Flowers on the Branch

Here's another photo that I took at Long Hill Gardens back on May 3rd.  This is one of the flowering trees that line both sides of the road up to the main house and gardens.  I think this is an apple tree, but I am not sure.  Tonight I did a bit of retouching on this and cropped this image out of the original.

Arc of the Flowering Branch

Here's another picture from our May 3rd walk at Long Hill Gardens.  I could take endless pictures of these flowering trees.  In this case, what struck me was the beautiful curve of the branch, covered with pink flowers.  Today I cropped the original photo to get his composition.

Cold Spring Crabapple Blossoms

Here's another photo in celebration of our long, cold spring, here in Beverly, MA.  (It's about 49 degrees today, Memorial Day!)  But the cool weather does keep the blooms on the branches. This is a photo of a flowering crabapple tree, taken back on May 3rd during a walk at Long Hill Gardens.  Today I cropped the original image to get this composition.

Flowering Tree at Long Hill

I am trying to catch up with photo editing.  This is another photo from a May 3rd walk at Long Hill Gardens. Flowering trees line the road up to the main house and formal gardens. Today I edited the original photo to get this composition.

Cold Spring Lilacs

I am trying to catch up with editing my photos.  This one is from a walk at Long Hill Gardens back on May 3rd.  The lilacs were just starting to open.  We are having a long, cold spring. Apart from a couple of very warm days last week, we are back in the 50s and 60s. A cold spring can be frustrating, but one of the benefits is that flowering trees and shrubs keep their blossoms longer. . . . May is almost over, but we still have lilacs in bloom.

White Rhododendrons (Posterized Photo)

Yesterday's post was a photo of white rhododendrons, growing in my neighbor's yard.  Today I used Painter to add some posterizing effect to the photo.  I like the way it turned out, with just a hint of pink.

White Rhododendrons

Here, north of Boston, we are having a long, cold spring -- apart from a couple of hot days last week. But finally, the rhododendrons are starting to bloom all over town. Here are some white ones, growing in my neighbor's front yard.

NYC from LIC (Digital Woodcut)

Tonight I used Painter to add a woodcut effect to this photo. This is a view of the New York City skyline seen from my cousin's apartment in Long Island City.

Rocks and Water (Digital Woodcut)

Yesterday's post was a photo that I took from the train to New York City, a view of rocks and water, somewhere in Connecticut.  Today I opened the image in Painter, tightened the focus and bit, and applied a "woodcut" effect.

Rocks and Water

Here's another photo from my recent trip to NYC. This is a water view from the train, somewhere in Connecticut.

View of NYC from LIC

During my recent very quick trip to NYC, I visited my cousin in Long Island City.  The surprise is that you get the best views of the New York City skyline!  Tonight I edited the original: did a little retouching to get rid of reflections, adjusted the color, and then cropped it to get this composition.

NYC Seen from LIC

Here's another photo from my trip to NYC.  My cousin lives in Long Island City, right across the river,  with the best views of the Manhattan skyline.  Tonight I edited the original version of this photo, cropping it to get this composition and adjusting the color.

New York Skyline from Long Island CIty

Today I went to Long Island City (Queens, NYC), where my cousin lives, to see his apartment and to visit some artist studios in the area.  My cousin has great views of the New York skyline, so I took some pictures.  Tonight I edited this one to get the color and composition I wanted.

Train scene

Today I took an early train from Boston to NYC. There were lovely views of the water so I took some pictures

Gate at Long Hill Gardens

A few weeks ago, we went to Long Hill Gardens, here in Beverly, MA.  Everything was in bloom and I took a lot of pictures.  I am just starting to edit them, but here's my favorite, a garden gate.  Tonight I cropped the original to get this composition. I think I would like to paint this scene

Red Leaves in the Woods (At Porter Mill Gallery)

This is one of two of my oil bar paintings that are now part of the "Artists of Porter Mill Show."  The opening was last week at Open Studios, but the show will be up through mid-summer.  The painting is based on a photo of a bright tree that I took at Long Hill Gardens, here in Beverly, MA.

