Photo Art Friday

  

 

Art has always been a part of my life.  My mother and my sister were extraordinarily talented and with their talent came the appreciation and sensitivity of the artist.  I was an observer, an absorber of the artistic process.  It was something I lived with, but not what I did.  My artistic talent was nominal, but I never regretted it because I was a Tomboy ... I played outside, I played sports, I played with animals, climbed trees and snatched grapes from my neighbor's vines.  I loved what my sister and mother did.  I was proud of both of them and often bragged to my classmates, but never had the inclination to be artistic until I grew older.  I think it was when I had children and I started making their cloths or cupcakes for their class parties.  It was never enough to just make a cupcake, it had to be decorated ... it had to be original.  See what absorption did to me :)  As I pursued my career after my children were older, I didn't really have time for art, other than I was still an observer, an appreciator and sometimes a dabbler.  But when I retired, my husband bought me a camera and that is where it all began.  Suddenly with time on my hands I started taking pictures and getting more and more involved with nature (another thing I grew up with).  As I started processing my own pictures, I found myself dabbling with them and soon I was creating things, things that were mine, that were a reflection of me and how I saw things artistically.  I am not the artist that my sister and mother were, but I have my own process.  I get great satisfaction in creating, but I don't have much confidence in what I create.  I do it mostly for my own satisfaction.  I do it to build on the love I feel for the artistic process, to find a way to be part of it, because it is so much a part of me.

The composite is made up of some of the pictures I have of my Mother's and Sister's artwork.  Hope you enjoy ...