Refilling Your Creativity .......

Hello friends,

Do you like my pretty bottles? Aren't they just so fab? 

They came to me, all the way from England..... Can you imagine? ....  from my lovely friend Xanthe. They are so dainty and sweet and oh so perfect....
love at first site.... 'sigh'

Thank you Xanthe...... love to you..... xo

I textured each photo with 'embrace'. I love the linen effect it created. I set the blend mode to multipy, and played around with the opacity....varying it with each image. I also reduced the yellows in the texture....with a hue/saturation adjustment, so it would not compete against the gorgeous color in the bottles.... I added some type, a little brush love.... from a new set I am working on.... and a bit of frame to each as well. 

I did very little to edit the images themselves.... Just a little exposure and shadow tweeking in lightroom, that's really it.

Our white room makes it pretty easy to create a nice photo SOOC (straight out of camera)....provided I catch the afternoon light.

(TK members I will have a video for you soon....I have some tips on framing your images using adjustment layers....)
 

So tell me friends, what you are doing to 'refill your creative bottle' each day?

I know it's hard to do...especially for us moms...but perhaps it's something you need to 'schedule'... make it happen? 

Even if it's 10 minutes in the bathroom with the door locked..... or stealing time to just be after the kids are asleep....or perhaps you love to write? Grab a journal, a pen, tuck it in your purse...and as you wait in the carpool line, just write.... is there a television show you never miss.... could you live without it... at least now and then? 

When my boys were little, I stayed up til all hours....soaking up the quiet....and honestly I rarely woke tired....I think giving myself time to create allowed me to feel energized and more alive. I know that won't work for everyone....we are all wired differently.... Only you know what's best for you.... 

right... :) yes? no?

Really, it can be something simple.... a baby step... anything just to start.... BEgin.... create.....

Seeing as my everyday work is creative.... I would say my walks with Ben are HUGE 'bottle fillers'..... Twice a day...once in the afternoon, out at the lake.... and again, in the evening...around our little, oh so quiet town....The evening walk is more for Ben, and there are nights I would really rather not.....but Ben rules....
The fresh air is always good for the head.... I always feel better for it.

The walks allow me to shut my brain off.... just be....walk.....pray......soak up the air... watch Ben and Sophie romp about... It's all good for the soul. It refills me.... and I know it fuels my creativity....

How 'bout you? What do you do? What would you like to do? Share with me today?

p.s. I have so many emails I want to reply to....  please bare with me, as I work my way thru them.... 

p.s.s. The Free Skinny-Mini Photoshop class starts on Monday? Are you in? And oh my gosh.... 12 more sleeps til Beyond Layers begins..... I am so freaking excited... I can't even tell you... Thank you all so much for joining in....It's going to be a completely inspired group! If you haven't signed up....the discounted rate is still available... check it out.

Comments

[Laura]

So pretty! Love the colors, love the creative things you did with them. Just lovely works of art!

[deb k]

i also burn my lamp late into the night. i used to sit in my upper north window and watch the stars. sometimes i got to see a satellite amble by, or if i was lucky, a shooting star. once i was up very late one wintry night and got a fulk show of northern lights. i swear it came with music. the flow of light and colour had a song. lightning storms held me captivated too. and when i remembered that there was earth below, i'd catch the night creatures following the drainage ditches in the orchard; foxes, feral cats, coydogs, and rabbits.

then new neighbors moved in and installed a bright mercury light right outside my north window.

`sigh.

i am collecting old windows so i can make a small summer retreat cabin in the back yard near the line of spruces ... all made of windows. with gauze and tulle curtains all around and an old set of bedsprings hung from chains, covered with old blankets and quilts as the only furnishing aside from one old chair and a ricketty drop-leaf table. and once again i will watch the stars and whirling planets, the birds sleeping in their nests in the trees, & the parade of night creatures, and will swing myself to sleep.

[Elaine]

The bottles are indeed fab :~) I LOVE the colors!!!

Even though I had a difficult time deciding whether to take your Beyond Layers class, Kim, I am now so excited, that I can hardly wait!

