Lilac Creative

Looking over my blog on the site, I realized that my last post was the end of August—over 4 months ago! It seems like those 4 months went by without me even noticing, even though lots of major events happened for me in those four months. Isn’t that just how life goes when things get busy? So, just to recap the last part of the year: aside from staying busy with client projects, my husband returned home in late October from a 10-month deployment overseas and shortly thereafter we took our first-ever family vacation—to Disney World, a trip that we had been planning the entire time he was gone. Needless to say, it was a blast! Just before we left for Disney, a certain house for sale in our town caught our eye, despite the fact that we weren’t even really looking for a house. We made an offer on it the week before our trip, and it was accepted, with the closing date set for three days after Christmas (seriously—not even kidding). Home inspection, quotes from professional plumbers & electricians on possible fixes needed, getting the necessary info to our loan officer, PLUS traveling 12 hours to see family for Christmas—all this made for a very hectic holiday season! But we closed on the house (our very first house!) last week, and are now getting ready to move in later this month.

Phew! Lots of stress, but also lots of blessings. That pretty much sums up 2010 for me. I can look back on 2010 with a thankful heart, and looking forward to 2011, I am excited to see what the new year will bring.

Hope your holidays were happy and blessed, and I look forward to working with you, sharing with you and imagining with you in 2011!

Just a short post to show-off the latest from my Moleskine. I got out my Prismacolor pencils the other day and had some fun drawing and coloring at Starbucks. Here's the what I came up with.

I project I'm currently working on for a client called for some hand-drawn images of vintage cameras and typewriters, so I got out my Moleskine and had fun doing some sketching. Getting off the computer and taking pencil and paper in hand felt really good, and I realized that I don't do that enough anymore. I used to fill entire sketchbooks full of drawings and illustrations to the point where I was going through two full-sized sketchbooks in a year.

My creativity migrated to the computer after M was born. The computer was a nice, neat way of having everything I needed to be creative all in one spot, with no sharp implements or permanently-staining paints or toxic glues for a pint-sized person to get into. If she cried, all I had to do was hit save before I ran to see what she needed, and I could be sure that when I returned to it, my work would be exactly as it was when I left off. In short, the computer was (as it was intended to be) convenient.

But what I always loved about physically drawing, or painting, or writing, or even cutting and pasting, was the tactile feel of it. The way my fountain pen felt as I drew it across lined paper; different than a ball point pen, or a felt-tipped pen. The way watercolor paint spread outward from my brush strokes on rice paper, or 150lb Arches, and swirled and mingled with the other colors. 

I guess I always assumed that I liked to draw and paint for the purpose of visual accomplishment, but now I realize that the physical act, the tactile senses involved in the creation process are an equal part of the enjoyment for me. I need to make a point of working time into my schedule for painting and drawing again. 

All week the forecasters were saying we would see snow, possibly even accumulation, today. But I must not have really believed them because I was actually surprised when I woke up and looked out the window to see everything covered in white. It was a beautiful sight! Of course, it had all melted away by noon, but I ran out and got a couple shots before that happened. Last year, the first snowfall didn't happen until January, so hopefully the fact that it snowed so early will mean we'll get to see more of it before the winter is out! 

Every once in a while I get asked by a friend or family member to do event photography. On even rarer occasions I volunteer for the office, and such was the case for my cousin Cathy's wedding (because I love her to bits and pieces). She called up three weeks ago and announced she was getting married the Saturday after Thanksgiving (three weeks, Cathy? Sheesh! Give a girl more time to plan! ). With everything going on in our lives lately, I didn't think we'd be able to make it to Michigan for Thanksgiving and the wedding, but my very sweet hubby was extremely patient and good-natured when I rearranged all our plans to head to Michigan last week so I could shoot the wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony, and my cousin was a stunning bride! I cannot even express how excited and happy I am for her—she married a wonderful man and I wish them every good thing! Here are a couple of my favorite shots from the wedding.

I love shooting weddings (and other events), but what made this even more fun was that I got to team up with our best friend, Scott, my photography sensei. He made plans to visit us over Thanksgiving before the 3-week warning my cousin gave us for her wedding, so we dragged him along to Michigan. It's pretty much his fault I got into photography in the first place, and he taught me everything I know, so I twisted his arm and made him shoot the wedding with me. So, here we are, shooting the wedding (my hair actually looks good in this shot--proof of Scott's mad skillz)!

And here are some of my favorite shots from Scott:

So, now I'm home again (after a 13 hour drive yesterday!), and getting back to my regularly scheduled designing/coding. Hope everyone had a fab Thanksgiving!