Colorado Daydream

Colorado Daydream
Originally uploaded by randubnick.

This is a watermedia painting done with acrylic, one of a series of paintings inspired by the Colorado mountains. I still miss the mountains, but they are in my mind's eye, so I keep painting them. Today I loaded images of this series into my computer.

Street in Old Montreal

Montreal Street
Originally uploaded by randubnick.

I took this picture in Old Montreal several summers back. We were in Burlington, Vermont, and asked about a good place to eat dinner. Someone suggested "Montreal" so we drove the ninety minutes to get there. My daughter is visiting Montreal today, so last night I found this image, and cropped and colorized it to reflect the fun we had, crossing the border to go out to dinner in Montreal.

On the Road

On the Road
Originally uploaded by randubnick.

I took this photo a few summers ago while we were waiting in line to go through the Lincoln Tunnel. I came across it today and decided to crop and post it, because several family members are on the road today and I am in charge of two dogs who also try to navigate when I am driving.

Porches on Baltimore Rowhouses

Porches on Baltimore Rowhouses
Originally uploaded by randubnick.

I took this photo several years ago when I was visiting Heather in Baltimore. I like the way the porches on the row houses line up and make a tunnel. Mel is in Baltimore, so I decided to post this today. I scanned the photo and cropped it to emphasize the perspective.

Mom and Lilacs

Mom and Lilacs
Originally uploaded by randubnick.
This is a photo of my mom standing in front of a lilac bush. At least I thought so until today. I was tinting the photo with Painter IX, when I noticed small geometric areas behind the figure that look like tape. Could this be a composite? Was the figure was taped over a photo of the lilac bush and rephotographed? A mystery, but my mom liked mysteries (lilacs, too). The identify of the photographer is yet another mystery, but I am investigating.

Rhododendron Buds and Snow

Rhododendron Buds and Snow
Originally uploaded by randubnick.

I am always surprised that the rhododendron leaves not only survive the Boston snows, but look tropical as soon as they emerge from the snow. If fact, they already budding, even though you can see that there is plenty of snow on the ground. I decided to use my digital camera to capture this intersection of winter and spring.

Two Boats on the Douro

Two Boats on the Douro
Originally uploaded by randubnick.

This image is from a picture I took on the first day of my first trip to Portugal. We went to area of Porto near the Douro. Today I cropped the photo to focus on the boats. This is a nice reminder of a wonderful visit.

Garden Walk

Garden Walk
Originally uploaded by randubnick.

I made this drawing tonight with Painter IX, with digital chalk and the perspective grid. It was fun to spend some time wandering down this imaginary path, even though I wasn't sure where it would lead me. But I always feel that way when I begin a drawing.

Goats Crossing

Goats Crossing
Originally uploaded by randubnick.

I took this picture last summer as we drove through the Borderlands between England and Scotland. We laughed and laughed when these goats appeared on the road. Today I have been reading about cloning animals, and while these are goats rather than sheep, I am posting this in Dolly's honor. Tonight I made a clone of the original photo, and cropped it to post here.

Driving to Boston. Mel flew in from Ireland tonight; I picked him up at the airport and we drove into Boston. I took this picture a few years ago at high noon. Tonight I cropped the image and colorized it to make it a fantasy, which it already is because the road to Boston has been changed by the Big Dig. Since we were listening to a radio talk show about the recent problems with the new tunnels, this picture somehow seems to fit.

Public Garden in Spring. This is a view of Boston's Public Garden, not as it looks today, but as it will look soon. I took this photo several years ago, very late in the day as the light was fading. I thought this would be a good photo to post on the first official day of spring, so today I cropped it just a bit, and here it is.

Bearskin Neck Rockport. Today I drove to Rockport and walked out to the end of Bearskin Neck, where I took this picture with my cell phone camera. I was trying to capture the curving shapes and the contrast of rocks and water.

Sunset Over Sloan Lake. I took this picture in Denver several years ago, near Vicki's house. I came across the photo today, so I edited it on the computer to emphasize the sunset over the mountains and the reflections in the water.

Tulips in Store. Everyone in Boston is waiting for spring, but sometimes you have to take spring where you can find it. Although with spring coming, tulips are in store, I found these tulips in the store, grocery store, that is, and took a picture with my cell phone. Later, I used Painter IX to remove the labels, which is what you expect to do when you come home from the grocery store.

