Saturday, November 05, 2005

A walk in the park


I often walk—to work or with some purpose in mind—so this afternoon I took my artist for a walk in the neighborhood park with no purpose beyond exploring the park and enjoying the sunshine and beauty of a perfect autumn day.

Except for a bunch of fat squirrels, searching for what loot they might find under the golden leaves that carpetted the park and this pair of Mallard ducks on the river, I had the place to myself and took a turn on the swings, wandered off the paths, over the hilly terrain, past the pavillion and down to the river walk that follows the river from here to downtown and beyond. I passed the drained swimming pool, remembering the joyful noise that can be heard coming from there all summer, the empty tennis court, thinking it would be a perfect day to play, and shuffled through the shuffle board courts, now filled with leaves.

I crunched through the leaves loudly and reflected on week 1 and how just giving my artist permission to go wherever she wanted, artistically speaking, had led to playing with dyes, playing with clay, buying new artist toys (aka art supplies) and lowering my expectations while I try new things and learn new skills.



I considered using five of those benches and scorboards for the simple still life challenge #3 and wondered if I could frame a photo containing only 5 trees ... and saw design ideas everywhere.

9 comments:

DebbyMc said...

Sophie, can you explain Simply Still Life? I love your photo of the trees and benches and scoreboards, BTW, and your artists date sounded lovely...I have a blog now and don't know what to do with it but you and the AW women have gotten me thinking I should restart the book and go for it again...I need something to jump start myself...I always like your take on things and also appreciate your knowledge of all things tech
Debby/quiltnbee

Suze said...

Sounds like a perfectly perfect artist date...especially for this time of year...In So Cal, we don't get many trees that turn, so when I find them I am enthralled - there is one street that I drive on that someone very carefully planned the trees to be color changers and I just love that... one of my vacation goals is to someday take the Color Tour of the Eastern Seaboard...Thanks for sharing the wonderful pictures - vicarious leaf jumping!

sophie said...

Debby, the text in my message, Simple Still Life, links to the SSL blog with details about how it works. I plan to join and play for the first time this month.

Suze, I think my long years in California make me appreciate the fall colors (and crunch) so much more. I was walking to a work thing with some colleagues, oohing and aahing ... I think they found me pretty silly, but I was enthralled.

Debra said...

oo... ooo.. I take it back. Those 5 scoreboards (though I saw windows) and the benches... HAS TO BE USED.

You simply MUST. I decree that you JOIN THE SIMPLE STILL LIFE AND DO THIS PHOTO.

Debra Dixon said...

Gosh, is that fall??! Lovely pictures and thankfully, I don't have the leaves to rake! but fall is just a gorgeous time of year. It sounds like you are on a positive roll, my friend!

Vicky aka Stichr said...

I really like the benches and scoreboards too, very different! [admit I 'saw' windows too...]

sophie said...

I didn't see windows in the park, but, I agree, they are undeniable in the photograph.

jenclair said...

I enjoyed the visit to your blog. The park benches and "windows" are wonderful and would be great for SSL. Love your hats!

sophie said...

Jen, didn't I just read that your birthday was yesterday? I am celebrating mine today ... we're practically twins ;-)

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