Horse

Sorry I am getting so slow about posting! I just have a lot going on and am frankly, getting tired of it. I am still taking photos though! I have also been doing a lot of art. I have a few shows coming up. This is an experimental piece I finished...It has all kids of collage-y stuff on it, like mylar and rice paper.

Rodeo

Matt and I scored tickets (thanks Mom!) to the rodeo today. Always a good photo op.

Walk

I went for a walk at work (my official state break time) and took a photo of this old-fashioned light post.

Painting

Everyone seems to love landscapes! I am getting more and more comments through my website of people saying they love my work, but do I have any landscapes? I don't get why they are interesting, but I figured it couldn't hurt to do one. It isn't done, but you get the idea.

Air show

Matt and I both got the afternoon off of work for Cheyenne Day. We went out to the park, ate Indian tacos, bought kettle corn, and went to the air show. I have never been to that, but Matt loves planes. We had a lot of fun, and here is a photo of a pilot preparing for take-off.

Abstract

Anyone have a wild guess as to what this is?

Hail II

I hate the hail. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it.

BBQ

We went out to a friends house for  BBQ. The weather didn't cooperate (wind, rain, lightning) but we still had fun. As usual, I am drawn to taking photos of animals. This is Frosty, and all he wanted was one of the many people there to play ball with him.

Truck

I wrote an article for the Wyoming Business Report (long story) about SAGE Technical Services, so I had to run out to their truck driving training center for some photos. Here is one student practicing driving his big rig.

Kid Rock

Matt and I went and saw the Sheryl Crow(crappy)/Kid Rock(awesome) concert on the opening night of Cheyenne Frontier Days. I had my camera all ready to take some great shots of the show. Unfortunately, once I tried to turn my camera on, I realized I had a problem. Now, I have learned to make sure to check whether or not I have batteries in my camera before leaving the house. Ugh.

Champions

Matt and his softball team were champions of their division this year! They played great, and it was very fun to go watch. Here is Matt sending a ball flying during that game.

Varmint

Matt and I were out enjoying our nice and cool back deck when we saw this little raccoon walking down the sidewalk, heading towards our dumpster. Now I think I know who has been eating my strawberries!

Fan

I don't know if we can make it through the summer without an air-conditioner, but we are trying. (This photos is heavily stylistically-edited). What do you think of this versus my mostly more realistic photos?

Woodpecker

We get lots of cool birds around here with the proximity to the park.

Gallery Shift

I was working in the gallery today. I have yet to sell a big piece, so I tried changing it up a bit. Here is my section of the gallery.

Dress shopping

Ok, I am cheating a little bit today. I went dress shopping yesterday with Rox, Rachel and Anna. It was a lot of fun and a little weird too to see myself in wedding dresses. The pictures Rox took with my iPad are far more interesting than the photos I took, so I am posting one of hers instead. This was at an expensive boutique in Denver. I know I am not going with any of their dresses, so I don't feel bad posting a photo from there.  This one is funny, because it seemed like the more I told the salesgirl that I wanted a sleeker, simpler dress since I am having an outdoor wedding, the larger, poofier dresses she brought me. This one made me feel like I was wading through snow just to walk out of the dressing room.

Chipmunk

I just finished this painting as a gift for a couple new friends. :-)

Joint Forces

Trying out the camera in my iPad....this is easier for me to carry around than lug one of my big cameras. I had to go out to the new Joint Forces Readiness Center for work. It is quite an impressive building.

Flowers II

Matt's mom gave us some lovely flowers last weekend.

Hail

As I am sure you heard, we had one of the gnarliest hail storms I can remember today. The biggest stones were between large marbles and small golf balls and did quite a bit of damage. Fortunately, I parked my car under the tree out front and it suffered no dents, but my poor patio garden took a beating.

Flies

Matt and I went over to Cabelas over the weekend to re-stock up on our outdoor gear. I bought a 12-pack of prince nymphs, which I am starting to believe might be the greatest fly pattern ever created.

Quilt

Matt and I have had to forego all warm blankets and comforters to battle the heat in our apartment. This light quilt is about all I can stand right now. His mom made it, and it is very nice in summer.

Experimental

I have a drawing of a horse on gessoed paper that I have been working on for awhile. I am doing all kinds of new things to it, and basically trying some experimental things to see what it looks like. I have drawn on it with conte, charcoal and ink. I sandpapered it, glued mylar to it, etc. I doubt I will ever frame or show it, it is just fun to try new things every now and then.

Bear Soaps

I always remember my parents bringing home the cool, little, bear soaps that are complimentary in all hotel rooms in Yellowstone. Fortunately, Matt remembered to snag ours.

Bummed

My case of post-vacation blues is definitely hitting full-force. At least someone is glad to have me home.

Tomatoes

I took a photo of my patio tomatoes the next day, because they grew pretty large while I was gone for just a week. My plant took a beating in the recent hail storm, but fortunately both of these tomatoes survived.

Berries

I was so happy to see the progress my garden had made when I came home that I took a photo of my little strawberries. Unfortunately, a bird or a squirrel stole these berries the next day. Grrr.

Fourth of July

Sorry for the lag in blog posts! I have been so busy with getting caught up from our trip, I have been putting this on the back-burner. Not good, I know, but at least I am getting caught up now. Matt and I had a pretty uneventful Fourth since we just got home from our trip. We spent the day relaxing and unpacking, and caught a few fireworks around our apartment, and could see the Frontier Park show from our back deck.

Last Day

Last day of vacation. :-( We had had a tough time coming home. So, we dawdled and stalled the whole way back to Cheyenne from Sheridan. We stopped at the old Fort Phil Kearney historic site. The fort doesn't exist at all anymore, and was subject to repeated Indian attacks while it was an active post. At one point in its history, Crazy Horse led a decoy that drew the entire calvary over a hill after them, into a waiting group of Indian warriors 2,000 strong that massacred the soldiers. It was kind of eerie, especially because they put metal cutouts of Indian warriors on the hill so you could see exactly what the soldiers and settlers saw right before the massacre.

Jenny

We went to Sheridan and spent a couple days with Matt's sister and her husband and had a great time. I am lucky to have such cool soon-to-be-in-laws. They had a big BBQ the second night, and we were all very entertained by their German shorthair, Jenny,  playing in the sprinkler.

Big Horns

On our last morning in the mountains, we drove out into the Big Horns. Matt played with his guns while I sat on a log sketching saplings. Then we went for a little hike, and found this huge field of boulders. You could hear water trickling underneath them.