z photo and design

Little Houses ATC Swap

2012-02-10T16:54:00.000-08:00

Here's some recent art from last weekend. It was an ATC swap, with the theme of Little Houses. I decided to have some fun with this! The above little house used an umbrella from one of the umbrella drinks. Now, I think of those drinks as summertime drinks, so I thought the "little house" would be a summer home. Since I also used dress pattern paper on this ATC, reflecting the sizes that the pattern covered, I thought the summer house would be made to order! A little whimsy!

I liked the feeling of this ATC - a delicate little house and then a nice image of a young woman, who I think of as thinking of her dream house. Kind of a soft dreamy feel to this ATC.

This last ATC was kind of a fun one, too! I found a napkin that had some coffee beans on it, and thought, of course! A coffee house! So, I decided that they would really be doing a great deal on a cup of coffee - 5 cents per cup! Haven't seen that price in years and years!!

Enjoy!

February Bizarre Holidays

2012-01-28T07:41:00.000-08:00

It's another month of bizarre holidays! February brings us some fun ones - the first, above, is International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day. Miki, our German Shepherd, really enjoys this holiday, as she dreams of biscuits every day!

Confuse your Valentine this year! On February 13, celebrate Get a Different Name Day by picking out a new name and totally confuse your Valentine the following day! So, which name will this young lady choose?

And, finally, a day Jeff celebrates whenever we're on a trip or vacation! Whenever I'm running around taking photos, he usually finds someplace to relax and take a nap. Altho February 28 is the official Public Sleeping Day, Jeff finds a way to celebrate it throughout the year!

Enjoy!

Love Birds - A New ATC Swap

2012-01-28T07:27:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything, mainly because I have been dealing with other stuff for much of January. But, here are some adorable little love birds from an art swap I did participate in this month. The theme was to have a bird and a heart on the card. I found a template to create some cute little birds and decided to use some sort of patterned or handmade paper for the body, a little scrap of a different color for the beak and a piece of text paper, with a word highlighted for the wing. The first one above, Sleepy, may be a bit of a stretch on such bright paper, but the hearts are of some nice soft designed paper!

The second one, Found, reminds me of how birds will take scraps of things they find to make their nests. The heart locket is a little stamp I have, and I used a piece of (sort of) yarn as the little "chain" thing for the locket. The bird's body is made of baby wipes that i used to clean my hands and brushes from several different colors of paint - kind of a nice soft mix of colors!

For this last little bird, I decided to go with a softer color palette, almost, but not quite a monochromatic theme. The hearts are hidden within the soft green leaves, and the entire piece reminded me of the promise of spring.

Enjoy!

New Toy for Christmas - HDR !

2011-12-26T14:37:00.000-08:00

Santa Jeff got me this very cool photo processing software for Christmas that allows me to process my images in what's call High Dynamic Range, or HDR. I had heard about it, but what I read made it seem very complex, and I just couldn't get my head around trying it. Then, I read an article by a woman who had gotten "burned out" on photography and stopped taking images, until she heard about HDR, and tried it. It gave her a new passion for photography. In the article she mentioned the software she used, and commented on how easy it was to use and learn, so I was immediately intrigued! Anyway, the above image is an image of some old junk yard trucks that I took earlier this year. I applied a pretty intense effect, just for fun, and this was the result. Those trucks haven't looked so fun in years!!

This image used a different effect that created a sort of painting look to the image. It also really pulled the details that were in the dark in the original image I shot. This is a sunrise shot from our back patio. The house in the image is of one of our neighbor's house. I just love the way this process captures the details that were in the dark without losing any of the details in that sunrise sky. Some of the colors aren't quite "real", but that's the painting effect.

This last image is just lovely. The original image was really wonderful, too, but I played with it to see what could result. This image is more detailed and vivid than the original image, but it still maintains the soft quality of the original. I am in love with this software, and think I love photography even more now that I did before!!

Enjoy!

Butterfly ATC Swap

2011-12-08T14:08:00.000-08:00

The theme of this swap was butterflies. The ATC above uses some book page text as the background. I then applied a napkin that had some really pretty roses and added a gel transfer of a butterfly that I found in a magazine to the very top. Because it's a gel transfer and not the actual magazine image, you can still see the text thru the wings of the butterfly as it sits perched on the roses.

This ATC uses a piece of a music page as the background. Again, I applied a napkin to that, with some rose buds and leaves on it, as well as a little butterfly. I also added a butterfly stamp, just for a bit of balance.

And, finally, the piece I call Butterfly Bling. Again, music pages as a background, but this time I used a butterfly rubber stamp over it. I then colored in the wings, body and added some very obvious antenna with art glitter. I'm not sure why I really like this one, but I do!

Enjoy!

January Bizarre Holidays

2011-12-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

Some fun holidays in January! The first holiday, above, is Thomas Crapper Day. He is supposedly the inventor of the inside flushing toilet.....I have no idea if that's why it's called "crap", tho! (C'mon, you know that's what you were thinking!)

January 23 is National Handwriting Day. I found some old handwriting instructional pages and used a rubber stamp I had of a woman's hand writing a postcard (I only used the part of the stamp that showed her hand, so you don't see the postcard.). I was drawn to this holiday because I remember in 4th grade when we were taught cursive handwriting, mine was so atrocious, I couldn't earn enough stars on my homework pages to allow me to begin doing my homework with a pen. I was certain this was going to keep me from graduating to the 5th grade! I remember I was so afraid of opening up my final report card, that when I saw that I had been promoted to the 5th grade, I was so relieved, I almost peed in my pants....or skirt, as the case may be! It's amazing how intimidating those Catholic nuns could be!! I'm sure in some way I'm scarred for life re that, since I still remember it so vividly after all these years!!

I had some really cool stamps from Australia, so I thought I should honor Australia Day! The background is a map of the ancient world. It just looked so cool I couldn't resist using it. I do believe Australia is just off the foot of the koala bear!

Enjoy!

First Snowfall this Winter

2011-12-04T12:14:00.001-08:00

What a fun weekend this is - first winter snowfall! They are still predicting more snow for tonight into tomorrow, but we did get out and enjoy it today! Jeff & I took Miki out to our 10 acres, where she enjoyed playing chase the football with Jeff!

As we wondered around the 10 acres, I saw this branch full of snowflakes that look like crystals. Isn't this lovely?

If you look close, you can see the snow falling in this image. I had just stepped out of the studio, when I saw how the little tree in our yard looked so wonderful up against the wall of the house. So, I ran inside to grab my camera, and when I came out, some snowflakes added to the special effect!

This shot is one of my favorites! Yesterday, Miki woke me up at 6am to go outside, and when I peeked out back, this was the view from our back patio. Such a peaceful scene. I especially love the fact that someone left their red Christmas lights on all night, so they were still glowing in the first light of sunrise.

Enjoy!

Bizarre Holidays in December - ATCs!

2011-11-27T18:41:00.000-08:00

December has its fair share of bizarre holidays! December 10th is the Festival for the Souls of Dead Whales - this has to be one of the more unique ones. Why whales? Well, I did a bit of research, and one of the stories behind the holiday is that it is an Inuit holiday (Alaskan native). They relied on whales for food, and it supposedly was their way of honoring the whales. Sounds good, right? Well, again supposedly, the Inuits never heard of this holiday. So, now the thought it this was made up by a calendar company, looking for ways to encourage the purchase of ceramic mugs.....of whales, I suppose!

December 30th is not only Bicarbonate of Soda Day, but also Festival of Enormous Changes at the Last Minute Day. I focused on the Bicarbonate of Soda Day, but I think the background also sort of reminds one of a lot of changes all happening at the same time, which makes it all seem like the last minute! So, I'm kind of honoring both, don't you think?? (tee, hee!)

And, last but not least, is December 3rd, or National Roof Over Your Head Day! This holiday is to be a day to appreciate all that we have, not the least of which is (hopefully) a roof over our heads. No one knows exactly who first founded this day, but I like this sentiment, and hopefully this gentleman appreciates the roof that's over his head.

Enjoy!

Snow Geese and a Golden Eagle at Bosque Del Apache

2011-11-17T05:33:00.000-08:00

Bosque Del Apache is a National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, New Mexico. Every winter, thousands of sand hill cranes and snow geese spend the winter here. The majority of them are here from late October/early November until February/March. The above image is of hundreds of snow geese who were spending the afternoon enjoying the autumn sun in one of the marshes in the Bosque. They did leave this spot shortly after I took this shot, but returned overnight for a magnificent sunrise show the next morning!

Here are a couple that I think of as the Royal Pair. Don't they look regal? I love the reflection of them in the still waters of the marsh, too. Sort of an idyllic moment. Very calming and peaceful.

We were at the observation deck set up on the side of the marsh, waiting for sunset (and the sand hill cranes), when I happened to notice what bird experts around me said was a golden eagle perched on the top of the dead tree in the marsh. No wind meant great reflections in the water, and I couldn't resist capturing this lovely late autumn scene. A reward for patiently waiting.....

Enjoy!

Sand Hill Cranes at Sunset

2011-11-17T05:15:00.000-08:00

Every evening at the Bosque, the sand hill cranes will come back to roost in one of several marshes. The one we were at was the largest, and many cranes spent their nights here. The visitors' center stated there were about 1500 cranes here at the time we were here, and, altho we saw many, I doubt that we came close to seeing all 1500! The cranes tended to arrive in small groups, sometimes only a couple at a time. The image above is of a couple of the first that arrived. I was lucky enough to capture them performing synchronized eating, as I like to think of it! Mirror images of each other, and mirror images of each of them in the water. Very cool. Most of the cranes don't arrive until after the sun has set, so these were two of the early birds, so to speak.

Here's a bit of a close-up of a couple of other early birds. I was amazed at how perfectly graceful they are when they fly - look at how their feet are just perfectly pointed and together - figure skaters should try to imitate cranes when they work on keeping their toes pointed while skating! These two flew very close by the observation deck we were on.

As the sun got closer to setting, more cranes began arriving. This image appealed to me because I think of the cranes landing as doing a bit of a dance, and the entire scene made me think of them putting on a dancing performance. I also loved how still the evening was, so that all of their movements were captured in the reflection of the water.

This shot was one of the last that I was able to capture, and I really love this one. The cranes are silhouetted against the sunset sky, just as the last rays of the sun lit the sky. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect pose of the cranes, except, of course, they weren't posing. They were just coming home for the night, in the most graceful way possible.

