Hi Everyone!  As chance would have it, exactly one year ago, I shared my paintings from the very first little Blue Book called Lost Pages.  It was also the beginning of The Girl and Her Cat stories.  As I started working on the little Blue Books with a series of paintings, I was finishing up a series of black and white photos taken over the previous 365 days.

These photos played a big part in my life, and I have been sharing them here every now and then.    Here is the next set of my Simple365 photos.

Simple 365 – Set 8

Please Click on the image thumbnails to see the photos and read the captions.

Memories from past travels

We went to Italy for our very first overseas trip.  After spending a little over a week in Rome, we spent a couple of days in Florence.  It was a such a wonderful way to wrap up the time there.  We brought back these bottles of wine.  Not only did I save the bottles for nostalgia, I also love the beautiful labels.  It’s contains a few lines from a poem Rosa fresca aulentissima.

In The Present

Looking at these photos made me think of what I can work next  –

• • Sow seeds for plants that I can use for dye or ink making
  • Work on a few more ink making experiments
  • Hand bind journals
  • Sew flower blocks for Garden Path quilt
  • Finish kitty blankets

I created a page with all the previously shared photos from Simple365.  I continue to add photos to that page as I share them here.  This way I can relive the journey through the year via black and white photos like in an old album.

These photos are of the world around me, taken when I hardly left the house.  Photographing these little things daily provided me with much-needed focus at the time and brightened my spirit quite a bit.

Distant Pages

In contrast, the third blue book is called Distant Pages.  

Adventures tend to begin with a stormy sea

I have been obsessed about the north ever since I had conscious memory.  I was given a few books about voyages and expeditions, and about the mythology and stories of those faraway lands.  As I got older, the yearning for visiting those lands only got stronger. 

So it didn’t surprise me that I ended up making a whole book full of paintings with the adventurous Girl And Her Cat travelling through those lands.   In case you are wondering, The Girl And Her Cat is a series of paintings about an adventurous little girl who loves to travel and wander around with her little cat.

By the time I finished hand binding the little book, I could already picture the first painting.  These paintings are reflections of my travels to those places, specially Svalbard.

Please click on the image thumbnails to see the pictures and read about their wanderings –

The Girl And Her Cat travel to a stone ship

After walking and playing around for a while, they settled down with packed lunches and made up stories about the stones.

Far Horizons

A painting for my dearest friend who made me listen to the same music album for hours on end while we worked together. 

I do hope you enjoyed this set of b&w photos and the paintings from the Distant Pages book.  Wishing you a lovely time whether you are in the comfort of your own home, or venturing into uncharted waters… or perhaps doing a little bit of both.

Until next time,
-Soma

May 25th, 2022

I am taking a break this week from Wandering Camera.  See you next week.  If you are in the US, have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

-Soma

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page.  Please pay a visit to some of them.