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My name is Melody M. Nuñez, and I’m an artist and a writer. Please look around my website and make yourself at home. I post new blog entries on Tuesdays & Thursdays, and hope you’ll subscribe to my blog and come back often! To learn more about me, please view the “About” page…SUBSCRIBE
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Category Archives: photography
Santa Ana Artists Village
Southern California is full of wonderful cultural and culinary opportunities, and the creative spirit and great eats boldly collide in the Santa Ana Artists Village. Located in Downtown Santa Ana, the Artists Village is home to galleries, “make and take” studios geared towards paper arts and mixed-media, street corner food carts, and fabulous restaurants.
A bit grungy, bohemian and decidedly urban, the Artists Village also has beauty and charm galore. From the distinctive architecture of structures like the Santora Building, to the “slice of life” peek at locals going about their business, the Artists Village is a sight to see. With its varied eateries, you’ll definitely want to take a bite out of the Artists Village!
Artistic Endeavors
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The Santa Ana Artist Village is home to many galleries, ranging in size from very small to very large, and the most common mediums shown are paint and sculpture. Some studios offer hands-on experiences and classes, and two of my favorites are Studio Crescendoh and The Art Bar. Geared towards those of us who love paper arts and mixed-media, Studio Crescendoh and the Art Bar offer a wide variety of classes – from lettering and art journaling to painting. I recommend these venues if you’d like to make art – not just look at it!
Grand Central is one of the anchors in the Santa Ana Artists Village.
Colorful paintings grace the walls of Studio Crescendoh, but they offer classes in a variety of artistic mediums…
Restaurants
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I certainly haven’t been to all the eateries in the Artists Village, but I’ve really enjoyed those I have visited. Two of my favorites are the Gypsy Den and Memphis.
Gypsy Den: Budget-friendly, this is the most artsy and bohemian of my three picks. Their baked goods are delicious, and the coffee house feel takes me back to the Beatnik scene in the 60’s – though I hadn’t even been born yet!
I love the decor at the Gypsy Den – so eclectic and colorful!
It’s only right that some artwork should grace the walls…
There’s plenty of seating to enjoy a bite. I took this photo just after they’d closed on New Year’s Eve day, so it’s customer-free.
Memphis: A bit pricier than the Gypsy Den, Memphis has fab food and a great, modern interior. I love that the afternoon sun creates wrought-iron-shaped shadows in the restaurant’s interior windows, and having breakfast for lunch was a treat!
A bit of the interior at Memphis, including the wrought iron work up top…
I opted for breakfast, though it was after 2 p.m.
Eggs over easy, French Toast, and chicken-apple sausage. Yum!
I’ve also heard great things about Lola Gaspar, but haven’t made it there to taste their food for myself yet and hope to change that very soon. Located just down the way from Memphis, and across the courtyard from the Grand Central Building, this restaurant is right in the center of the action…
Art Walk
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The Artist Village really comes alive on the first Saturday of each month, when many of the galleries throw open their doors and welcome in the public. From larger galleries with special shows to single-artist studios displaying their on-going work, the Art Walk is a great way to see a variety of artwork. You can also sip some wine and nosh on the snacks folks often lay out, if you’re just looking for a nibble.
Architecture & Ambiance
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One of my favorite things about the Santa Ana Artists Village is the look of it – all the the little details that give it a unique flavor. Naturally, architecture and some historic buildings play a big part in that. In my mind, the gorgeous Santora Building is the grand dame of the village, and the center of it all. Built in 1929, it’s Spanish Ultra Baroque Design delights me.
The ornate stone work combined with wrought iron (seen elsewhere on/in the building) is lovely…
An interior photograph of the Santora Building.
A clock tower in Santa Ana…
Bare branches reach out to the Grand Central Building.
It’s more than the big structures, though. It’s the old street lamps, the trees, and even the streets themselves. These are some of my favorite things about the Santa Ana Artists Village, and if you’re a fan of details like this, it’s best that you visit during daylight hours to take in all the lovely visual details that make this area unique.
The base of an old lamp post beckoned to me.
Gritty, yet still beautiful – near the Santora Building.
Hope to See You There…
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I hope you’ve enjoyed this little peek at the Santa Ana Artists Village. If you live in Southern California – or if you’re planning a trip to Orange County – I hope you’ll stop in for a visit!
