Friday, July 20, 2012

For Colorado

For Colorado by randubnick
For Colorado, a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

Thinking of my home state tonight.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

After the Storm

After the Storm by randubnick
After the Storm, a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

Here north of Boston, yesterday we had big loud thunderstorms and heavy downpours starting in the afternoon. But by 4 PM, it had cleared up, so the trip to the author's expo at the Danver's Yacht Club was back on. Afterwards, we walked around outside. I liked the line of tall grasses setting off the rest of the scene, so I took some pictures. I think this is the best one.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Kindle Case with Stone Spiral Design

I recently used one of my images to create this Kindle case (on Zazzle.com). The image is called "Stone Spiral (Digital Woodcut)," made from one of my photos. I decided to order the case as a birthday gift. The package arrived today, and I decided to take a photograph before delivering the case to its rightful owner. If you want to see the image I used, it is posted here on June 6, 2012 -- or you can follow this link www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/7350043454/

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Circles Squares Lines

Circles Squares Lines by randubnick
Circles Squares Lines, a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

Tonight I made this digital drawing using the Brushes app on my iPhone. I used four different digital brushes to get the geometric patterns. I might usually consider cropping the image to get a more traditional format. However, I am thinking I might be able to use this pattern to make an iPhone case on Zazzle, so I left it alone. Because I used Brushes on my iPhone instead of my iPad, there's no stroke-by-stroke video for this one.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Ripening Berries (Mapleleaf Vibernum)

This morning we stopped at the Starbucks to get a coffee and took a very brief walk with the dog in the tiny park beside the Bass River. This was a nice little break at the beginning of a hectic day. I stopped to take a picture of a some beautiful berries. Tonight I tried to find out what they are by searching images on Google. I thought they were bunchberries, but the leaf shape looked wrong. But when I put "maple leaf" and "red berries" into the search engine, I got some matching images for Mapleleaf Verbenum. Tonight I used iPhoto to do a little retouching and then cropped the image to get this composition.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Crazy Daisies (Digital Sketch)

Life has been too busy and my schedule has been crazy. But I will be crazy too if I don't make art. So tonight I decided to do a quick digital sketch with Painter 12, working from my imagination. These are just some crazy little daisies drawn with digital pastel on a dark brown background. I worked on this for about an hour. I am still struggling to get the hand of drawing with a track pad, instead of a mouse. When I was about done, I tried posterizing the sketch and it made the colors pop, and I liked it. These crazy little daisies make me smile.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Ripples in the Water at Sunset

This is another photo taken at Obear Park, here in Beverly, MA, as the sun was setting. I was interested in the patterns made by ripples in the water, so I took this photo. This image is very close to the way it came out of my iPhone camera, but I used iPhoto to lighten the shadows just a hair, and then cropped the image just a bit at the top.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Necklace with Wood Beads in Blue and Blond

This is a necklace that I made today. I used round wooden beads stained a soft blue and light-colore...

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Wrist Purse with "Nine White Roses"

I used my image of "Nine White Roses" to create this wrist purse on Zazzle. I ordered it as a gift for my daughter's birthday. It came in the mail today, and I took this photograph before I delivered it. The original image began with a photo of a rose which I made into a pattern in Painter, and then posterized. If you want to see the image I used to make this, it is posted here on July 26, 2011 -- or follow this link www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/5979971138/

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Quiet Sunset at Obear Park

Quiet Sunset at Obear Park by randubnick
Quiet Sunset at Obear Park, a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

Tonight we went to Obear Park here in Beverly, MA. We took the dog, so we waited till after 7:30 pm because in the summer, that's when dogs are allowed dogs aren't allowed at BE when dogs at Beverly's waterfront parks. The sun was low in the sky, and we took our time, hoping for a nice sunset. When the colors began to change, I started taking pictures. This one was one of the best, and just took a little bit of straightening and adjusting in iPhoto. I have seen more spectacular sunsets (many of them at Obear Park), but this one was quiet and very peaceful, which is what I was hoping to capture.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Composition with Branches, Clouds, and Sky

The other day, I was trying out a new lawn chair in the back yard--not so much a test-drive as a safety inspection. The chair was in a reclining position, so this was my view, and it dawned on me that I was admiring it, so I took some pictures. When I was a kid, I liked to lie down on the ground and look up at the sky. And I still love a view of the sky through the trees. This is one of the best photos, and tonight I used iPhoto to adjust the shadows. Then I cropped the photo, working carefully and trying to showcase the way the shapes of the foliage mirror the shapes of the clouds and blue sky.

