Last week, on the way into the grocery store, I stopped to take pictures of a display of mums. I was interested in the waves of color created by the flowers. It made me think of an abstract painting. Tonight I cropped the image to get this composition.
Here is one more photograph of autumn leaves from last week's trip over to Lexington, MA. I loved the colors of these leaves, which is why I took several photographs. Tonight I used iPhoto to crop the original photo and get this composition. I also used the retouch tool to close up one little hole in one of the leaves. I don't want anything to distract from these gorgeous colors.
This afternoon I took a little break and finished a simple necklace I have been working on: carved Chinese jade and wooden beads on dyed turquoise leather. I used knots as part of the design. This necklace isn't very long, but still long enough to be slipped on over the head.
This is another photograph from my excursion to Lexington, MA, last week. The fall colors are starting their show, and one of the colors is orange. Tonight I cropped the original photograph to get this composition.
I decided I wanted to do a closer crop of the posterized photo that I published here yesterday, and here it is: pink hydrangeas in the sun. This composition emphasizes the blossoms and the rounded shape of the shrub, and the rays of sunlight behind it.
This image began with a photograph that I took on Thursday during a neighborhood walk. I saw some hydrangeas that are turning pink. I liked the way they looked with the sunlight behind them, so I took a picture. Tonight I used Painter's digital pastel to simplify the background in a small area of the image. Then I posterized it to capitalize on the effects of the sunlight, and cropped it to get this composition.
Yesterday as I was heading into the grocery store, I noticed mums on display outside, so I stopped to take some pictures. There was a variety of colors, but I liked the pink ones. Tonight I cropped this image out of the original photo. I wanted to emphasize the contrast of full blossoms and buds against the dark background.
Yesterday's post was a photo of autumn leaves, taken during a walk in Lexington, MA. Today I decided to see what the image looked like posterized, so I opened it in Painter. I started by adjusting the brightness, because posterizing often makes the image look darker. Then I tried out different levels of posterizing till I had what I was after, and here it is.
We have been having warm days, but cool nights: a good recipe for fall color. I was in Lexington (MA) this morning, and could see that the effect is intensified inland. I was early for an appointment, so I took a little walk. I saw some beautiful trees close to the visitor's center, so I took some pictures. I was standing right under this tree when I took the photograph, holding my camera up as high as I could (with zoom on). What I was after was the play of light and shadow on the leaves. Tonight I used iPhoto to crop this image out of the original, and to do some basic retouching to repair some little holes in the leaves.
Yesterday I posted a photograph of the grape arbor at Long Hill Gardens, here in Beverly, MA. I have been thinking that because of the light coming through the leaves, the image would look good posterized. So that is what I did this afternoon, using my Painter program. I also adjusted the exposure because posterizing can make an image look darker.
Tonight I cropped this image from a photograph that I took late Thursday afternoon, during a walk at Long Hill Gardens. I love the grape arbor, especially this time of year. When you stand under the arbor and look up, this is the view: ripening grapes and sunlight through the leaves.
This image began as a recent photo that I took of a rose, growing in front of a little row of shops between the bank and Starbucks. The color was great, so I took a picture. Once I got the image into the computer, I noticed that one of the petals was torn, so I opened the jpeg in Painter and used some digital pastel to draw over the photo and repair the petal. Then I posterized the image. I have been posting pictures of roses all week, and this is the last one -- but just for now. I know I will come back to these images again. . . .
This image began with a photo that I took a couple of days ago of a white rose, in full bloom in September. I liked the contrast of the white rose with the leaves, some of which are dark red, and the reflections of a white house in the background. Today I straightened and cropped the image in iPhoto, and then used Painter to posterize it just a little bit.
I took this photograph on Monday during a walk at the Cummings Center Pond here in Beverly, MA. It was around 4 PM and the late afternoon light was beautiful. The sunlight on the rose looked great, so I took a picture. The way my camera handled the bright light made the sunlit rose even more amazing.
Today I went to the bank, and then walked over to Starbucks afterward, which meant I passed right by the little strip mall in between where some amazing rose bushes have been planted. I am trying to post roses all week, so I thought I would see if any roses were still in bloom. Even though it is mid-September and the weather has turned cooler, there were still a few beautiful roses left, so I stopped and took some pictures. Tonight I used Painter to remove some distracting marks on the leaves and in the background, and then posterized it just a bit.
This image began with another photo that I took back in mid-August. What I was looking for at the time was a picture of just one rose (for a birthday), but when I got the photo of this rose into the computer, I realized that you couldn't see the whole rose because part of it was obscured by petals of another flower. But even though this wasn't the birthday rose I wanted, I really liked it. So tonight I opened the image in Painter to see what I could do. I began by copying a few petal shapes from the top part of the rose, flipping them (both vertically and hortizontally) to make them fit where there were needed (which was in the lower right corner). Then I dropped the layers, and drew into the image with digital pastel, filling in gaps, adjusting shapes and colors until I had drawn in the missing petals and made them look like they belonged there. My original intention was to posterize the image, but I tried a digital woodcut effect, and I liked that better. So here it is.
A summer rose, from the set of photos that I took in mid-August. I cropped this rose out of the original image and tonight I did a little bit of editing in iPhoto to remove a few distracting marks, mostly in the background. The color in this photo is just as it came out of the camera. Just a simple white rose, but a close look reveals complex colors in the rose petals.
Back in August, I took photographs of some roses that I passed by while walking from the bank to Starbucks. (Someone planted several beautiful rose bushes in front of a little row of stores.) I thought this pink and white rose was unique so I took a picture. But when I transferred the photo into the computer, I could see that I had accidentally cut off the bottom edge of the rose. There wasn't any way to crop my way out of the problem, so I didn't do anything with the photograph. Tonight I decided to solve the problem. I opened the image in Painter, and adjusted the size of the "canvas" by adding pixels to the bottom edge. Then I used digital pastel to draw in the missing parts of the rose petals. I also simplified the background, and then I posterized the image to get this result.
