Simple Minded

Thank you everyone for your wonderful support, and I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only one with too much holiday decor...for every season!

After donating some of my fall items, I have found that the pieces I decided to keep mean even more to me and look even better now that they can stand alone.

I've decided that my new approach to holiday decorating will be more simple minded, kind of like me!  I have always incorporated natural elements into all of my holiday decor, but I feel like now I will put even more emphasis on bringing the outdoors in, and trying to embrace the less is more philosophy that I am so drawn to these days.

I find that everywhere I turn I am seeking simple, clean lined items that are easy on the eye and super functional, like these cute little white cafe au lait style bowls I picked up yesterday.

I had passed by these many times at Target, and I really loved them but talked myself out of them each time.  Then, while surfing blogdom the other day I saw these on someone else's blog and thought, you know I really should just buy them.  I can't remember which blog it was...sorry...that would be my simple mindedness that I mentioned earlier.  Whoever it was, they had found these on sale and picked some up...I was not so lucky, at my Target they weren't reduced.

While I was at Target, searching for my perfect little bowls, I ran into a friend I hadn't seen in quite awhile.  Her daughter and our son Bugs had gone all through school together, and as parents of older kids know, once your children leave middle school and beyond, you hardly ever see the parents anymore, so it was nice to catch up.

She looked great, which she always did, and she had her arms full of stuff for her house, which was always beautifully put together.  When I told her what my mission for the day was, she mentioned that if I could wait until Sunday, the bowls would likely be on sale here too.  Not a snowball's chance in you know where of that happening.  Along with my simple mindedness, I'm also horribly impatient.  And the thought of slogging my way back over there, which is about 1/2 hour away to save maybe $4 just wasn't enough incentive for me to wait...sorry Mr. Tide! ;-)

After walking through my living/dining room for the past few days with it looking a lot like a bad, bad photo studio a la lighting equipment and props scattered all around, I finally had had enough and set to clearing out some of the chaos.

Things are looking better in there, but I still have a few tubs of stuff to put back in the garage, but that will wait until tonight or tomorrow.  My mission today, besides a meeting I had earlier today, is to go buy some new walking shoes.  Ever since we returned from Europe, where we estimate that we walked between 6 and 8 miles a day...sometimes more, I have tried to continue that by walking at least 2 1/2 miles every day.  It's not nearly as much fun to walk down our little lane instead of the streets of France and Germany, but where we live is beautiful and quiet, so I can't complain.


 

Before I gave all of my props and equipment the 'ole heave ho out of the living/dining room, I did take a few more still life shots, just for the heck of it.

I wanted to create a few that had a feminine edge to them, so I used some of my great grandmother and grandmother's antique pearls, and of course some pink roses from our rose bush.

These will be the last roses of the season, which always makes me a little sad, but I know they will be back next spring looking and smelling as wonderful as ever!  The winds of change showed up last night, quite literally as it was a blustery evening, and today there is a chill in the air and gray skies which look a little too much like snow for my liking!  

I got a lovely email from Lili today and she said that up her way in Maine they are expecting a record snowfall this weekend!  And Joan did a post today showing the 2 inches of snow they received last night!  EEK, can you imagine?!  The thought of snow in October is way more frightening than Halloween...at least for me it is!

I hope each of you has a wonderful weekend!

Shadows and Light

I thought we would take a little break from Europe and talk about photography and a local sale going on in southern Maryland this weekend!

When it comes to taking photographs, I feel that trying new and different stuff is the only way to find what works best for you.  As a self taught photographer, I am slowly learning the terms of photography, but I doubt I will ever be an expert, heck I can barely remember which lenses I own, but I do know what I like.  And what I love doing is playing around with the settings and trying to grow as a photographer through pure luck and lots of trail and error.

In the photo above, it was early morning the other day when a heron landed right on the dead log by the end of our dock.  The fact that a heron did this is nothing new, but the fact that it let me and 2 boisterous dogs come clamoring out of the house without freaking out and flying away is nothing short of a miracle!  Herons are skittish birds in the wild, and they will fly off at the drop of a hat, screaming loudly at you as if to say, "you scared the heck out of me and I'm outta here!"  I have lots of pictures of heron butts to prove this!

This heron however, was quite content to perch on the log long enough for me to extend my telephoto lens to it's full 400 millimeters so that I could try and see every feather.  Of course I realized after snapping a few pics that my ISO was way too low and so the pics were going to be very blurry.  As a general rule, and without using a tripod, your shutter speed shouldn't be any less than the length of your lens.  So if you are using the 400 mm your shutter speed shouldn't be below 1/400th of a second.  This is the number that you can see when you look through the viewfinder, on my Canon it is in the lower left of my screen display. 

So I quickly bumped up my ISO, which makes the light sensors more sensitive, meaning you can have less light and still get a good image.  And voila, I got a great shot of the heron!

When shooting wildlife that is apt to move off quickly, you don't have a lot of time to stop and see if you got a good shot, you tend to just snap away and hope for the best once you are done.  So besides changing my ISO, I also switched to TV mode for a few shots.

In TV mode, you can set a fixed shutter speed, one that is quick enough to capture something in low light.  These images can often be dark, but if you shoot in RAW format, you can sometimes lighten things up and still have a fairly sharp image.  This is a great trick if you simply don't have a tripod for low light situations.  I actually used this trick while shooting in a castle in France, and even though the images looked almost black on my LCD screen on my camera, and I wasn't sure I would get anything out of them, I was pleasantly surprised when I got home and manipulated the exposures in Photoshop...I got some wonderful images by using the TV setting 1/125 while using my wide angle lens which is a 24 - 70 mm.

