Today I started Dreaming

TODAY I STARTED DREAMING

I stared at myself in the mirror.  

I saw me.

Mom.

Sis.

Wife.

Stephanie

I am full of my

vision.

My Self watches

(a wholeness that is forever hangin' around.)

I had no way of picking up  "Getty Man" so I grabbed my iphone and clicked. 

Today I started dreaming. 

 I stared looking around me.

Today I saw the sky.

Today I saw the buildings.

Today I heard music.

Today I felt a simple pulse thumbing inside my chest.

A sound so quiet it held the universe as if it were a baby.

Such a quiet confidence

My 5 year old son asked me yesterday while playing a video game (sitting in his new "lion" chair Santa brought him) 

"when I turn 7 years old will I have a heard time with words too?"

I was taken back with the question and stopped and went up to him.

He was so beautiful.  He was so innocent. 

He was so sincere.  

"No", I said.  "Jack has always had a hard time, you have not.  Turning 7 won't change that."

I pushed his hair back and looked into his baby blue eyes and smiled.  

His brother, Jack

is autistic. 

  I am O.K. 

He is O.K. 

Our family is O.K.

It has taken time.

Many years with some tears.  

Tons of research and questions.

Deep breaths, laughter, acceptance, and mostly
LOVE.

Having a special needs child has broadened my scope of vision. 

 It has given me the chance to see the world in a perspective I would not have otherwise. 

A perspective of profound personal acceptance, for Jack, my Self and everyone I already LOVE and those I am meeting everyday in my life.
 I hold a new tolerance of understanding that I don't think would have come to had it not been for Jack and his "disability."

 I have always tried to have such acceptance, but today, after having Jack in my life for 7 years, loving him, working with him, enjoying his presence, celebrating each new year--year after year--it has coated my skin with new colors.

 I couldn't imagine living any other way.
 I see beauty in most everything I see.

Thanks Jack.

I live in two worlds all the time.

I live full.
I live to feel
complete.

Autism is a part of my life, like my arm is a part of my body.
My Children are a part of my life like the my heart beat is part of my existence.

I am whole.  For so many reasons.
I dream in order to find
answers.
Dreaming is the way I SEE.

HAPPY NEW YEAR
MAY YOU LIVE IT
THE BEAUTY OF PURE ACCEPTANCE
PEACE

I HAVE A CONFESSION......

There is a time that comes and you find yourself thinking, after taking pictures for so long, why am I taking so many pictures?

The simplest answer is......

 I am obsessed.

It's a healthy obsession.

At least I am not killing my self with some kind of something.

I may be killing my finger with constant "clicking" ( I am not joking my right index finger hurts sometimes when it rains.)

 I walk with eyes wide OPEN.

 I am in love with the process.

The searching.

The scooping out  details of all things around me.

 I bend down, I look under, I jump up, I stand on chairs, and I sit still.

 I breathe.

Holding my camera in my hand is security for me.

 I feel strong and mighty.  I feel purpose flowing through my veins to my heart.

 I feel satisfied.

 In today's world this feeling is hard to find.

 There is so much in the way. 

 So many opinions, so many pictures floating around that one has to wonder will they all be seen.

 There are an amazing supply of beautiful pictures.

 Every where I look I can find one; the net, a gallery, TV, in a book, on a card, in a home, on an iphone, in a store....

 It's phenomenal to witness this time in photography and the human need to document it journey.  

Not only unique experiences,

 but the everyday experience.

  The day in and day out experience of being alive.

This is what Open Life Studio is all about.  This is the heartbeat of its life force.

  The beauty in "EVERYDAY LIVING."

I am obsessed with documenting the moment, this moment, that moment that we all take for granted and may not realize.  It is what makes our life if we only take the time to look.  It's the moments that adds up to days, that add up to months, and eventually to years.

  It is this that I am obsessed with.  

These moments are beauty, that is the meaning of life.  

OPEN LIFE STUDIO is ..........

fine art photography in everyday living...

my studio is OPEN for those who want to or need to take a moment and take it all in...

if only for a moment-

 one moment 

can change your life-

if you

let it.

All I ever needed to Know I learned after 40

Today is my Big Day BDay! 

 Happy Birthday to me!

"Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."

"You're never too old to learn something stupid."

" We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public."

"Age doesn't matter unless you are cheese"

Take it or Leave it

The most common question people ask me is, "What camera do you shoot with?"

I shoot with a Canon.

 I started out on a Canon Rebel (Xsi) going off a recommendation of a family friend and very good photographer.  

