Today was the day... Artichauts.

Texture: Kim Klassen "Nested"

Attending classes online is a convenient way of making sure I take the lens cap off and create something interesting with my camera every week. What is tricky is making time to complete all the lessons.  Although I read lessons one, two, AND three for the Be Still 52 course  by Kim Klassen, In the month since I enrolled, I had only put aside enough time to create an image for lesson one.  

Today, I was determined to focus on lesson four.   I had purchased the artichokes a couple of days ago and placed them in the refrigerator. There, they had waited patiently for me to bring them upstairs to my "studio" and today was the day.   I gathered all the props and arranged everything on a folding table in front of a south facing window.  I threw a dishtowel across the study carrel I use for a tabletop background. The root-carving bowl was perfect for the artichokes but... perhaps it was the dish towel.  I tried another one, and even added some bright red peppers in front of the bowl but nothing seemed interesting to me.  I kept moving everything around, and around, and around. The sun was sinking and I was getting anxious.  

I took a break to answer a knock at my front door.   There stood a friend, her arms full of stuff, balancing a paper cup with a little wilted flower swaddled inside a wet paper napkin.  She was bringing the flower to me in hopes I could identify it. I cut the stem, found a cute bottle for it, poured some water into the bottle and brought the flower upstairs to my desk to recover.   I decided to try the little wilted flower in the "Be Still" composition.  It worked... 

Week four - Take Action - Make it happen.