Back To Life - back To Reality!

Back to life, back to reality, back to the here and now....  Remember that popular 90's song by Soul II Soul?  Man, that was my jam, ha ha.  More than that though, those lyrics describe exactly how I feel right now.  You see, last week Thursday my trusty companion, my mac computer, crashed out of the blue.  No warning, just died. 

Let me tell you I was devastated. Incredulous.  Frustrated. All kinds of emotional.  After all, I am a Graphic designer and my computer is literally my umbilical cord.

When I finally calmed down enough to think sane thoughts, I took some time off from work to regroup.  (A small benefit of being my own boss) Well, my Mac had to be replaced so I ordered one right away and tried to forget how much money I was spending.  (By the way that didn't work.)  Then, I tried to figure out what to do with myself in the main-time... Since I had ordered my computer, I had days to wait before it arrived. 

 Let me tell you, the first few days sucked!  Royally.  I was counting down the day, hours and minutes until my computer arrived.  I guess you can say that I was in digital detox......complete with nervous twitches, anxiety and the patience of a junk yard dog. This went on until it occurred to me that when I was on the computer and really busy I always told myself that if I had more time I would complete my unfinished projects, experiment with new recipes, watch some movies I had been meaning to see....and trust me the list of things to do went on.  Hello, free time!  Let's just say that things changed dramatically after that.

And just when I was really starting to have some fun, my new computer arrived. 

 I am happy that it is here.  I am.....kinda. Lol, back to work I go, yay.  And trust me, I have so much to catch up on.  Hopefully though, I will remember a valuable lesson I learned from this whole experience.  My live, my reality, is not in a box...no matter how useful or tricked out it is.  Can I get a Amen!

Have a good week lovelies.

Cherio!  

Picture This!

Some times its the simple things that makes us appreciate life most. Today I got out of bed after battling a cold for the last few days and I realized that I felt much better. No sneezing, coughing, aches or pains to speak of, its amazing how I appreciate feeling well again. Just yesterday I was lying down thinking of all the things I wanted to do once I felt a little better so here is one of them. Photography and digital collage! Yes, I said it, maybe not deserving the exclamation mark for some but for me its very exciting stuff. It sends shivers up my spine when I think of the fun I could have with a digital camera and my faithful Mac computer.

Last year I had challenged myself to create digital collages that expressed my faith in God and inspired people. As a result of this, I created what you see here and many other prints that you can find at: wandadmcphee.etsy.com

All of these prints started with a piece of photography that I shot while I was up and about or I set up the shoot based on a specific idea I had. Once I had the photo I took it into Photoshop and then added textures and filters. I also imposed and blending other images and colors into the original photo. Although some of these pieces I did are a bit advanced to someone who is new to this, you can get great results too by just taking a great photo and converting it to duotone. (two colors only in image) A lot of my prints are done this way and I just love the way this adds an element of mystery and interest to photographs. At the moment am working on a few ideas for new prints, I will post these as soon as I finish them. In the main time, get your feet wet, dust of your camera and take some photos. Not only do they make great Art framed on your wall but you can sell them as well to wholesale photography sites on the web.

Well, what else can I say but, lets do this!