I always love going to Palmers in Sala Street, Rotorua because their shop is so professionally and stylishly merchandised.
Just entering into the home décor area makes me gasp with pleasure.
Beautiful items to transform your home are sorted into colour waves and everything flows so invitingly.
It makes choosing something for yourself or as a gift so easy.
Your mind keeps going; I'd like that and that and that and that.
Palmers
At the moment I am giving my home an interior facelift so I am especially interested in artificial flowers and cushions.
Taking photographs of these in Palmers was an exercise in composition.
How do you get the objects to look like they have come out of a House and Garden magazine?
It's a real learning curve for me and has me analysing magazines for styling tips at least once a day.
The artificial flowers are so well made these days, it's hard to tell them apart from the real thing isn't it?
Palmers
Palmers
I have taken some photos of artificial flowers in my bedroom and lounge.
I have two vases of them in the kitchen, one vase in the lounge and one in my art studio.
The ones next to my bed have a few drops of lavender essential oil splashed on them occasionally to help relax and send us to sleep.
Flowers with lavendar essential oils in our bedroom
Does it work?
Ask my snoring husband and purring cat
Jasper the sleepy pussycat who always comes when I call him.
Adorable boy.
His nickname is couch potato.
I replaced the old throws which were shredded in places with new sage green ones and hes been told to keep his paws off.
Cushions and throw rugs are interior accessories that I think are essential for a cozy, snuggly home.
They provide texture. comfort and pops of colour.
I have used them for the past thirty years and it appears they are zooming back into fashion.
Minimalism is out yay, lets cover the walls.
My style has always been eclectic with an emphasis on original paintings; either mine or ones I have collected from galleries.
The boy manniquin's name is David.
I like to have a touch of the bizarre or quirky to add curiosity.
This
adorable fox cushion bought from Palmers goes perfectly with the green,
cream and burnt orange of the artworks I have on the walls.
It makes me smile every time I go past it and I figure this must be good for health.
Creative Quote of the Day.
There is beauty all around when there is love at home.
Smelling roses is a mindful activity.
I recommend it when you have a headache.
You can almost get drunk on the perfume
The ones that are the strongest seem to be the old fashioned ones.
Some of the showiest ones have hardly any smell at all but if you sniff their leaves you get an almost acrid leafy smell which is quite invigorating.
The best time for the perfume is in the morning.
See you there.
Photography with roses in Rotorua
$45.00 per person per hour.
Email janet@jkeen.net
Phone 07 3463435
We drove an hour to Mount Maunganui to try out my new 800D Canon Camera.
I wanted to perfect or start to embark on my landscape photography journey for 2018.
The weather was hot and sunny while in Rotorua it was cold and grey.
I almost felt like I was in Australia, Noosa to be wishfully precise.
The Mount has a great buzz this time of year.
Lots of cafes, people, lovely shops ,wide walkways, people with their cute designer dogs and the sea rolling in splashing up on the rocks.
Boys jumping off rocks into the sea.
I could not be bothered carting my tripod in the heat to the beach because it took ten minutes to get there by foot.
We were lucky to find a park.
The place was teaming with people.
My husband went for a swim so I just stayed under a Pohutukawa tree taking shots with different settings.
I felt like a bit of a voyeur.
I was the only one around with a camera.
I felt lucky to be a woman because people might have thought I was trying to shoot bikini clad women.
Of course when I arrived home and put them up onto the computer the initial results were underwhelming because it was not the right time of day.
The light was not magical
So I did some work on them and what came up?
Ghosts of course.
I was super happy with this.
Which brings me to the lesson I think that may have been held up for me to see.
In life you can have all the best intentions and goals in the world.
You can try to change everything and control it but in doing so you are missing out on what the world wants you to see or produce.
Every time you take your camera out if you are observant and flexible enough, you will find the magic comes to you.
Cutting your mind off to the power of possibility means that creativity can be suffocated and forced.
You can feel unhappy that you haven't achieved what your initial vision was.
Being a mindful photographer takes care of anxiety.