Enjoy!

Sunrise at the Bosque Del Apache

2011-11-17T04:44:00.000-08:00

It was a very chilly (read cold!) morning, but if we wanted to see the birds, we needed to get up with them.....or actually before them, so we could be there when they woke up! The above image is one of several that I took of literally hundreds and hundreds of snow geese taking off at the beginning their day. The Bosque's count of snow geese when we were there was about 31,000 !! Yikes! The funny thing about this shot was just a few seconds before this (literally!), we heard a bird squawk, and I jokingly said to Jeff that it sounded like a call to arms - I guess it was, in a way, because within 2-3 seconds after I said that, this occurred! The most amazing thing about this moment cannot, unfortunately, be captured in this image. That was the incredible sound of all of those wings as these wonderful creatures took flight - it was beyond amazing.

A little while later, at a different marsh in the Bosque, we saw some sand hill cranes beginning their day. What amazes me about these birds is that, while on the ground, they look a bit gangly and awkward......but then, they take off, and it's all flowing grace. Beautiful.

These are the snow geese again - I had several opportunities to get some great images - after all, it takes a while for hundreds of them to truly take wing! And, we were lucky enough to be here for a magnificent sunrise. This image really captures my sentiments about this morning. The beauty, power and grace of Nature.

Enjoy!

San Lorenzo Canyon

2011-11-17T04:28:00.000-08:00

We did a bit of exploring while down at Bosque Del Apache, too! One of the places we explored was the San Lorenzo Canyon. It's a small canyon just a wee bit north of Socorro, New Mexico. It's really cool because you can drive down the canyon (assuming you have a 4 wheel drive vehicle, or a front wheel drive vehicle and it was dry like it was this day), stopping to explore the "branches" of the canyon on foot. I loved the above shot of Miki, our German Shepherd. We came to the end of one of the canyon "branches" and found Miki sitting in a shallow sort of bowl carved into the ground. It's a dry waterfall. I guess, during some really heavy monsoon rains, this little "branch" is a bit of a waterfall and river!

Here's Jeff exploring another of the "branches". Yes, he climbed up the rocks that are in the photo between me and him. And, yes, I managed to climb them, too, after I took this shot. I have to admit, I wasn't as sure-footed as him, tho! I'm not sure why, but I just don't feel like I have a very good center of gravity while climbing up rocks - maybe because I'm worried about banging my camera??? In any event, the "path" we were following went on a little way from here, beyond the little patch of green behind Jeff (which was actually a small shrub).

I had to include this shot just because I love the sort of flow the image has. I was hoping to capture the feeling of the lines created by years of weathering the canyon has withstood, and hopefully, I've accomplished that. I also feel the little green grasses help to lead you into the image. On a more practical side, if I had more mountain goat in me, I think we might have been able to climb thru here, but I didn't suggest it, and Jeff didn't argue with me!

Enjoy!

Quedaras Backcountry Byway

2011-11-17T04:14:00.000-08:00

While down at the Bosque Del Apache, we explored a backcountry road called the Quedaras Backcountry Byway. It was a 24 mile dirt road that passed thru some scenic country, just a short little bit from I-25, a main highway that runs north and south in New Mexico. I really like the above shot as it's reflecting still a bit of green left even during later fall, and, of course, wonderful mountains in the background.

We just had to stop when we passed this arroyo that actually looks a bit more like a mini-canyon. From the land surrounding it, my guess is this rock was carved by the monsoon rains runoff that probably occurs most summers. Amazing how powerful water can be, isn't it?

Altho technically not part of the formal byway, I had to include this shot in this entry. We had left the byway and were just making our way back to the campground when we saw this. The sky was a typical grey day in late fall kind of sky (altho not usually in New Mexico kind of sky), and altho I really loved the clouds in this shot, it just didn't look as wonderful in color as it does in black & white.

Enjoy!

Winter Potluck ATC Swap

2011-11-07T19:54:00.000-08:00

This was a fun swap to create for! The theme was just winter - anything what so ever goes, as long as it's a winter theme! So, what's more wintry than a snowman! This is actually a napkin that I just put on the ATC, added some text, and some glitter to create the effect of sparkly snow. Just a fun card!

And, of course, what's more winter than Christmas? I again used a Christmas napkin as the background, and then added a vintage Santa and a torn definition of the word Christmas. This one has a nice vintage feel to it.

For this last card, I used a photograph of mine as the background. I then cut out what looks kind of like a window from a template that I had, added a cup of cappuccino or cocoa, text, and there you have it! I thought it created the feel of a winter day, when you're nice and warm inside!!

Enjoy!

Sunset at City of Rocks

2011-11-04T05:51:00.000-07:00

Sunsets at City of Rocks are quite lovely, too. The above image is of the branches of a shrub (sorry, don't know the name) against the sunset sky. I just liked the way the sunset set off the branches and thought I'd capture it.

Isn't this a lovely sunset landscape? I really like the pink/purple/blue of the sky and the nicely lit clouds. And, yes, the peaky mountain off in the distance is the same one I captured in the sunrise image!

Isn't this cool? It sort of captures the essence of City of Rocks - the monoliths, beautiful sunset sky and the crescent moon above it all. Life at its best!

Enjoy!

Sunrise from the comfort of bed!!

2011-11-04T05:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, so sometimes I'm a lazy photographer! One morning, when I raised the shades in the bedroom of our RV, this is the sight that greeted me. So, I decided to just sit on the bed with both kitties are either side of me, and shoot the sunrise! What a great way to start the day!

This image was actually a few minutes before the one above, just before the sun rose over the horizon. What a glorious start to the day! Oh, and in case some of you are thinking I have such sensitive kitties that enjoy things like sunrises.....well......I hate to burst your bubble, but the kitties were sticking close to me because I'm the source of food in the morning! Really, kitties are nothing, if not practical when it comes to that type of thing!

Enjoy!

Plant & Fauna

2011-11-04T05:26:00.000-07:00

One morning, we went hiking among the monoliths, and came across some fall fauna! Grasses were turning brown and going to seed. I like the above image because it's sort of abstract-y (is that a word?) and I just like the tones of the image.

Here's a close up of a couple of individual grass stems or leaves or whatever! I liked the way the blurred one in the background seems to echo the one in the foreground. Just a nice soft image.

One of the few things that were still really green (besides the trees) were the yucca. I loved the way the sun sort of reflected off the edges of its leaves - like little pinpricks of light.

Enjoy!

City of Rocks State Park

2011-11-04T05:11:00.000-07:00

This was our home away from home last weekend! The above image is a sort of overview of the entire state park. In the middle of some prairie-like terrain, some huge rocks just seem to spring up from the ground. They are about 20-30 feet high, so we're talking some fairly decent sized monoliths. According to the information published by the state park, there are only 6 places on the earth where this has occurred - and one of those places is in New Mexico! And, just for the record, we are not one of the white dots clustered together (those are the electric sites). If you look due right from the cluster, you'll see a tiny white dot - that's our campsite!

The above image was taken from our campsite looking up the hill. It may be hard to see in this shot (because I just wanted to capture the big sky!), but right under the tree to the right is a picnic table. That is actually a walk-in site, and the place where I took the photo of Miki from another blog entry.

I love this image, even tho it isn't one of mine. Jeff took this image with his iPhone camera - pretty good quality, don't you think? It's a photo of our actual campsite, and one of the few times you may be able to see me in the shadows with Miki - I generally don't like to have my photo taken (which is why I'm a photographer!). I thought this might give you an idea of how cool it is to camp at this state park, nestled among the monoliths!

Enjoy!

Animals & Nature!

2011-11-04T04:58:00.000-07:00

This entry is animal themed and from our camping weekend last weekend! The first image, above, is of our wonderful German Shepherd, Miki, as she was sort of surveying her weekend domain. We were sitting in a walk in campsite just up the hill from our own campsite (the tree between the rocks in the center of the photo is our campsite), and Miki seemed to just enjoy sitting and looking out on all the running space available to her!

This next image is of my darling little kitty-girl, Tatoosh, as she sat on the back of the couch/sofa in the RV looking out the window at the great view she had from there. I thought it would make a good silhouette image, and I do like the way it came out. Sort of her contemplating life beyond the safety of the rig!

This last image is of one of the many birds and other creatures that flew around us while we were walking around or just sitting at the campsite. It was so quiet there, I was able to just sit at the campsite and listen to the sound of flying - the slower "whosh, whosh" of the crow/raven flying, the sort of whirring sound of the quail's wings as it took flight, and the sort of clacking sound made by the grasshoppers as they flew about. I never thought grasshoppers really flew, but the ones at this state park certainly did! I don't know if they were a different variety of what, but they definitely flew quite the distance!

Enjoy!

Textures & Abstracts in Nature

2011-11-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

Went camping this past weekend, and had some fun with textures and abstracts in nature. The above image is a photo of some moss growing on a rock, that I then applied some artistic filters to in PhotoShop!

I really like this image! There was the dead part of what I think was a yucca plant of some sort. Again, I took a close up of the dead yucca "leaves" and then applied a different fun artistic filter to it and got this result!

This one has to be my favorite. One morning when we woke up, I pulled up the shade in the RV bedroom window and just sat there with the 2 kitties on each side of me, watching the sun rise. I took this photo, even tho I knew it was a bit too dark to have the image come out in sharp focus. I thought it might turn out cool out of focus, and I think it did! I didn't play around with this one at all in terms of enhancing it or applying filters. These are the actual colors of the sunrise....and if one is sleepy enough or without glasses/contacts, I guess the hazy focus could be reality, too!

Enjoy!

Fourth of July Canyon - At Our Feet!

2011-10-22T11:00:00.001-07:00

And, now, finally, the beauty at our feet. I was looking down so that I wouldn't trip over roots and rocks, and found these great images! The above image is what I think of as a still life. I didn't rearrange anything for that image. Nature just perfectly placed the three leaves.

This second image is of the wonderful red leaves that were all around us. The bright red leaves were on some very low trees boughs, and those in the background were off the trees and on the ground. I just love this image - I feel like if I put an appropriate quote toward the upper right corner, it would be a wonderful note card.

This last image is what I think of as an abstract. I just love the mixed colors of the leaves, and the various tree trunks and branches just create the abstract feeling. And, there's just a hint of the kiss of sunshine that acts as a bit of an accent to the piece. I just love it.

