Mad Tea Party 2015 - Double Vision

"Please come for tea" the March Hare says fixing his beautiful, shiny eyes upon you. How can you resist?

Flowers blossoming in ways that are marvelous to behold.

He hops along the path that leads to a most intriguing setting for tea. 

He moves so fast he is almost transparent. Where did he go? Where has he left you?

As you move through the garden the tea cups seem to appear out of the flowers. 

Suddenly there they are - teacups! But big enough to swim in. 

So you dance on the rim feeling a kind of amazed exuberance. 

It's odd, the flowers seem to talk. You must be getting sleepy. 

Walking through the handle of the teacup. When did you get so small? Or did the teacup grow?

You search for the March Hare and think you see his eyes looking back at you even as you make it to the tea table. 

You are so tired you rest on some of the sweets!

You may be tired, but the March Hare is busy taking tea. 

The teacups are shrinking. Is this good or bad?

You need to get back home. Maybe the stone bridge will take you there. 

Instead you are led to the tunnel in the bay. 

You are asked to stay, but you'd prefer to go home and have a cup in a safe place where you know what to expect. 

Ahhh! This cup is just Assam. 

(A variety of apps were used in the making of this tea party. Diana App for double exposure. Snapeee for decorating. Comics Camera for high contrast.)

Models: Sir Fernly as the March Hare. Madeleine Ooka as You. Lynda Shoup as the talking flower. 

Location: Many of the photographs were taken at Blithewold Mansion and Arboretum in Bristol, Rhode Island. As magical a place as ever existed. Don't believe me? Go for their Fairy Festival on August 2nd and see for yourself!

Mother's Day Gelli Prints - Stamping and Printing Sunday

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers and to the fathers out there who have to fill in a mother's shoes. 

I wanted to send you flowers so here are a couple of gelli printed flowers. I don't know whether I will leave them as is or whether I will choose to fill them in. 

 My family had our meal out yesterday and so today was a lovely day for sleeping in. Just what I wanted! 

I hadn't gelli printed in a few weeks and I was eager to do some. Here are some of my favorites from today. 

I love the prints as they are, as part of my art journaling, and also as a layer in my double exposure photos. I love the way they combine with other photos. 

I hope you had a lovely Mother's Day. It was great for me to celebrate yesterday (less crowd in the restaurant) and have today to loll about. If you could plan your own Mother's Day event, what would be most meaningful to you? Now that you've thought about it, how about asking for it?

Resting - Self Care Saturday

Today I allowed myself to sleep late, laze about and recharge. Lately I've been driving so much the car feels like an extension of my body. Last Saturday I vowed I would not get in my car and I did not. What a great feeling that was! This week I decided that I would do that again. 

So this Self Care Saturday is all about not pushing, not forcing, not allowing the voices of doubt tell me that I should be doing something when I knew full well that I needed to rest. 

Tomorrow I will drive. I will push. I will rise to the occasion. Today…today is for me. 

Sand instead of Stamping and Printing this Sunday

Sundays is the day I've been posting my stamping and printing lately. Today I threw it all over and went to the beach. I certainly left my mark there, however. 

We made flower and sea drift mandalas on the beach. Inspired by photos I've seen of the mandalas others have made, I decided to give it a go. The process unfolded naturally, the tiny cherry blossoms were laying on the sidewalk just begging to be included. Each layer was lovely to behold, but more items beaconed. The final row of shells seemed just right.

It's funny how the creative process is like a road that leads itself. If only I could step out of my own way more often.

This week my creative focus has been on photography. It's natural to happen while taking a class. I'll leave you with one more double exposure from the beach. 

Double the Fun with Double Exposure Photography

The Double Exposure Love course with Vivienne McMaster has been a blast this week. It was just the creative outlet I needed. 

When the class started and I realized that I could use my gelli prints as a background I was entranced. Many a combination of photos included some of my artwork. Experimenting with other elements was so enticing that I ended up exploring those as well. I'm sharing just a few of the photos here. 

After all this time that I withstood the temptation to start an Instagram account, it made sense to take the plunge. The course participants were sharing on Instagram and I notice many art journalers are abandoning their blogs for the immediacy of Instagram. Feel free to give me a shout over there at https://instagram.com/lynda_shoup/. 

Double Exposure - Stamping and Printing Sunday

I'm doing something a little different this Sunday. On a whim I signed up for an online photography course with Vivienne McMaster. She is very inspirational in her writing and is an encouraging and cheerful guide. Having taken her classes, I can say my eye for photography has grown exponentially, my photos have improved, but more importantly Vivienne has helped me to see myself in a different way. I would highly recommend her courses. 

(Do you recognize the stamp I made out of a vegetable tray transposed over a picture of me at work?)

The course I signed up for starts tomorrow. It's called Double Exposure. You can guess what we are going to do. In preparing for the class I started trying out her recommended tools. I melded my gelli prints with other photos and the results blew me away. So today I am sharing my prints in a different way. I love the whole process. I'll be posting more this week as I take the course. 

(Can you see my daughter walking through the paint smudge portal she found in the park?)

(My daughter and our rabbit, Fern, running through a field of gelli print….This is getting a little Alice and Wonderland-ish….)

Vivienne McMaster in Artful Blogging!

When I learned that Vivienne McMaster was going to be featured in Artful Blogging I was very excited! Vivienne has been such an inspiration to me. 

Having seen the issue blogged about, I haunted my local book seller. I couldn't get my hands on a copy. Then yesterday I saw it as I rounded the rack and exclaimed "Oh, there it is!" A woman who was looking at quilting magazines asked what I was so excited about. She didn't know about blogging or Artful Blogger, but she went home with a copy in her hands and plans to put her quilts online. 

I learned about Vivienne's classes when a writer whom I admire changed her twitter profile photo and commented that she had taken it in an online class. I got Vivienne's contact info and then time went on. 

Several years later (last summer) I took my first course with Vivienne. She is a kind and gentle soul who brings out the best in people. The community of people she draws to herself is positive, powerful and inspiring. No wonder I keep going back for more. 

Congratulations, Vivienne. To celebrate your appearance in Artful Blogging, I decided to take some selfies. I share my favorite with you here. 

Post Tea Party Musings

A week ago Vanessa threw the 6th Mad Tea Party and I joined in. It was my first time to join this kind of event. It was so much fun to put together our own photo shoot and enjoy the tea. There was even more fun to enjoy in blog hopping and finding new sources of inspiration. Thanks to everyone who visited me and left comments. It was a great week.

Yet, all good things must yield to other things. The party must be cleaned up. The dishes washed and put away. Some of my tea things are hand wash and some can shower in the dishwasher.

Joy Still Coursing Through

I’m still joyfully coursing through Vivienne McMaster’s Be Your Own Beloved: Self Care through Self Portraiture course. The photo above was taken as part of an attempt at studying movement and stillness. I wasn’t at all sure how this was going to go….it has been some time since I stopped thinking of myself as being  skilled at movement. Thinking of capturing my movements in a photograph was a dubious task, or so I thought.

The results of the experiment thought otherwise. I came out with some very stunning specimens (if I do say so myself).

It reminds me to:

Keep moving

Keeping smiling

Keep chasing dreams