Abloom at the Botanical Gardens

Morning at the Japanese Tea Garden

Autumn Grove

Baker Beach Family

Blue Maternity

Maxi dress + Maternity pics, always! At the Palace of Fine Arts, on only what could be a winter day in California, the combination was beautiful and elegant.

Babies Left and Right

Many babies have arrived in the last few months, and many more are to arrive in the upcoming months. I am far behind on my baby-gift crafting. I have a long list of baby projects in my head, we'll see how many come to actual existence, before carpal tunnel from my own pregnancy renders my hands useless.

I'm still very fond of the name bunting, in shield shapes. The shield shape fits letters better than triangles. The fabric is double sided (single sided, or inter-facing backed single sided buntings look flimsy), the letters are felt, placed with iron-on inter-facing and then stitched along the edges. They're strung on 3/4" cotton twill tape folded in half, and sewn the entire length. Looped the twill tape on the ends, for easy hanging. Cotton twill tape is so useful. It's not soft enough for baby blankets or clothing, but can otherwise be used to easily cover up raw edges, and comes in great colors.

I assume the mom of the recipient baby is too busy with her newborn to check my blog and see his surprise bunting.

Photos with Ginkgos

This row of ginkgos is a fantastic backdrop for a cloudy winter day. You'd hardly notice that it's grey and cold, with all that saturated golden amber. The fallen leaves are a bonus for instigating fun; I find that grownups also delight in fallen leaves.

Shortly after this shoot, I brought my own kid to this location in hopes of having some ginkgo photos for my own family photo collection, but most of the leaves had fallen by then. She would not be still, except when gathering leaves to throw at me - and in all those instances she strategically had her back turned. Thus, an action shot.

New Year, New Projects

It's been so long since, well my last post, and since I'd done illustration of any sort. I realize I miss having a drawing/ painting implement in my hand, and the freedom and control that these media offer - very different from photography. I felt rather rusty at first, my hand taking a moment to interpret what my head instructed; my lines uncertain as I reacquainted myself with the brush. I feel like I've not used that part of my brain in years. Which I haven't! I've recently been inspired because my daughter is finally old enough to wield a brush with control, painting with intention and focus unlike her earlier days when painting consisted of mashing globs of paint on paper and everything else in close proximity.

We started with holiday ornaments, snowflakes cut from rolled polymer clay and decorated with glitter glue. Sculpey III rolled to 1/4 inch thickness worked well with cookie cutters, and the glitter glue, Target Up & Up brand, was of surprisingly good quality - even flow and dense with glitter. Both my kid and I were addicted - we huddled over our snowflakes, together squeezing little tubes. I am very fond of her abstract snowflakes.

I switched to Sculpey Original polymer clay for the animals, it being more cost efficient. It is not as white as Sculpey III and was softer before baking, but served its ornament purpose just as well. Craft acrylic paints for the even opaque color.

In this upcoming low season of photography, I aspire to (1) Post more art blog posts! and (2) re-expand my art horizons with non-art projects. Everything I come across in my inspiration browsing is so enticing to me right now - paper cut art, illustration, sewing... I don't know where to begin.

San Francisco Autumn

The most reliably sunny time of the year, and best for photos! Though direct light does make it challenging for portraits, the sun does make Baker Beach all the more glorious, a very dramatic background for very cute one year old pics.

Lining the beach are woods of wind-gnarled pines. Trees with great personality and texture, lots of low limbs for little ones to explore, and a unique place for a family portrait.