​What is the best gift you could ever give and receive?

Recently, I introduced an idea on social media that I want to follow up with. I was thinking about Giving Tuesday and what I could do to contribute to this 'holiday'. As I thought about what I could do I had some ideas that I thought would be fun to try but I also realized that I didn't have the energy or time to do them. Life gets so busy so quickly!

Then I thought, how could I give people more time?

​This is a story from about 10 years ago.

I was on a photo shoot, wrapping up a two-day project with my team. We were in Elko, NV, photographing for a company that specialized in medical transportation via planes and helicopters. As we were packing up our gear and talking with the EMT's, we mentioned that we were going to head over to the Ruby mountain range for a bit just for fun on our way home. Then one of the pilots said, 'Well, do you want to fly over there?' Yes! Who would say no to that?

Why do you need custom art pieces for your home? Why do you want them? 

Maybe this isn't something you have thought about before. Or maybe it is. Either way, here are some great reasons that having an original work of art in your home can be valuable.

​In case you didn't already know, today I announced that I will now be selling prints! This has been a long time coming, I should have been doing it a LONG time ago...but the timing finally felt right, (meaning I really buckled down so I could figure out how to do this!). So thank you for your patience!

​Cyanotypes have been around for quite a long time, like 1842 long time. Sir John Herschel and Anna Atkins are the two pioneers of this process and if you want to learn more about them, the internet is full of information about how they got started.

But how can YOU get started? 

It's an early summer morning. The sun is warming up the earth, the dust is damp with dew and smelling fresh along with the plants that are awakening from their nightly slumber. What is it about the morning light that draws us in so much? I'm not a morning person at all, yet here I am sitting and basking in this light.

I remember growing up I loved getting up early before everyone else to sit in our bay window and just watch the sun rise through the trees across the street. I would let the sun's rays warm up my arms, legs, toes, and then my face. I would just sit and stare and take it all in.

I admit that I don't do this often enough as an adult but I'm sure if I did all my days would be more pleasant.

The birds are chirping, waking each other up, and trying to find their morning breakfast. One landed on the sidewalk in front of me, bouncing around at tilting his head to look at me as if he had something to say. He bounced a few more times and then fluttered away.

As I watch the sun getting higher I start to see the ants coming out to warm themselves on the sidewalk as well. Aren't they a busy bunch? Always scurrying around. Their shadows are larger than they are as they make their march across the sidewalk.

What does all of this have to do with art? On the surface, absolutely nothing. But deep inside my soul is being filled and energized and this will influence my art. Taking these moments to slow down, to notice the details, to feel things, to pause, to reflect on the seemingly nothingness moments of life all fill my soul with peace and joy which allows me to connect with myself in a deeper way to pull out my best faculties to create with.

Ice and snow.

This has been a busy winter for mother nature here in southeast Idaho and I really do feel like I moved to the north pole. Several feet of snow, cold wind blowing snow drifts everywhere, temperatures in the -20's, and icicles as tall as me in some places. This little Nevada girl is not sure what to think.

​There are a lot of things I’ve learned over the years about goals. I like thinking about and setting goals because something about that process makes me feel productive and inspired. BUT, I also set goals that are way too ambitious, and I often achieve things that I didn’t set out to do. Things that are nowhere near any goal that I have set, but opportunities come up, things change, and I’m somewhere new.

What should be the point of setting goals? Even now I look back at the goals I set for last year and I think, well, I achieved 1 out of 6 goals. Does that make me a failure or did I waste my time creating goals in the first place? The process looks different for everyone, but here are 3 elements I make part of my goal setting every year.