's a matter of starting with a mission statement, and while I might be able to whip one out whip fast for someone else, I have a harder time tootin' my own PR horn. It's all a process and I'm working on it daily.

I'm working on various other little video projects as well...

Photos? Yes, of course! Every day! I'm downloading some new yummy things to see on flickr as I type this post!

Here's to you and your creativity, whether you are painting your bedroom, cleaning your kitchen floor, planning your new space in your new house, whatever it is: just DO it! have fun doing it! I am!

More soon xox

Lots of New Things!

Been posting new things over at Michaelangelo's Awesome Adventuredog Blog! Check him out! He is also as famous as ever over at our PennyMichelle youtube channel!

I'm also working on little videos for friends and rendering them in ReelDirector before downloading them to my laptop. Once I've downloaded an iphone video to my laptop, I can't really work with it, since I am a windows/pc gal and not yet using - or rather owning a mac! I love the wild creative option the macbook pro offfers and wish upon wishes I had bags of cash for tools of the trade. I do however have a very cool laptop that is giving me a lot of power to go on!

In the mean time, I'm working on the house being set up for photos and videos so I can put it on the market. I am very behind schedule!

More very soon! xox

Working on it, every day!!

Have I forgotten my creative everyday postings ALreadY?!?!

Nnnnoooo, I assure you, I have not! As a matter of fact, I have been working diligently on the 1950 pictures and 71 videos I have managed to accumulate on my iphone!!

Now, I have done this before! Gone way, way too far without deleting pictures, then I get to a place of "FULL DISC" and have to sort my way through all of those photos and videos! It is quite time consuming!! It can literally take me a week to sort through all that, put together batches of photos to make the videos....so, now I now am VOWING to do this download and delete WEEKLY from my iphone. I really DO take about a thousand pictures a month! So, this past weekend I've been gathering up my photos into little videos, and will be posting posting posting these every day! As I mentioned, some things will be posted on one of my two youtube channels, or Michaelangelo's Adventure Dog Blog, facebook r on my flickr pages! In the mean time, I hope you are being creative in your daily life, in whatever way makes you happy!

Remember, your life is your art, so create it as you will!

Working on a cool video of the area where I live! Hope to post that tomorrow!

Here is a little snippet from where we live...it's our street, as we walk up to the Bungalow.

I moved into the bungalow back in April 2006, and started a little blog called Mirabelle Bungalow. I put all of my house projects here, and just general writings about making art with your life. After my father passed away in May 2008, I haven't been working on that blog...Not long after my dad passed, the "monster" came into my life, and waylayed much of my life...

Realizing as 2010 came to a close, I've been in a deep dark cave, in grief status, and recovering from all of the abuse heaped upon me by that monster, and now, it's time to rejoin my real life, get out to see my friends, and just get on with my plans, which have all been sitting on the back burner for about 2 years now. It's amazing how grief and trauma can stop you in your tracks...But there is nothing like realizing what you do have and then making the committment to yourself to give it all you've got. That's where I'm at. I'm taking all of this experience with me as I move forward. The pain, the suffering still happened and it is making me more aware of how precious our lives really are. I miss my father deeply.

I've missed myself too...This is me, journaling life and what is. My plan is to write a grant proposal and press forward with my ideas for Little Miss Issues.

More soon!!

Best Wishes to you, as you persue you!

Theme #2: Where I Live....

Michaelangelo and his park friend, Katy the Golden! It's funny to me, but not a total surprise what happened this morning on our walk.... I decided somehow this morning that I would explore the area in which I live...my house and the surrounding, what I see and move through each day...and how I feel about it. It is quite an important topic on my table, and so naturally I arrive at this theme... Then immediately at the beginning on the walk I knew that was the right topic and started snapping some scenes...

When we get to the park, I saw that the park ranger was there, and I saw her in the distance, bending over, picking something up....Michaelangelo and I make our way to where she was so I could say hi and talk to her about when in the year she actually starts using "round up" (she and I have talked about this before) and things of that nature...

