Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Skull















Do you think this looks like a skull??  I do!  Kind of a creepy one, too.  I took this shot at the beach.
























Stepping back from where I took the first shot, this one shows the puddle that served as the eye, the other indentations in the sand, and the ocean in the background.  Looks a lot less scary here!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas Eve at the Beach
















A bit chilly, but an absolutely beautiful day!

















I knew neither dog nor man, but they walked past at just the right time.


















I didn't know the fisherman either, but I totally fell in love with his chair....


Saturday, December 24, 2011

Happy Holidays!








































Happy Holidays from Jean, Ed, and Casey!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Gulls At Sunset







Gulls, Sunset, and Gulls at Sunset were all taken on the same trip to the beach.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Black & White Photoshopped Images

















I was walking on campus (Carteret Community College) the other day.  The campus sits right on Bogue Sound, so I can take lots of "water" pictures without going to the beach.
















Playing with the photos in Photoshop gave me some interesting results.















I zoomed in to capture some of the power boats passing by.















The filters I used were "Threshold" and "Stamp," though I can't tell you which were which....















Before















After


















There's a good aquaculture department at the college, and they do a lot of experiments along the shore.


















The warning looks even more commanding in black and white!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

The Dress That Kept On Giving


Potpourri, 2003, 49x27 inches
























Back in 2002, for less than $10, I picked up a formal dress at a thrift shop.  This particular dress had a large floral fabric in the sizeable skirt, and a smocked top in coordinating colors.  The dress might have best been described as gaudy.  One of the quilts that made use of this dress was Potpourri.  The floral fabrics in this quilt came from the skirt of the dress.  The dark border fabric in Potpourri was a velvet upholstery fabric that felt good to the touch.  
Potpourri, detail
























When I quilted the piece, I free-hand machine-stitched flowers and leaves on the solid pink and green areas of the quilt. 

Johnny's Garden, 2002, 29x23 inches

























Johnny's Garden also made use of the fabric from the dress, and all the flowers in this quilt came from the skirt.  In 2002, I raffled off this quilt to raise money for Toys for Tots.  This quilt hadn't really had a name, and when a fellow named Johhny won it, the quilt became Johnny's Garden.


Cherry Blossom Time, 2002, 23x32 inches



















Cherry Blossom Time also benefited from this dress.  The trees and bushes in this quilt came from the smocked top of the dress, and have an interesting raised texture.  The blue and green background was made from strips of fabric sewn together in a large log cabin pattern set on the diagonal.  The Asian figures were fussy-cut from another fabric.  I passed this quilt on to a friend who owns The Quilted Butterfly, a fabric shop.  In return, she gave me a credit for buying fabric in her shop.  :o)

And now back to Potpourri!  It was a sizeable quilt, 49x27 inches, and, though I put a lot of time and effort into it, I never cared much for the finished result.  I think it was the lack of composition, or focal point, and that there was no good place for the eye to rest when looking at the quilt.  Years ago, I gave several of my quilts to my nephews, including this one.  When the nephew who owned it got married, the quilt fell into disfavor, and made its way back to me this past summer.  Potpourri came close to getting tossed, but I was still taken with all the quilting I'd done on it and couldn't quite let it go. 



Potpourri 1, 2011, 9x12 inches
 
























At the time, I was just getting into the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, and got the idea of cutting up Potpourri and making it into small 9x12 inch quilts to donate to AAQI. 


Potpourri 2, 2011, 9x12 inches

























I ended up getting three small quilts out of the original Potpourri.


Potpourri 3, 2011, 9x12 inches

























The three new Potpourri's went to Houston in October for the AAQI's big annual fundraiser, and they all sold, each earning $36.70.  All in all, I think I've done a fine job of putting that original $10 dress to good use!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Pelicans
























I was at the beach the other day, watching the pelicans.















I was sitting on a small dune, and would try to get shots of the pelicans as they flew by.  This is the result of probably taking about 50 pictures of the birds.  I'd miss the shot, or give up and put my camera back in my pocket.
























Of course, then a whole slew of pelicans would fly by and I'd miss what - in my imagination, anyway - were some great shots.  Personally, I think they were waiting till the camera was out of sight....  In any case, it was a beautiful day, and wonderful to be outdoors. 

















This little girl was standing still for a moment, but she and her three sisters had been having a blast frolicking on the beach.

Friday, October 14, 2011

A Young Rose
























I was playing with one of my favorite books, Digital Expressions, by Susan Tuttle, and put together this picture.  This is my paternal grandmother, Rosilia, at the age of thirteen.  If you look in the background, you'll see Rose (as she was called) when she was probably in her sixties.  My interpretation of this image is of my grandmother remembering herself as a young girl.  Here are the two photos I worked with in Photoshop:























They really knew how to take portraits back then!  This would have been around 1900. 

























I love the brooch my grandmother is wearing in this picture.  I couldn't resist giving the young Rosilia a rose to hold in her hand.

























Which image do you like best?  With or without the rose?