Enjoy!

Fourth of July Canyon - At Eye Level!

2011-10-22T10:45:00.002-07:00

This set of images were those that I found at eye level, so to speak. I loved the look of the tree bark as a background for the glorious orange-red leaves in the image above.

For this image, the contrast of textures in the tree leaves and tree trunk is almost like opposites attracting for me. The leaves are flowing due to the breeze rippling thru them, and the roughness of the tree bark just seem as opposite as black and white.

This image is one of my favorites! I just loves the leaves against the dark tree trunks in the background. It almost seems like a bit of an autumn mosaic to me.

Enjoy!

Fourth of July Canyon - Look Up!

2011-10-22T10:31:00.001-07:00

Last Monday, we walked the Fourth of July trail, and just enjoyed some New England-like colors! The above image is of the trail that we walked on - what a lovely way to spend the morning!

Isn't this color brilliant? We were sitting on a log, just catching our breath, when I looked up, I saw this incredible sight! This is really the color the leaves were - no enhancement on my part!!

This last "look up" image was taken as we were walking along. I just happened to look up to see what effect the sun would have on the leaves as it shined thru them, and this was the pretty result!

Enjoy!

Colors in the High Desert

2011-10-17T04:19:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not in New England! I'm on the dirt road headed toward the Fourth of July Canyon, about 45 min from where we live! The Fourth of July Canyon is the only place in New Mexico where you can see the oranges and reds of autumn! On Saturday, Jeff & I thought we might hike the trail there, and drove up there. This gorgeous tree was along the road leading to the campground where the trail starts. What brilliant color!

Here's another example of Mother Nature showing off! The perfect blue sky with wisps of white clouds, looking almost like that fabric one uses to make "ghosts" for Halloween! The remaining green trees set off the oranges of the changing leaves, too, don't you think?

I couldn't resist this image. A few years ago, there were some wildfires in the Manzano Mountains, which is where we were. The blackness of the standing dead trees really seem to accentuate the colors of the lower new growth. It's almost like a phoenix rising from the ashes, isn't it?

Enjoy!

November Bizarre Holidays

2011-10-17T04:07:00.001-07:00

It's another bizarre holiday month!! This month starts out with an ATC celebrating Button Day on November 16. I painted the background of the card tan, and then pasted some Simplicity pattern paper over it. I then added a couple of strips of actual fabric, and placed the button on top! I really like the vintage feel to this card.

For this card, I decided to go with a black background, just to set things off more. Added a little shopping list and a couple of images of the items on the list and there you have it! Pretty simple, but appealing to me none the less!

I just love this image of a statue at the cemetery in Ricoleta, down in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is just so haunting, I thought she was the perfect depiction of Occult Day, as she seems at times to be very sad, haunting, or for this holiday, kind of scary. The phrase that I found to accompany her image is "I have gone out, a possessed witch haunting the black sky, braver at night."

Enjoy!

Apple of My Eye ATC Swap

2011-10-10T15:10:00.000-07:00

As you might guess, apples were the theme of this swap. Rather than just making ATCs with apples on them, I tried to think of apples in a different way. Did you know that mojitos came in the flavor of apple? I didn't.....but I do now!

How else are apples liquid? The more traditional apple drink is apple cider, and the above ATC represents that! I remember when I was a kid, in the fall, when my brothers and I would come home from school, my mom would have glasses of apple cider set on the counter for us to drink. Ahhh, good memories!

And, finally, probably the most popular use of apples (besides just eating them) - apple pie!! Yummy, yummy! I love to bake apple pie, but then, there's just Jeff & me to eat it, and that's not very good for the waistline!

Enjoy!!

Napkins ATCs

2011-10-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

This ATC swap's foundation was to use napkins that we received in a previous napkin swap and create from there. One of the napkins I received had the US flag on it. I found the image of the man in a magazine, and just added the postage stamp to it. How can we not celebrate freedom when we contemplate it?

This was one of my favorite ATCs. The flowery napkin is the background. I then used a transparency of a postcard addressed to Paris (complete with postage) and a vintage image of a woman I imagine would have sent the postcard complete this little piece of art.

Another favorite! The napkin was one of Christmas ornaments. I added the vintage image of Santa and the definition of Christmas, and here's the result. I think I may use this as my Christmas card image for next year (I already have this year's done!).

Enjoy!

Bottomless Lakes State Park

2011-10-05T17:31:00.000-07:00

The second camping area we explored was in the southeast quadrant of New Mexico, just outside Roswell. It was a very different area from the area around Abiquiu, but there's beauty to be found there. I found the trees there really interesting, and the image above is of one of those trees while we walked a path between two of the lakes. The leaves and branches were kind of wispy, and that made it very cool and interesting to me.

Daisies abound at Bottomless Lakes!! To me, the image above just looks like a note card, doesn't it? I just loved this little portrait!

And, here's an image of some daisies along the shore of the lake, just blowing in the breeze. I just loved this image because it reminds me of the breezy days of summer, soon to be gone.

Enjoy!

Vistas Along Chimney Rock Trail at Ghost Ranch

2011-10-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

In addition to the wonderful natural tree sculptures that abound on this trail, there are beautiful vistas everywhere you look. Take the image above - how can you not have your breath taken away by this?

I couldn't resist taking this image as we walked the trail back from Chimney Rock, especially since it's a nice photo of Miki - see her on the trail, enjoying the vistas as well? And, in the background, was the Pedernal, Georgia O'Keefe's self-proclaimed "favorite mountain". The lake in the background is Abqiuiu Lake, where we were camping. Hopefully, you can now understand why this is now one of our favorite camping areas!

One of the things that this area is known for are the red rocks in the area. I thought this was such a pretty view of them, and helps to illustrate how wonderful they are. I just stood there enjoying them for several minutes before I took this shot.

And, finally, Ghost Ranch is also a movie location. Here's an image of an old movie set there. The cabin may look familiar, if you are a true movie trivia person. What movie is this cabin from? Give up? "City Slickers"! I just thought it made a great landscape shot!

Enjoy!

Ghost Ranch Hiking - Portraits of Trees!

2011-10-05T16:56:00.000-07:00

One of our days at Abiquiu Lake, we hiked around Ghost Ranch. Ghost Ranch is where Georgia O'Keefe purchased about 8 acres and built a house back in 1934. The entire acreage of Ghost Ranch now is about 21,000. Georgia O'Keefe's home is not open to the public, altho they do have tours of her home. She lived here and did much of her creating for many years. She lived to be 98 (I believe), and lived at Ghost Ranch up until the last few years of her life, when she moved to Santa Fe to live out her final years. The images in this blog entry were taken as we hiked the Chimney Rock Trail on Ghost Ranch. It's easy for me to see how this area inspired such a great artist. The above image was taken as we just started out on our trail. I loved the way the tree framed Chimney Rock.

Part of the way up the trail, I came across this dead tree sculpture - and that's the way I think of it. There's something about it against the beautiful landscape beyond. Again, how could this not inspire you?

And, finally, this portrait of what I believe to be a pinon pine (or juniper!). I absolutely love these trees, even if I'm not exactly certain of which it is! The character, line, and texture of these trees just appeal to me on some sort of core aesthetic level.

Enjoy!

Animals Along the Back Roads!

2011-10-04T20:30:00.001-07:00

As we drove around the back roads around Abiquiu Lake, we met up with some animals along the way. The image above was what I think of as "standing guard". The shepherd in the front of the image took his job as protector of the sheep very, very seriously! As we drove thru the sheep, this dog started barking almost hysterically and kept pace with our car as we drove along!

Whew! After we passed The Guard, above, we came across another flock of sheep crossing the road. I was wondering if The Guard would catch up with us, but this group had their own guard to protect them!

And, finally, the sweet portrait of a Mom and her Baby! There was a small herd just meandering around and on the road, and this Mom and her little one just paused and let me snap their first formal portrait!

Enjoy!!

Autumn Beginnings along the Backroad

2011-10-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

While camping in the Abiquiu Lake area, we explored along some backroads and came across some beautiful sights.....and at least one that made me chuckle! The above image falls into the beautiful category. There was no breeze, and the lake was like a mirror, with this beautiful result!

As we drove up the the road to the 10,000 foot peak, this was one of the views out the window of the Jeep. The colors are starting to turn, and it was rather breath taking.

And, here's the chuckle! I wasn't really sure what was going on here, but it looked like the four folks in the front of the image were sitting and watching the man in the back part of the image who was fly fishing. I never really thought of fishing as a spectator sport, and that's why this made me chuckle - couldn't you just hear the TV announcers trying to make this sound suspenseful to keep us on the edge of our seats? (tee, hee!)

Enjoy!

Camping at Abiquiu Lake

2011-10-04T19:59:00.001-07:00

Last week, we camped at Abiquiu Lake Recreation Area, in northwest New Mexico, near Ghost Ranch (where Georgia O'Keefe lived and created for many years). We had a beautiful campsite at the campground there. The above photo is one of the views that we had from our campsite.

This view looks out over another campground in the recreation area. Since we were camping during the week late in September, the campground was not very crowded at all! What a perfect time to camp - it almost seemed like all of this just belonged to us......and it did for a few days!!

The very cool thing about this view was that the mountain in the background is that it's the Pedernal, which Georgia O'Keefe painted quite frequently. It was really quite amazing to me to just think that I was sitting there enjoying something that inspired one of the greatest artists of our time (at least in my opinion!)!

And, at the end of the day, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset as we sat in front of our campfire. Life at its best!

Enjoy!

Walk in the Woods

2011-09-17T04:01:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful walk in the woods Jeff, Miki & me took yesterday. It was a wonderful early fall type of day, altho the colors haven't started changing yet. In fact, there were still some pretty little blooms still to be seen......

And, yet, in a few places, leaves were giving us a taste of what is surely to come before too long......

Enjoy!

Blackbirds are Singing!

2011-09-17T03:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the latest ATC swap! This one involves blackbirds and sheet music. I couldn't resist taking advantage of the title of the piece of music (above) and expressing it as a dilemma for our little blackbird friend!

And do blackbirds really sing in the rain.....or is that just Gene Kelly??

And what lovely lady doesn't like to be serenaded by her favorite blackbird?

Enjoy!

October Bizarre Holidays!!