This morning I wanted to find a good picture of Rose. I thought of the photos that I took of her in July, so I looked through them. The best of them all was a photo of Rose with one of her grandsons. I love that photo, but today I needed an image of just Rose. So I duplicated the original because I want to keep it as it is, and opened the copy in Painter. I cropped the photo, and then used digital pastel, along with some fancy cut-and-paste work to turn a photo of two people into a single portrait. Then I did a little bit of posterizing, and here it is. What I like best about this photo is the expression on her face, no doubt because she was happy to be with her grandson.
A few days ago, I posted a photograph taken just after sunset at the Cummings Center Pond, here in Beverly, MA. Tonight I opened that photo in Painter, adjusted the exposure a little, cranked up the saturation a bit, and then posterized it. I also cropped it a little more in iPhoto to improve the composition.
Tonight I cropped this image out of a photograph that I took on September 3rd. I bought lots of apples, and took this photo right after I washed them. I liked the way the apples looked with the droplets of water still on them. I bought a lot of apples, but I thought I would be able to use them for Rosh Hoshanah. They taste great with honey. . . .
Last night I used Painter to transform one of my photographs into a digital woodcut. I used a color set and then added some color overlays to get the color scheme that I wanted. (If you want to see the original photograph, I posted it here on September 3rd.) I am sending this image with my Rosh Hoshana greetings, wishing family and friends a sweet year ahead.
This is a photograph that I took tonight during a walk at the Cummings Center Pond here in Beverly, MA. It was getting close to 8 PM, around the usual time, but it was darker than it has been, maybe because of some cloud cover, but probably just because the days are getting shorter. Still, it's a great time to walk. It is nice and cool, there's usually a nice sunset, and as a bonus, around sunset the geese fly in and land on the pond. Tonight I wasn't expecting to be able to take pictures because it was so dark, but I couldn't resist the reflections on the water, so I took out my camera and took a few pictures. This image was cropped from one of the best photos.
Here's another image of the apples that I bought last week (on a pre-hurricane grocery store run). I liked the way the apples in the colander, so I took a picture. Today I used Painter to posterize the image.
On the way home from a trip to BJ's this morning, we pulled over to the side of the road for a minute, to adjust something or other in the car. I was in the passenger seat, and saw some beautiful vines on the fence next to the car. I have driven past this spot many times, and only noticed because we happened to stop! I was admiring the berries, still green, and the pattern of the leaves, so I pulled out my camera. I had time for just one quick picture and we were underway again. Tonight I used iPhoto to crop this composition out of the the original photograph, and to eliminate some distracting marks on the leaves with the "retouch" tool.
Today I took a break to work on this project, a heart-shaped box that I am covering with decoupage and collage designs created from printed metallic ribbon. This afternoon, I concentrated on the inside wall of the box. I hope to use only one pattern for this area: pink background with a paisley design in red, blue, and green (echoing the colors on the top and bottom of the box.) I only have one ribbon printed with this pattern, so I am leaving gaps as I work in case I need to add additional patterns. I started at the base with as much pale pink as possible to contrast with the adjacent red area. Then I established a border around the top using several blue and pink motifs repeated within the ribbon's paisley pattern. I had a lot of fun and worked on this longer than I had planned.
Yesterday I participated in the local custom of running to the grocery store in anticipation of a storm. This time, the storm was Hurricane Earl, not just the usual thunderstorm or snow storm. I had made a little list of things that didn't need to be refrigerated or heated, just in case the power went out: tuna fish, granola bars, peanut butter, etc. On my way into the grocery store, I saw a table with big bags of apples. Hmmm, gala apples, my favorite! And they were so beautiful! Well, I thought, apples can be stored and eaten at room temperature, in case we lose power. And besides, Rosh Hoshanah is coming up this week, and I will need apples for the holiday. But the truth is, I also bought these apples because I liked the way they looked! Well, the storm is still expected to pass by sometime tonight, though Earl has been downgraded by several categories, and isn't expected to make a direct hit. So we probably won't be reduced to eating granola bars and pb&j. So now that I am more relaxed about Hurrican Earl, I am beginning to wonder what to do with all these apples. I decided that the first thing to do was to photograph them, in hopes of getting an image that I can use for Rosh Hoshana greetings (Jewish New Year) to friends and family. So I put the apples in a big glass bowl and took some pictures. This is one of the best photos. I used iPhoto to lighten the shadows, clean up a few stray marks, and crop to get this composition.
I started this necklace yesterday, and finished it up this morning. I have been thinking about how to use these carved jade beads from China, and yesterday I tried out another idea. I combined them with Ethiopian copper beads, and strung them on dyed purple leather, using the knots and the exposed leather as part of the design. Then I photographed it this morning so that I could post it here.
Yesterday, stuck in traffic as I drove into Boston, I was worried about timing. I had arranged to meet a friend who will soon be moving far away. We each had places to go and people to see, but had set a time and place to meet for coffee in between. Despite the traffic tie-ups and last minute scheduling changes all around, somehow it worked! So as I started the drive back home, I was already feeling quite lucky. Just before I got onto Storrow Drive to head out of Boston, I stopped at a red light and found myself with an unobstructed view of "The Pru" (The Prudential Center, a Boston icon.) I only had about a minute before the light changed from red to green, but I pulled out my camera and took two quick pictures. Tonight I took the best of the two photos, and used Painter to posterize it, and then cropped it to get this image: a lucky shot on a very lucky day.
