Monday's Musings

God's Little Creatures

I never cease to be amazed by the array of little creatures that live among us.  Most times, they remain hidden from our sight, but and then, they appear in plain view and I'm fascinated by their beauty and uniqueness.  If I'm lucky, they hang around long enough for a photo shoot!

I spotted this baby praying mantis when I was watering my plants.  Keith captured this fun photo.  You'll see more of him a little later.

This colorful little guy is a webworm moth.  They live in honey locust trees and there are some behind our house.  We've been in this house for almost 30 years and have never seen one before. Keith got a great pic considering this little moth was barely an inch long.

This katydid (or leaf bug) hovered above our back door for an entire afternoon and well into the evening.  I guess he needed a meditation break!  Nick took this photo for me, and as an added bonus, he showed me the benefits of using the manual function on my camera.  I've been playing around with it, so hopefully my photo taking efforts will improve!

Not all of God's little creatures are beautiful, but they are wonderful.  I found this warrior-looking cicada bug spinning around in circles on the cement pad in front of our garage.  Newly emerged, he was trying to dry his wings.  The pad bakes in the hot sun all day and Keith found the cicada later that evening.  He apparently met his demise from the sweltering heat of the pad.

As foretold, here are some more mantis photos created from Keith's original photo using Pixlr.  I didn't spend any time reading about how to use the software - I simply uploaded the photo and began playing.

Keep your eyes open for God's little creatures, and let them spark your creative muse.  You may just see my little mantis friend on a journal page one day!

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

Enter the Twilight Zone

"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.  A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of the imagination.  That's the signpost up ahead - you're next stop, the Twilight Zone!"

~Rod Serling, Opening narration season 2 "Twilight Zone"

It's Halloween time, and what better way to celebrate than to produce some creepy, mysterious journal pages!

Enter your own Twilight Zone by applying your favorite mysterious color combination randomly to your pages.

Hold your journal at arm's length and stare into the random pattern.  Squint your eyes to alter the contrast.  What do you see?  Animals? Faces?  Unknown creatures?

Using paint or a marker, trace the outlines of the things you see in your page.

Continue working on your page by adding highlights and shadows.  If appropriate, add words and other images torn from magazines to further enhance your page.  

"Happy Creating!" and Happy Halloween week!  See you again on Monday.