2011-09-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

Another month of bizarre holidays! It's October, and of course, folks think about Halloween, but there are other bizarre holidays! Actually, Halloween isn't even on the bizarre list. However, the day before Halloween, it's National Candy Corn Day!

I just couldn't resist Be Bald and Free Day, since my sweetie, Jeff, has so much going on inside his head, it just got too hot for any hair to grow!! Well, he has fringe hair that's really nice and thick, but mostly, he's bald.....

And, here's another irresistible day - who hasn't felt so frustrated from time to time, you just want to scream? Well, if you ever have, October 12th is your day!!!

Enjoy! (but no screaming, please!)

Book Page Background ATCs - Part 3

2011-09-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

So, another fun book page background ATC swap! I could do whatever I wanted as long as the background is book pages (text). I decided that this would be a good opportunity to try something I haven't really worked with much - transfer ink. In a nutshell, I print off a photo on regular copy/printer paper, put it face down onto the book page background, and spray the transfer ink until the paper is saturated. Pat it off with a cotton towel and then gently peel off the paper - and this is the result!! The above shot is of a flower that was in our garden last summer. The plant didn't really make it thru the winter, so it's been replaced, but it will always live on in my photos and other art work!

Yes, I know - the text is sort of running the wrong way, but....oh well! The image is of an iris that grew in my garden in Illinois. I just love the image of this iris, don't you? And, it transferred so well, too! It took me several practices to find the right types of images that worked well with this process - that's actually why this is on text that runs in a different direction from the way the image does - an image that didn't work well is on the back of this card!

This is just a really nice result, too! The contrast in the images really works well with this transfer process. I think that the images almost look like a little watercolor painting on the book pages, don't you? Just a nice, soft effect.....

Enjoy!

Waterlillies at Yakima Sportman State Park

2011-08-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

At our final state park in Washington, we found a jewel! There was a pond with hundreds of waterlilies in it......and dragonflies! I was lucky enough to be able to get this image of a dragonfly relay....

I think this will make a great bookmark - it gives you an idea of how many waterlilies there were all around. What a wonderful find!!

And, finally, here's an intimate portrait of a waterlily pond. This was just a wonderfully relaxing and renewing place to spend a couple of days.....

Enjoy!

Wandering Thru Nancy's Garden

2011-08-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

These are a bit different from my usual photos. These are some photos that I took while I was wandering thru the garden of Jeff's sister, Nancy. The above flowers were just below the window of the office (formerly the dining room) of her and her hubby (Lonnie)'s home. The title of the photo - "From My Window".

The above image is of a flower in Nancy's garden that I applied a special effect filter to. Altho the original image is of a soft pastel, with this filter, the petals appear to be glowing. The title of this image is "Glowing Petals". Hopefully, this looks as cool on this blog as it does on my PC!

"Colorful Blooms" is the name of the above image. I applied a sort of painterly type filter to the image so that it looks like this is a painting instead of a photo. Wonderful wanderings thru Nancy's garden!

And, the last image is "Season's End". As I was walking by the bird bath, I saw that someone had tossed some roses into the empty bird bath. I thought it was just the perfect set up for a photo. I converted this to a black & white image, and then "erased" the black & white from certain parts of the image to allow the color of the roses and leaves to show thru. I plan to use all of these as note cards - that's why there's the special effects on these images.

Enjoy!

A Walk Thru the Forest - Raser Sgtate Park, Washington

2011-08-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

We spent a couple of days at a great state park in northwest Washington state - Raser State Park. There was a very nice series of paths thru some second growth forest, and Jeff and I explored those trails. Above, I am just a sucker for sunlight thru leaves on trees, and this image came out really well - hopefully, it gives you an idea of why I love when sunlight does that!

The above image is one that I find glorious in a subtle sort of way. This wasn't an old growth forest, but was what Jeff thought was a second growth forest. Still, it's very old, and I just love the image of ferns and moss growing up the trunks of trees!

And, finally, here's an image of Jeff as he stood on the path (see the right side of the photo) next to the stump of what was probably an old growth forest tree. Jeff is about 6 feet tall - gives you some perspective about how tall the old growth tree once was, doesn't it?

Enjoy!

Diablo Lake, Washington

2011-08-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

As we drove from Rick & Barb's across Washington state, we happened across this beautiful lake at a scenic view area off the side of the road. It was actually a much larger lake than this photo implies - this was actually the view looking in only one direction!

I just love seeing snow covered mountains during the summer months, while the flowers are blooming.

Enjoy!

The Carousel in Downtown Spokane

2011-08-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

While at Rick & Barb's, one afternoon we visited the downtown area of Spokane, WA. In the city park area, they have a carousel that is over 100 years old, and free to everyone to ride. We didn't ride, but I did get some great photos. I just love the above photo because it captures the speed at which the carousel went! There was even a place where one could reach out to grab the brass ring (altho they are now plastic - sign of the times, I guess), and then try to toss it into a (fake) clown's mouth, while they rode around. The above image helps you to understand that it isn't as easy as one might think!!

I loved the above image of 3 carousel horses that were lined up next to one another. I thought they kind of looked like race horses all reaching for the finish line! The detailed work on each horse was quite something to see as well.

And, finally, this pretty little thing. Doesn't she sort of look like what someone's Prince Charming might have rode up on to steal away the princess's heart?

Enjoy!

The Critters at Rick & Barb's

2011-08-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

The first stop on our 2 week RV vacation was at Jeff's brother, Rick, and sister-in-law, Barb's place. They've added some new critters to their family! Sammy (aka Samson) did inadvertently pose for a nice portrait of himself for me. He's a very pretty horse, altho Barb says he needs to be worked with before he's really good to ride. A bit rough around the edges, I guess!

The two chickens, above, are two of the 5 (I think!) that they've got. They are laying chickens, so Rick & Barb will soon have to just walk a few feet to enjoy absolutely fresh eggs! The white chicken is called a Leghorn (yes, as in Foghorn Leghorn!), and the other is a Rhode Island Red. They really do love to pick at the corn on the cob after we humans are finished with it. And, when they are done, the horses (Rick & Barb have 2 others beside Sammy) finish off the cobs, so no waste!

This last photo is of Sammy just clowning around with me! He's a very friendly guy, and just kept getting right up to me so I could pet him and give him some attention, I guess. So, I just decided to take a close up shot of him!

Enjoy!

Bizarre September Holidays !

2011-08-07T07:10:00.001-07:00

Welcome to another month of bizarre holidays!! I know this is a bit early, but I have been working to get all my art commitments finished before vacation, which is only a few days away! However, there's no bizarre holiday in September called Vacation Day, so we'll just celebrate my upcoming vacation with these three! September 8th is National Date Nut Bread Day - I really love date nut bread, so I just had to create an ATC to celebrate this day! I used the color of date nut bread crust as the predominant color, and added a recipe I found online and then a layered image of the actual finished product!

September 4th is Newspaper Carrier Day (are there even any newspaper carriers left??). I used a text page as background (after all, newspapers are mostly text, right?). I then added the images of a bike (that's what the newspaper carriers in my old neighborhood used, unless they had a fabulous sister who used the car to help them...) and the actual newspaper. Kind of a fun reminder of yesterday!

This last ATC honors a wonderful little lady! I didn't know who Emma M. Nutt was, so I looked her up. The phone is a hint for you, but I'll tell you anyway. She was the first female telephone operator, and September 1st is her day! Of course, I used a page from a phone book as the background, and then added the image of the phone and of Emma herself!

Enjoy!

Book Page Background ATCs - Revisited!

2011-08-07T06:41:00.000-07:00

This was a fun swap on a couple of fronts. The main requirement was to use various book pages as backgrounds. I then also decided to try a new technique - faux encaustic. That technique would create a more layered look, but sort of making it look like the layers were separated by melted beeswax, except it doesn't use melted beeswax. I don't think I did it quite correctly (I must practice it more!), but I did really like the effect that I achieved anyway! For the above card, I added some green to the faux encaustic material and it created the swirly effect. I then added the cool leg image that I found in a magazine. I added the Confidential stamp mainly because the font of it seemed to compliment the foot!

This is such an airy ATC, isn't it? The book page I used was from a mass hymnal book, in a foreign language, altho I don't know what language - Latin? The color added to the faux encaustic was a magenta color, which considerable lighted when mixed with that material, again with the swirly effect. I added the stamp of the woman's face, covered by another layer of the faux encaustic material, and then the postage stamp of the flower, which adds to the overall feeling of the piece, and the butterfly, for a touch of extra color to add interest. Then, another layer of the faux excaustic, and the Fragile stamp to finish it. Why Fragile? The overall feeling of this piece was, to me, delicate and, well, fragile.

This last ATC may just be my favorite of the bunch! Again, a foreign language book page is the background, and this time I added a pale lavender color to the faux encaustic. I then added the black checkerboard stamp. I used black because I felt the piece needed something to sort of anchor the piece. After a layer of faux encaustic, I added the magazine image of some sweet treats - cookies! Another layer of the faux encaustic, and finish with the "dream" stamp. I again used black just to balance the piece a bit. Looks yummy, doesn't it?

Enjoy!

All Things Shiny ATCs

2011-08-07T05:57:00.000-07:00

This was a fun swap. The idea was to create abstract art, using metallic acrylic paint and stamping with any EXCEPT a rubber stamp. The background was the only thing that didn't have to be metallic. The above ATC had a white background with rose and aquamarine metallic acrylic paint stamped on with a scrunched up baby wipe, one of my favorite art supplies! I then found a round cardboard tube (who knows from what?) and stamped the circles on the card. It just looked very light and airy, so I didn't want to add much more. I thought the little blue gem heart (also shiny) added just the right touch!

The above ATC had a black background (black gesso) with copper metallic paint applied thru a plastic mesh that I had. That created the sort of diamond pattern. I then used that same little cardboard tube to create the gold linked rings. I then finished the piece by lightly applying gold interference paint in a sort of haphazard way over the copper and around the edges. Maybe it's the warm colors, but I really like this one.

This one is probably my favorite. Again, started with the black background, and then I added the aquamarine painted on small bubble wrap applied to the piece. I sort of dry brushed some aquamarine onto the blank spaces not covered by the bubble wrap, and then added some rose by dabbing it on, using my paintbrush. I then randomly lightly applied blue interference paint over the top of it. I didn't completely cover the entire piece with the paint, but just sort of lightly brushed it - almost a dry brush effect. It created a sort of blue mist effect. I like it!

