In Color

I've craved the feeling of painting while at home. My weekly visits to my favorite pottery store aren't enough lately. Several years ago I bought a few of those adult coloring books that are supposed to reduce anxiety and increase concentration. They frustrated me. I was impatient. Didn't even like the metallic color pencils I purchased for the sake of the tin they came in. 

Photo Credi (c)deyanira.

I've changed this past year. Part of me is calm. Part of me is erratic. Part of me still cares. But, most of me is looking for colors I've never seen before. Colors he'll never know or understand. It's these days I've turned to that which once caused me strife. See what I've done now? Added color to pages designed to entice and draw us in. 

I've listened to my heart through music and stumbled through the lyrical maze. Each time, the pain that once pulsated through my pores and streamed down my cheeks is harder to find.

I've turned to colors to amend my mood, give me perspective and a better life. Cheesy? Maybe. True? Definitely. Coloring these black and white pages and adding my color to them makes me happy. Happy, like a child. Happy, like I used to be - that innocent, kind of cheer. Do you remember that feeling? It was the sense of the present. Of being fully immersed in your mind and creation. Remember?

The Photo Feed

Edited photo by (c)deyanira.

Twenty years ago, I thumbed through photo albums. Slowly turning each page, caressing the photos stuck to the pages. Memories flood the mind. Photos were taken deliberately. Photos were planned. Pictures were special. 

Today, photos feel different - the collection of them. The digital space we take advantage of through our camera phones and editing apps have created an overabundance of photographic opportunity and creativity. I love it! And, I'm frustrated with it.

Original photo by (c)deyanira.

 

Too many. I have too many digital photos. We all do. We've become hoarders of digital media. Multiple copies of 'em. At least, I do. There is always the back up of the original photo. There is the backup of the filtered Instagram photo, Prisma app, Snapseed app, and other editing apps. If shared on social media sites, there is now that many copies on more than one server. 

Not much joy, do I take in scrolling through my personal digital photo feed. Does anyone else feel that? How good are you at finding photos from years ago? Do you have a copy of your digital images in the cloud and your computer?

This sunflower resides in Montana. Lut up by a beautiful bright sun. You wouldn't know it by the original image. The cleaned up photo is more true to what I saw and wanted to capture when I pulled out my phone.  It took Google Photos to automatically edit to digitally produce what I saw on that day. 

How do you manage your digital collection? Care to share your filing structure?