Plastic Bag 

Remember those magic eye pictures where you had to zone your eyes in and out of focus 'til you got to the magic point where a 3D image was revealed?

I was never very successful at it but, from the few times I succeeded, I remember the weird feeling it gave me, sort of like a buzz in the head and sort of trance like.

The feeling I get when I am in the 'zone' taking photographs is very similar.  I find I can't just, say, go out and find a great view and take some photos.  I always get distracted and start taking shots of details, the way the branches on trees meet, sunshine on a car, peeling paint etc.  I get suckered in and all of a sudden I find hundreds of interesting details which I would have otherwise passed over.

Old Paint

This has lead to a very rich bank of imagery which then feeds directly into my primary art medium of applique quilts.  The other day Jude - from Sprit Cloth left a comment wondering about my applique technique and I thought I would link back to a little pic-tutorial I did last year which shows how I get my images into fabric form.  Step 1: the imagery and Step 2: the applique.

Well, today we recieved an amazon shipment and I now have alot of info to absorb.  I had forgotton what I had ordered so it was like Christmas :-)  I have a book on Shibori, a book on rendering drawings using pen and a book on how to make patterns (for garments).   I'll blog about them more as I have a chance to live with them a little.  We are expecting another shipment very soon so I will have plenty of reading material and inspiration (distractions!) over the coming months.