Dreaming

A cyber friend, Linda Kittmer, like me, participates in Texture Tuesday and Photo Art Friday.  This week she combined both challenges into one image (see here) and I decided to follow her example and do the same.  The challenge for Photo Art Friday was to digitally enhance a still life.  The theme this week for Texture Tuesday was to add texture to an image related to "dream."  Here's the image I began with:

 

This still life is in one section of this bookcase:

 

 

Working with my still life image, I first added one of Bonnie's textures (Photo Art Friday) called Ancient Treasures.  I used soft light at 85%.  Then I used a Photoshop filter called Cutout, at 45%, to make it look more like an illustration than a photograph.  A bit of Brightness/Contrast enhancement and I had this:

 

 

The image was darker than I wanted, so I next went to Kim's textures (Texture Tuesday) and selected an appropriate one for this theme called "Dream."  I applied the texture at soft light, 100%, and got my final image, which I'll show again here:

 

 

 

You can see some of the words that were part of the Dream texture.  And as far as the theme goes, this little hand-carved bird is dreaming of spreading his wings and flying away!

Beach Art

 

A recent walk at the beach yielded lots of photos, as usual.  I edited them all in Photoshop, but some I took to a more "arty" level.  Above is a before picture.

 

 

The after-bird.  ;O)  This one included adding a texture layer.

 

 



Before - a view along the shore.

 

 

After - Painterly effect, plus I changed the proportions by switching the numbers for width and height.

 

 

Before shows a fisherman in the surf.  It was a rough water day - a couple days after Hurricane Sandy passed offshore - and I was glad this fellow was wearing yellow, in case he got knocked down!

 

 

After is from a slightly different angle.  I had zoomed in on both pictures, so they were already a little rough-looking.  On this one, I used some artistic filters, including dry brush, to get a painterly effect.

 

 

Before - some beach houses.

 

 

After - renovated to accomodate tall, cartoon people.  I used an artistic filter called cutout, and also went overboard with the hue/saturation.

 

Photo Art Friday - Lines



 

 

The theme for this week's Photo Art Friday is "Lines."  Here are some photos taken at Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.  I decided to make them all black and white images.

 

 



















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Texture Tuesday - Ocracoke Harbor

 
















Today is Texture Tuesday.  We were free to select any of our photographs, and add one of Kim's textures.  The photo was taken at Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, this past August.  The texture I used is called "Dear Dreamer."  Here's the original photo before treatment:

Doll #9 - Zelda Zebra

When you find a knit top in black and white stripes, there's not much choice but to make a zebra!  Zelda started off with a different set of eyes.

 

These eyes are buttons and, even though they went with color in the hair, I wasn't happy with them.  Still, I had taken the first set of pictures before I decided to change the eyes from buttons to pompoms.

 

Early stage - all of my dolls, except Gilda, have the head and body cut in one piece.

 

Her hair is yarn that I crocheted, hooking to long running stitches on her head.

 

Zelda, from a couple more angles.

 

I sewed joints into her legs so that she's be able to sit.

 

Lastly, front view that shows the convergence of the stripes.

 

Seven Words

It's been a while since I participated in Photo Art Friday, but this week's theme interested me:

 

This week you can use the prompt to compose a seven word sentence that describes your life or experience or process as an artist (be it a photographer, painter, mixed media artist, digital artists, whatever ...) and marry your sentence to a piece of photo art that somehow illustrates your sentence.

 

This must be my favorite picture of myself - it keeps showing up in my art!  I didn't think long before "Art opens my eyes to the world" popped into my head.  Below are the two photos I used to build my image:

 

Lighthouse along the Portuguese coast, taken from Tropic Moon's deck

Me, on the island of St. Maarten in the Caribbean, circa 1980

 

Doll #8 - Pink Possum

I thought this doll looked a little bit like a possum.

 

While it looks like her head and body are from different fabrics, they actually came from the same blouse, with some judicious cutting.

 

Here's a piece left from the original blouse.  Not something I would have worn myself.  :o)

 

I love these socks!  They're from the Wal-Mart infant department.

 

The hair is crocheted yarn, and the eyes are buttons.  Her legs are jointed, and I used buttons for attaching her legs and arms. 

Book Spine Poetry

 

Being home, creating a charmed life,

Spirited stillness speaks.

God is at eye level.

 

Have you heard of Book Spine Poetry?  I'm learning about it for the first time, through my Beyond Layers class.

 

Book Spine Poetry is both a visual and literary art form that is created by stacking books so that the titles on the spines, when read out, make a poem. Poems can range from very short to epics. The only limit is your imagination and the size of your book collection. ~Lloydminster Public Library

 

Needless to say, this retired librarian headed right to the books in her studio and started hunting for useful titles.  The poem I came up with is pretty much on target for my life these days.  Can't ask for much more than that!

 

Here's the original stack of books, before I did a wee bit of Photoshop magic.  (For example, authors and subtitles disappeared.) 

 

And there are lots more bookshelves in other rooms....

Come Walk With Me

I walked out onto our back porch this morning and savored the cooler temperatures.  Three cheers for September!  Would you like to join me for a walk on the golf course?  If you look way back down our yard, that little green spot, sort of on the right, is the golf course.

 

Passing the magnolia tree on the way through the yard.

 

One of the fountains on the golf course - always picturesque, under any conditions.

 

Some trees reflected in one of the water hazards.  It wasn't quite totally calm, but it sure looks it in the photo!

 

A closer view of the reflection in the water.

 

Some paw prints in the concrete path.

 

I was passing under a tree when a small piece of bark fell, almost hitting me.  Then I heard the tapping of a woodpecker.  I couldn't get a good picture - this was the best of the lot.  He was busy at work, so his head was in almost constant motion. 

 

Here's a picture from the Internet.  It always surprises me how small these birds are, having grown up on Woody Woodpecker cartoons.  Wikipedia claims that red-headed woodpeckers are 8-10 inches in length. 

 

Now back to our walk....  I liked this pattern in the cracked concrete.

 

A shot of the pampas grass across the fairway.  My walk on the golf course is a little over a mile.  Are you tired yet?

 

Here's the little bridge that leads from the golf course back onto our property.

 

Standing on the bridge and looking up toward our house, just visible through the trees.

 

Almost there!

 

Home again....

 

A final shot of me reflected in the glass on our back door.  Hope you enjoyed the walk!