STORY 2

WANT to plan an interesting still life

photoshoot with your camera?

1. Plan ahead of time

The well-known saying, If you fail to plan you are planing to fail is also true for a photoshoot. By making use of a mood board, you can plot all your ideas in one place and visually can see what feel and look one’s after. We created a couple of ideas on how to prepare for your next social media story.

2. Create a mood board

Mood boards help one to create a feel and look that’s visually pleasing to the eye. Keep an open in as to what the right solution for your ideas might be. Once you know what direction you want to take, collect inspirational photos.

Ask yourself questions like, what is the story I want to tell, in this case the story I am imagining is someone who is writing for long hours on end and got tired. All these elements are contextualized in a bed room, an intimate moment. Midday light fills the room.

3. Notebook + Ipad

Make a square to imagine the parameters of the room and which part you will take the photograph.

Write the plan down to help you not forget what you will do.

Take into account what format you want to use it for, like for facebook, Instagram, pinterest? This way it’s easy to upload the image into your social media feed.

Using the rule of thirds to place the important subjects on the lines. In this case the red shoes and teacup are the main characters in this image which lies at an intersection point. The red shoes, because of their bright colour, dominates this scene.

Use a diagonal line from one corner to the other to line up the subjects in the picture.

When you’re on set, the sketch is not set in stone. It gave you a good idea what to move around on the set, things might change. By keeping your preplanning in mind, one can change things up while keeping the rules of thirds and negative space composition in mind.

WHIMSICAL ARTIST

VICKI SAWYER

I love to paint, and if I can positively affect someone with my art, then I have reached my goal, to serve.

You’ve probably seen her work somewhere in a gift shop, the grocery store selling her amazing paper napkins with birdies, art galleries, online. Vicki Sawyer’s art is loved across the globe.

Inspired by the natural world...

"I grew up in a charming 1850 home we shared with my grandparents near Pittsburgh, PA. My grandfather, who farmed the land and raised chickens, taught me how to identify plants on our hikes together. My mother's joy in painting and the arts taught me to be visually aware, and my father's love for birds kick-started a lifelong curiosity for the expansive beauty of the bird and animal world.”

Vicki's career was established with a degree in art from Penn State University, which led to work in graphic design, handmade doll creation, and professional mural painting. During her mural painting years, she developed a portfolio of hundreds of murals featuring birds, insects, animals, grasses, and wildflowers. Her experience confidently led her to move into canvas painting of the natural world. This switch, made fifteen years ago, marked the beginning of her expansive career as a fine art painter with a growing library of over 2,500 works. If I can move someone with my art then I have achieved my ultimate aim."

usually paint birds and animals life size but on occasion, I paint them bigger to attain more detail and create the strange and playful look of a larger than life bird. This piece is just that. It's titled, "A Moment to Celebrate" and the birds included are an American Goldfinch, a Black & White Warbler, and an Eastern Bluebird, all wearing classic party hats made of natural elements. This piece is 13" x 19" with the birds painted around 3 times their natural size!

Cheers to livin' it up larger than life

On a walk one day, I believe God put the thought in my head, “If birds can build nests, then they can make hats.” I took that inspiration and flew with it. I research birds and their environment, because they would use those natural elements to make their hats. Then I started thinking that birds could help make hats for animals. And then, there had to be masks, too. Lately, most of my paintings involve birds in party scenes. This requires attention to minute details in the birds’ expressions. Serious whimsy animals - Vicki Sawyer paints birds in hats and critters in costumes

"I label my art as serious whimsy. It's seriously painted, but whimsical.”

Vicki created a world that didn’t exist, or should we say we didn’t see until she shared her world with us. Who knew birds have tea parties with hats so elaborate we can’t get enough of it. Then there’s Erwin with his sunflower seed goggles, o dear! He’s such a hunk. Scooting around Vicki’s animal world makes you feel you belong there, it’s how she brings the animal world and human world together in a whimsical way that makes it so easy to transition from the one to the other. Familiarity to the point you buy portraits of everyday birds and animals to hang it on the walls in the home. These lovely creatures become like family.

Many of her customers seem to favor products that feature groupings of Sawyer’s birds in stylish headgear, images that she notes take “a lot of time and detail.”

One fan wanted more than a card. “The rooster with the vegetables on its head is now a tattoo on a chef’s arm,” she says, “and someone else has a tattoo of some of my owls.”

Not all Sawyer’s fans express their appreciation with body art. Some send her notes. “I get the sweetest emails. Some say my art has made them laugh and others tell me to keep doing what I’m doing, because I bring so much joy to the world,” she says. “That’s exactly what I want to do.”

Her timeless art has no boundaries, what’s good for one generation is good for the other.

Flight school

Little Owls on Big Hat Night Irwin Garden Prince

Joel

How to redesign a stunning home

There comes a time in every room’s life when it needs a little change. The curtains start to look dated. The rug just isn’t what it used to be. The furniture gets worn and the floors loose their luster. Is it time to abandon the house and just move to another one? No! Redesigning your space can make a world of difference.

Whether you’re on a slim or generous budget, there are methods you can use to change the interiors of your home.

How to choose color

The first question to ask is always “what do you already have that you will keep.”

Redesigning a home can be a very creative and satisfying process, both for the home owner and the interior decorator. Both will take one room at a time and evaluate each room to see what will stay or go.

Establish what you don’t like for each room. Remember who lives in those rooms and what they will be used for. Also keep in mind that the house could be sold in future and how well it will sell.

After you’ve doe all the homework, it’s time to design. It’s important to let the interior designer know what you want to accomplish overall. Start with the floors. At this point the interior decorator will discuss the floor options. The floor and colour are the basic stones to build good design.

It’s good (and fun) to go through Instagram, Pinterest and various websites to see what’s out there and what will suit your style.

There are so many interior design products on the market, it can become quite overwhelming. That being said, it’s satisfying to know you have explored the wide range of floor options. This gives you a good understanding of what the interior decorator might suggest and how you can react to that.