HAPPY SEPTEMBER NEW MOON!

I can't believe we have reached September already. Time flies when you are having fun. Or maybe it's lots to do? With a little "OMFG what I am doing?!" mixed in for good measure.
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Did you do your creative homework? Did you try something new? I did something new (for me) immediately after I hit send on last month's New Moon Missive. I had to collect my daughter from a welding workshop she was at and an accident happened on the outgoing lanes of the bridge as I was coming into Prince Albert. I was literally right next to it and am lucky I avoided being involved. It sounds like someone travelling behind me jumped the meridian and hit three vehicles. My dad could hear the crash through the phone it was so loud!

Anyway, as a result of that accident, my daughter and I decided to take the ferry back. While I've been on the ferry before, this was my first time driving on and off of it myself. Maybe it seems minor to all of you, but doing new/out-the-norm things gets my heart rate up! I know you are probably thinking, "But Tara, you put all this weird stuff out there, how can you be afraid of a little ferry?" I can, friends! Anything out of MY routine is stressful. And this past moon cycle has been nothing but "out of my routine"!

CURRENT EVENTS IN THE SPELLING ROOM

Softball

I mentioned last month that we were looking to purchase a home in another city for when our daughter, Shae, attends Softball Academy and we did! In a lovely neighbourhood with great neighbours! This month has been consumed with all the house purchase stuff, furnishing a second home, learning bus routes, meeting neighbours, and trying to establish a norm for myself while I live between two homes. Honestly, it has been an emotional time. It isn't easy uprooting your comfortable life to spend time in a city 2 hours away. Or managing two households. It's a lot!

But it isn't all bad. My new part-time home comes with a large heated garage with reasonably high ceilings! This is going to be my home studio once we get finished with a few renovations. I'll be able to set my backdrops and strobes and have more flexibility in creating. I'm pretty excited about that!

I also applied for a business licence here, so that I can start offering sessions to residents of Saskatoon! Let me know if you are interested in booking with me.

Bachelor of Photography (BoP)

I am feeling passionate about this and have now designed 16 courses that I will be taking. It's hard not to jump in and start already! But I have a lot more to design and many things happening in September and October. It is my hope to officially start my BoP when I return from Salem in November. ETA is November 6. I am so excited to take a deep dive into all things art, photography, and mythology!

Reading

The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell is still on the back burner for now.

I have been trying to read Design Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans but I haven't gotten too far into it yet. I expect to have more time to read in the first half of this moon cycle. Maybe I'll even find time for a fiction book!

Upcoming Projects

Mental Health

I am still seeking participants for my Mental Health Triptych series. Anyone who has ever experienced a mental health issue is welcome to participate. My goal is to create a set of three images per participant that represent what people see, the struggle people don't see, and the hope or thing we aspire to be that keeps us going. There is no fee to participate and you will have the final say over whether the images we create can be shared. My main goal is the catharsis of being able to express how you feel in images. If we create something you are comfortable sharing, then that is a happy byproduct that may help others feel seen and heard regarding their struggles.

Critiquing

Finding constructive feedback is one of the biggest struggles I've had as a creative. How do we grow if we don't know what we don't know? If someone isn't asking us thought-provoking questions about the work we have created? If you are interested in having some of your work critiqued by me, send me an email and I will happily do so. I can do a written critique or you can choose to have a 30-minute Zoom call with me to talk about your image or project.

So that's what's been happening in The Spelling Room lately!

THE LATEST GRIMOIRE PAGES

I had good intentions of blogging about my recent adventures but time has not yet allowed. There may not be new grimoire pages until I get started with the BoP in November.

A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE

A first look at some images I made with one of my favourite models, S-Raj, here in Saskatoon at Boffins Gardens.

A MESSAGE FROM THE POWERS THAT BE

Our learning, our voices, and our art are so closely intertwined as to be almost inseparable. How does what you learn inform the work that you do and the way that you communicate with the world around you? How does the way you communicate impact the art that you make and the ways in which you learn? And does the art that you create and the art that you consume affect the ways in which you learn and share? Our voices matter. Learning matters. Art matters. Pay close attention to how you communicate, what you create, and how willing you are to learn something new. These things are vital to our growth.

This is the Ansuz Rune of the Elder Futhark carved in Chrysacolla.

A CREATIVE MISSION

GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY

Play in the mud, finger paint, sculpt or knead some dough. It doesn't matter what you do or create, so long as you need to wash your hands after! We take our tactile senses for granted. Focus on how your preferred medium feels in your hands and ask how important those sensations are to your experience of what you are doing.

Tell me what you learned on this Creative Mission by replying to this email, or tagging me in your post about it on Facebook or Instagram: @theportraitwitch.

Thank you for joining me on this journey! I can't wait to see where we go from here.

PO Box 301, Meath Park, SK S0J 1T0
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