Warm regards,
Melody
Also posted in art, ethnic food, inspiration, life in general, restaurants, travel
Tagged Santa Ana Art Walk, Santa Ana Artist Village, Santa Ana CA
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Haiku: Growth
Outer skin is dry,
but new growth can still prevail.
Life’s what we make it.
With the bulk of the holidays past, my thoughts are turning to the New Year. What do you hope to do, see, and be in 2012? I’m still shuffling things around in my mind, but I know I want my heart, understanding, kindness and generosity to keep on growing…
Warm regards,
Melody
Haiku: For the Dearly Departed
Flowers, candles, food -
Day of the Dead approaches.
Loving remembrance…
I recently snapped this photo of a marigold, and wanted to share it with you now because marigolds make me think of Day of the Dead – Dia de los Muertos. Celebrated on November 1st (children) and November 2nd (adults), Day of the Dead is a time to honor loved ones who have passed on. It’s a way to celebrate them, and is an attempt to lure their spirits back to earth by offering them some of their earthly favorites. Shrines are constructed, and the shrines often include candles, marigolds, the deceased’s favorite food, photographs, and other personal items. I think it’s a lovely way to remember and honor those who have left us.
I created a shrine for my husband’s grandmother some years back, and wrote an accompanying article that was published in Somerset Memories magazine (then known as Legacy). (Here’s a link to a scan of the article, in case you’re interested in reading it.) Since the piece was published I’ve lost my beloved Aunt Bobby, my Grandma Neva, and my stepmother Dottie. And though I’m not creating shrines for them this year, I am definitely honoring them and remembering them during this year’s Day of the Dead celebrations – as I do every day of the year…
Warm regards,
Melody
Also posted in art, family, haiku, life in general, poetry, writing
Tagged Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos, marigolds
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A Photographic Tour: New York City
New York City – what a wild ride! I joined hubby partway through one of his business trips in New York in 2005, and had a blast. Though I was only there for four days it was long enough for me to take a bite of the Big Apple and know that it tasted very sweet.
Not that it was perfect, mind you. It was hot that July, and so humid that the air seemed to both surround and smother me. Traffic lanes are mere suggestions, and though most of my taxi drivers seemed to have a death wish, I survived unscathed. Some of the smells were less than charming as well, but the few drawbacks were eclipsed by the city’s charms.
From the white-knuckle taxi rides to the incredible variety of people, cuisines, and things to do, New York City is a thrilling destination. And for this California girl, a trip there was a chance to see and do things I’d only read about or seen on a T.V. or movie screen: hailing a cab, ambling around Central Park, getting a hot dog from a street vendor, and visiting mind-blowing museums like MoMA and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a thrill, and a pleasure, and my trip was all too brief. I hope to see you again soon, NYC – I’d love for us to get better acquainted!
Chinatown, New York style. I did some shopping, and was treated to the sight of some silvery, scaly beauty.
Riding the subway for the first time was a treat, and as we came out from underground, and rode along the tracks in the sunlight, I spied the iconic brick buildings and fire escapes I’d seen so many times before on T.V. or in a movie.
The Empire State Building was incredible. It was amazing to see the city from above – the taxis and cars looked like little ants down below.
Hubby and I – 102 stories up on the observation deck of the Empire State Building.
Our trip to MoMA touched my heart. An art major in college, and a big fan of van Gogh, I was thrilled to see Starry Night in person.
We just took in a fraction of the work at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The collection is so vast, it would take days – maybe weeks- to enjoy it all properly. It was surreal, and a joy, to see works of art I’d only seen in textbooks and in slideshows in person! This photo was taken on the second story of the museum, looking across Central Park.
Central Park was the place to be – it was full of people enjoying the summer’s day, and it’s truly a haven in the midst of all the concrete, glass and steel.
Times Square – talk about sensory overload! All the people, the lights, signs, and traffic! Oh, and all the horses – pulling tourists in carriages, that is.
We visited Carnegie Deli in Times Square, and shared a mammoth, delectable piece of cheesecake. Yuuuuumy!
Our trip to Ground Zero was solemn, and it didn’t surprise me that it started raining as we left the site – it was as if Mother Nature was trying to cleanse the wound that had been opened nearly four years before.
French restaurant Les Sans Culottes was scrumptious! I had the Shrimp Provencal…
One of my favorite meals and experiences from the whole trip was a meal at Dominick’s out in the Bronx. There was no set menu, and it was a delicious, authentic, charming experience. We were with a group of locals – a very friendly group – and were so busy eating the food that hit the table (antipasto salad, stuffed mushrooms, and much more!) that I failed to take any photos. Dessert? The most fabulous strawberry gelato from a place a few doors down. The experience was deeply satisfying on every level.