Enjoy!

"Learn" Altered Book - Part 1

2011-07-31T17:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the first of what I hope will become a series. The books will have a theme, of course, but each page will have a quote relating to the theme as the inspiration for the page. I just love quotes, and am really developing a love of altered books, so this seems like an interesting way to blend both loves!

This is the first page, and presented a bit of a creative challenge. I read and re-read the quote and just decided to put it in the back of my mind, and just let my creative juices just "cook". I ended up just playing with the vintage photo of the young gentleman, and thought about dropping back. I then sort of just felt that "dropping back" would look like fainter images of the original, and sort of went with that. Hope you like the result!

What a busy page! I decided that a quote from Stravinsky must have a musical theme to it, and so I pulled from sheet music (an obvious choice) and an old Sears catalog (hopefully, not quite so obvious). I chose photo images of two composers that are certainly known to just about everyone. Tags contained images of instruments and the quote itself.

I love this quote. Michelangelo can be considered a genius on many different fronts, and yet, he said he was still learning. Wow - perhaps the first person who truly lived the idea of lifetime learning. And, yet, to have full lives, I think most people will agree, on some level, that learning is a part of that full life - new discoveries, world events, and ourselves.

Enjoy....and more to come!

"Learn" Altered Book - Part 2

2011-07-31T16:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome to "Learn" Part 2! Here's the rest of the book. This page (image above and below) is a multi-page page. The quote just made me think of some of the various stages of learning - from the time we're babies until we become our grandparents. I took some vintage photos that depicted the various stages of life, and thought of how different "learning" looks in these stages. Hope you agree!

I thought the four stages seemed pretty representative of many different philosophies throughout our lives.

The quote that inspired this page really spoke to me. How many times have you learned something from a teacher, family member or friend, and then it becomes "yours" to pass on to others? I was trying to do a transfer of a vintage photo, and I wasn't all that pleased with the result. Then, I glanced over at the base sheet that wasn't supposed to do anything except protect the table I was working on, and whoa! There's what I was looking for! I couldn't resist adding the little round mirror, since we were talking about reflections, too. The red buttons just seemed to balance the red checkerboard stamped image perfectly.

I spent a bit of time thinking about this quote and how to illustrate it in a page. I'm not quite sure why a travel theme popped into my head, but I do like to travel, so maybe it was a simple as that. I thought about visiting a new place and how I feel like I'm not sure about anything because I've never been there before, and then, on return trips to the area, I find that I end up becoming a mini-expert! The pockets on the right side of the page sort of depicts how you discover things by exploring and basically moving from the unknown to the known.

This last page is kind of a culmination of the book, and that's why I chose snippets of what I used on previous pages - vintage images and sheet music ties this page to the pages that preceded it. For the right side of the page, I decided to create a cut-out sort of shrine effect. The stone that is the subject of the entire page was found in our front yard. I just went outside and kept searching thru the rocks until I found just the right one. I toyed with the idea of putting something on the rock, but then I thought I'd leave it blank because over our lifetime, there's too much learning to fit on any stone.

Enjoy!

Abstract Art - Blue, Green & Purple

2011-07-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

Check out these examples of some abstract art ATCs I just completed today for a swap.....

The base of the ATCs is acrylic paint that I swirled around using a baby wipe (instead of a paintbrush)......

And, then, topped with handmade paper in one of the 3 colors. I just love the free form nature of all of them......we should all be this free......

Enjoy...

What aSshow Nature Put On!

2011-07-24T20:24:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, we had a spectacular show. Monsoon season is here in full swing. The layers of clouds (above) is just so cool. Some darker storm clouds, with white clouds and blue sky above them. Kind of an amazing sight....

The above image was really sort of surreal - the downward rays are rain, but the sky was rose-pink from the sun that managed to peek between the clouds.....

And, the coolest sight was just looking straight up, and seeing the sort of calm eye of the storm looking down on the other darker clouds. What a wonderful show we had!

Enjoy!

Breathtaking Sunset Tonight

2011-07-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

"Clouds came floating into my life..."

"....no longer to carry rain and usher storm....."

"....but to add colour to my sunset sky." (Rabindranath Tagore)

Enjoy....

Front Yard Daylilies

2011-07-11T06:31:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I went out in our front yard garden and got some really nice images of the daylilies growing there. I think of the above shot as somewhat Georgia O'Keefe-ish. The coloring was just so pretty, tho, I couldn't help but want to just focus on that.

This next one was just the perfect yellow! It looked both vibrant and delicate at the same time. I'm so glad that daylilies do well here in the high desert! I thought when we left the Midwest that I wouldn't be able to have them in my garden down here, but as you can see, they do very well here!

And, this last image is one of my favorites, too! These two just seemed to pose so perfectly together, I couldn't resist the shot. How lovely.

Enjoy!

Good Morning!

2011-07-11T06:22:00.000-07:00

A couple of beautiful sights this morning! Above, a not all that common morning rainbow! We frequently see rainbows in the evening, because that's generally when the monsoon rains happen, and create the perfect environment. But, this morning, there were some thunder rumblings overhead, and apparently enough moisture in the air to create one to greet the day!

And, this lovely sunrise helped welcome the day from our back patio. The clouds helped to create just the perfect screen for the sun.

Enjoy!

Sunrise, Sunset

2011-07-06T20:47:00.001-07:00

Some beautiful views from today! I couldn't resist stopping and taking the above photo. I just loved how the clouds were highlighted by the sun coming up! This is the actual color the sky was - no enhancing!!

Tonight, the sunset wasn't the glorious sunsets we can get, but somehow, it was pretty all the same, with the smoky haze in the air and Jazz showing some spirit!

Enjoy!

Cats - Not Drawn or Painted - ATC Swap

2011-07-03T16:02:00.000-07:00

This was a swap that was near and dear to my heart! The ATC swap was of pieces of art that involved cats, but they were not to be drawn or painted - good, 'cus I really can't do either!! The one above was an image that I pulled from a calendar page and then layered over some great wood veneer texture that I had scanned into my PC just yesterday!!

The little guy above, peeking out from behind a potted (fake) greenery was my own little Toutle kitty boy, when he was just a wee little kitten! He had quite the personality even back then!

Oh, and doesn't this just sum up how all of us feel every so often? This is my own little Tatoosh, just relaxing on the back of the rocker. She was just like a little wet noodle, kind of hanging on there, just totally limp and relaxed! I wish I could get that relaxed!!

Enjoy!!

Heron Lake State Park Camping Weekend

2011-06-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we were camping at a state park in northwest New Mexico, at a lake called Heron Lake. On Friday morning, we took Miki for a walk from the campground down to the lake. The above image was taken right along one part of the shoreline. It was such a pretty morning!

Here's the same shoreline, but just a bit further back! I always love to show green in New Mexico. So many folks think the everywhere in the Southwest is just like Phoenix! And, as you can see from the image above, that simply isn't true!

This image was taken as we walked back to the campsite. These trees seem to be those that would grow in a sort of boggy soil. However, the soil wasn't really boggy on this morning - it was just very soft sandy soil. Still, I do love the look of these trees, don't you?

As we walked along the rocky upper shoreline, these pretty white flowers were blooming all over the place! I don't know what they are called. I did find some Georgia O'Keeffe painting of just these flowers. What did she call them? White Flower!! I think I'm in excellent company calling them exactly that!

The evenings were great, too! We only got to have a campfire on the first evening we were there (a state-wide open fire ban went into effect the next morning), so this was the only sunset we saw from outside. The little gnats and other biting bugs were just too overwhelming without the shield of the smoke from the campfire to protect us. Still, this was a pretty beautiful site!

Enjoy!!

Macro Flowers ATCs

2011-06-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

This ATC swap was focused on photos taken of flowers - close up! The above photo was an unexpected find for me! I was just looking thru some flower photos and found this incredible shot of what I think is the middle of a posy. It's just so soft and magical......

Here's a fun little shot! The little bee on the head of the flower is just the perfect shot. And, can only be seen if you take a close-up of the flower.

Can you guess what this is a shot of? It's the blossom of a barrel head cactus. Isn't this a cool shot? I just love these little blooms!

Enjoy!!

Wild Horses of Placitas

2011-06-13T17:14:00.000-07:00

This past weekend some friends visiting from Chicago & I participated in a photo workshop of the wild horses in Placitas, NM. Here are a few of my favorite images. The one above is just fabulous, and the horse (a mare, I believe) just stopped and seemed to pose. She was just so majestic, I just loved photographing her.

This shot captured the beauty of the area in which these magnificent animals live. They are not entirely safe, however. Some unknowing, but well-meaning people feed them, which totally endangers them because they then stop migrating and foraging and begin to depend on humans. And, when the people stop feeding them?? Also, food fit for domestic horses is not fit for wild horses, who, of course, have no vets to come to their aid when they become ill. Very well-meaning, but dangerous to the horses. Still, this image certainly creates the wonder of living in the wild, and the peace that can exist for these lovely creatures.

And, this one is just so charming! There were 4 foals born this spring, just a couple of months ago. This little one, called Kentucky (because she began racing around in a very short time after birth), was my favorite! That's her mom that she's close to. However, it's very interesting how the rest of the band tends to watch out for this little one as well as her mom. But, she is a little charmer!!

Enjoy!

Smoky Sunset & Sunrise the Next Morning

2011-06-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

Altho we're not in any fire danger from the Wallow Wildfire in southeastern Arizona, we have been feeling the effect of the smoke for about the past week here. The above image was of the sun setting the day before yesterday. Typically, it would be very bright and hard to look at. But all the smoke in the air really softens the effect of its rays, and makes the sky seem either cloudy or darker than it really is. Smells like a campfire, too.

The next morning I took this beautiful image of the sunrise. Altho I'm thinking there was still some smoke in the air, it was much clearer (at least until the afternoon), and the sunrise was quite spectacular.

Again, I don't know for certain, but I don't recall seeing these "ribbons" in the sky before, so I'm thinking it might be some residual smoke. If it is, I find is somewhat amazing that even when the world is being destructive to itself (altho I've heard the wildfire was started by a human), it still manages to create some beauty at the same time.

Enjoy (altho I hope they contain the fire soon).

