Looking Up at St. Paul's (Posterized Photo)

This image began with a photo that I came across today while looking in my mom's old WWII album. This is my dad in London during WWII, on leave and doing a bit of touring around London.  I would like to know more about his time in the military and two years ago, I ordered his military records.  But the records are received are very skimpy because a lot of information was lost in a fire.)  My daughter is trying to help me find out more, and today I pulled out the old album.  This particular photo isn't much help with the research, but I liked it.  I have other photos that show my Dad at St. Paul's with one of his friends, who perhaps took this photo.  But is it possible this is a selfie?  It makes me smile to think so. Tonight I scanned the photo into my computer and did some basic cleanup in iPhoto.  Then I used Painter to add some selective color overlays. Then I posterized it and cropped the original to get this composition.

This is a little video that I made on my  iPad, using the Procreate app.  (Procreate captures a video as you draw.)  I made this Tu B'Shevat (one of my favorite Jewish holidays, also known as "New Year for the Trees" or Jewish Arbor Day).  I have done Tu B'Shevat videos before that show a tree going through the seasons.  This year I decided to add a squirrel . . . 

Stone Fence in Tennessee (Posterized Photo)

Today I decided to edit another of my Tennessee photos. During my trip to Nashville in December, we traveled on some back roads and I took pictures from the car.  In the original version of this image, the shadows were too dark, and there was too much blur in the foreground.  This afternoon, I started in iPhoto, to do basic cropping and then adjusted just the shadows.  Then I opened the image in Painter and used selective posterizing and even a bit of woodcut effect to add a bit more definition to the stone fence.  I also added posterizing by section, choosing different levels for the sky and the grass and the trees.  The result was a little more color and a little more texture, a bit like a print.  Then I went back to iPhoto to adjust the cast to get those nice Tennessee greens and to make a final crop.

Tennessee Fence (Posterized Photo)

This image began with another of the many photos that I took in December while visiting Nashville.  I took a lot of photos from the car, which always means a lot of editing. Today I was feeling inspired to do some editing because yesterday I "eavesdropped" on a photo editing workshop at the Apple Store while I was waiting for an appointment at the genius bar. It was very helpful! There were several problems in the original version of this photo. The shadows were too dark, there was blur in the foreground, and some of the fence posts were leaning. You can easily get leaning fence posts, which is just what happens when you photograph out of the side window of a moving car.  The most extreme problem is usually at either edge of the photo, so I cropped out the worst of the fence posts, and then opened the image in Painter and straightened out one of the fence posts that was still leaning too much. I used with digital pastel, with a grid over the image to guide me.  Then I posterized the photo, playing around to get the right amount of effect. Finally I went back to iPhoto and did some detailed editing of the shadows in the trees, and adjusted the cast to get a bit more green.

Tennessee Road (Worth the Wait)

This is a photo that I took back on December 10 while I was visiting Nashville. It was late afternoon and I wanted to capture the play of the light on the trees. In the original photo, the shadows were too dark and the road disappeared. Today I went back to this photo and edited it, lightening just the shadows and enhancing the warm cast. I used some tips that I picked up yesterday at the Apple Store by listening in on a photo editing workshop in progress while I waited around for my genius appointment. I actually learned a lot and in this case, it was worth the wait.

Green Mountain Range (Acrylic Water Media)

This is the painting I started two days ago.  This morning I added a translucent wash to the sky and sharpened up the line of the mountains.  Now this "Mountain Daydream" is finished.  This is 8 x 10 inches, on Aquaboard.

Green Mountain Range (as of Jan. 25, 2018)

I started this painting a couple of days ago and went back to it this morning.  This painting is done from my imagination and my memories of Colorado.  I am using acrylic as water media, on aquaboard (8 x 10 inches). Today I added a translucent layer of blue to the mountains, and then spent the rest of the time working on the sky.  This is still a work in progress, but I think I can finish it soon. 

Green Mountain Range (As of Jan. 23, 2018)

I started this painting yesterday afternoon, and it is still a work in progress. It was nearly dark when I finished working on it, so I wanted till this morning to photograph it.  This is another of my "Mountain Daydreams," landscapes painted from my imagination and my memories of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.   This is acrylic paint used with water, on aquaboard, 8 x 10 inches.  To be continued. . . .