We also had great meals at PJ Clarke’s (where I had the best corn on the cob I’d had in decades!) and Little Johnnies – a pizza place (we dined on a white bean salad and a scrumptious thin crust pizza).
Though I crammed a lot of wonderful experiences and meals into my short stay, what I fit in barely scratched the surface of all that New York City has to offer. The city is so diverse and so densely packed, there are literally wonderful things to do, see, and taste around every corner. It’s like they say in the musical On the Town: “New York, New York! It’s a helluva town!” I hope I’m able to entrust my life to one of those fearless taxi drivers and make my way onto the island of Manhattan again soon…
Warm regards,
Melody
Haiku: Little Bee
Don’t like your stinger,
but I do love your honey.
Thank you, little bee.
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I hope you’re all having a beautiful week…
Warm regards,
Melody
Letting My Inner Child Out to Play: A Visit To the Pumpkin Patch
Fall is probably my favorite season, and I love Halloween. I guess I’m still a kid at heart! The company I work for allows employees to dress up, and in the past five years I’ve dressed up as Frida Kahlo, a butterfly, a beatnik, a cat, and a beauty queen. This year? I’m still undecided, but will likely indulge my inner child with some sort of costume. I’m a big believer in having fun and breaking up the monotony of the daily grind, and dressing up for Halloween is a great way to do that.
While Halloween can be great fun for adults, it’s a particularly great holiday for kids. Candy AND costumes? What’s not to like?! My favorite Halloween smell is still the smell of all the different types of Halloween candy combined, which you can enjoy when you stick your nose in a full trick-or-treat bag. Yum! When I was a child a favorite post trick-or-treating activity was dumping out all my candy, separating it according to type, and taking stock of my loot. It was then that I’d trade candy with my older brother – swapping any licorice I’d gotten for something more palatable.
Another fun part of fall is going to the pumpkin patch. We don’t have much of a change of season where I live, so I’m happy to embrace one of fall’s brightly colored symbols – pumpkins. Hubby and I recently visited a local pumpkin patch, and had a great time tromping around. We selected three small pumpkins, picked some veggies (including carrots for our bunnies!), and had fun being big kids. I snapped some photos to share with you (hubby took the photo of me and my scarecrow friend), and hope you enjoy this peek at our Southern California autumn.
Do you still dress up for Halloween? Do you decorate your home? What is your favorite kind of Halloween candy? Please leave a comment and fill me in.
Warm regards,
Melody
p.s. Here’s a link to a Pumpkin Bars recipe from last October, in case you missed it the first time!
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Also posted in holidays, inner child, life in general, nature
Tagged fall, Halloween, pumpkin, pumpkin patch
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Vintage Snapshot Ornaments
Look – my newest Design Team project for crescendoh.com! If you have a pile of precious family photos that are languishing in a box or drawer, this Vintage Snapshot Ornament project is for you. These ornaments can be used in many different ways, and are easy to make.
Consider hanging them on a Christmas tree, a found wooden branch, or around the necks of vintage glass bottles. They’d make unique tags, and could even be hung from the “branches” of a family tree you paint on the wall! This project may be particularly appealing to scrapbookers and family historians, and a set of these ornaments would make a lovely gift.
Directions
Begin by printing or copying the black and white images you’d like to use. I printed scans of old family photos onto regular copy paper using my home printer. Crop the images into a square shape. My finished ornaments vary slightly in size, but are 2 ¼” x 2 ¼” on average. Glue the cropped image onto a thin piece of chipboard or a thick piece of cardstock that you’ve trimmed to the same size as the photo, using a glue stick to adhere the two pieces. (I used cardboard from a Panera bagel box!)
Slide black photo corners onto each corner of your image – the front should lay on top of the image, and the back should lie on top of the chipboard/cardstock piece you attached to the photo. Affix the back piece of each photo corner to the chipboard/cardstock with glue or a glue dot to ensure they don’t shift or fall off.
Trim a piece of white cardstock to the same size as your photo. Stamp the cardstock with a frame image from the Little Miss Mason stamp set, choosing a frame of appropriate size and shape. Use an alphabet letter stamp to add information about the photo inside the frame, like the person’s name, date, or the occasion. You can also write the information in, if you’d like. Set this stamped piece aside.
