Practice

Here's a blogger who creates a collage a day and offers them for sale. A Collage A Day is the name of Randel Plowman's blog. It is interesting to see the progression and how the materials he chooses change with time. I admire his dedication.

Trees in twilight, January 2007. Love the silhouettes.

At the beginning of this year I thought I would try to take ONE photograph a day for a month. I was not taking many to get ONE that I liked - no, I was taking ONE. January may not be the best time of year to attempt this endeavor. There's little time outside of work with enough light to get a good photograph. I blame this on my camera, but I shouldn't. Many artists use cheap cameras on purpose to achieve specific results.

The photograph below is one of the photos from that series. The project lasted 13 days.

Full moon rising over Lake Michigan, January 2007.

While collage can be a very quick method, it still takes dedication and discipline. Large beading projects can sometimes take months which can be frustrating at times. But as with any medium, it is the process as well as the finished project that gives me satisfaction.

Sometimes though, I just need to do a piece to get some immediate gratification. Those pieces are no less artistic than the ones that take time.

Quote of the day: If you employed study, thinking and planning time daily, you could develop and use the power that can change the course of your destiny. - W. Clement Stone, businessman and philanthropist.