I think my "bottle filler" is just going out with my camera or opening Photoshop and starting on a new project, even if I'm feeling stuck. Now if only I could sleep...

[Karla]

I'm going to take that 10 minutes and those walks too. Great reminder and inspiration.

Warm regards,
Karla

[Lissa @ lafcustomdesigns]

Walking with Kobi is a biggy, but sometimes just being with him does it. He "asks" to play at least once during the evening and he makes me laugh. Talking to a friend who encourages me along my path is always helpful. But I've discovered that looking at the world through a lens helps me focus on what's real.

Thanks, Kim, for you gracious abilities: creating beautiful artwork, teaching with that gentleness that comes from deep within, and building community!

[Suzanne]

What beautiful bottles Kim, I love your textures and the inspiration that you so freely share and give away. Thanks so much!
Blessings
Suzanne

[Xanthe]

So glad they made it there safely... I was a little worried sending them through the mail. I knew you'd do something magical with them :)
xxxx

[hannah]

A bottle a day....
Not as alcoholic as it sounds :-)

Do jam jars count?

[Cammie Lynch]

I would like to share a link that is more the artsy/ collage side and not quite photography. Been following Kim for a year now, love this site, but I am also into collages. Leah has been doing this for a number of years now.. http://creativeeveryday.com/ , so those of you who want tips on art take a peak, you can use Kim's ideas for a collage! Happy New Year and be creative!

[Sylvia]

Gorgeous photos, Kim, and those bottles are really pretty, lovely colors !
Have a nice day,
Sylvia

[Sherri B.]

Your photos are stunning...you're very lucky to have a white room from which to create such gorgeous images! Losing myself creatively is my most joyous escape, whether it's spending time in PSE, creating art, or writing poetry. If I don't get creative, I start to feel depleted. I feel blessed to have time, as an empty nester, to create everyday now. Here's to a very creative 2012! Cheers.

[Kathy]

Kim, the photos are exquisite. I love the angles and creativity you put in to your photography. Me...well...I'm still trying to find that groove...that special look for my photography. But coming to your blog (and others) is quite inspiring to me. I do find walking my dog in the crisp early morning air gets me going and for the most part I'm alone in the park, so I usually talk to God and list what I'm grateful for, after that I'm pretty inspired/creative.

Thanks for sharing.

Bright blessings,
Kathy

[Neringa]

Beautiful photos and the bottles are truly cute :) Well, I steel some moments and read a book (which I always keep in the car) while waiting for kids when picking them up from school. Also, if the weather is nice, I like walking to college, rather then taking a bus. The walk along the river side is very refreshing, and sometimes I bring my camera with me, just in case I might see something nice :) and I do see something every time. . . this brings me back on track :)

[Angie]

Well, let's see now . . . I have been biting off more than I can chew where my bottle is concerned. Hope it doesn't crack! That said, I am enjoying the biting off more than I can chew because it is "moving me in the right direction" as well as giving me a bit of a challenge - and challenge is good. I have joined more photo "Link" parties and have been making sure to shoot something everyday! Kids are still off for winter break, so it's been a bit more challenging than it normally would be, but again, I need this. I do. So I am happy and feeling rather inspired these days-and BUSY to boot! Picked my word, too. You can read about it tomorrow on my blog-because that's when I'm going to introduce it to the world! <giggle>

By the way, I LOVE your bottles all the way from England! Really gorgeous!

Hugs to you from me here in SD,

Angie :)
xo

[Darren]

Loved the colors and your wonderful use of focus. Nice job! And thanks for the tip on the bathroom. That's about the only place I get any privacy with 3 kids in the house.

[Dianne Poinski]

Beautiful images made even more special knowing the bottles were a gift! Even though I have been a photographer for quite awhile, my recent purchase of an iphone has ignited my creativity in a way I never imagined. I take walks and look for things to photograph. Everywhere I go am inspired by what is around me. It feels great!

[Macrina]

yes, thank you Xanthe for the pretty bottles! they brightened up the gloomy south-western coast of Canada just LOOKING at them and their brightness (though we were graced with SOME sun today).

and Kim, your white room is a point of envy. with two miserable little pups (i love them mostly...) having anything that is not dark is destined for ruin, though i'm strongly considering converting the spare room into a 'white room' as you have because you're' right - such FANTASTIC light going on!!! everything in our house is dark, oddly enough - the pain, the furniture, the floors, the accents. chocolate mocha - that's what you could call our place. a white room would be an inviting change!