To make the hanger, attach the two ends of a piece of narrow black ribbon to the back of the photo/chipboard piece, using double stick tape. The ribbon should be centered, and should extend down at least ½” from the top edge.
Finish the ornament by attaching the stamped piece of cardstock to the beribboned photo piece. The back of the photo piece should be attached to the back of the stamped cardstock, sandwiching the ribbon in between.
Please note: If you’re using digital copies of black and white/sepia photos and you have photo editing software like Photoshop, your images will look more uniform if you desaturate the images before printing them. If you copy paper photos, you’ll get better results if you color copy them, though they’re black and white.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this peek at my newest DIY project. Do you have some precious family photos you’d like to make into snapshot ornaments? If so, please let me know if you have any questions…
Warm regards,
Melody
p.s. Have you entered my newest GIVEAWAY yet? I’ll announce two winners on Tuesday, so enter today!
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Also posted in crafts, DIY, family, life in general, vintage
Tagged black & white photos, Design Team, family photos, genealogy, photo corners
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iPhone + Instagram: A Match Made in Photographic Heaven
If you have an iPhone and haven’t tried Instagram, trust me – you’re missing out! Instagram is an iPhone app that allows you customize the look and feel of your iPhone photos quickly and easily. The eleven photo filters range in appearance and mood, and they quickly transform a photo into something special. You can then share the image with others – swiftly and easily – via email, Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr. Instagram is a free app, so you’ve got nothing to lose, and I’m certain you’ll be as charmed by Instagram as I am.
LOVE That Look…
Here are some of the photos that I took with my iPhone and then “Instagramed”. I’m listing the name of the filter I used on each of the photos below the image, so you know how Instagram helped me achieve the different looks. (The photo up top was treated with the Lomo-fi filter)
X-Pro II
Lomo-fi
Nashville
Lord Kelvin
Brannan
X-Pro II
Lord Kelvin
Sharing vs. Privacy
Though a big part of Instagram’s charm is the look of the photos, another key component is the sharing of your photos. You can easily share your photos with family, friends, and photo friends by selecting the desired audience once your photo is ready. Through this sharing function, Instagram provides a unique way to share and stay in touch, and a way for you to follow the photos of those you admire.
Please note: Instagram is a public sharing platform, and your profile defaults to a public setting. This means others can see your photos and subscribe to follow your photos, so don’t Instagram anything you wouldn’t want the world to see! However, there is a private option, which allows you to approve all “follow” requests before they’re implemented. To set your profile’s privacy settings, just go to “profile” and “privacy” – which is at the very bottom.
iPhones ONLY? Really?
Yes, it’s sad but true. Instagram is only available for iPhones – for now. The folks at Instagram want to make sure they’re solid with one platform before moving on to others. Waiting can be a pain, but hopefully the prospect of additional platforms gives non-iPhone users something to look forward to.
In the meantime, non-iPhoners can live vicariously through me! I’ll be posting more Instagram photos on Twitter (@melodymnunez) and on my website’s Facebook fan page, so please follow my Instagram photo adventures in one or both of these places.
If you’re an iPhone user, have you tried Instagram? What do you think? I’d love to get your feedback…
Warm regards,
Melody
Also posted in art, inspiration
Tagged cell phone photography, Instagram, iPhone, iPhone photography
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From the Archives: some blogtastic posts you may have missed the first time around…
I’ve been a very busy girl! I’ve published over 135 posts in the last year, and since you may have missed a few – especially if you’re a newer reader - I thought I’d mention the ARCHIVES feature that resides along the right side of this page – just below RECENT POSTS. Simply select a month and go! You may start at the very beginning (August 2010) and read forward, or just skip around.