The first thing out of her mouth was sharing the news that our pup friend "Katy" - whom we LOVE - was involved in a 'violent crime' in the very park we were standing in yesterday. Immediately I felt a rush of adrenaline, anxiety, call it what you will, scared for what else she would tell me!! Word in the park has it that Katy's dad was walking her at 7am and was approached and attacked by these two men! One of the men hit him in the face, knocking him to the ground, the other pulled out a six inch blade and was yelling "we want your money!!!! NOW!!!" Just then Katy the beautiful Golden jumps up from behind and clamps down on the crazy man's behind and started to go for the man's face! Katy's dad (whose name is escaping me right now, I always remember the dogs' names, tho! and they remember ours!!) pulled her off the man, and they ran away! THANK GOD, eh?? I'm so relieved that no further harm came to Katy or her nice dad! The police will apparently be all over the place now, but I haven't seen them just yet. I'm just taken aback and completely awed by this animal's saving his owners' life!! And the fact that we know them, and have been in this park almost every day since we have lived here. I'm always super wary and looking around to see who is around me, and how close...we definitely wait until the light of day to go to the park...I'm definitely going to go get myself a new mace, haven't carried one for a year or so now, but it might be time to get a new one...

My neighbhorhood has been a bit dodgy since I moved here, I just didn't realize until after I moved here about the goings-ons in my neighborhood. The park ranger also told me that the guys who attacked our friend had left two cases of Carona in the park, and also were smashing the bottles all throughout the park and leaving the jagged, sharp sides placed purposefully UP so that people and their dogs walking through the park would get cut...Michaelangleo had this happen before, had to have stitches because he walked right onto a piece of jagged glass before I could see it....

At least I got to see my park ranger feed this lovely little squirrel named Penny (!! and there are others she's named Nickle, Dime, Quarter!! which is even more hilarious since my mother used to call me Nickle, Dime, etc!!) right out of her hand, while I had to hold Michaelangelo back from his natural instict to eat said squirrel named Penny...

During this time of uncertainty about my house, where it is, how I am falling behind now because I am not working and can't afford it, I'm entertaining that more than likely, I will be relocating within 2011...

Before I can really move on, I have to say goodbye and finally let go, really be over it (my darling little house which I've put so much into and the fact that I'm losing it!!), and then I can move on. First I want to explore where I live, and what it's like for me.

What's it like where you live???

Winter...Fun?

Mt. St. Helen's Sun Halo March 2010

Christmas 2010 in Southern Oregon

I started thinking a bit about seasons' past and when and where I actually liked winter and had lots of fun...snowboarding was a huge part of my years living in Portland and for about five years straight I went to Mt. Hood twice a week! Finally after 16 years in P'town, I made a little trip up to Mt. St. Helens' in March 2010. I know, March isn't 'really' winter, but it is winter time on the mountain for a large portion of the year, so it looked like winter, felt like winter, and was lots and lots of winter fun...

Definitely, Michael and I appreaciate snow much more than rain! Here is the Crazy Cakes having some snow fun on Michael's AdventureDog blog!!

winter skies & winter travel

winter can seem so devoid of color sometimes...and then at other times, seems to be glowing...

magic little ice crystals...

as michaelangelo sprang from tree to tree,
i followed behind, shivering each time
the wind bounced from tree to tree...
out of the corner of my eye did i see shimmering???
what is that glimmering, i wondered outloud!!

from across the way i saw this shimmer
which did not grow dimmer
but brighter still
and when i came upon
the mysterious glowing
i crouch down besides
with wonder in my eyes.....

growing as if from out of the ground

white ice crystals i found

which quite loudly called my name

amidst dead leaves, needles from pine

dead of winter time -

little white ice crystals

glimmered like little magic crystals

from the cold, hard winter ground

which crunched under my feet.....

words and photos by penny michelle taylor january 2011

Ironically Icy Cold....

How ironic is it that I would run out of oil for heat on a cold, cold COLD new years' eve, and a weekend to boot! I stood in disbelief at the reality of the situation ( 27 degrees outside!!) and watched the numbers fall on the thermostat in front of me in a very short amount of time...Luckily I still have two radiant heaters and they are plugged in on either side of me and pulled toward the middle of the room...I have fingerless gloves on which is helping quite a bit actually!