Bizarre Holidays - July

2011-05-30T10:52:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the July Bizarre Holidays! I just am loving this ongoing swap theme - here are 3 I did for July. The one above is Flitch Day. Apparently, this was a custom that came over with the pilgrims. A slab of bacon was offered to any couple who could truly say they lived together happily for the previous 12 months. The couple in the card are my parents who lived together happily for far longer than 12 months, so they clearly would bring home the bacon!

Here's another fun holiday - Clerihew Day. According to the history of this day, a gentleman with the middle name of Clerihew (I'll bet that one won't make the most popular baby names!) would make up silly rhymes with the AABB rhyme pattern. These rhymes would be mainly about himself, but then others began doing it about famous people. The lines can be of random length, both short and long. I just couldn't resist making up this little rhyme about this rather angelic looking young lady!

And, finally, Amelia Earhard Day. I'm not certain that spelling of her name is correct, but it's what's shown on the Internet for this holiday, so it must be true! (LOL!) I've always thought she was a pretty cool lady, and her death a great mystery, so I just felt I had to honor her day with an ATC. The background of the ATC is a piece of an aviation map - very appropriate for her. Plus, with a pilot in the house, I have tons of outdated aviation maps!

Enjoy!

Beeswax ATCs

2011-05-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

For this ATC swap, I had to apply a new technique - beeswax! Basically, using a small craft iron, I melt the beeswax onto it, and then onto my ATC backing (a playing card). I then add layers of tissue, using more melted beeswax. The first image, above, is actually my favorite of this exercise, and the image of the woman is not on tissue, but thinner paper. It was the "ghost" image left after I used a transfer liquid for a previous project. I just love the feel of it, tho.

The second ATC uses a number of layers of flowered napkins. I couldn't get any of them to really pop as the subject, so again, I cut a rose out of a garden mail order catalog, and just adhered that to the top of the layers with the beeswax.

This third ATC was made up of napkins with leaves on them, layering one on top of the other, with a red leaf on the very top - sort of like a pile of leaves after you've finished raking them in the fall.

Enjoy!

Cocktail Shaker ATC Swap

2011-05-28T15:54:00.000-07:00

I just finished art for this swap today. It was a fun exercise - create art around the names of cocktails! I also put the recipe for the cocktails on the backs of each card. The first one, above, is Tropical Life Saver. It's made up of colorful tissue (a beach towel perhaps!) and the umbrella from a tropical drink!

The second ATC, above, is based on the cocktail called Ladies Cocktail. The background is of a napkin with a woman in a long evening dress on it, and the image of the Eiffel Tower, and Paris, 1924, on it. I used that napkin and a transparency of a roaring 20's silhouette of a woman with a drink to depict this cocktail.

This last ATC reflects the cocktail, Hat Trick. I put a light background down and then took a transparency of an ad for a woman's hat and attached it with the little brads. Somehow, I doubt that the manufacturer of the hat ever thought the ad would be used to depict a cocktail, which is what makes this so fun!

Enjoy!!!

Babes in Edgewood

2011-05-17T17:08:00.000-07:00

Aren't these 2 little baby bunnies adorable? Jeff found them on the outside of our front garden. Good thing - I hate to think what would have happened to them if they were in the front yard & Miki got out. Instead, let's just focus on how cute these little guys are. By the time I got home from work, one of them had left - hope they make it and will be ok.

Enjoy!

Bizarre June Holidays

2011-05-06T18:03:00.000-07:00

Here are the latest ATCs created for the June Bizarre Holiday swap on www.atcsforall.com. The above ATC is based on one of my photos, taken last year when we were off-roading near Moab, UT. This road was definitely rocky! In fact, when we first made the turn & saw this, I thought the road just sort of ended at a rock wall! Of course, Rocky Road could also be ice cream......

This vintage photo in the above ATC is one of my favorites. I have no idea who this woman is (or was), and I apologize to her for using her to illustrate Old Maid's Day! The technique I used for this ATC was a text page as background, the peeling paint technique (amazing what Vaseline can do!), then I pasted torn handmade paper with a handwriting stamp, placed my little lady in the place of honor and added the info about the holiday! I think she's kind fun looking, so I'm imaging she was an old maid who had fun!!!

This last ATC was a fun type of ATC. I used a bright, striped napkin as the background. Then, I added the two photos of happy, smiling kids. The small baby was just such a happy looking child, and the little boy with the joyous smile, just reached out and touched me. Doesn't he just make you smile? You can't help yourself!!

Enjoy!!

Happy May - Bizarre Holiday ATCs!

2011-04-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

Here's the May installment of bizarre holidays. The 3 dates that I chose were......May 23rd, Penny Day - above. Can you even remember when a penny was actually worth something, and just a few of them could get you some fabulous treasure?? Days long gone by.

May 26th is Grey Day....I took this photo one day at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL. It was actually a grey winter day and this is the reflection of barren tree branches in a pond at the base of the trees. I love the shimmery effect of the photo, don't you?

Ah, May 6th is a great day, and not just for the fun bizarre holiday! It's Beverage Day - now, it could have been any beverage, but I had this great wine themed napkin, and I couldn't resist including it in this piece!

Enjoy!!

Photo ATCs - Patterns and Textures

2011-04-29T12:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some photo ATCs from a swap I just participated in. the photo above was supposed to be an up-close portrait of my sweet little girl kitty, Tatoosh. But...she moved just as the shutter released. So, I was left with this very cool sort of spooky shot that created a pattern of her eye moving in the shot!

This shot is a close up of a knot in a tree. I used PhotoShop to accentuate the grainy pattern and texture of the wood. I really like this shot, including the subtle color changes of the wood.

This creamy looking image is a close-up of some wood grain on the inside of a tree. Again, I did some playing with PhotoShop and just liked the semi-swirly effect effect I was able to achieve.

Enjoy!

Vintage Photo ATC Art

2011-04-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

I just completed this batch of ATCs for a swap. The theme was vintage photos that will then be collaged or some mixed media techniques. All ATCs had some vintage card stock as the background. The above ATC then had some handmade paper stamped with some text applied to it, and the vintage photo of a young graduate applied.

The above ATC again had the vintage card stock as a background, altho you can't really see it! The photo was a portrait of the kids in a family, I'm guessing. I then used the peeling paint technique on the ATC, which is what covers up most of the background. Still, I think the technique gives the piece a nice distressed vintage feel.

This last ATC uses one of my favorite vintage photos - of a woman who just seems to be ready for adventure! The background paper is of vintage postcards, which I thought was very appropriate since she's getting ready to embark on her adventure on the train behind her. I added a few postage stamps and a "please hand cancel" rubber stamp & it's complete!

Enjoy!

Lovely Weekend Part 1

2011-04-11T06:32:00.000-07:00

Our weekend began with a lovely sunrise! Jeff & I sat outside at our campsite watching the day unfold. The first light of dawn colored the sky in sort of a pastel color that is better than anything anyone can paint!

It seemed to take the sun quite a while to put in an actual appearance - was it just sleepy or did it want to really put on the show for us? I like to think the latter, and the colors of the sky above were certainly worth waiting for! I always love watching how the warm colors of the day overtake the cool colors of night in an almost luscious way.

And, there it is! The sun peeking out over the horizon! Once it appears, it really quite amazing how quickly it continues to rise. You can almost see it happening while you watch - which can only be for a little bit, since it gets far too bright very quickly. Still, what a lovely way to begin the day and the weekend!

Enjoy!

Lovely Weekend Part 2

2011-04-11T06:14:00.000-07:00

Friday was such a cool day! We went to visit Carlsbad Caverns, and probably overdid it a bit, walking the various trails and paths. We first did a guided tour thru a tunnel or cavern, lit only by lantern - very cool! It was an old fashioned candle lit lantern, and was very much how the first explorers of the cavern saw it. Very spooky when we all blew out our candles and kept quiet for a minute. Absolute darkness and absolute silence. We then went back up to the top to retrieve my camera and decided to walk down the natural entrance to the caverns. The above shot is of Jeff at the very, very beginning of the entrance - we had to walk down 750 feet, on a very steep switchback trail. My toes were not very happy during this, as my feet kept sliding to the front of my boots and swishing them! Still, it was very cool to have done that!

It was hard to actually take photos inside the caverns because it was pretty dim and dark most of the time. Every so often, some parts of the cavern were lit fairly well, and were close enough for the flash on my camera to actually illuminate things well enough for things to be clear! The image, above, gives you an idea of what the various openings in the cavern walls showed you.

These sort of icicle looking formations are called stalactites when they form from the ceiling of the cavern (they hang "tight" to the ceiling) and stalagmites when they form from the floor of the cavern (they are "mighty" and reach to the ceiling). When the two of them meet, they then form a column. Here are a couple that are almost a column. They are actually only about a few feet from each other. It will probably take them quite some time to meet tho.

As we looked overhead, it was quite the experience to see the stalactites reaching down for one's head! I couldn't resist taking a shot of some as they reached for Jeff & me. I am very glad that they hang "tight" to the ceiling!

Enjoy!

Lovely Weekend Part 3

2011-04-11T06:02:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we checked out the Living Desert State Park, in Carlsbad. There was much more to it than we first thought. It was a sort of combined zoo and garden. I know lots of folks hate the thought of seeing animals in zoos, but many of the ones in this zoo, like the majestic eagle, were injured, and would not have survived in the wild, so this is providing a safe place for them to live, and be treated for whatever injuries they have.

The little guy above wasn't injured, and was just flying around overhead in an aviary that we walked thru at the zoo portion of the state park. He was just such a little cutie, I couldn't resist snapping a shot.

Several of the cacti were in bloom, or getting ready to bloom. A barrel cactus produces such pretty yellow flowers right up at the top of it!

Ok, this isn't a cactus bloom, but in the greenhouse, along with the cactus, was a beautifully blooming hibiscus tree, and I got this lovely shot of one of the flowers overhead!

Enjoy!

New ATC Art - Whimsical Birds!

2011-04-04T16:27:00.000-07:00

This ATC swap was just a hoot! The theme was "whimsical birds". I decided to take a whimsical look at some real bird names. The above bird is a Cardinal - don't you just love his hat, bat and shoes?

The above bird is a Kingfisher - I just loved his flippers and snorkeling mask & breathing tube. Doesn't look like the little fish is too worried about him, tho!

This last guy is my favorite, tho. He's a Sandpiper, of course! I just love his little bird toes buried in the sand and his flip flops laying in the sand. And, the pipe, of course! I just loved being totally unrealistic in the representation of some of our feathered friends!