Cecelia (Codfish Project)

This is Cecelia, my codfish project. I decorated this wooden codfish cutout for the Marblehead Festival of Art.  Some 50 area artists have been invited to decorate wooden codfish to be displayed in downtown Marblehead, and then auctioned off to benefit the Marblehead Arts Association. This is my third year participating, and this year my codfish, Cecelia, is decorated with musical scales -- C scales.  Over the weekend, I spent a lot of time on the finish and on cleaning up small details.  This morning I took this one last picture before packing her up, putting her in the car, and delivering her to Marblehead, Massachussetts. Well, I will miss her, but soon I will be able to see her on the auction website. The auction will be online and you can bid from anywhere in the world.  I will post the link when it is ready.  But meanwhile,  here is one last look at last year's project,  "Bella Bacalhau," my Portuguese codfish: www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/26803421380/

Pueblo Reflections (Reposting)

I am reposting this picture today in honor of Mother's Day.  I originally posted this here back in 2005, and this is what I said, "This is one of my favorite images of my mother, walking by a department store window in Colorado.  I don't know who took the original photo, possibly my Uncle Ike, who was a great photographer.  Anyway, this old black and white photo has been on my wall for years. I decided to scan it, pull it into Painter IX and colorize it with digital watercolor. In the process, I became more aware of the reflections in the window, and used some color to bring out these additional images of Pueblo."  Well, in 2005 I can't imagine saying this,  but now I will add that my mother died too early, when I was in my mid-thirties. She was 69 (my age now), after a six-week stay in the ICU, apparently unaware, and when she died my mind's eye was filled with terrible images of how she looked then. It was hard to even think about, and those images came to me unbidden, so I couldn't think of my mom and be at peace at the same time. But looking though her things led me to look at old family photos. I found comfort in looking at photos of her in the 1940's. I began to use those photos to make art, images: colorized photos (creating collaborations with my amazing Uncle Ike who took a lot of the pictures). And then I began to make paintings based on the photos, as well as find ways to "unlock" photos of her that were too dark, double-exposed, too blurry.  So I slowly figured out this way to bring memories of her forward with me into my life ahead, and to share these memories with others. I still do this, for her (and for my dad, too). And in this and many other ways, I began to seek and find ways of making her memory be for a blessing: a blessing for me, a blessing for my family, a blessing for strangers as I try to pay it forward, passing along what she taught me, loving others as she loved me, laughing as she had laughed, and trying to do for others what she had done for me.

Closeup Mother's Day Flowers (Digitally Modified)

Yesterday I had an early delivery of Mother's Day flowers. The colors were amazing so of course I took some pictures.  Tonight I was about to use a closeup of the bouquet, when I realized that there was a torn leaf in the image, in a very distracting position.  There was no way to crop around it.  So I opened the image in Painter and used cut-and-paste and some digital pastel to rebuild the torn leaf.  Then I added some posterizing effect to make everything blend in.

Hand-Colored Coloring Book Card

I recently used one of my black-and-white drawings to create a "coloring book" card for Mother's Day, on Zazzle.com.  I ordered a few to have on hand at Porter Mill's Open Studios tomorrow.  Last night, I decided to color one of the cards myself.  So here is what I did.  The cards will work with crayon and colored pencil.  Although  fine-line marker will work, some of the color might bleed. Anyhow, I had fun coloring. (It never gets old.)

Cecelia (Codfish Project) May 11, 2017

I worked on this project again today.  I am decorating this wooden codfish cutout for the Marblehead Festival of Art.  Some 50 area artists have been invited to decorate wooden codfish to be displayed in downtown Marblehead, and then auctioned off to benefit the Marblehead Arts Association. This is my third year participating, and this year my codfish, Cecelia, will be decorated with musical scales -- C scales.  To get ready, I drew and inked my design on paper (posted here on April 22). Then I drew the design onto the fish with pencil, and applied the first round of ink with metallic Sharpie markers, and followed with metallic gold and silver (Inkball pens).  Today I began with some cleanup with white paint, and then finally got to apply the pearl silver iridescent paint.  Because this paint has a bit of texture, I couldn't apply it first.  Well, this part of the project was very labor intensive, and because this piece is due on May 15, I probably put in three or four hours on this, over the course of the day.  It's a subtle difference from the white background. The color is in between pale gold and pale silver. (In fact, there are lots of cars this color.)  It was hard to control and hard to see what I was doing, but it finally started to look the way I wanted it to.  So late this afternoon, I put Cecelia up on the wall and took her picture.  I am now painting the edges and the back. If I see mistakes, I will fix them, but I am not planning to make more changes, so this is Cecelia.   If you would like to see last year's project,  follow this link to see "Bella Bacalhau," my Portuguese codfish: www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/26803421380/