[Suzanne Cummings]

Such lovely bottles and your even lovelier images compliment them beautifully.

[Lisa Flewellyn]

Love your pretty bottles Kim!

My thing is to get out for a walk with my camera, sunshine and dog. Today my daughter grabbed one of the calves and so we all went for a walk, strange group that we are. I think the calf, Rose Petal, enjoyed herself immensely. I consider myself very lucky to live on a farm out in the country.

[Lisa Flewellyn]

Love your pretty bottles Kim!

My thing is to get out for a walk with my camera, sunshine and dog. Today my daughter grabbed one of the calves and so we all went for a walk, strange group that we are. I think the calf, Rose Petal, enjoyed herself immensely. I consider myself very lucky to live on a farm out in the country.

[Laurie]

I love your bottles. I LOVE GLASS! I LOVE COLOR! I'm drooling. The pictures are, as usual, awesome. I especially like the first image composition, color of the flowers in combo with the bottles colors.
I'm kind of on an unannounced break from my blog and camera. Holidays got me out of the habit, but I'm so enjoying the down time with my knitting needles. I'm anxiously awating January 16, to start Beyond Layers. In the meantime I'm starting to gather items and ideas for some new projects this year and to start a new love - glass etching. Sure wish I could quit my job, I just don't have time for it anymore ;)

[Heather Foust]

Just stumbled across you blog. It beautiful. And your photography is awesome. Happy New Year!!

[Gretchen Schaumann]

Always so inspiring to me... The bottles are gorgeous and make such beautiful objects for you to photograph. Love them and what you've done with your newest texture. I used your texture on one of my jewelry designs and am happy to say it helped sell my 2 cuff bracelets within hours of posting. :) So worth the time to learn PSE, even though the timing of your class is hectic for me, that will be my life until March 9th, when my daughter and I slip away from reality and go to Mexico for a week. Her Senior Trip, and my 2011 celebration for me...
I just didn't have things set up to share online the photo I created, but be assured I am taking baby steps to having the "I CAN" attitude for 2012, in which I desire. No more "I cant's", when it comes to pursuing my dreams. Thanks again for the inspiration! You, like I say, have been a huge online inspiration to me in 2010 & 2011 and I know 2012 will be even greater. Wish I could take your 52 week class, but I know I wouldn't be able to keep up, when I'm just learning PSE. How exciting it will be for those whom are participating as well as for you.
Gretchen

[Kelly]

Just love these Kim...great processing.

[Becca Smith]

Hi Kim! This is such a great post I didn't want to pass without commenting. (love the bottles too!)
This spring my husband and I are moving to Seattle from Las Vegas. I have been packing, cleaning and getting rid of things. Even though this is something we've dreamed of for a while now, moves are always stressful. I have been trying every day to do something like crochet, sketch, paint, take photos, work on my blog, etc. just to keep that creative mojo going. I think you are right about getting outside and walking. I don't have a dog, but just getting outside and going for a walk helps clear the head.
I am grateful for the blogging friendships I've had and I look forward to a new and exciting 2012!
Best wishes to you Kim!

[Maria]

How did I miss this until now?!? Oh, how I love old & colored bottles. And the creative possibilities with one's like these are endless. Although, what you have done so far is amazing. Funny, I was sitting here doing my "day" job and needing a little break, so of course I hopped on FB and saw some posts from Shutter Sisters (love them!). I found myself pondering the One Word Challenge. A couple words popped into my head. Usually, I would have just moved onto the next thing (hoping I would remember the ideas later). But this time, I grabbed a notebook (you know, the one we should all keep with passwords & I.D.s, . . . and ideas) and jotted them down and the ideas I have for them. For me, the ideas often get lost in the everyday we call life . . . not this year. But then not quite ready to return back to work, I found myself here, and found this post "Refilling Creativity". What timing . . . because that was just when I did!