Beginning with our move to Harbor Springs, Michigan in April to my road trip to Philadelphia in May to a bevy of creative activities both personal and professional this spring...I've barely had time to catch my breath, but catch it I have. Breath after breath of "Pure Michigan" air...and it is so good for me!
Mark's poems and my photographs are paired in a book that will be out soon via MagCloud. The title is A Season of Industry and the ISBN is 978-0-9855870-5-5. We chose MagCloud's site because they offer color printing and also ebook versions; their price was right, and I don't want all of my eggs in Amazon's basket. Others have reported good results with MagCloud. A Season of Industry will be available July 1, 2012. $14.99 for color book and $2.99 for ebook.
I not only love taking photographs, but shooting video as well. It's just a hobby, but when you live a creative life and are willing to try new avenues of expression, it can only benefit your primary areas of endeavor. Taking photos, making videos, working on altered book projects...all help me to think creatively with fresh ideas and approaches to book design projects.
In May 2012, I drove from our new home in Northern Michigan to Philadelphia. I propped a Flip videocamera in front of the small triangular window at the dash of my Honda Fit. It was fascinating to see what the camera recorded as the miles sped by! I then paired the video with photographs and asked my son Jesse, who is a DJ in Philly, if he'd write some music for it as I didn't want to step on anyone's copyrighted music. When Jesse's music was paired with my video, it was amazing to me to see my interest in the repetitive flashing of construction cones, vertical road signs and barriers, tall Northern Michigan trees, and yellow/white dash signs on concrete barriers matched with house music with a sweet beat. I was entranced, and I hope you will be too!
Here is a link in case the embedded video does not show up in your browser: http://youtu.be/EexmX_0-AZ4
Shortly after we arrived in Michigan a newly printed picture book showed up at my doorstep. If you have small children or grandchildren, consider purchasing a copy of Two True Blue Dragons by David Boyce. I had a great time creating the colored pencil drawings for this book!
In 2011, I participated in a poetry group on Facebook called Poetry Pact. It was started by poet and novelist (and musician!) Jessica Bell. Angela Felsted took on the big job of producing the book, using one of my drawings on the front cover. I had four poems within as well. Paperback: $4.50 Kindle: $2.99 (All proceeds go to Direct Relief International.)I hope YOUR summer is off to a great start!