Cecelia (Codfish Project) May 10, 2015

This morning, I returned to this project.  I am decorating this wooden codfish cutout for the Marblehead Festival of Art.  Some 50 area artists have been invited to decorate wooden codfish to be displayed in downtown Marblehead, and then auctioned off to benefit the Marblehead Arts Association. This is my third year participating, and this year my codfish, Cecelia, will be decorated with musical scales -- C scales.  To get ready, I drew and inked my design on paper (posted here on April 22). Then I drew the design onto the fish with pencil, and applied the first round of ink with metallic Sharpie markers. I chose Sharpies because they are easy to work with and I can get pretty good control.  But it order to get maximum sparkle, I am going over the Sharpie with metallic ink (Inkball pens).  Yesterday I went over the musical notes with gold metallic ink, and the bright gold color made quite a difference. Today I applied silver metallic ink (Inkball pens) over the silver lines.  The difference was less dramatic than with the gold, but still worth doing.  Each step is followed by cleanup with white paint.  The next step is to apply the iridescent silver paint for the background. I hope to get that going tomorrow, and be able to turn this in over the next few days.   If you would like to see last year's project,  follow this link to see "Bella Bacalhau," my Portuguese codfish: www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/26803421380/

Cecelia (Codfish Project) May 8, 2017

Yesterday I worked on this project again.  This is a wooden codfish cutout that I am decorating to benefit Marblehead Festival of Art.  Some 50 area artists are decorating wooden codfish to be displayed in downtown Marblehead, and then auctioned off to benefit the Marblehead Arts Association. This is my third year participating, and this year my codfish, Cecelia, will be decorated with musical scales -- C scales.  I had already drawn and inked the design on paper (posted here on April 22), and applied the first round of ink with metallic Sharpie markers.  I had already drawn the musical notes with metallic gold Sharpie pens, but yesterday I went over the notes with gold ink (inkball pens).  This is slow and careful work, because it is not easy to apply ink over wood and there is way less control than with the Sharpies, but the gold metallic really enhances the shine and the color.  I am also going to apply  silver metallic ink (inkball pen) over the existing lines drawn with silver Sharpie pen, and then use iridescent pale silver paint for the background.   If you want to get a general idea of where this is headed, follow this link to see "Bella Bacalhau," last year's entry: www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/26803421380/

Cecelia (Codfish Project) May 7, 2017

Here is Cecelia, my codfish project, as she looked yesterday with the first round of inking complete, including the gold-colored notes.  Along with some 50 area artists, I am decorating a wooden codfish cutout  for the Marblehead Festival of the Arts.  The decorated codfish will be displayed in downtown Marblehead, and then auctioned off to benefit the Marblehead Arts Association. This is my third year participating, and this year my codfish, Cecelia, will be decorated with musical scales -- C scales. I have been spending time drawing the design onto the wooden cutout using pencil.  I had already drawn and inked the design on paper (posted here on April 22)  I was happy to finally be able to add the ink.  This photo shows the addition of musical notes inked in metallic gold Sharpie.  Now all the lines have a first coat of ink, done in Sharpie markers. But the Sharpie pens are the first layer, to be followed with gold and silver metallic ink.  Then I will  paint the background with pale iridescent silver acrylic paint.  If you want to get a general idea of where this is headed, follow this link to see "Bella Bacalhau," last year's entry: www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/26803421380/

Cecelia (Codfish Project) May 6, 2017

Here is Cecelia, my codfish project, as she looked yesterday with the first round of inking.  I am decorating this wooden codfish cutout  for the Marblehead Festival of the Arts.  Some 50 local artists are decorating codfish for an auction to benefit the Marblehead Arts Association. This is my third year participating, and this year my codfish, Cecelia, will be decorated with musical scales -- C scales. I have been spending time drawing the design onto the wooden cutout using pencil.  I had already drawn and inked the design on paper (posted here on April 22)  Yesterday I was relieved to finally be able to start inking.  I began with turquoise and then silver Sharpie pens, and then did clean up afterward with white paint. Lots more cleanup to go. The notes will be done in gold Sharpie pen. But the Sharpie pens are the first layer; I plan to follow with  gold and silver metallic ink pens.  And I also plan to paint the background with pale iridescent silver acrylic paint.  If you want to get a general idea of where this is headed, follow this link to see "Bella Bacalhau," www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/26803421380/

Tree and Hillside (Appleton Farms) Oil Bar Painting

Over the past few days, I have been getting this painting ready for hanging.  It was accepted for the Artists of Porter Mill show, opening next week.  A few days ago, I sealed the edges with oil bar, and then waited for the paint to dry.  It seemed to take forever, but this morning I was able to take the painting to the studio at Porter Mill and add wire for hanging. This is how my painting looked when I left it on the floor of the gallery, on brown paper.  I made a last-minute change to the title because local folks might be interested to know that this is based on a photo that I took at Appleton Farms, in Ipswich.

