I've been pretty busy getting ready for my summer shows - 2 down, 12 to go. I've also put my work on Fine Art American - more of an artistic site than Etsy is.. The photos I have listed there can be purchased as framed photos, note cards and even canvas gallery wraps. Here's a link to my FAA shop:

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/jude-mcconkey.html

and this is a link to all sorts of Landscape canvas prints which include paintings and photography:

landscape canvas prints

Early photography .. things I've learned..

I've learned a lot since I started taking photographs almost 10 years ago.. and one of the worst things I ever did was to process my photographs small to put on a website I was on.. then ditch the originals..

oh
my
god

Yes..I did that when I went to the UK and France with a friend.. and now I don't even have those photographs.. so sad. So today I'm going to present you with my small array of photos from England, Scotland, and Paris.

and weep silently into my pillow while you take a look..

From Cambridge (loved it as much as I disliked London):

   

  

  

From Paris (only there 24 hours but loved it):

   

 From Scotland.. my favorite:

     

     

Dreams

One of those nights/early mornings.. up at 4 a.m. dead tired yet unable to sleep.. I want coffee but have given myself only a little on the weekends (cuz I load it up with bad stuff and won't drink it any other way).. therefore, once a week will have to do.

I keep having dreams - not necessarily when I'm sleeping. Dreaming of shows coming up, particularly a few of the new ones.. Dreaming of a new style of photo jewelry I want to make... And most of all, dreaming of Spring.

I feel like such a prisoner in the Winter. I know it's mostly self-imposed, but I really don't just jump in the car and go anywhere this time of year - even to take photographs. There is snow to ponder, and crazy drivers IN that snow to avoid, and ... well .. it's damned cold outside. 

So on I dream.. three to four more weeks of this and we'll be on the downhill slide. Sometimes when the sun is shining and I don't look outside, I can feel Spring in the air. Here's to grass, and flowers, and walking the dog without whining (me, not the dog)..

Expectation:

"Spring Mix"

Reality:

"Tracking Snow"

Testing the Tortilla

Oh, it's been a very long time since I've blogged.. but I'm going to try to do it more in 2013 .. of course, as we all know, it's already the middle of February and I'm just starting :O

Photography wise, I've been trying to take/work on a photograph a day, if possible.. or at least 5 a week. It's what I truly love to do and I think I was letting it slide a little since I began creating wearable art - photo jewelry - which is much more time consuming (but doesn't really hold my heart).

Another thing I began doing at the beginning of the year was juicing combined with cutting out sugar and processed food. And, while it's time consuming, I feel so much better than I did and had the added bonus of losing weight, too.

In my travels along health's highway, I've found some recipes that looked scrumptious and tasted something off the bottom of a shoe. My husband and I have this "signal" for new food I make. It goes like this:

"so honey, how do you like it?"
"um, it's fine."
"fine, you say? but do you like it?
"well, it's okay."
(secret phrase) ---> "Would you like me to make it again?"
"no, um, no thank you"

I've heard some of this but not too much any more because I try (oy, do I try) to make it similar to foods he likes, with a healthy twist. His concession to eating better was 1 bag of potato chips, a six pack of beer, and 1 bottle of diet soda on the weekend. It was the best negotiation I could get.

I shop once a week for the organic food - which this town does NOT have a lot of. I bake bread about every other day - haven't bought a loaf for 1.5 months. Make my own peanut butter now by shelling roasted peanuts and using a food processor until I'm sure it will burst into flames. I add a touch of salt and a little honey. It's divine and much more peanuty.. and my husband eats it too fast.

Note to self.. make hubby shell peanuts for next batch.

So today I made whole wheat tortillas for the first time. So easy I was a little surprised. The recipe I found was for 8 but you could double it, etc. and freeze some. Five ingredients is all it consists of: whole wheat flour, oil, salt, baking soda and water. You can also make it with half whole wheat and half white flour if you want.

I took blurry pics with my iphone and forgot to start doing it until I had already started to divide the dough into 8 balls. Here are the photos:

sectioning the dough into 8 balls

rolling out thin

un-greased frying pan - weird shapes

plate o' tortillas

Here's the recipe:

http://www.food.com/recipe/pipin-hot-bakery-whole-wheat-tortillas-7417

Tonight we'll have these with some shredded chicken and some tex mex black bean dip (spread on the tortillas)..

damn I'm hungry..

Betwixt Fluff and Import

I haven't written in a very long time.. between the two shops, the galleries, the shows, the work, the resin, the hair caught in resin, and the like, I just kept putting it off.

I've decided to remedy that with the promise of writing at least once a week ...
probably...
maybe...
I'll try but don't pressure me...

That being settled, I'm stuck on what to write about on this first-time-in-forever post. Valentine's Day or Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. How do I want this blog to grow? Will my views/opinions chase people away? Do I want pretty and fluffy all the time, or do I want important things I think about to be the talk of the day?

Well, I think I'll settle for writing about whatever is on my mind that day - what you read is what you get (that doesn't even make sense, but you know what I mean).

I have a lot of favorite quotes from Dr.King but my absolute favorite one is: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

 

 

Calling to the Sky

Those words embrace my belief that we can make a difference in this world - whether it be with a crowd or whether it be with a single person.  I understand that there are people who don't like to make waves.. and some who like doing nothing BUT making waves, if for no other reason than to bring attention to themselves. But in the mix.. somewhere in the  middle.. lies the courage to speak or do something that matters - to us and to countless others. To fight the fight, whether it's large or small. To stand up for someone by standing up TO someone. To say "this isn't right.. you cannot do that.. this isn't how I want my world to be." There is pride to be had in taking a stand, in speaking your mind, in helping change things that need changing - EVEN if these changes are not seen in our lifetime.

Live together
Be respectful
Do not be silent...

Blog interview on Mind, Body, Spirit

Diane Ferguson of Mind, Body, Spirit - a wonderful blog - has done a very nice and in-depth interview with me:

http://www.mindbodyspiritodyssey.com/2011/04/mind-body-spirit-artist-series-jude.html

Life and dreams of a quit-your-day-job girl ..

I miss people ... a few weeks and I miss people.

Two weeks ago I walked out of the doors of the newspaper where I worked for almost 6 years and "Yee Haw'd" my way home. I knew I'd miss my co-workers (most of them), but still, I could now center on my photography and wearable art. I used to get a lot done, just how much more I could do was mind-boggling!

hmmmm....

Well, I think what I've stepped up more than anything is marketing, reading blogs, creating treasuries on Etsy, and playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. That last thing is bad, I know, but I have a reputation to uphold as the one who kicks both my two sisters' butts!

Best thing I've discovered about working out of my home is that if I'm on a roll, I don't have to stop because I have to go to work in the morning.. I can stay up until 3 a.m. working on cutting tiny photographs and sealing them in settings or photoshopping my photography with "ohhhh's" and "ahhhh's" mixed in. If I can't sleep I can get up, stumble my way to my photography room and work.

But I do keep thinking: We laughed a lot at work. We bet a lot. Crazy bets like "how many Easter peeps can you fit into your mouth at once" then we'd do side bets on who's gag reflex would kick in first. We were irreverent and cynical as newspaper people tend to be. We were like a family.

A great, big dysfunctional family, but still ...

I miss talking and laughing with others. I told my grown daughter this the other day and she said "Mom, maybe this is good for you. Maybe you'll learn to like people again!"

Yeah, well don't get too excited, I'm not going to take up shopping at Wal-Mart anytime soon, kiddo..

 The Silent Path

Goodbye

 Change of Season necklace

 Change of Season Necklace

 Tapestry of Trees Necklace

Inseparable Companions bracelet