Inspiration is Everywhere

...if you're looking.

I came across a quote today, "You may ask:  If God is more powerful than Satan, why doesn't God stop this foolishness?

Because the negative power is an agent for God.  His job is to act as the schoolmaster, following God's will.  God said, 'I've got a schoolroom of children here.  Make sure these Souls get enough of an education so that when they graduate, they can go into the spiritual worlds and stand on their own two feet.  Their destiny is to become Co-workers with God, helping me in the administration of my worlds.' "

--  Harold Klemp, "Touching the Face of God

It inspired me to sort through my photographs to make a new image, possibly a new series, "Earth is a Classroom."  After looking through a few dozen pictures, I settled on these two:

A photo of one of my nephews taken by his mom on his first day of kindergarten.

and....

Frontier Village, North Dakota

 I took the second photo myself a number of years ago and thought it had potential, although I was not sure how it would all come together.

After merging the two, making some refinements, and playing with the painting design, I finally arrived at this:

"Earth is a Classroom"  # 1 in my possible new series.  I chose to blur out my nephew's face in this image because I didn't want his personal identity attached to it, it wasn't about him.    

Never underestimate the power of creativity or in your ability to make old things new or even in bringing more light, love, and understanding into your life, the lives of others, and through your medium of choice.  Anything is possible!

Painting With Photos

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." - Vincent Van Gogh

Growing up I wanted to paint.  I drew (or more accurately traced).  I photographed life.  I even wrote poems and short stories.  I wasn't short on talent, except I couldn't paint the way I imagined I would if I could.  I think some of my photography was born of that desire because many say my photos look like paintings.  I like it that way!

Bluebird Gap Farm, Hampton, Virginia

                                                  This wasn't my starting point, though.  It didn't occur to me to think maybe I could make my photographs look like paintings; they evolved that way.

Most of my life I snapped photos as they caught my eye....literally, thousands of them after the digital age arrived. Before that was film and, although it didn't slow me down, digital definitely sped it up allowing me more freedom to take unlimited photos.

Next came photo editing programs like Photoshop integrating my love of picture taking with my love of color and then the Holy Grail of photography, for me, exploded! Not only did our camera phones transform quickly before our eyes with higher and higher pixels and amazing quality

but the photo apps like Snapseed and Enlight created an easy avenue to transform your photos at the tip of your fingers with filters to provide you a ridiculously effortless way to improve on them.

Virginia

Jackpot!   Imagination meet reality!  Now I can take an already beautiful photo and add whatever strikes my fancy.

In this case, "my fancy" was another of my loves as I am a Rescue Volunteer.  

Voila!  There you go or perhaps more accurately...there I go!

Another lesson in all of this for me was...if you love something, do it!  Spirit, life, the universe...whatever you wish to call it...will lead you to the next step then the next and then the next for as long as you wish to go.  It may even go in directions you never even imagined if you are willing to go with it; after all, life is not a straight path.  It might not happen in the amount of time you have alloted; it might not even happen at all, but if you love it, you really won't mind. You'll be too busy having fun so go for it!

An enhanced photo of a statue in a garden.

You may even be transformed!