In addition, here’s a compilation of links, by category, to some of the more popular posts I’ve published in the last year. I hope you’ll all find something interesting (and possibly “new to you”) to enjoy!*
Photography
The Joys of iPhone Photography
Harvesting Bounty at the Farmers Market
Life in General
Letting My Inner Child Out to Play: Roller Skating
Art
Making the Most of a Travel Journal
Drawing a Blank? Prompts for Writers & Artists
Recipes
Something Sweet: Triple Chocolate Cake Recipe
Something Sweet: Blueberry-Lemon Muffins Recipe
Something Sweet: Almond Brittle Recipe
Crafts
Green Craft Project: Upcycled & Embellished Metal Cans
A Helpful Hint for My Fellow Paper Addicts: Making a Paper Swatch Ring
Paper, Glass & Wire Butterflies
Travel
A Photographic Tour: New Orleans, Louisiana
Haiku
Ethnic Markets
Little India: So Near, Yet So Far Away
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Friendly Giveaway Reminder
My blog birthday giveaway winners will be announced on August 30, 2011 so please enter today. You could win a $15 iTunes gift card, a pack of my handmade photo notecards, or a $25 Visa gift card! (Giveaway details/entry HERE) I hope you join the fun…
Warm regards,
Melody
Also posted in art, art journaling, art supplies, baking, crafts, ethnic food, ethnic markets, family, giveaway, haiku, inner child, inspiration, life in general, movies, nature, poetry, recipes, restaurants, travel, vintage, writing
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A Photographic Tour: Kansas
I had the pleasure of traveling to Kansas two years ago, and really enjoyed my trip. Three Southern California friends and I converged on Lincoln, Kansas in August of 2008, and we met up with three other friends there – including a friend who actually lives in Lincoln. We were there to attend an art show that many of us had artwork in, and to see some of the local sights. Lincoln, Kansas may be a small town, but they’ve got a great art center, and an active arts community.
What a great trip! We visited, laughed endlessly, saw the sights, shopped, tromped through sunflower fields, and ate some yummy food. Oh, and attended the art show! It was a wonderful trip for me – one I’ll always look back on with fondness and a big smile. Thanks to my two friends who live in Kansas and hosted, we had lovely breakfasts – including a printed menu of what we’d be dining on each day. Many other special touches – like a surprise guest, scrumptious desserts, and handmade souvenir books – added to the “they thought of everything” glow the weekend took on.
We did a fair amount of rambling around the countryside and surrounding areas in a vehicular caravan, and did some sightseeing in Lincoln proper as well. Here are some of the photos I took – I hope you enjoy them.
Oh, and I found out well after my trip that my beloved maternal grandmother, Neva, was born in Lincoln. I was flabbergasted! Of all the places in Kansas, I ended up staying in the town she was born in?! I may share more on that in a later post, but in the meantime I’ll say that I think the six degrees of separation just shrank to about three degrees…
On our first morning of sightseeing we came across this field of “spent” sunflowers.
The blooms were dried, but the sunflowers were still beautiful.
And yep, the field was out in the middle of nowhere…
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Our next stop was the town of Hunter, where I photographed a lovely, worn building.
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This window was “compromised”, but was still beautiful to me…
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We continued on to Cawker City, and saw the World’s Largest Ball of Sisal Twine!
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They let folks add twine to the ball, so here I am – tying some on!
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While on our way back to Lincoln, we hit the motherlode – a blooming field of sunflowers!
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We jumped out of the cars and started wading into the field of flowers, armed with our cameras.
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This experience was heavenly – pure bliss – for an adventuresome photographer and nature lover like me. And how wonderful to share it with friends!
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The art show was fantastic, and the Lincoln Art Center is a jewel in Lincoln.
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My submission was a series of collages that combined autobiographical sentiments with vintage images and ephemera. You can see five of the nine collages here, in my gallery.
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Our second day of sightseeing started in Lincoln proper. I found some great bargains at the local thrift store, as well as some other goodies at one of the stores there on the main strip.
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Another town we visited was Minneapolis, Kansas.
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I found this gorgeous, rusted car in between a few buildings when I was roaming around and taking photos.
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Proof that the post of a simple street sign can be beautiful…
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After lunch and some more shopping in Concordia, we stopped at this INCREDIBLE brick mural. Look at the surface texture, and the movement of the brick. It undulates – undulates, for God’s sake!
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A detail shot of the custom mural, that was painstakingly created – brick by brick. AMAZING.
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I only had two days to sightsee in Kansas, and it wasn’t nearly enough. I know there are many things yet to see and do there. However, I’ll always be thankful for all that I did see and do on this first trip. Hopefully it won’t be my last. I hope to visit the state and town that my sweet grandmother was born in again, and soon.
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Warm regards,
Melody
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p.s. Have you entered this month’s giveaway yet?
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Also posted in art, life in general, nature, travel
Tagged art show, Cawker City, Kansas, Lincoln Art Center, Lincoln-Kansas, sunflower fields, World's Largest Ball of Sisal Twine
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