Anyway, that is all a very long and boring way of saying that I like trying these different settings, and learning the capabilities of my equipment.  The image above was taken using the TV setting and I decided not to lighten it, I loved the dramatic effect that I got as much as I liked the first image.  They are both different and each have their own appeal, at least to me anyway.  Sometimes photography is about shadows and light as much as it is about the subject matter.

Ok, enough camera gobbledygook for one evening, but before I go, I want to tell you about a sale going on this weekend in my neck of the woods.  My friends Susan and Julie are at it again, pulling together a fall show that is sure to help you find those early Christmas presents!  

The flyer below will give you all of the details, and if you go, please tell them Kat says hello!  I will be up in DC meeting a bloggy/Garden Web forum friend of mine (for the first time) who will be in town from Atlanta!  We've been friends for a few years now, and I can't wait to meet both Traci and her husband!  

I hope you each have a wonderful weekend!

For Sale

I recently began selling some of my Kat W. Designs artwork at a few local stores, including Lola Belle Co. in Leonardtown,  Cecil's Country Store in Great Mills, and at The Vintage Source, also located in Leonardtown but only open once a month.

Because I love and shop at all of these wonderful stores, and because I consider the wonderful women who run these stores to be friends, I made sure that each shop had at least one item and sometimes more that was exclusive to their shop alone.  Each of my fine art prints are printed on high quality archival paper and framed in shabby chic inspired beautiful handmade wooden frames.

Over the next few weeks, I will be taking you to each shop and showing you not only my artwork, but all of the wonderful things these three shops have for sale this spring, but today I'll be taking you around The Vintage Source since this weekend they will be open for business on Saturday and Sunday!

Those of you who have been visiting my blog for awhile know how much I love The Vintage Source and their wonderful array of reasonably priced furniture and vintage accessories.

And it's always a treat to see how they have everything displayed in the shop.  Today when I was there, the girls were all frantically arranging, painting, and getting everything ready for their big weekend.

Some of these scenes will look beautifully pulled together and ready for customers, who line up early in the morning in anticipation of their doors opening, but others will show you how crazy the shop can be right before a sale.

As the VS girls rushed around moving large pieces of furniture, fluffing, and organizing as I snapped away today, they reminded me how much still needed to be done before they were ready to greet their customers on Saturday.  But they indulged me none the less and let me capture some of the chaos that comes before the beauty that we as clamoring buyers get to see after all of their hard behind the scenes work is done.

It's always a treat to see what new treasures they have found from month to month, like the beautiful transferware bowls pictured above.

And the way they create such a homey and inviting atmosphere with their appealing mix of vintage, antique, and funky accessories.

The picture above is a great example of what a massive undertaking these sales are each month.  Not only do they find the furniture they sell, but they also refinish, repaint, and even reupholster much of it.  In the final days before each sale, they are busy prettying up the place.  But before everything is made beautiful, there is a whole lot of rearranging, moving, and jumble going on.  Then, like clockwork, it's all magically done by the time they open.

I say magically, but I was just tired from being there for a short while today watching them scurry around painting, and hauling heavy furniture from one place to another until it looked just the way they wanted it to.  Imagine moving and redecorating your house every single month...yeah it's kind of like that!  I told the girls today that I'm WAY too lazy to own a shop like this, but I'm really glad they aren't!

Because they are so full of energy, lazy people like me get to come in and buy the fruits of their labor, like this beautiful piece.

Or this one...look at the beautiful detailing on the legs and the side!  And trust me when I tell you that it won't last long.  These sales have people lined up around the block and you better get there early if you see something you love on their New Arrivals page!

You never know what you'll find, like a beautiful botanical print in a gorgeous frame...

Or a to die for cupboard that would look oh so good in my house if only I had a little spare room!

There are vintage dishes, glassware, and wonderful serving pieces.

Something for nearly everyone.  Wouldn't these vintage purses be perfect for a wedding or the prom?!

And here is a find I spotted today.  It's a wonderful piece of artwork by the famed American folk artist Nancy Thomas.  Nancy Thomas' artwork is prized by collectors around the world and her artwork has appeared in numerous magazines, movies, and museums.  Her artwork has even found it's way into the White House!

The one above is a large metal piece from her original calendar series and is no longer in production in this large size.  When it was available in this large format it sold for almost $300.00, but today I saw it priced at The Vintage Source for only $150.00!!  Someone will be very lucky to get their hands on one of her wonderful pieces for such a low price, and I'm sure the collectors will be fighting for this one!

 That's what the girls at The Vintage Source do, they find great deals and then pass them along to you!

They also just find cool stuff, like this little guy above...

And if I had my new patio already, this set of 4 metal lawn chairs would have been mine!

 

Let me tell you, it was hard to stay focused today while I was there, with all of the great things they have for sale it's easy to want to walk out with everything they have.  But then I settled myself down and remembered what I was there for...to drop off some of my cards and artwork for them to sell.

Sorry for the lousy picture above, I was so busy looking around and jabbering that I waited until the light was low and didn't have my tripod with me so the picture of my artwork isn't the best.  But that's ok, it just means you'll have to visit The Vintage Source this weekend yourself to see my artwork and the other wonderful things they have for sale this month.  The iris piece above is exclusive to The Vintage Source, and I have a few other pieces there as well.  To see more of what's available for this sale, click HERE!

If you are in the area, and even if you aren't, you won't want to miss this sale...happy shopping!  And a special thanks to Sheryl for letting me sell my artwork through The Vintage Source!

And Happy Birthday to my handsome boy, he's 3 years old today!  Love you Quinnie!