When the sun starts goin’ down on the prairie

This one is my favorite of tonight’s pictures. Something about the underside of those clouds just haunts me.

 

In other work, I’ve got a huge project going on for the last 2 weeks, but it’s not one you can talk about step by step. But, it’s taking up all my spare time and all my creative energy, and it’ll be something special. And I’m excited to be “engaged” (mentally-I mean) in such a big project.

Have a lovely week.

Before the storm

Before the storm

I love these. The sky is ever-changing.

Not much to report on other creativity. It’s been a very difficult few weeks, so not a lot of creative output. I have been dabbling with short playwriting. Of course, things are always percolating in the back of the brain. Now I just need some quiet time (because day job and real life have taken precedence over creative life for 3 or 4 weeks now).

I hope everything in your world(s) is going well.

Morning rain

Wishing everyone peace and joy in the coming week.

Texas Skies

I took this photo on a setting on the point and shoot that I’ve never used before: Night landscape. And you had to  hold still during the exposure time. (That’s almost impossible, and I didn’t have a tripod with me.) But, I loved the way this came out, with the sky, and the lights. It was actually much darker than this, for the blue portion of the sky, but the storm clouds were to the north, so I couldn’t resist trying to capture the photo. It’s great to push your boundaries and learn more about photography. It’s hard. Photography is hard! Whew!

***

In other news…my attempted guitar work went splat! SPLAT! I had worked to try to build the tracks to the guitar driven song, code name BT, LM. Well, it wasn’t there. I’d listen to the work one time, and thought it’d be good enough. Then listen another day, and it wasn’t. Too much imprecision of timing, hesitation. Buzzed notes or dead notes. I need to attack that guitar with confidence, but it sure didn’t happen, after weeks of building up to it. So…what’s the next step? Either hire a guitarist for this song, or put the project on hold till I get better at the guitar.

In the meantime, I’ve been playing the piano (I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to play the piano for fun–to create a piece of music on the piano. So much of this lately has been about recording and work and segments, etc.) I wrote a song yesterday. Gave me chills, so that’s how I know I’m on the right track.

Have a great weekend!

Photos: Oklahoma skies

Incredible sky photos. I had groceries in the car, but had to drive on out of town (to a point to get away from the power lines), and shot a few pics.

If you tried to paint those skies, no one would believe you! ha!

***

My top priority this week is guitar work and more guitar work. I’m very proud of the songs and music we’ve done so far, but it’s time to step it up, in terms of arrangements, instrumentation, lead lines and fills, etc. I have it in me. But something about this whole recording process (once you finish, it’s there for posterity-every mistake visible)–that kind of responsibility is daunting.  Therefore…I tend to dial it back–to find a middle of the road.

Well, middle of the road-don’t fly. If you’re not out there, riding that wave of music, as it crests, and you find that your music (and creative work) touches people in ways you don’t even realize–forget it. Full steam ahead. Full bore. Full court press.

Go For It! Don’t hold back. Push that music (and yourself and your talent) to the very edge.

If you fall, so what? Pick yourself up (there are people along the way who will catch you when you fall), dust yourself off, and try again.

Failing is not the worst thing that can happen in life.

The worst thing that can happen is: not living in the first place.  Not trying.

So, my top priority in all of my free time this week is: guitar work. Instrumentation. Arrangement. Lead Lines. Fills. We’ll see how far I get.

I discovered something completely new to explore. Alternative tunings for guitar. I kept trying to figure out the lick to “Hard time killing floor blues” (From O Brother soundtrack). Today I looked up the tab. It’s in an alternative tuning.

To play bottleneck slide guitar: alternative guitar tuning. One thing I found online said that: Yes, alternative tunings do have a learning curve–but it is about a week long learning curve, as opposed to the years it takes to learn the guitar in the first place.

So, we’ll see. Any help or suggestions????

Photos: Moonrise and Sunset

Taken on Winter Solstice 2012: 12-21-12

Moonrise

Sunset

I loved the juxtaposition of the moonrise and sunset photos, taken about an hour apart.

But I had these other moon photos in my camera, and they spoke to me.

Winter solstice moon

And this one I loved…something about the way the clouds framed the moon. I didn’t even notice them when I was photographing and framing the shot. But, sometimes, when you have a camera in your hand, magical things happen.

Moon and Clouds

Contrasts

Gold

Blue

Downloaded pics today, and didn’t realize I had 2 pics taken from very similar places. These were taken about a mile apart. The oil drilling rig is the same one. It’s about a mile and a half away from this vantage point.

I loved both pics. We’ve had some vivid cloudscapes and sunsets this November. I have to stop myself from pulling over and taking pics every single day. After all, how many sky pics can you take? (Too many! Ha!)

Incidentally, both of these were taken on the fly. The gold pic was taken from the driver’s seat of my car. I stopped in the road (don’t worry–it’s a dirt country road, and you can see about 2 miles in any direction, and there was no traffic).

The blue pic was taken from the backseat of a friend’s car, as she was driving. I saw that circling white cloud and grabbed my camera, hoping to be back to capture the sunrays.

All pics are in camera. No post, no sweetening, no photoshop.

Other than that, I’m trying to muster energy to make the guitar playing better.

Such is life!

Peace.

Majestic Sunrise

Taken 11/10/12 in Northern Oklahoma

Majestic Sunrise

Weather

Nature’s Might:

Starting

Doorway

Ominous

Seems like when I take photographs–the thing I most want to shoot is skies, landscapes and wide open spaces. Oh well, there are worse ways to spend my time! LOL

Vast Skies

We had storms last week, and I grabbed my camera. The thing about Oklahoma– you have to respect the power of Mother Nature. If there is a storm coming, you do not mess around. Take precautions. You never know what may happen next.

After the storm

Menace

As you can see from the top picture, the wheat field is ready to harvest. Harvest has come early this year, but it’s a Murphy’s Law type thing–when you need to harvest, the rains will come. And they did.

Other creativity is slow, but that’s okay. I tell myself it’ll pick up when it picks up. I have so much I _want_ to do, but if the *umph* isn’t there (whatever you call that magical energy that makes things good), then there’s no use in trying to gut your way thru it. Just now sat down at the piano and sang, and was surprised by the amount of *voice* I had. It’s not about the technical stuff. It’s about the amount of heart you can pour into it. So, that’s slowly coming back. It comes and goes–ebbs and flows.

Wishing you happiness and peace.