Textures & Abstracts in Nature

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!

Unexpected Beauty

Isn't this a lovely little treasure? There are some beautiful little white flowers that bloom every morning when I take our German Shepherd, Miki, out for a walk. They are weeds! What a wonderful unexpected treasure they are. This photo is one that I took the other morning, and I applied an artistic filter to the photo to give it a little more depth and feeling. It is such a delicate looking bloom, it's hard to remember that it's a weed that just sprung up within the last few days! I'm kind of sad, tho, because when we get the area in the front of the house finished next year, I'm sure the weeds will be gone. At least, I'll get to enjoy them this year, and have the photos as a remembrance! Enjoy!

Sunset View from Back Patio

Tonight, when Jeff put Miki out back for a bit, he said he thought the sunset might be pretty tonight. I grabbed my camera and we sat out back for a bit, and were rewarded with this lovely sight. I feel so incredibly lucky and fortunate to be living the life I have right now.

On a separate note, I got the latest issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors yesterday, and as I was relaxing and enjoying the artwork in it, I turned the page....and there was my art work! Wow! I had submitted something a few months ago in response to a readers' challenge, and mine was one of the (relatively) few they published. I'm still excited!

Enjoy this photo and your life!

Beautiful Sunrise!

Isn't this a beautiful sunrise? We went camping at City of Rocks State Park in southwestern New Mexico (near Deming) and this was what we woke up to Saturday morning. Jeff let Miki out and then poked his head back in the rig to tell me to raise the shade and check out the sunrise. I did, and then quickly threw on some clothes, grabbed my camera and what a beautiful sunrise we shared! I don't know what the plant in the foreground is, but it's really not that tall - I just knelt down on the ground to get it in the sky.

What a great weekend we had, too! City of Rocks is a natural formation of some pretty large monoliths that just rose up out of the ground in the middle of no where! It's rather amazing - apparently, there are only 5 or so similar formations throughout the world. It was cool, in that the state park campground has the camping sites set in and among the formations, so you've got some really private sites that are somewhat surrounded by some of the formations. Our site also had a couple of trees growing there, so we sort of had the best of both worlds. And, you could climb and hike up into the rock formations up on a rise. It wasn't so huge that you were afraid of getting lost among the rocks, but it certainly was cool!

Ah, tomorrow's back to work for me! This week, I'm working 4 days (instead of the usual 3) due to some meetings that I sort of need to attend. Next week, tho, I'll only be working 2 days, so that will even things out!

Enjoy your week!

I'm back!

Finally!! I'm settled in enough to begin to get back into my blog. It's been quite an eventful few months - we are now moved and settled in our new home in New Mexico. it was quite an adventure, but well worth it. I'm now sitting in my wonderful studio/office, looking out at South Mountain in the San Pedro Mountains - the smaller, narrow photo is what it looked like this morning as the sun came up and the clouds were still hanging around from a rainstorm we had last night. The top photo was of the sky this morning just as the sun was rising - at about 6am or so! Isn't it fabulous? I feel so grateful and happy to be here! Life is truly good!

This past weekend, we went exploring in the Jemez Mountains just to the northwest of us, and on Saturday, we took in the New Mexico Indian Art Market. The artwork was just beautiful, and it was very interesting to see the differences between the art created by the various Native American tribes. I found I repeatedly was drawn to the art created by the Navajo artists. Perhaps I'll find a piece in the future to have a place in our home!

More later! Enjoy the day! Nadine

Mountains of Boxes !

The move date is drawing closer and closer! A week from yesterday we will be heading out in our little caravan to our new home in New Mexico! And, when I look around almost anywhere in the house and garage right now, all I see are mountains of boxes and other things we've got loaded with our stuff! So, what could be a better photo to reflect our mini mountains than a picture of one of my favorite mountain areas, Mount St Helens in Washington state! This image was taken on a backroad sort of behind the mountain. We were attempting to find a back way to get to the crater, and sort of stumbled acrosss this wonderfully beautiful lovely scene! The backroad we were on quickly turned into a very rough dirt road and we weren't able to continue on it in our little RV, but it was worth the detour just to see this area and capture this image.