Cecelia (Codfish Project May 5, 2017)

Today was nuts and I didn't get to work on this project until after dinner, but then I had some time to concentrate.  I am decorating making a wooden codfish  for the Marblehead Festival of the Arts.  Some 50 local artists are decorating codfish for an auction to benefit the Marblehead Arts Association. This is my third year participating, and this year my codfish, Cecelia, will be decorated with musical scales -- C scales. Tonight I finished drawing the design onto the wooden cutout.  I had already drawn and inked the design on paper (posted here on April 22)  But since then, I had decided to make some adjustments, so there were still some placement issues to work out.  For the past couple of days, I had been using a mechanical pencil it was leaving too much graphite on the gesso. So tonight I switched to a nice hard art pencil and things improved.  I still did a lot of cleanup afterward, but now I think I will be able to start inking and painting the surface the final background color, which is going to be an iridescent silver.  If you want to get a general idea of where this is headed, follow this link to see "Bella Bacalhau," last year's entry: www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/26803421380/

Cecelia (Codfish Project as of May 4, 2017)

Today was very busy, so I didn't have a chance to work on this project until tonight. I am making this  decorated wooden codfish  for the Marblehead Festival of the Arts.  Local artists are decorating codfish for an auction to benefit the Marblehead Arts Association. This is my third year participating, and this time my codfish, Cecelia, will be decorated with musical scales -- C scales. Yesterday I began drawing the design onto the primed wooden cutout.  I had already drawn and inked the design on paper (posted here on April 22)  But since then, I had decided to make some adjustments, so there were still some placement issues to work out.  I am using a mechanical pencil to get a precise point. Last night I drew in the lines for the musical notation, and they need to look straight but actually be curved, to indicate the shape of the fish. Yesterday I struggled because as I made changes in the drawing, the gesso (primer) was really grabbing onto the graphite from the mechanical pencil.  I am still trying to clean up as I go, but am more relaxed, having remembered that I am going to paint the background a pale iridescent silver, so a little bit of graphite in the gesso may actually be helpful.  Tonight I worked out the layout of the musical notes, trying not to make any mistakes that would embarrass the musicians in the family.  But this is also "surface design" so I am trying to create a pleasing pattern. This part is tedious, but it is better to work out the problems in pencil that to discover a big mistake while applying the ink.  If you want to get a general idea of where this is headed, follow this link to see "Bella Bacalhau," last year's entry: www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/26803421380/

Cecelia (Codfish Project May 3, 2017)

This is a decorated wooden codfish that I am making for the Marblehead Festival of the Arts.  Local artists are creating decorated codfish to be auctioned off to benefit the Marblehead Arts Association. This is my third year participating, and this time my codfish, Cecelia, will be decorated with musical scales -- C scales. Yesterday I primed the wooden cutout with gesso, and today began drawing the design on the wood.  I had already drawn the design on paper (posted here on April 22)  But since then, I had decided to make some adjustments, so there were still some placement issues to work out.  I was using a mechanical pencil to get a precise point. Now, drawing straight lines for musical notation shouldn't be a big challenge for a person who had three years of drafting in high school, and years of piano lessons. But the lines on Cecelia aren't going to be straight; they need to curve to communicate the shape her body.  In addition, I had two other problems.  First, as I adjusted the placement of the lines of the music, I got lost and in a couple places, I drew in an extra line.   (Well, sorry, but it can happen. I  painted a mismatched number of stripes on a tablecloth in a still-life and assignment, and also once painted a hand with an extra finger in a portrait class.) So that had to be corrected and I had to remember to count off the spaces and lines as I went along. But as I erased, the gesso (primer) was really grabbing onto the graphite from the mechanical pencil,  so I am cleaning up and repainting as I go along.) This felt like a moment from a Mr. Bean movie until the cleanup process began to work and then I calmed down and remembered that the background color will not be white, but rather a pale iridescent silver. So any remaining graphite should blend in and might actually add to the metallic look. Tomorrow I will continue to draw the design onto the wood.  If you want to see how last year's project turned out, follow this link to see "Bella Bacalhau," www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/26803421380/

Cecelia (Codfish Project May 2, 2017)

I am making a decorated wooden codfish cutout to be auctioned off for the Marblehead Festival of the Arts. Some 50 local artists have been asked to participate in this project. This is my third year, and this time I will decorate my codfish with musical scales -- C scales, and I have named my fish Cecelia.  I have already worked out the design on paper and recently posted a pencil sketch, inked in silver, gold, and turquoise sharpie pens (posted here April 22.) After a break to work on another project, today I started preparing the wooden cutout by priming it with gesso. It feels good to get started.  If you want to get an idea of where this is going,  follow this link to see "Bella Bacalhau," last year's entry: https://www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/26803421380/

Bright Tree at Long Hill (Oil Bar Painting)

Here is the oil bar painting I have been working on, as it looked on Saturday, April 29.  I added some detail to the house and carriage house, and cleaned up a few things.  So the painting is finished (but not perfect), which means that there may be small problems to fix.  But this is basically it, and I finished it in time to submit is to a show.