Enjoy!

Bizarre Holidays in April - ATC Art

2011-04-01T17:44:00.001-07:00

I have joined this fun swap with www.atcsforall.com! The theme is the bizarre holidays in a given month. This swap is for the month of April. The above holiday is on April 2 - National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day! I found an old photo of a little girl and her Mom sharing lunch - and what can be a more lunch-like than peanut butter & jelly!! And I just love the ribbon - it reminds me of what you might find on a little girl's dress!

I loved the little kid in this old photo that I found - doesn't he look like the innocent little devil? I just love him! April 13 is Blame Somebody Else Day. And, couldn't you just see him innocently laying the blame on someone else......may his little brother???

This last ATC was kind of a dreamy one, celebrating Great Poetry Reading Day on April 28. I used a stamp of some old fashioned handwriting behind the dreamy girl. This is a vintage photo of a young woman with a book on her lap. The flowers are just a lovely little touch - I can just see this young woman loving flowers like these.

Enjoy!!

Weekend Camping - City of Rocks State Park

2011-03-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

Our first camping weekend of the season! We visited City of Rocks State Park, where the campsites are nestled in among the huge monoliths that just sort of sprung up out of the earth centuries ago. These rocks are at least 25-30 feet high, and many much higher. If you look closely at the above image, the path leads right to our campsite, and you can see the top of our RV in between the 2 rocks that have the blue sky between them. Our RV is almost 11 feet tall, and these rocks are easily at least twice that tall.

We would take morning walks when we were there, and I couldn't resist taking an image of the field of yucca plants with their empty seed pods reaching high to the sky.

And, this is a close up view of the leaves of the yucca. They are actually quite pretty and so perfectly formed, but don't touch! The edges of the leaves are actually rather sharp, and altho I've never cut myself on them, I don't really make a practice of touching them!

Enjoy!

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument

2011-03-27T16:28:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we spent the day exploring and checking out the Gila Cliff Dwellings. The loop trail to the ruins was only about a mile, but with all of the steep inclines to get to the dwellings, it took us a couple of hours to completely walk the trail. The above photo was taken as we were approaching the dwellings. These are called cliff dwellings because the ancient people (the Mogollan people) built this community into the side of a cliff.

Here's a closer view as we approach the dwellings. There are actually 6 caves, altho we could only actually enter one of them. These dwellings were occupied by the Mogollan people from about the 1270s to the early 1300s. No one knows why they left this community, but after they left, the dwellings were occupied for a time by (I think) a Navajo tribe and some Spanish explorers.

This was a fairly up-close view of one of the caves and the buildings within it. It's really amazing to see how well they built these and how advanced their techniques were.

The above image is of the inside of one of the rooms in the cave we could enter. The rooms were quite small by our standards, but the average height of the Mogollan were 5'1" for women and about 5'5" for men. The larger hole in the image above is of what appears to be a doorway and the smaller hole above it was either a window or hole to let smoke escape from the fires they built to cook and stay warm during the winter. The elevation of these caves is about 6000 feet above sea level, so they did experience colder weather during the winter months.

I couldn't resist including this image. Yes, it's actually a 2-story building structure! The railing on the top "floor" was put in by the government to keep the tourists from falling off the 2nd floor. The ancient people used ladders and at times, foot holes in the stone to get from one floor to the other. Truly amazing considering these structures were built about 800 years ago!

Enjoy!

Old Adobe Building

2011-03-27T15:50:00.000-07:00

On the way back to camp, just on the outskirts of a town called Mimbres, we saw this old abandoned adobe building. I couldn't resist stopping to take a few photos. From what I could see of the inside, it didn't look like it was a house. Jeff saw a mailbox on the outside that made him think it used to be the post office many years ago.

Here's a close up of the adobe wall. The white looking flecks are really bits and pieces of straw that were mixed in with the mud-like clay that made up the bricks that made up the wall. Very cool.

Enjoy!

Supermoon Rising

2011-03-19T19:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the night of the supermoon rising! I'm not an astrologist or astronomer, but as I understand it, the moon looks very, very large during the moon rise because this is the night when the moon and the earth are as close to each other as they get. Jeff & I went outside with my camera and tripod and captured these shots. Isn't it beautiful?

Many folks believe that a supermoon is an indicator of bad things to come, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. I don't believe that. It's just too beautiful for that to occur. This second shot is a bit darker, but shows off the moon pretty well.

Enjoy!

Abstract Torn Paper ATCs

2011-03-06T17:57:00.000-08:00

This was an interesting swap to participate in. The theme was to create abstract ATCs using only torn paper - no cut edges, no pens, inks, images not included on the torn paper, etc. Sounds easy, and it is.......

....except that old habits die hard!! I kept wanting to add something not "allowed" to these! But, what fun I had creating them. I decided that since it was to be abstract, I'd really "go" with that idea and took a large sheet of watercolor paper. I then made what I call serendipity paper. Serendipity paper is when you just put items (paint, stamps, images, paper, etc.) on a large sheet of paper in a quick fashion, no thinking allowed! In this case, the serendipity paper was made only using paper that had all edges torn. I used whatever papers were in my "stash" of leftover papers from previous projects. There were handmade papers, Jeff's old aviation maps, regular maps, book pages, music pages, napkins (one of my favorite things!), tissue, old dress pattern paper, etc! After I filled the watercolor paper.....

.....I let it dry. I then turned the watercolor paper upside down, and cut out ATCs in the appropriate size (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") - I just cut as many as the watercolor paper sheet allowed. I then turned each over to see what the "abstract" turned out to be. I found I was very pleasantly surprised by the results. I then looked thru my old book pages and tore out words or phrases that appealed to me and added them to the ATCs for the finishing touch! What fun!!

Enjoy!

Altered Playing Cards

2011-03-03T16:20:00.000-08:00

Here are some ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) that I made for a swap with the online group I belong to - www.atcsforall.com. The theme for this swap was to alter the face of a playing card. The rule was that at least one corner of the playing card had to remain visible. For each card, I first sort of painted over the playing card with a brown/copper color. I didn't try to cover the complete card, just sort of tone down the white of the cards. For the above card, I then applied some cool napkins that had ferns or palms on them, making sure to leave that corner visible. I then paged thru some National Geographic magazines I've inherited from Jeff and found this great shot of a tiger's eyes, just the right size for this ATC. Just fyi - ATCs are only 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" (which just happens to be the size of a typical playing card!). I call this one "Jungle Kitty".

For the above ATC, I printed this photo of mine. It's actually a photo of some trees in winter reflected in a pond at The Morton Arboretum, when we lived in IL. I printed the photo on some dress pattern paper, which is what caused the dotted line on the ATC. I took advantage of that to put the verbiage on the ATC. There's something about this ATC that strikes a cord with me. I think the trees look kind of ghostly.

This ATC is just such a fun one. I took a napkin that I had that had the words "Coffee Bar" on it, along with a fancy coffee machine. You can't really see the coffee machine, but it's there in the middle of the ATC. There was an empty space just crying out for something to be there, and as I paged thru an old magazine of mine, looking for (I thought) a cup or cup and saucer, I saw this woman in an ad for, I think, carpeting or something. Anyway, she just sort of reminded me of how coffee drinkers seem to love that brew! I'm not a coffee drinker myself, so if I got this wrong, sorry, coffee drinkers!! It just shows you that I don't know "Jack" about coffee (sorry, couldn't resist!).

Enjoy!

The "Kids" Next Door!

2011-03-02T18:13:00.000-08:00

While I was wandering around taking sunset photos, I also visited with the "kids" next door, Patches and Jazz. The first photo (above) is of Patches as we played peek-a-boo between the bars of the corral. He loves the attention!

This shy little beauty is Jazz. She's been here for several months now, and this is the closest that she's allowed me to get to her in all that time. She is just such a little treasure !

And, finally, here's Patches again - what a character he is!! Just had to play the big brother, protecting little sister, Jazz. From what? My camera lens, I guess!! By the way, that's our house shown behind Jazz.

Enjoy!!

Tonight's Sunset

2011-03-02T18:05:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of sunset photos from tonight. The above shot was early on in the process, and the one below was taken just a minute or two before the gloriousness (is that a word?) was over. I took the above one from our front courtyard, and then wandered around out back of our house & our next door neighbor's.

What a beautiful area we live in! Enjoy!!

Scenes from this Morning

2011-02-20T16:17:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful morning we had here this morning! When I first woke up, I opened up the blinds in our bedroom, and saw these beautiful colors of the sunrise. Who would expect purple and pink in a sunrise? A magical morning in New Mexico.....

This was such a different view and feel to the morning, and it was only a few minutes later as I wandered into the kitchen. The sun was warming up the day by that time, and added a golden glow to the land. However, it looked like some weather was rolling in over the mountains, so the sky looked liked layers of grey. Cool and warmth all in one view!

Enjoy!

Peeling Paint Technique ATCs

2011-02-20T15:47:00.000-08:00

This was a fun project! It makes paint appear to be peeling off the card foundation. I decided to use various printed papers - music, book pages, phone book, etc. - as the foundation. I then applied Vaseline to the areas that I wanted to show thru after I applied paint. Then, came the paint. After it dries, I took a paper towel and wiped off the paint from the Vaselined areas. I then rubber stamped on top of all that.

I then used some old photos that I had that kind of spoke to me in a fun way. Don't you love the "girls" in the first photo - bathing beauties on vacation! The little guy, above, looks like a little speed racer in his toy car! After I adhered the photos, I again applied the Vaseline technique with a second paint color. I just wanted the effect of many different layers!

The last application was a rubber stamp that gives it a marble-like effect that also accentuates the peeling paint effect. The photo is of a young man with a sailing boat in the background. I like to think of the boat as being his "dream". A bit different than the rather formal, dressed up image.....exactly what you'd sort of expect his dream to be like!

Enjoy!

One-Word Series

2011-02-20T15:38:00.001-08:00

Here's a new series that I worked on a week or so ago. I wanted to do something very simple, and sort of hit on this approach. I'm not certain that I really like it, altho it does kind of have a good "feel" to it.

The photos are mine. I altered them a bit, and I do like the look of them. The one word aspect of it feeds into the simplicity that I was looking for and speaks to the photo image on the piece.

The foundation of all the pieces are wood plaques that Jeff cut for me. I think I may do another series like this, but try something a bit different. Of course, there's always the chance that this will grow on me!!

