Sharing a favorite photo

Hood River Oregon is a great small town bordering the magestic Columbia River and the gateway to bountiful orchards. I find it to be a photographers paradise! Besides offering splendid Mt. Adams views across the gorge into Washington, the hilly town also is Mt. Hood's backdoor. Wind surfers traverse the entire world just to experience water/wind thrills throughout this area. As you can imagine, I could share plenty of photo subjects from Hood River, but here is one you didn't think of . . .

Here's a smile for you . . .

RJ's humor is full of whimsy and bold scribble.

More than one artist lives here!

Several talented artists hang "shingles" at Lemon Bird Studios.

Susan Effenberger Design has produced fine art, book illustrations, and vibrant graphic design for clients around the globe. Along with impressive free lance projects, Susan's resume includes time with Disney World's art department, several television stations, and even Oregon's TrailBlazers organization.

Humorous illustrator, RJ Ballard is a regular here too. His bold scribble and considerable whimsy can be found on greeting cards, and RJ has several books to his credit. If you can't find enough of RJ around here, be sure to drop by his personal studio at http://www.rjballard.com/

My handmade greeting cards are produced as Kty Cards; adorned peacock feathers, rich metallic papers, fabric envelopes, photography, bits of silk thread and paint dots. I love to incorporate Nature's elements whenever I can. (FYI: kty is pronounced Katie, as in K.T.)

Getting to know one another

Lemon Bird Studios is a creative house. It is the place where I go to share a huge part of myself with others, day in and day out, and now outloud and digitally. Welcome!

My good friend Susan Effenberger designed this great logo for us. Susan also does gift wrap and wonderful surface designs. Our talents are different but well suited to hanging out in harmony.

I am Kris Tabor and I make greeting cards. More about that later. Right now I'd prefer we get down to just getting to know each other a bit better. You will never find me at the mall, and you certainly won't recognize me at the store. But here are some ways to learn more about me:

Some days I write

Some days I write more

Some days I only peer through the Canon I drag everywhere

Some days are filled with cooking and noisy eating and good friends

Some days fabric and glue and threads adorn my fingertips, and probably my chairseat and eyelashes

Some days cardstock floods my table, spilling onto the floor and chairs

Some days soft earth clings to all my toes and fingers, even the corner of my eye, always to my hair

Some days I romp with the dogs far beyond the meadow and can't take my eyes off familiar perches along the way. And once we get to the river I am hunched low memorizing each rock and sound

Some days I sketch, or garden in the round, or sew, or sit and rock on the front porch for a spell

Some days I study painting and wonder why I don't make time for it

And some days I wander near and whenever I can, I wander far.

Wherever I am, each of these days are grounded in fluid thought and the creative process of art, because I can't not be involved in this process. I can't not do art in one form or another. Everyday is filled with ideas. More and more and more ... some days I can't even slow the ideas down long enough for yoga or food.

Blogging seems like a natural wonderous place to pass along ideas and thoughts. I can't get to all of them myself so feel free to nurture and expand on ideas you find here. When you are inspired to action, or are ready to share friendship, I hope you'll take a moment and let me know!