White Flowers. This began as a sketch on my handheld PDA (Clie). Today I cleaned it up and added the background with Painter IX on the PC. Some folks are complaining about seeing too much white snow. Artists know that snow can be full of colorful shadows and reflections. And gardeners know that some flowers are white as snow. The important thing is to look.

County Kerry. I painted this picture of the Ring of Kerry a few years ago for Kerry and Herman. They say everybody's Irish on March 17th, so here's an image for people who are only Irish today, and for people who are Irish everyday.

Kylemore Abbey. I took this picture last summer in Ireland. We stopped here while we were driving through Connemara to Galway. We were too late to see the gardens, but did get to see some of the pottery. The view was fantastic, with the mist coming down the hill towards the Abbey.

Pub Near Temple Bar. I took this picture last summer in Dublin. I loved the look of this place, with the flowers, the flags, and the Gaelic words. Today I edited the image, and unfortunately, was forced to remove an innocent passerby who was ruining my composition.

Considering the Gherkin. Mel is in London today, so I thought I would post this in his honor. This is a picture of the Swiss-Re Building in London, aka The Gherkin. I took this picture when we were there last December. Today I cropped it and colorized the image to try to recreate the surprise and disbelief I felt when I first saw this building rising up like a rocket behind the ornate British lamp-posts.

Connemara Ponies. I took this photo during a trip to Ireland last summer. We drove to Galway and stayed at a lakeside bed and breakfast that was also a farm. I stood by the fence to photograph and these ponies came right over to see what I was doing.

Snowy Afternoon. It rained this morning and turned to snow around noon, with big snowflakes. I took several photos with my digital camera, trying to get the feeling of the snowflakes moving against the trees behind them. I think this image came closest to catching the snowflakes in midair, so I cropped the picture to improve the composition, and here it is.

Lake at Enniskillen. I took this picture in January of last year. We drove from Belfast to Enniskillen and drove around this beautiful lake. Ireland is green even in January.

Flowers for Sunday. I have been working on this digital bouquet to thank Mindy for such a nice time on Sunday.

Tree Shadow Snow

Last night we had snow with high winds. Most of the snow was blown off the trees, but there was plenty of snow on the sidewalks. This morning, as I shoveled, I noticed the beautiful blue shadows that this tree made on the snow, so I took a picture with my cell phone camera. We have had snow, snow, snow. Gertrude Stein said there is no repetition, and when it comes to snow, she is right. Every snow storm looks just a little different.

Belfast Castle Garden

I took this photo while I was visiting Northern Ireland last winter. I certainly wasn't expecting to see this in Belfast. The colors were amazing that day.

Singing Beach. I took this picture with my cell phone camera this morning. It was warmer than usually early this morning (over thirty degrees I mean) so I drove up to Manchester by the Sea and took a walk on Singing Beach instead of going to the gym. Lots of people walk there, some accompanied by dogs. It was beautiful, so I took a picture.

Pink Quartz Necklace with Jade and Aventurine

Today I visited Mindy, who also makes jewelry, and we compared notes. I showed her this necklace which I made a few months ago. Mindy makes amazing jewelry. Maybe she will post some on her blog soon.

Best of Dublin. This is the Liffey River in Dublin and if you look closely, you will see a sign advertising one of my favorite Irish imports in the background.

I am posting a second picture, since I had technical problems with editing posts last night. This is a view of the Liffey River in Dublin. March is a good time to post pictures of Ireland.

Portuguese Houses This is a watercolor of a street in the Foz in Porto. I love driving through the narrow, winding streets. This was one of the paintings in the show that ended today.

Pears on a Blue Plate

Last night, I came across this digital image of a pastel that I made last year for an art auction. Drawing makes you look, and I was looking very hard at the complicated colors of the pears, their shadows, and the reflections in the blue glass plate. I am posting this tonight for anyone out there experiencing sensory deprivation from looking at too much white snow.

Snow, Wind, and Tree Trunk

We had high winds and snow all night, and another foot of snow by morning, and the wind blew snow against the tree trunk in my yard. I was going to take a picture of this today, but then remembered that I already have a picture of this tree, taken after the January blizzard. So tonight I enlarged and cropped the original image. I like the way snow reveals the patterns that are already there, but go unnoticed. Snow reminds us to look, and so does art.