Even though winter is not our favorite time of the year, Michael and I have gotten out every day as soon as we can see the sun! If the sun is just not going to be seen on that day, at least we need some light...It's been just under freezing for some days now, and thankfully, dry. We have found a great deal of little icy ponds, though! Brrrrrrr! The wind is biting cold!! We run run run! to get the blood going, even though we are both bundled up tightly, we get the job done!

The winter theme this week feels like ice to me so here are some icy explorations for you!!

Stay Warm!

beginning the challenge.....

Winter Skeletons.....

Happy New Year!! and we're off!!!

My first post is going to be about winter...it's incredibly cold where I am, and half of the world seems to be under a blizzard right now so it seems only fitting my first 'theme' would be 'winterish' related.

I've been obsessed recently with the 'winter skeletons' and their symphony and wicked symmetry in which their limbs reach high and low, intertwine together, whisper secrets on their windy waving and dotted with black crows nesting.....

Here is a collection of winter skeletons and other chilly settings where I live set to a lovely ambieant track by Dead Can Dance entitled "the Writing on My Father's Hand"


Winter, for all of it's 'coziness' of the holidays also seems to hold a certain sense of the macabre for me! Something about "Dark Shadows", cloaks, scary trees against grey forboding skies threatening to freeze to ice...Ha! Watching those movies was one of my 'arts' when I was a child! My love for the "Hammer horror" flicks has stayed with me and was able to be really induldged when I lived in London. I fit in London quite nicely, thank you and to this day feels like my most favorite time - being arty with dressing, make up, taking pictures - aaahhh, what awesome memories I have of that time! I have a keen sense of fun, even in the dreariest of weathers!

The skeleton trees are such a study in stark contrast from their winter bareness to the summer bloom...I admit to lovin their summer bloom so much more for what it means to me (that I'm getting some sun and blooming, too!) but the winter skeletons of the trees is just as beautiful, just in a very different sense!

Kickin' off the new year with some NEWNESS!!

It's time to get past the past and get on with the new, today, the FUTURE! and what better way to begin than with a brand spankin' new WEBSITE!! I've been trying to get to this for months, and have changed my mind many times about what I wanted to do. I decided that a 'landing site' or 'one stop shop' for information was the best idea, since I do have a lot of different things going on out there!

I have been planning on working on a 'creative everyday challenge' of some kind - at least in as much as having a weekly theme which I will examine mostly through photography - but also with video projects as well, and some collaging & jewelry making thrown in for good measure. Now and again, a lovely poem will come about! So, in my own much needed revamping, reincarnating, as in rising from the ashes: I am here to meet my own challenge and I'm going to be creative everyday, as being creative is my life, and my life is my art, and I'm planning on celebrating it every day this year with intended focus. I enjoy that this cool gal, Leah Piken Kolidas started this lovely little collective, and I really like this bit where she says

"Creativity is meant in the broadest sense, so it doesn't have to be something art related. Your creative acts could be in cooking, taking pictures, knitting, doodling, writing, dancing, decorating, singing, playing with your kids, brainstorming ideas, gardening, or making art in the form of collage, paint, or clay...or whatever!

You do not have to post every day! I know for myself that having to post every day for a year would be too much. You can post about your creativity in whatever form you like, whether that be once a day, a few times a week, once a week, or once a month. Do what works for you!

This is a low pressure challenge, with the idea of bringing more creativity into our lives. I will not be the creativity police. I hope that we can all find ways, simple and grand to express our creative selves. Have fun with it!"

Do check it all out right here!! There are plenty of other "challenges" out there, and I will keep following one idea, theme and constantly finding another to explore! I'm looking forward to what comes about and sharing other artists, as well!

I will be posting something I'm working on every day, either on Flickr, youtube, or maybe just right here, but the links will be there for you to check out!

Happy New Year to you, Artist!!
Love and Best Wishes from me, an Artist!! xoxoxoxo

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