In terms of our moving, I think we're doing really well. I can hardly believe it, but we really seem to be under control, so that we're not having to make ourselves crazy with last minute packing! We were even able to stop and see a movie yesterday - Angels & Demons with Tom Hanks. Good movie - however, I'm glad I hadn't read the book first. I think it might have ruined the movie for me, knowing the ending!

Enjoy your day!

Sunflower

I'm having a tough time getting to sleep tonight, so I thought I'd play around with filters in PhotoShop. Here's a sunflower image that I took in the Southwest a couple of years ago. I applied a colored pencil filter. I think it looks rather abstract, but still like the sunflower that it is. I guess it sort of fits my mood at the moment. I think the reality of how quickly our move is coming up is sticking with me tonight. I'm excited and looking forward to it, but the "it" is rather abstract. I know what the basics of our life will be, but there's so much that's unknown, and abstract when I try to imagine some details. I know, I know, I get to make those up and create a future, but, right now, my imagination about it isn't clicking and I'm feeling a bit anxious about all the unknowns and uncertainties. This will pass, I know, and I'll embrace all the unknowns and just let the creativity flow. I just need to keep the faith, and embrace whatever is next! Enjoy!

Glorious Morning!

What a glorious morning it is outside today! I took Miki for an early morning walk, and I think she was extra-energized because of the great weather, too! It's one of those days when it's just wonderful to be alive. The photo for today is one of a flower that people generally don't want to see - a dandilion! We think of them as weeds, and pull them mercilessly. However, when we were camping last spring, I was wandering down the nature paths near our campsite, and the sun was shining so beautifully, the dandilions in the meadow just seemed to be little reflections of the sun in the meadow. I played with taking the photo while zooming my lens in and out, and this was the happy result! This morning just reminded me of that morning, where a humble little dandilion looked like a sun droplet! Of course, I still don't think I want them in my lawn.......enjoy!!

Napa Autumn Morning

I was playing around with PhotoShop the other day, and ended up with this very beautiful image of the early morning in Napa. We stayed at a B&B at Rust Ridge, which was also a winery. I just love this photo because it is very serene and restful. It sort of matches my mood this morning. I'm feeling very good and calm this morning because we got an offer on Jeff's house yesterday, which he accepted. So, here's hoping everything goes ok, and that the closing happens according to schedule. One of the other reasons I'm really happy is that this means Jeff will be moving with me when the house is ready in New Mexico. He was thinking he needed to remain here in the Midwest until it sold. I hated the thought of the beginning of our home together would be without him. Now, we just need for my place to sell, and the major checklist of things here in the Midwest to be settled will be done! I've got an open house scheduled for this weekend - hopefully, someone will see my place, love it, and make me an offer! This morning, anything's posssible! Enjoy!

Good morning ! It's such a gloomy morning today here in the heart of the Midwest. Rained most of yesterday, and today promises much of the same. When I thought about what photo I'd like to represent the day, I decided on this image from a creative photography class I took a few years back. The assignment was to photograph for one hour in a random spot, not straying more than 10 feet from your original starting point. I remember thinking that there really wasn't much of anything to photograph in the area where I ended up, and then I really started looking around. There were all kinds of beautiful things! I felt silly afterwards thinking that I originally was very concerned because I thought I was in a totally uninspiring area! How does this connect with today? Well, gloomy days sometimes makes one feel like things will always be this way, and never look up.....when it will! I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed this morning, with all that's going on building our new home in New Mexico, trying to sell 2 houses here in this economy, etc., etc. Kind of like a gloomy day, or an uninspiring spot....look around and be patient. Things will work out fine, and all will be beautiful! Enjoy!