outdoor observations

today, josh and i returned to fairy lake for our weekly photo-shoot... we went there in part to see how things had changed over 7 days time and also to chase the light as it was closing in on 8 a.m. when we left...fairy lake is close, so we knew it wouldn't take long to get there. :)

we could see less foliage and the deterioration and yellowing/blackening of other plant-life. we also found the ducks to be rather hungry this week as compared to last. they were literally coming right for us and getting out of the water to see if we had anything for them...following us around! also, we noted that the water level had dropped considerably. in doing so, it brought to the surface garbage and debris. raw and real, we could see what lies beneath and within fairy lake. josh was rather disgusted at the pollution and carelessness and had concern for the ecosystems and quality of the water.

we spent time seeing where the light landed and photographing those spots/objects if it appeared interesting. almost anything can be interesting with the glow of morning light! :)

we paid attention to reflections and ripples and the tiniest bits of nature like seed pods, water droplets, berries and buds.

i can see this as a meditative process for myself and a bonding one with josh too! we are both relaxed and enthusiastic together when we explore the out of doors - we are adventurers on a quest for light, life and fun!

IcE ArT

You never know where you might find inspiration.

Through my perusing of flickr members' images, I found some wickedly colourful ice art by Cliff. He appears to be the master at this and is doing an art show with his work! He kindly passed along tips and ideas on how to do this.

Basically, what we did was put about 1/8th to 1/4 of an inch of water in clear pyrex pie plates and other plastic containers and froze them. Then, added a few liquid materials like: acrylic paint, food dye, glue and oil to see what mixed together and how they flowed. As the ice melts, new shapes take place and the liquid expands and splats out. The kids had fun watching and then we made our own swirls with a spoon. I took pics as we went along.

Through flickr, I have been drawn to textured work and therefore, I put a piece of somewhat wrinkled aluminum foil under the pie plate in case I could use it in the photo. It worked well especially, when using a photoshop filter called, liquify whereby I added a few of my own swirls to the image.

Then, today we considered integrating natural materials into the ice like bright coloured leaves. Josh froze a few different items and we photographed the red maple leaves today. Tomorrow, will see what happened to his other concoctions. Through Carol's ice art inspiration from last year, we lit the ice up by candlelight. That was fun! I look forward to using cranberries and other forest materials as did Carol this winter and see what surfaces from that too.

Another twist that came up was this. My mother-in-law collects tons of gift bags that have all sorts of colourful designs on them. (So, that's where the butterflies came from. )I placed the clear pyrex plate on top of a butterfly bag and could then see it in a textured and muted way underneath. We also used other patterned bags and bags with bright flowers. The ice for this was a little too thick, so next time I will wait for it to melt more or make it thinner from the start. Then, I used a couple of filters in photoshop for fun to finish off image.

This is a great project as we can all be involved, the cost is little to none and we can try something new often and the results will be different each time!

Not only that, after we were done with today's ice, Josh got to 'smash' it outside which pleased him to no end. Plus, we made some small round ice mounds that he felt looked like hockey pucks and thought that playing with that was the greatest thing. Go figure...:)

Kidlets happy, mommy happy... great fun... thanks to Cliff and to flickr!