Always Follow Your Heart

Today I have a different kind of garden page for Art Journal Journey. This month's theme is "In My Garden", hosted by Yvonne.

My page is a little abstract, but the garden should be a place created with love, that is if you love working in outdoor spaces.

When I was cleaning out some papers last week I found this very pretty paper towel (kitchen roll). It was covered with ink from various spraying and stamping of other projects, and I liked it enough to attach it onto the watercolor paper which I used for my journal page and  so the paper towel became my background. 

The flowers are stamped and then painted. I hand cut the heart and also stamped the saying.  To get it to stamp clear enough  to read I first put down a bit of green paint. That's one issue working with paper towels, they have a little texture to them.

So yesterday we went up to my mother-in-laws since she lives on a pond and it was so humid a little swim was necessary.  I brought my water camera along because it was another opportunity to play with it, and I got some photos that really made me happy. One of my husband's sisters was there, along with her daughter. And we had the dogs too.

I got some really cool underwater photos. (And yes, I still haven't figured out how to set the date yet.)

I love this one of my niece. She had just dived off the swim raft. I shot all these underwater shots blind,  just by putting the camera in the water and clicking the shutter.

I even got a shot of the "killer" sunfish who guards his nest ferociously at the bottom of the steps.  He likes to chase you and "gum" you with his stubby teeth. It makes it a little tricky getting in and out of the water.

Yesterday's dog trick was to teach them to climb the ladder onto the swim raft. 

Pete, the black dog in the back, was very quick to figure out the ladder to get himself up on the raft. But Maddie figured out how to leap off. Of course, none of us for expecting her to do that so I never got a shot, but she looked fantastic, getting a lot of air.

I think the view from the water perspective is great. Certainly changes my summer photos. :)

Hope everyone's new week starts off in a good way.