Camera Phone Friday #74

1. A girl and her bear, 2. Wow! Flowers from my secret sister. 🙂

My three youngest kids think Build-a-Bear’s School Cool Bearamy is the cutest thing ever. My youngest ended up with him for Christmas because she was the only one who didn’t pick any other options: Bearamy or bust. His head is huge and he comes with glasses, which unfortunately we’ve lost.

I was surprised when I received a phone call this week from a local florist checking to see if I’d be home that day. I don’t get flowers often, and when I do they’re delivered in person by my husband. These were from my Secret Sister at church! It’s been years since we’ve done secret sisters, so I’d appreciate clever gift ideas if you’ve got ’em!

Camera Phone Friday #74 (collage 2)

1. Friday Night Jazz, 2. @justnydia Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl from Pompeii, 3. Atypical subject from a well-known artist. Do you know who?

I never get tired of  hanging out at the High Museum, although this was only the second time we’ve attended Friday Night Jazz, which takes place on the third Friday of each month. No matter how many times I tour the permanent collection, I find something I’ve never noticed or that’s been on loan to another museum and finally found its way home.

I enjoy revisiting personal favorites and often play hide-and-seek with this small Renoir painting; last night it eluded me. Admittedly, I have mixed feelings about the current Fast Forward exhibit—there are pieces I like and others I don’t—but I’m looking forward to the upcoming exhibit featuring Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring.

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Now that I’ve told you I don’t love all of the “real” art in the featured current exhibit, I’ll confess that I visit the Folk Art collection repeatedly. Some pieces I find unappealing, but others capture my imagination time after time. I like this explanation of folk art from the Alliance Theatre’s program from their production of The Wizard of Oz, which featured folk art in the set design:

Folk Art is defined as art originating among the common people of a nation or region and and usually reflecting their traditional culture, especially everyday or festive items produced or decorated by unschooled artists.

The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore gives us a beautifully nuanced answer. “It is art produced by self-taught individuals, usually without formal training, whose work arises from an innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself.” 

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While my husband was outside putting more money in the parking meter, I saw this black and white photograph and had an overwhelming desire both for a macro lens and an end to my yearly winter photography funk, to “revel foremost in the creative act itself” again myself.

Four years later I still remember this very personal video from Zack Arias that he made for a guest post on Scott Kelby’s blog. The combined total of nearly 1450 comments tells me that I’m not the only one who struggles with this yearly creative phenomenon.

Do you struggle creatively in the winter? Wishing you a wonderful Sunday and the inspiration to keep plugging away at that thing you do!

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