Hello everyone!

  It has been much too long since I've written a blog post, and so I've decided to share a bit from 'behind the scenes' of my latest fine art self-portrait titled, "The Wind". 
It rained here much of the day yesterday (except for a gloriously shining moment at sundown when the sun peeked through cloud cover, bathed everything in violet and magenta, and created a arcing rainbow!) and getting on late in the evening, my husband and I discovered there were to be fireworks in a neighbouring town, despite the rain, so we piled the kids in the car and headed that way. We totally missed the show, so we meandered back to Kincardine aimlessly, and ended up at the Station Beach boardwalk for a beautiful stroll in the light rain and warm night. If you've never been down at the boardwalk after or during a rain, I really do recommend it. It's such a pretty place to wander if you don't mind getting a bit misty. So, off we go, all the way down the boardwalk, managing somehow to miss every one of the hundreds of snails come out to play on the wooden planks with our footsteps. 
  Quite a ways along, there is a park for kids to slide and climb, and of course my little girls wanted to do just that, leaving me a moment to point my camera out over the lake towards... absolutely nothing. Darn. Well there had to be something to take a photo of around there... 
  The light from the myriad lamps along the walkway were painting the beachside poplar trees and tall grasses with a golden glow, and the wind was blowing in great warm gusts, and so I set my camera (I did not bring my tripod) on some nearby rocks, set up for a long exposure, clicked the shutter button, and waited. As I stood there, my hair blew about my face and was tossed into the night, and it tickled my imagination. I immediately knew this would be a great time to capture my next self-portrait, something that has been daunting me for months. I set my camera on timer, and scrambled over the rocks, down into the grass, and into the frame. This is so me... waiting on the beach in the dark in the elements, staring off over the lake and sky. 
The Wind   I did have some issues to overcome in editing, least of which being that in the picture, I was actually wearing dark leggings, a bright top, and an oversize grey cardigan that had been hastily donned. Suffice to say, it wasn't a glamorous outfit, and though I am perfectly comfortable being portrayed in my patterned rubber boots, as that's part and parcel of me, it wasn't going to work for the mood of this image. I painted my dress entirely, and had fun making it blow in the wind. By happy coincidence, the dress I ended up painting looks very much like my mother's wedding dress. 
  Zooming in to see what that strange white dot was over the lake on the right, I realized it was Venus (which came out to shine brightly before setting a bit later) trying feebly to glow through the grey curtain. I seem to be looking right at it, but could not see it when I was standing there. Ah, Venus! What a perfect romantic element for my wind-swept creation. 
  I hope you enjoy my latest self-portrait. I will try to do them less infrequently now... and my blog as well. Bad artist. Bad. ;) 

Love, 
  Sarah