Monday, July 09, 2012

Necklace with Wood and Blue Glass on Green Suede Cord

The washing machine broke over the weekend, and the repairman came this morning. I knew I wouldn't be able to accomplish very much while the washing machine was being fixed, just too much noise and too many distractions. So I decided to try to put this necklace together. I already had the basic idea because I had been thinking about this combination for a while: wooden spheres and teal glass beads on a knotted green suede cord. Because I was securing the beads by tying knots, I knew it would be easy to stop at any point if I was interrupted.  But I wasn't! It enjoyed myself, and when I was finished, the washing machine was already fixed.

Sunday, July 08, 2012

Queen Anne's Lace (Digital Woodcut)

This image began with another photo taken near the Bass River, here in Beverly, MA. There is a tiny park and path along the river right behind the Starbucks, which is one reason for my frequent visits. The other day, I noticed some Queen Anne's lace with the river in the background, so I took some pictures. The sun was very bright and the focus wasn't as sharp as I wanted, but I was very happy with the composition. So tonight I opened the photo in Painter 12, adjusted the brightness, sharpened the focus, and then applied the woodcut effect. After that, I did some more editing in iPhoto, mainly adjusting contrast and color. There is something about flowers growing at the water's edge that seems peaceful to me.

Saturday, July 07, 2012

Daylilies on Riverbank (Digitally Modified and Posterized)

Here's one more look at those daylilies on the riverbank, just before the sun went down. (This was taken near the Bass River from the little path behind the Starbucks, here in Beverly, MA.) I loved the way the lilies looked on the riverbank, so I took this picture. When I got the image into my computer, I saw lots of problems in the foreground, which I tried to solve in Painter 12 with some digital slight-of-hand. Then I did some selective posterizing. Although I am not completely satisfied with the result, I love the feeling of this image. So I decided to accept this image as it is, put perfectionism aside, and share this peaceful moment.

Friday, July 06, 2012

Daylilies and River

Daylilies and River by randubnick
Daylilies and River, a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

This is another photo that I took near the Bass River at the little riverbank walkway behind the Starbucks here in Beverly, MA. It was nearly sunset (the "golden hour"), and the daylilies looked great in that light, so I took a few pictures. I was pretty happy with this one, but when I opened the image in the computer, I could see some litter (maybe a candy wrapper) in exactly the wrong place. So I opened the image in Painter 12 and used some cut and paste to get rid of the problem. Then I did some selective posterizing. I wanted to cover my tracks and to bring out the color of the daylilies, but I didn't want to add posterizing effect to the water.

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Sunset Reflections

Sunset Reflections by randubnick
Sunset Reflections, a photo by randubnick on Flickr.
This is a view of the sky at sunset over the Bass River, here in Beverly, MA. To be more specific, this is the view from the little parking lot and walkway behind the Starbucks near the river. We stopped to get a coffee just before sunset. The amazing colors of the sky were reflected in the water, so I began to take pictures. This photo was one of the best. Tonight I used iPhoto to lighten some shadows and do a little retouching to get some distracting weeds out of the way. Then I cropped it to get this composition.

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Waiting for Fireworks (Beverly Marina)

Tonight's adventure was a trip to the Beverly Marina to watch the fireworks. I had never done this before, and in fact, had never walked around the marina, but my daughter led the way. We arrived shortly before dark, and it was beautiful! This is a great vantage point to see fireworks being set off in Salem, Marblehead, Danvers, etc. I made many attempts to take pictures of the fireworks, but wasn't optimistic about the results. (I have tried photographing fireworks before.) We also saw lightening and heard thunder, and we left when it began to rain in earnest. When I got home and transferred my photos into the computer, I saw that I did seem to have an enormous number of failed attempts to photograph fireworks. (Some may have potential, so I plan to look at them more carefully tomorrow.) But I did have some nice photos of the marina. This is one of the best, a view of the bridge to Salem, seen from the marina. This is how it looked right out of my iPhone camera.

