Days 19 & 20: Shadow, and Nativity

**This post brought to you by a mild case of ADD.**

I'm combining two posts again. Maybe it's cheating, but try as I might I could NOT come up with a picture for shadow. Except for the nativity. Which was supposed to be today's post.

Anyway.

 I like the stable's shadow, showing the side view of the shelter since the light was coming from off to the right of it. I only have one main light in my living/dining area, and a floor lamp in the corner, so at night it's very difficult to get any sort of decent lighting. Even if I knew the difference. ;)

This has nothing to do with the rest of this post, but shadows in general are a bit of a sore spot for me, artistically speaking. I have very little concept of them, and how they work in pictures, both drawing and photography. I remember when I first learned how to draw bubble letters, and watching my mom draw them and add the shadows on the sides to make them 3D. My mom is a wonderful artist in her own right, and I've always been a little envious - I wish I had the drawing talent, for one! Stick figures are just in my bubble of comprehension...
So if my shadow picture is lacking for you, I apologize. And then I order you to find me the best tutorial/pictorial on shadows that you can, so that I can get a grasp on the whole business.

Also, buy me a better camera. I'd learn to use it. ;)

One of my favorite books when I was little was The Christmas Story, a Little Golden Book by Jane Werner Watson. (I just found a copy on Amazon for $3.75, and I had to buy it - plus it'll be here in time for Christmas!) The illustrations are beautiful, and the story simple and more beautiful still. I think it's because of that book that I've always wanted a nativity set of my own - that visual reminder of the most wonderful story of all. Mine popped up on a local Facebook garage sale page, and for only $5 - I had to have it! :) 

It's lonely up on the shelf by itself, but since the Decorating Fairy hasn't come to visit, lonely it shall be...maybe by next Christmas I'll have a handle on things. ;)