Winter Scene

This is a photo that I took back on January 12. I liked the look of the fences and railings against the snow. Today I decided to put a Prisma filter on it, and then cropped it to get this composition.

Blue Mountain Blues (Acrylic Water Media)

This morning I returned to this painting that I started a few days ago.  This is one of my "Mountain Daydreams," painted from my imagination and my memories of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Today I added some pale translucent layers to the sky to even out the color, added a bit more pink to the sun, and sharpened the line of the mountains.  Now I think it is done.  This is acrylic on aquaboard, 16 x 20 inches.  

Blue Mountain Blues (as of Jan. 20, 2018)

Today I did some more work on the painting I started yesterday.  This painting is part of my "Mountain Daydreams" series, acrylic watermedia paintings of mountains, created from my imagination and my memories of the Colorado Rockies. This one is 16 x 20 inches on aquaboard. Today I worked mostly on the sky, but also added more layers to the mountains.  This is close to done, but i plan to do a bit of finishing work on it tomorrow.

Blue Mountain Blues

I started a new painting this afternoon.  This is acrylic paint used with water on aquaboard (16 x 20).  This is going to be one of my "Mountain Daydreams," landscapes from my imagination and my memories of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Not enough time today, but at least I made a beginning.  To be continued. . . .

Snowy Morning (with Prisma filter)

Yesterday's post was a photo that I took  on the morning of January 17. It was still snowing and it looked great! Today I tried a Prisma filter over the image, and I like the result so here it is.

Snowy Morning

Yesterday there was snow on the ground when I woke up.  I love the way the snow looks when it is new.  When I took this picture, It was mid-morning and still snowing. I am glad I took the photo when I did because a few hours later, the temperature rose just enough to make the snow fall off of the branches. This is a color photo, though it looks black and white.  I did a little editing in Painter to obscure the line of the dog run wire, and then did a bit of posterizing.

Necklace with Lime Green and Blue Beads

This is a necklace that I have been working on for the past few days and finally finished it. I  revised the design and re-strung the beads at least three times till I had what I wanted.  I used light and dark wooden beads,  lime green beads, and warm blue beads, which are rolled paper.  I used silver and gold colored beads for accents.  This is strung on cotton cord, and there is no clasp.

Winter Walk (with Prisma filter)

Here's another experiment with the Prisma app. This is another photo from a neighborhood stroll. This was taken on January 10, after we had dug out from a blizzard and freezing temperatures. By the time the conditions were good enough for a walk, the snow near the street wasn't looking so good. But the light was great and I liked the shot, so I tried a Prisma filter and it helped. I had to bring the effect of the filter down quite a bit and also adjust the brightness to make this work. Then I cropped the original photo to get this composition.

Winter Fantasy (with Prisma filter)

A few days ago, I was having trouble getting the Prisma app on my iPhone to access some of my photos. In trying to figure out what the problem was, I did some trial and error images, using whatever photos and filters would still work. I never did diagnose the problem with the Prisma app, but the problem had disappeared by the next day. Meanwhile, I made some interesting images through my efforts to solve the problem.  Here is one of them.

Fantasy in the Fog (with Prisma filter) Revised

This is a revised version of the image that I posted here yesterday. After a week in the deep-freeze here north of Boston, temperatures suddenly rose to the 60s, creating an unusual combination of snow and fog.  This image began as one of the photos that I took while walking around the neighborhood.  The fog was very photogenic, but the snow was now longer clean and white.  I thought maybe a Prisma filter would help make the image presentable, but in this case the results knocked my socks off. I have been thinking about the composition and today I decided to try a closer crop on yesterday's image, and I think I like it better.

Fantasy in the Fog (with Prisma Filter)

For the past couple of days, I have been having trouble getting my Prisma app to "talk to" my photos in the iCloud.  Well, the problem is now solved.  But in the process of trying to get everything to work smoothly, I made a lot of "trial runs" just to verify that everything was working. Some of the resulting images were pretty interesting, just as this one, with pink fog.

Snow and Fog (With Prisma Filter)

Today the temperature rose to nearly 60 degrees, with snow still on the ground. So we had fog.  I love taking pictures in the fog because it really makes you look.  This was an interesting image but the old, melting snow just looked dirty.  So I decided to try using a Prisma filter with it and I like it better.