Enjoy!

Sheet Music ATCs

2011-02-05T19:18:00.000-08:00

These ATCs have the requirement that somewhere in the piece must be some sheet music. The above ATC has the sheet music as the background for the piece, with some really soft, pastel like tissue paper over it, and a flower stamp (colored in with blue, just to stay with the theme) and some blue handmade paper as the border around the "picture" of the flower. I just love the feel of this one.

Now, this ATC has some very dramatic, bold red as the background and just a snippet of sheet music in it. I loved the soft contrast the lace seemed to lend to the piece, and the little do-dad laid over the handmade paper in the lower right of the piece reminded me of the treble clef in music.

And, this final piece just seems like such a happy piece and absolutely reminds me of spring! Again, the sheet music is the background with tissue and handmade paper laid over it. The yellow tulips just sing of spring to me, and I couldn't resist adding the trim piece that seems to be little white daisy type flowers, also a very happy flower!

Enjoy!

Brown Bag ATCs

2011-02-05T19:06:00.000-08:00

The theme for this ATC collection is to use a brown bag (yes, the kind you may still be able to get at a grocery store) as the background for the ATC. I really like the above ATC. It's just so simple and gentle. I call it "Balance" because that was the first thought that came into my head when I finished it.

This one is a throw-back to my train commuting days in Chicago! There's some handmade paper in there, but the focus on on a Metra train one-ride ticket. Ah, those were the days - and I can't really say that I miss the 2-hour one way commute I had back then!

Isn't this a whimsical little piece? The pastel colors over the paper bag are colored baby wipes. I use them to either apply paint to surfaces or wipe paint off my hands, and if the colors are appealing, I just keep the baby wipes for use in future projects. The "line" is some very cool sort of string that I found in an antique shop in Washington state when we were there over the Thanksgiving holiday. The sequins just add the right amount of sparkle, don't you think?

Enjoy!!

Blooming Yucca!

2011-01-22T18:58:00.001-08:00

Isn't this a fun photo? I just got a great book called "The A-Z of Creative Digital Photography" and this was one of the techniques covered in the book. This was amazingly simple to do. One of the things that impresses me about this book is that not only does it contain great ideas, but it's also written for an average person, like me! Kind of Andy Warhol like, don't you think? Plus, it's a blooming yucca plant like you've probably not seen before!!

Enjoy!!

Pocket with a Surprise ATC Swap

2010-12-31T19:23:00.000-08:00

This swap required each ATC to have a pocket included with some type of surprise in the pocket. I chose to have the surprise be a fortune that I collected from fortune cookies. This fortune spoke to opportunity knocking on your door in the near future. So, I included an image of a mission in Texas that I took a few years ago to complement the fortune in the pink pocket.

This fortune spoke to the likelihood of travel to exotic places for the lucky person who opened it (not necessarily me - I collect them from everyone!). So, of course, I had to include some decorated paper that looked like a passport page and postage stamps from countries other than the US.

This last fortune spoke to receiving a cheerful message soon. So, I used a handwriting rubber stamp for the background, and made the pocket with some dark brown handmade paper with lace laid over it to create a more romantic feeling.

Enjoy!

Hearts ATC Swap

2010-12-31T18:54:00.000-08:00

These ATCs had the theme of "hearts". A heart (at least one) had to be include in each one. For this first one, I used a heart cut-out made with heart printed paper. It's mounted on dyed dryer sheets and then on a background that I painted with a few different colors. I'm sure the young lady within the heart was someone's valentine!

For this second ATC, I loved the look of some metallic-like papers I had and decided to make some nesting hearts, like the Russian nesting dolls.

This ATC is kind of fun - I used a texture rubber stamp on some handmade paper and then cut it out in the shape of a basket. The hearts were made by using a rubber stamp on some dyed baby wipes and then cutting out the hearts. I just kind of piled them up to look like they were just tumbling out of the basket!

Enjoy!

Book Page Background ATCs

2010-12-31T18:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some ATCs that I just finished today for a swap at www.atcsforall.com. The theme for this swap was book page backgrounds - the backgrounds for each of the ATCs are pages taken from old books. This ATC had a book in German (I think) as the background. I decided to also make each one monochromatic - in this case, a deep rose color.

This ATC used a page out of an old hymnal as its background. The phrase "his bright crown adorning" gave me the idea for the subject of the ATC.

I think the language of this book page is Spanish. I used a blue color as the main color and found this image of a blue jay that I thought just had to be included in the ATC. I included some leaf cut outs that I made from some dyed baby wipes I had. I like the idea of the blue jay peeking thru the leaves!

Enjoy!

December in the High Desert

2010-12-31T07:12:00.000-08:00

I took these images just before Christmas. The sky here never ceases to amaze me! The above photo was taken as the moon was rising, and while the last little wisp of color from the sunset was still in the sky. This is looking out from our back patio.

This image was of an incredible sunrise this month. Our little airport windsock is in the lower left hand corner. I left it in there just to give you some perspective as to how big the sky is. I just love the warm colors of the sunrise slowly warming up the cool, dark sky of night.

Not all of the cool sights are in the sky, tho! We had a little snow the other day, and I thought this banana yucca plant in front of a rock in our front courtyard made a nice little snowy cactus still life portrait. For someone who grew up in the Midwest, it seems a bit odd to see snow on cactus, but it really is fairly common here in the high desert during the winter!

Enjoy!

Sunrise and the Deserted Cabin

2010-12-19T07:17:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite subjects too photograph is this little deserted cabin that's about 15 minutes from our house, just down a two-lane road that's never very crowded, especially at this time of the day! It's just before official sunrise, the dawn of a new day.

This image was taken just a few minutes later, from a slightly different perspective. You can still see the light shining thru the window, just as you could in the first image. However, you can see the changing colors of the sky, as the sun gets closer to the horizon. I also really like the tree in front of the cabin - it adds such character, don't you think?

And, finally, the final light show before the sun puts in an appearance! The cabin really isn't the focus of this shot - the glorious sky is. The colors are just so subtle and wonderfully beautiful, I just couldn't resist. Enjoy!

Winter Walk

2010-12-17T12:41:00.000-08:00

Took a walk today after we finished shoveling and blowing the driveway clear. What a pretty sight our neighbor's fence and pine trees made. The tracks in the snow are Miki's - she just has such fun in the snow!

I couldn't resist taking this image - poor little cactus all buried in snow! Still, it will be melted soon enough, I'm sure!

Loved this small little tree with it's gnarly branches just covered in white. The blue behind it is a bit of the mountains finally becoming visible after being hidden all day yesterday during the snow!

There's just something about the look of old dried blossoms covered in a new coating of white snow. It reflects their delicacy, but also their hardiness.

I'm not sure if this is a shrub or a large tumbleweed - if it's a tumbleweed, it's never looked so good!

Enjoy!

First Winter Storm

2010-12-17T08:36:00.000-08:00

We were expecting 3" - 4" and ended up with over a foot of snow!! Our friends' two horses, Jazz and Patches just seemed to be taking in the snowfall.

And the rest of this blog is about our Miki! Here she is helping by supervising Jeff as he shoveled our front walkway from the house to the studio/hanger.

When we let her out the back door, she was out like a flash, just bounding along the back yard. The little orange flag in back of her is actually the wind sock for the airport. Needless to say, today, she's faster than any plane out there (of course, there aren't any out there today, but let's not tell Miki that!).

And, doesn't she look regal sitting there by the snow covered fire pit, just waiting for Jeff to start up a campfire? Not today, little puppy!

And, finally, she just couldn't resist a taste of the snow! I guess all that supervising, bounding thru the snow outrunning planes and waiting for a campfire just made her thirsty! We all should keep the sense of fun held effortlessly by kids and animals, don't you think?

Enjoy!

New ATC Art

2010-12-05T15:48:00.000-08:00

Here are some ATCs that I finished today. I made them for a swap with the theme, "Pocket with a Surprise". I decided that the "surprise" in these ATCs would be some fortunes that I got in some fortune cookies over time.

This first ATC uses hand-made paper for the pocket. The fortune speaks to a chance encounter with a stranger. I thought this vintage photo of my maternal grandfather worked well with it, especially with the flower he's holding. Tee, hee! My grandfather was definitely NOT the candy & flowers type of guy!

This next ATC was inspired by a fortune that talked of travel to exotic places being in the future. I thought a pocket made out of some paper that appeared to be from a passport page seemed to work well. Of course, stamps always help to demonstrate travel and exotic places!

And this final ATC is one of my favorites! The fortune speaks to receiving a cheerful letter or message. I used the same hand-made paper as I did with the first one, but this time, I added an additional layer of lace that I painted over to sort of dye it to match the paper underneath more closely and better complemented the paper. The stamp that was made on the background further enhanced the fortune by appearing to be a page from a letter.

Enjoy!!

Seattle This Morning

2010-11-29T07:46:00.000-08:00

A couple of images of a magical morning, on this last morning in Seattle. The above image was shot with a little point and shoot of Jeff's. It was a very slow shutter speed, so it was quite blurry. I decided that the colors were too wonderful to ignore, so I applied a fun special effects filter to create this magical image. Again, it's the same view from the balcony as yesterday's.

This image was taken by Jeff a few minutes later. The rays of the sun only lasted a very few minutes. I played with accenting the colors that were there in nature, and did a bit of cropping, and what a glorious image of the morning.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving in Seattle

2010-11-28T10:47:00.000-08:00

This image was shot early this morning from the deck/balcony of the house of Jeff's sister, Nancy & her husband, Lonnie. Isn't it magical looking? Nancy & Lonnie live in a town called Poulsbo, WA, just across the Puget Sound from Seattle. We actually look across at Seattle, altho I think the clouds are obscuring the lights from the city. I love the grey tones in this image - very moody.

This shot was shot a few minutes later as more clouds rolled in. Still very moody, but a bit more color to the morning. It's interesting how the day just seems to creep up on you.

And, finally, the sun actually makes an appearance, reflecting off the water. You still can't see the lights of Seattle, but it sure is a calming and pretty sight, isn't it?

Enjoy!!

Morning Greeting

2010-10-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

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!

October So Far!!

2010-10-18T06:28:00.000-07:00

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!

"Flower Power ATCs"

2010-10-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-16T18:29:00.000-07:00

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!!!