DanaArts Podcast

How are things going with you and your family? I hope well. Weeks ago we went to the Phoenix zoo. It was a cold day and even a bit rainy. We enjoyed walking around seeing all the wonderful animals. My youngest daughter loved it the most since it was her first time getting up and close to animals this big. I captured this orangutan relaxing and keeping warm. I thought it was just so cool. At times we need to take a break from our daily schedules and spend time with the family doing something we can all enjoy. The zoo worked out great for us. I always enjoy visiting animals as they can have a huge impact on our lives. I hope to do more fun things this year with my family and so should you. Have a great year everyone!

My first car is this blue 1967 VW Bug. I even took my driving test in it and I've owned it for 28 years. As my main car for 20 years it had a lot of wear and tear put into it. Also this Arizona heat did not do nice things to the interior. Although I've had a different engine put in at one point it died on me about 8 years ago and has been sitting in my garage. I got it fixed and it's running now. It has front end damage from a few crashes, but the rest is in fixable condition. My goal is to slowly fix it up with my son. It won't be a full restore or anything, but a fun project that will bring the car back to a better condition and a little father and son bonding time. I'll try and share images as we work on it. Our success and failures. I would love to get it to a point of safe so that my son possibly can drive it. My first car - his first car. :) So many memories.

My 67 VW light blue bug

What a great time of year. I love getting together with family and enjoying this time of celebrating Christ’s birth. With all the gifts and the way Christmas is promoted it’s hard at times to teach our kids why we have this Holiday. My 5 year old wasn’t quite connecting this holiday with Christ. After we’ve been exlaining it she now knows, but still is excited about the rest of the holiday. I hope we can all enjoy this Christmas season and to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

I love this season. The fall colors. The leaves that start to fall off all the trees. Where I live I only get a glance of that depending on where a good tree with leaves is, lol, but I still enjoy it. The cool weather is perfect here in Arizona.

Thanksgiving always reminds me of my childhood and mainly my Grandma and Grandpa's house. Cousins would come and we had a great time playing together. The smells of the turkey, mash potatoes, squash, etc. were so enjoyable while we played. All the adults in the kitchen working hard while we all played. Such great memories. I really wanted something similar for my kids while they grow up. To my surprise my situation is not even close to mine growing up and I don't know why I thought it would be. Maybe I just wanted to hang onto the memory and create a similar one for my kids. Well that's not going to happen. They dynamics are so different with my own family is a whole new memory for my kids. I hope I've been able to create a fun time for them so that they'll be able to have fun memories with family during this holiday. Let us all remember and cherish family and the good times we have together. Happy Thanksgiving!

No I don't mean get away from me or anything like that, I mean at times we need to get away from our daily routine and re freshen up. That is what I did this past week. Just my family and I went to enjoy Pinetop, AZ for a bit. Loved the cooler weather and the pine trees everywhere remind me of my home town, but smaller. We enjoyed bike riding, horseback riding at Snowy Mountain Stables, and hiking trails. I completely forgot about my normal life for a while. That is how it should be. Forget and refresh. Here are are a few images of my time there. I can't wait to do it again. The worst part of leaving reality is coming back. lol.

Horseback riding at Snowy Mountain Stables

Red Barn

I love taking portraits. They are fun and can give a good story about a person along with some personal character. I was just having some fun with my daughter as she was posing for the camera. She always has a great smile and does great with pictures. That's the best way to be able to capture someone in their comfortable natural state. Whey posed too much it can be awkward or unnatural in some cases. I'm glad I was able to capture this moment in time. That's what photography is all about. Those little moments caught in time to help us remember. That's another reason I love photography so much. Moments in time...

Solar Eclipse 2017. I was not fortunate enough to be able to be in the spot of totality. I was at work and did not even have my good camera. So I used what I had, an iphone 6. This is what I got. It was still exciting, but I really need to make the effort to see it in totality on April 8, 2024. Either way these are a few shots I got. the lower one the camera didn't capture it, but the lens flare did. Kinda cool. Anyway, I hope anyone watching had a great time. I know I did. :) Nature is just exciting.

Kinda raining with clouds around yet letting the sun shine through. I had to stop the car. I got out and took this panorama of a double rainbow on my way home from work yesterday. Magical and breathtaking. It's like the road leads right under it or to the pot of gold at one end. To me just seeing it was my pot of gold.

Taken on the street curve of Higly and Hunt Hwy in Arizona

I've been going through all my old packed up belongings and I have come across some of my old pottery and gourd canteens. Sometimes I forget what I've done in the past and move one. Well sometimes, like this time, I can look back and get inspired by my own work. lol. It gives me new ideas and ways to make new things. I love it. It's like a whole cycle. Maybe forgetting sometimes is a good way to be inspired by the old. The old becomes new. :)

Old Gourd Canteen

I love being an artist. Coming up with new ideas and seeing how they turn out. Sometimes they are cool and other times they should be thrown away. Either way it's just fun developing ideas. Well a job can kinda ruin that. Maybe not all jobs, but some can. For example you actually can't design anything because the customer is the one designing it (or a sales person). In the end you have to make it they way they like it and it's still art, but for me sometimes that kills creativeness. Yes it can also bring about better ideas and development so don't get me wrong. Lately I just feel that at my day job I can't be an artist. I do as they say like a robot. Yes I get to build jewelry, but not how I want to or how I think it should be. It's always how everyone else wants it to be. So would I be considered a designer? Not in my opinion. I feel I can only truly be a designer when I have the freedom to put my thoughts into a new design. Otherwise it's like an assembly line to me. This is why I love DanaArts. I am able to freely create anything I want without someone telling me what I need to do or how to do it. That is what it's all about for me. That's why I keep on going and keep on pushing forward even when no one knows who or what DanaArts does. I will continue on forever creating what I enjoy doing. It's what keeps me going and pushing on in new ways. If you are feeling the Artist Shove Down then take a break and do something creative. It will inspire you to create beautiful things.

The feeling when being shoved down and you have to shine to overcome it.