Zentangle

Here's my first zentangle.  These are really a lot of fun!  Just doodling - no way to do it wrong.  Gotta love that!  I'm starting an alphabet book with all the letters of the alphabet done as zentangles.  More on that later.  If you're interested in reading about zentangles, here's a link to the site that got it all started.

Quebec City

Last fall we took a road trip and spent part of our time in Canada.  This image was developed in Photoshop from a picture I took in Quebec City.  Really loved that city - so picturesque and beautifully maintained!  Everywhere we looked was another photo opportunity.  Last month I entered three of my photos in our local Arts Council's annual show, including this one, as an 8"x10" print.  Quebec City won an Excellence in Photography Award for me. 

Above is the original before I played with it in Photoshop to give it the watercolor effect.

My other two entries in Art from the Heart were "In Flight" and "Beach Walk."

It was a show of surprises for me - besides the award for Quebec City, someone who visited the show bought Beach Walk.  Had I expected either of these things to happen - they wouldn't have!  Always best not to have expectations....  :o)

Gray Day

Morehead City, North Carolina

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Beached

Photo was taken near Bogue Sound, Morehead City, North Carolina.

Dichotomy

Dichotomy - isn't that a great word??  I think of that word when I think about blogging.  On the one hand, in theory, I want to be adding posts to my blog.  On the other hand, I rarely actually do it.  Hmm.  So I have lots of digital images I've developed from my photos, and I can, at least, post them.  Can't I?  Like one a day?  How hard can that be? 

Forsythia

Yesterday I was taking photos of our forsythia bush, and thinking, same old, same old.  So I played with the images in Photoshop.

These are my favorites from the day.

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Have a happy, mellow yellow day!

Morning Light

Windows shine brightly,
sunbeams lightly touch the day.
Art and grace abound.

Color is the muse
that dances in my mind's eye
when I yearn to paint.

My Name is Jena

My name is Jena and I'm an inner child.  I was named when the "mother ship" typed her name wrong, but, trust me, I'm more than just a typo!  I'm an artist.  An artist who doesn't get to do enough art!!

She doesn't listen to me!  You know what I mean?  I'm so sad when she doesn't listen to me.  I want to do messy art.  I'm a great artist, but she seldom lets me do my art.  She always finds reasons or excuses for not doing messy art.  Messy art is where you actually get your hands dirty, like with paint or glue or other fun stuff.

Why can't we just play?  I'm sick of being on the computer!  I want to make a MESS!!  She keeps telling me we'll start soon, and then she lets me down again.  She's so uptight, so afraid of doing something wrong.  Well, if we do mess up, the world won't come to an end, and we could have some fun trying.

I like going to the beach or the aquarium, and going for lots of walks.  I like it when we take lots of photos.  There's a new book she bought and I'm REALLY excited about it!  I like Liz and her book and I want to play like she does.  Liz talks about writing poetry, and - big surprise to me - we've started writing some!

Okay, I know the mother ship is trying to get with the program.  Soon I'll be painting again.  I can be a real pain if she tries to ignore me, so eventually, I'll get my way.

Casey Twirls His Feather

Our cockatiel, Casey, does a copious amount of molting.  When he loses a major feather, he often plays with it afterwards.  He holds it in his mouth, chews on it like a farmer with a stalk of straw, and twirls the feather.  This feather is half gray and half white - a wing feather.

Here's Casey chewing on the feather.

Twirling off to the right.

And off to the left.

Applause?  Why, thank you!  Always enjoy performing.

Take a Gander!

I was walking on our college campus and saw that lots of Canadian Geese were visiting. 

I wasn't the only one enjoying the beautiful day by the water.

Have a seat, dear.  Thanks!  Don't mind if I do.

Some of the geese were on a small hill, so I tried a silhouette shot, taken into the sun.

After all the work of posing for pictures, it was deemed naptime.  One fellow kept watch while the others slept.