You just shoot what you see and see what happens.
One day I know I'll be able to produce the perfect landscape but it's just not now.
It will require some more effort, the right light, more research and some special equipment.
But one day it will happen.
Until that day I will enjoy the journey and share with people on here the results of my adventuring.
Prints For sale
Photography Beginners lessons for women for sale
Phone 346-3435
Email janet@jkeen.net
Text 0273513887
Creative Quote:
It is only an illusion that you do not have what you want
Sanyana Roman.
Mantra for today...I appreciate my life.
Say this throughout the day and notice the difference to your life if you say it for 365 days.
Write it in your diary.
Look deep within.
What inspires you?
Keep doing more of it.
I am inspired by photography and posting on my blog for people to read
What can you do today?
Send your inner critic away from you to rest on the beach.
We all have one
Don't let the inner critic win.
My inner critic says that people are trying to copy me and take away my greatness.
This stems from childhood past.
It is nothing more.
It isn't true now.
The past is the past is the past.
Remember this and be open to abundance that the universe so wants to provide. Can you identify a redundant childhood belief? Write it down on a piece of paper and put it in the rubbish where it belongs.
Take notice of what changes your mood for the better and do it.
I always feel better walking in forests, gardening, planting seeds and harvesting vegetable for a meal
Simple things like this often lift my mood.
Life is too short to be angry all the time.
If you believe in yourself, others will reflect that belief
If you have high self esteem you will be respected
If you are fascinated by life others will find you fascinating.
Make an effort to be fascinated by something today.
What is something you are fascinated by?
Write it down and take a step towards finding out more about it.
Remember to show appreciation to people who support you, these are the most important people in your life.
Find time to show your thankfulness
I am thankful to my husband ,friends and clients.
May 2018 bring more people into my life to be thankful for.
The next time someone tries to bring you down, just realise that it is their problem not yours.
Don't let their version of the truth affect you.
Know your worth, value yourself.
Create positive thoughts by making statements like, I am valuable and worth it with my boutique, artistic photographic business.
People love my arty photos and they always want to buy them to uplift their home.
Better still write it out and place it on a mirror so you can read it back to yourself.
Do something outrageous, see if you can tell the truth for a whole day.
Brilliant work comes from 1 per cent inspiration and 99 per cent dedication.
I am dedicated to producing beautiful, unusual arty photos.
What is something that fills your heart with joy and which you can dedicate yourself to?
If you have been inspired by my photos and words of encouragement please drop me a line in the comments.
It fills my heart with joy when I get positive feedback.
It will fill yours as well when you give someone a compliment from the heart.
Email janet@jkeen.net
Text 0273513887
Phone 073463435
Painting , mosaic and photography lessons Monday to Wednesday
Art photographic Prints for sale please contact me for a quote:)
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Seeing double? Should have gone to Specsavers.
I went to Specsavers the other day and bought some nice new glasses with pink handles.
Yay something different.
Bright.
Exciting.
I recommend Specsavers because of their great service, excellent price and attention to customer satisfaction.
I love creating photographs with humour.
Swans can be graceful and territorial and sometimes quite ugly.
Impossible compilations that could only occur in your mind.
I want to see something different and intriguing, otherworldly and ghostly.
I love misty photos and silhouettes.
Playing around at night with light
Hanging out in cemeteries with angles and recording the crazes and cracks on headstones.
The lakefront in Rotorua is a huge source of photographic interest to me.
As are the government gardens with monuments and statues.
Graffiti is also very inspirational.
Any of my photographs can be printed out and bought.
You just have to tell me which ones you like and they could be hanging on your wall as a visual symphony.
Perhaps you would prefer to take your own photographs but are a beginner and don't really know how to start.
I provide one on one tuition for you and this will allow you to accelerate.
If you have some photos that would like me to process for you in photoshop I can do this as well.
Service start at $45.00 per person per hour.
Ring me for a consultation today 0273513887
Email
janet@jkeen.net
Palmers
Palmers
Palmers