I used that camera for well over two years,every day, & probably 6 hours a day if not more.  

As of today I shoot on a Canon 7D. 

 I am pleased with "upgraded"

 but

 honestly I took this picture on my IPhone.  

I read at lot, talk to other photographers a lot and an information junkie. 

 If I have learned anything I have learned this through out my three years of intense shooting well over twenty thousand pictures that......

IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU ARE SHOOTING ON, IT'S HOW YOU SEE WHAT YOU ARE SHOOTING THAT MATTERS.  

My best shots 

are from

 EVERY camera. 

Canon 7D

Xsi

IPhone

 My best shots come from me and what I see   It can be quiet technical. 

 I shy away from technical things easily,

 but a camera can't be used to it's fullest unless you have the technique. 

 It's an everyday learning situation for me and a challenge. 

 I learn something new every time I shoot.

My point is-

don't get caught up in equipment. 

If anything get caught up in looking around and seeing what's going on around you.

 Keep your eyes OPEN

 you will surprise yourself

with some beautiful images because you were there to see them and had a camera in your hand and had the nerve to put it on Manual and shoot. 

 It takes guts to take a picture YOU think would be a nice shot. 

 Do it. 

It will make ALL the difference.

Let it Snow

"I am always looking-

Hardly ever hard to find-

ART surrounds me everyday-

If only I'd OPEN my eyes...."

-stephanie anderson-

Finding the inspiration for this picture wasn't hard.  

Children are always a subject. 

 Keep your eyes watching and you are sure to find something interesting happening. 

 There is a joy in their actions that only sit in the skin of children.

  Magic 

is

 everywhere.

Today I found myself thinking of why I started doing all of this in the first place.  

I kept asking myself

Why Art? 

I could have done anything.

I went to college. 

I chose my focus.

But as I went along I soon learned

my "focus" chose me.

I didn't start drawing 
until 4 years ago 
when I was pregnant 
with my 
third
 child.  
I was big, hot and ready to bust when I picked up a drawing pencil and drew this. 
 I don't know what makes someone "able"to draw. 
 I thought I "couldn't".  I don't think I ever wanted to until then.  I can't stop now.  
I have to in order to find my center. 

The zen of drawing is a ZEN I will NOT live without.

  I breath deep, focus and find a place of comfort.  

With three children I find that I draw for three minutes or  three hours.  


 It doesn't matter. 


One stroke after another, it all adds up to a picture eventually.


  I find this comforting. 


 I know no matter how hectic it gets, I will "eventually" finish.  

And......stepping away I find that when I come back I have a fresh eye and see clearer.  


  I find that a break in  (any given project) is actually a helping hand.


  If I had any advice to give it would be.....

step away and breathe--
not only you, 
but
 it.


Breathing takes time and practice.  


I have spent well over 16 years practicing the technique 
and allowing my self to believe that it is worth the effort and worth the time.


Breath is the foundation to life and to any piece of "art". 


It's the building block to humanity. 


 Think about it, without it, there is nothing. 


Art has to be something alive. 

If it is not, how will it ever LIVE?


Shakespeare LIVES.
Marilyn Monroe LIVES.
Picasso LIVES.
Pollack Jackson LIVES.
I could go on and on.
(Their ART LIVES today.)


Everyday.


 ART is a human expression beyond the limits of any human being. 
 It is something that has been ALIVE since the dawn of our time.  
We 
NEED 
SELF - EXPRESSION.  


So to answer my question--WHY ART?
Because-
I HAVE TO.
I have to BREATHE
I have to Express my experience being human 
and what I see around me.
WHY ART?
Because I want to LIVE.  I want to BE and FEEL
 ALIVE.

Welcome to my studio!

I started a new blog to share with you my work and my art.

I am a one person studio that has many interests and 40 daydreams.  (the daydreams will be explained along the way)

I take pictures of people places and things.  I draw people places and things.  I write about people places and things.

Canon cameras
Charcoal
Oil
Acrylic
Wood
String
Yarn
Pencil
Pen
Maker
Photoshop
Shakespeare
Mamet
Shaw
Chekhov
Fabric
Sewing
Spray paint
Glue
Canvas
Tile

You name it I will try it

Possibility is the spine of my art

I dream on instinct and craft with technique

I enjoy the journey of being "Open" to anything

Anything goes as long as it tells the story I see


In my minds eye

In my heart

OPEN LIFE STUDIO is OPEN......Come on in!