Hair New Era

In January I created this mixed media canvas for an Inspiration Avenue challenge. Today, I've put it in my Etsy shop for sale. It is still one of my favorite works - I just love the warm colors of autumn (I really don't know why I prefer the word "autumn" over "fall", perhaps it is more poetic. Is there a difference between the two words?).

I'm quite excited about the season change. Many trees in my neighborhood are turning leaves, it looks beautiful. The two crape myrtle in front of my house are glowing in a deep pink, it's marvelous. I simply love this stunning display of bold color.

I hope all of you - at least in the Northern hemisphere - enjoy the earthy colorful season.

I love the challenges at Inspiration Avenue. This week the question was "What is your favorite month?"

Well, regular readers of my blog probably know that since it also fits "my" color - it's October! I love that month - the warm colors of the changing leaves, crisp nights but still warm and sunny days, the abundance of tomatoes on the vine, the changing vineyards and the red wine, and last but not least, the best and funniest holiday, Halloween. For me it's the best month in the year, the one I always look forward to.

I haven't worked on canvas for some time, so I tried it again for this challenge. At the beginning I wasn't too excited, but the further I got the more I liked it. I painted the gessoed canvas with acrylic paint and "stamped" with differently sized bubblewrap using acrylic paint as well. I found these three autumn poems by Keats, Wordsworth and Brydgers in an old book that I had bought at a yard sale, tore the poems out and edged them with Distress Ink. Some foam stamps by Creative Imaginations decorate three corners and stamp the word "October" - it didn't show very well, so I outlined the letters with charcoal pen. Finished with a matted photo that I took last - well, October of course. I actually am very happy with the finished product because I think it shows what it is - October!

On Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch. It's one of our favorite things to do in October.

It was a brilliant day, with a deep blue sky, bright sunshine and the temperatures were pretty high as well. It always seems to be hot when we visit a pumpkin patch - hot, dusty and dirty. And lots of fun.

Kaefer brought along her friend and both girls took off happily - first into the corn maze, an excellent one this year that kept us occupied for the better part of an hour. Our rule in a maze like this is to always stick to the right which really works, although I sometimes thought "hey, I've been here before". But can you really tell among all those high stalks of corn? This time, our rule worked again and we made our way through the maze.


There were farm animals to visit and hay bails to play on, but we headed straight to the patch and while the girls went on the search for the perfect pumpkin, the Geek and I were in photography heaven. The bright light, though, was quite a challenge! But who can resist that orange?

As I mentioned yesterday, October is my favorite month. Temperatures are cooler, but still very comfortable during the day. The nights are crisp, the mornings often quite cool. The light gets softer and the colors bolder. Warm, earthy colors - my favorite colors that I love to work with and also love to wear.

That's probably why my tag for Kard Krazy's Tag Tuesday challenge is all in these fall colors. The challenge was to include some kind of calendar or at least something with a date. I included one of those little calendars in credit card size , used different papers and some stamps with lots of Distress Inks - and I was done. When the tag was finished I thought that it is also perfect for the Geek's birthday, which is today!

Today is also the first day of the month-long online photography class by Tracey Clark and Big Picture Classes, Picture Fall. It looks like it's going to be a great class and I'm really excited about it. October is such a wonderful month for taking pictures!