Another day, another learning curve. Sometimes I go months at a time never learning anything significant. Since I started this challenge I learn something EVERY GOSH DARN DAY. It is the most beautiful thing. As an artist, do you ever have those moments where you learn something and you simply cannot believe that you didn’t know it sooner? That was me today, in so many ways…

“Wow, stop motion is so easy, even when doing it myself with a remote and timer!”

“Wow, the sun came up and I’m still able to shoot…who knew?!”

“Why don’t I make chia pudding every day?”

You know, the usual.

I got up at my new regular time of 4-something-ish and headed out the door, but the sun caught up with me today. Turns out, stop motion takes a long time to shoot when you are by yourself with no one to push the button for you. Picture: I’m alone in the desert with my remote, pointing it at my camera, waiting 2 seconds (when it decides to even trigger), and then posing for the image. For 300 images. OF COURSE the sun came up! So, I had to shoot my body in various parts so as not to get direct sun, but hey, it worked! I didn’t melt! I came out smiling! What a day!

Today is the 4th of July, Independence Day, here in the States, and naturally that had me thinking about stars. I wanted to use a sparkler for this image, but there is a fire ban where I live. We don’t even do fireworks; we do a laser show. Yeah, I said it. A laser show. It is about as interesting as you’d expect. So, fireworks being banned, I rethought my concept.

If you are celebrating today, be safe! On a personal note, I’m particularly excited because I’m making a fake-meat-fake-cheese-barbeque-sauce sandwhich…which sounds super uninteresting, and actually kind of gross, but I eat foods like that infrequently so I’m kind of excited to indulge. When I woke up this morning I rolled over to my husband and said “It’s barbecue day!” So, that’s an indication of the level of giddy I get about very unimportant things.

And if you’re not celebrating anything in particular day, keep in mind that it may be Tuesday, but it is the ONLY July 4, 2017 you’ll get, so make the most of it!

When I create I’m often running back and forth between my spot where I’m posing and the camera, checking things like focus and angle and composition. I usually find myself flipping my hair about, or tensing my muscles – bringing the character to life. Sometimes my shooting process is so quick that I invent other things to do while I’m out – a different take on a shoot. Sometimes I collect sticks or leaves to take home with me, though they never make it far into the house.

Editing is always such a journey, and I get lost in it. Hours pass and I have no idea. I forget to look up from my screen until my cat meows for food and I realize darkness has fallen, and the only light comes from my bright screen. I imagine how if I could see myself from afar, my face would be lit blue from the blue fabric I’m editing together. Everything in life is so cinematic, and I draw inspiration from that to go wild with blue in this edit – take it to the extreme.

I love playing with extremes when I edit, often adding a lot of saturation and pulling back later to finesse it. Sometimes I wonder how I find the discipline to do anything but shoot and edit all day long, but when I finish my mind returns to normalcy and I feel fulfilled – transported – alive.

How do you create? I would love for you to share your process with me, either in general or in relation to a specific creation. If you write a comment here, share a blog post on the subject, or record a video response I will be sure to choose one to feature – just make sure you share a link with me in these comments.