Monday, October 25, 2010

Morning Greeting

This is what I saw when I looked out the window this morning! The sunrise was just beautiful, altho this only lasted for a few minutes. I loved the whispering clouds in the above photo - so gentle....
These are the same clouds (above), but a moment later when the colors shifted. What a soft looking morning.....

And, again, the colors shifted back, but it seems slightly less intense. And, these are the real colors - no adjusting on my part! Reality in the Southwest - no wonder Georgia O'Keeffe loved it here.

Enjoy!


Monday, October 18, 2010

October So Far!!






Here are some photos that I've taken throughout the month so far! This first photo was taken yesterday when Jeff & I took a drive thru the Sandia Mountains near home. Some of the aspens were just beautiful as they changed to that wonderful golden color they get in the fall!


This image was also shot yesterday morning. We stopped at a trail that had some pretty colors going on, altho these green trees were a nice entry to the colorful aspens beyond. I sort of think of this as the path less traveled....and as the poem goes, and that makes all the difference.


I took this photo from the rooftop parking area at work. I just got out of my car, turned around, and there were Tweety and friends! This was taken during the Hot-Air Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, which occurs the first 2 weekends in October and the week in between. It's the largest hot-air balloon gathering in the world. Happens here in ABQ because of the great "box" winds that exist here. Basically, that means that winds blow in one direction at one altitude, and in the opposite direction at a higher altitude. In any event, it's a fun time and this image seems to capture the spirit of the Fiesta!



Another great sunrise as seen from our back patio.


And the color of the sky for this sunset was pretty cool, too!
Enjoy!


Saturday, October 16, 2010

"Flower Power ATCs"



Here are some ATCs that I just finished today for a swap called "Flower Power". I had to include at least one flower on each ATC. This one has a piece of the vintage music as the background, with a transparency of an image of a flower that had been manipulated by me in PhotoShop. The green color comes from the transparency. The transparency is held in place with some tiny brads. I really like the way this one came out, don't you?













This ATC used tissue paper of a flower pattern as the foundation of the piece. I then started paging thru a flower catalog, and decided that some of the words and sentiments would be perfect compliments to the wacky flower in this piece. I especially liked a quote in the catalog that spoke to "such happy little flowers", and I thought this would be the perfect name for this piece!






This piece also started with a tissue as the background - the daisies behind the two children. I then added the vintage image of the two children, and added the daisies in front so that it seems they are in a field of daisies. How fun! No wonder they are smiling!

Enjoy!!




"Postage Due"ATCs


Here are a couple of new ATCs I finished today. I call this one "Thru the Window". The foundation is an old photo of my dad (on the right) and a friend of his. I have no idea who the person is peeking out the window at them, but, to me, that just makes the photo! The theme of this ATC collection is "Postage Due", a swap I'm participating in. There needs to be at least one postage stamp in the piece. This one has 3 of them, plus some postage related rubber stamps and ephemera!


This ATC is made up of a number of stamps from around the world - Bahamas, Columbia, Spain and I can't recall the other 2! I also added some postage related rubber stamps and call this piece "Around the World". It reminds me of one of those old fashioned suitcases that would have some sort of travel stamps and tags on it from wherever the owner traveled.
Enjoy!!!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Oil Pastel ATCs

Here are a couple of ATCs I just finished for an art swap. The challenge of the swap was to use oil pastels to create the art. For these two, I used some colors, some warm (above) and some cool (below). I applied the oil pastel crayons and then heated them with my heat gun. I then used my fingers to sort of blend and meld the colors. When the colors dried, I applied some leaf stamps (above) and dragonfly stamp (below) to finish them off. Pretty simple, but I like the way they came out. My first attempt to work with oil pastels. I think I shall use them again!
Enjoy!!