Hedges in Snow (with Woodcut Effect)

This image began with a photo that I took yesterday during a walk around the block.  I liked the patterns of leaves and branches against the snow, so i took a picture.  At the time, I thought it might look good as a "digital woodcut" so tonight I opened the image in Painter, posterized it, and then added the "woodcut effect," adjusting the controls to get the amount of black outline that I wanted.

Indoor Garden (Fabric Appliqué as of January 10, 2018)

I finally got back to this project today.  I am making an iron-on fabric appliqué, using a well-loved tea towel as the background.  Today I added an additional vine stem and flowers for each of the three pots. To be continued. . .

Late Afternoon in January (with Prisma Filter)

Today the weather got warmer, warm enough to take a little walk and remove my gloves to take pictures.  It's been about five days since the blizzard, and the snow near the train station is no longer clean and white.  But I liked the color of the sky, so I took a few quick pictures anyway.  I decided to try a Prisma filter on this one, and it enhanced the pink colors of the sky reflected in the snow.  I usually try to square up the image, but I didn't this time because I liked the quirky composition.

Just Flowers (Digital Drawing)

This is a digital drawing that I created on my iPad with the Procreate app. I started the drawing last month while I was  flying to Nashville on Jetblue.  I made a good start, but the drawing was still pretty rough when we landed.  Yesterday I finally went back to Procreate and finished the drawing, and here it is.    (Procreate makes a play-back video as you draw; I posted the video here yesterday.)

Just Flowers (Video)

I started drawing these flowers about a month ago.  I was a plane, flying to Nashville on Jetblue and wanted to amuse myself.  I made a good start, but the drawing was still pretty rough when we landed.  It's not always easy to draw on the plane. I planned to go back to it but things came up. I finally got back to it today.  I opened Procreate and resumed work on it.  Procreate makes a play-back video as you draw, and here it is.

Blizzard of 2018 (Posterized Photo)

I used Painter to add posterized effect to yesterday's post, a photo of my back porch on the day of our big storm. The blue color was in the original version; I took the photo with my iPhone late afternoon (around 4:30) on January 3rd. But the snow kept going. . . .

Blizzard of 2018

Yesterday the big snowstorm came here to Beverly, MA. This is a photo that I took yesterday, around 4:30 pm.  The original intent was just to document how deep the snow was, but I liked the blue light and the texture of the water on the glass. So today I cropped the original to get this composition.  I also used Painter to create a posterized version, which i plan to post here tomorrow.

Blue Sun, Red Mountains (in Galatea's "Fresh Forward" Show)

Here is another photo that I took last weekend, when I finally had a chance to get into Boston and see Galatea's "Fresh Forward" show, a group exhibit by gallery artists.  It was fun to see the work of all the Galatea artists, and am so glad to be part of the group.  This is the smaller of two pieces that I had in the show: 8 x 10 inches, acrylic watermedia on aquaboard.  If you want to know more about Galatea, go to www.galateafineart.com

Those Scarlet Mountains (in Galatea's "Fresh Forward" Show)

Last weekend I finally had a chance to see Galatea's "Fresh Forward" show, a group exhibit by gallery artists.  I love seeing the work of all the Galatea artists, and am happy to be part of the group.  I liked the way my pieces looked on the wall and was very happy with how they were presented, so I took a couple of pictures. This is acrylic watermedia on aquaboard.  If you want to know more about Galatea, go to www.galateafineart.com

Dogwood in Ice Storm (with Prisma filter)

We had an ice storm on December 23, and I took a photo of the ice-covered dogwood tree.  Today I decided to see what the image would look like with a Prisma filter.  It took some trial and error, but I finally found one I liked, and then lowered the effect to about 65%.

New Year Train (Digital Drawing)

A couple of days ago, I had the idea for this image, a train arriving in the station at midnight.  I drew it on my iPad with Procreate, which captures a video playback as you draw. (I posted the video here yesterday for New Year's Eve.) Today's post is the final frame of the video,  cleaned up on my computer with Painter.  I did some general clean-up and used cut-and-paste and digital pastel to improve the lettering.  Wishing everyone all the best as 2018 begins.