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Chicken Collage Day 24 (July 3, 2012)

This afternoon, I went to the studio for a while and worked for about an hour on this project, my chicken collage. I am using pasted paper to create an image of a chicken made up of patterns. This idea suddenly came to while I was looking at the chickens at Long Hill Gardens, here in Beverly, MA. There were lots of different kinds of chickens there, and lots of beautiful patterns in their feathers. Well, this project is taking a long time, but for me, that is always true of collage. Creating the image is fun, and at the beginning the work goes quickly, but there is a lot of slow and painstaking work to implement the idea and finish it. Today I made the focus of my work filling in gaps in the tail feathers with tiny pieces of black and white polka dot pattern. This went slowly, but I can see some progress. And as always, working on this little chicken makes me smile.

Monday, July 02, 2012

Composition 2 with Square Grate Pattern

Last night I created an image with my square grate pattern, using Painter 12's pattern pen. I had so much fun that I decided to do another one. I am trying to take colors that were in the original photo. On this one, I did some selective posterizing to bring out the pattern.

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Composition with Square Grate (Digital "Print")

The images I have been posted for the past few days all began with a photo of a square metal grate that I noticed while I was sitting on a park bench. Yesterday I used Painter 12 to make the image into a pattern (which I am already using to make things like cases for electronic gear on Zazzle.com). Tonight I decided to load the pattern into Painter's pattern pen, and created this "digital print". (It isn't really a print, but these images remind me of mono prints, so that's what I call them.) I use a big "brush" loaded with the pattern, and get the strokes where I want them (not easy!) and then posterize the result. That's a big simplification, but it's the basic idea. Using the pattern pen like this reminds me of running an inked brayer over paper. Anyway, I liked the result, and here it is.

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Square Grate Pattern

Square Grate Pattern by randubnick
Square Grate Pattern, a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

Tonight I used Painter 12 to create a pattern from my posterized photo of a square grate. (This is a kind of "found art" transformed into a digital pattern.) After I had "captured" the pattern, I started a new image and used the paint bucket to fill the new image with this pattern. Then I cropped the result for symmetry. I may try to see what I can do with this pattern on Zazzle.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Square Grate (Posterized)

Square Grate (Posterized) by randubnick
Square Grate (Posterized), a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

This is a posterized version of the image I posted yesterday, just a photo of a square grate made of concrete and metal. I liked the sunlight playing on the geometric shapes. Posterizing (with Painter 12) brought out the purples and greens. I think this has potential as a digital pattern.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Square Grate

Square Grate by randubnick
Square Grate, a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

Last week, I was sitting on a bench at the Cummings Center Pond and noticed this grate made of metal and concrete. I really liked the pattern of rounded squares so I took a picture. It seems crazy to take a picture of the ground when the beautiful pond is right there, but I thought I might be able to do something with this bit of "found art". When I got the photo into the computer, I could see bits of dry grass and other distracting litter, so tonight I started by cleaning up the image a bit with some cut and paste and digital pastel. I also created a posterized version tonight, and I began to think this idea might have potential. More to come.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Sun Breaking Through Clouds (Colorado Springs)

Colorado has been on my mind because of the wildfires. Today I was looking at pictures of my home state, and came across a nice view of the mountains in a photo that I took in Colorado Springs during my last trip home. The mountains looked great in the original photo -- no fire, no smoke, just patches of blue sky and sun breaking through clouds. Although I liked the original photo, I had never used it because there were signs and electric wires getting in the way of the view. So tonight I used Painter to get rid of the wires with some cut-and-paste and digital chalk, and then posterized the image. Here's hoping for bright days ahead for Colorado.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Pale Pink Roses (Digital Woodcut)

Yesterday I used Painter 12 to add a woodcut effect to my photo of pale pink roses. I tried many versions, experimenting with the heaviness setting and the black line width. This was the best of many, many tries. I am still not quite sure of it. But this is what I worked on, so here it is.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Pale Pink Roses (Posterized Photo)

Tonight I used Painter to create this image. This is a posterized version of the photograph I published here last night, pale pink roses for a birthday bouquet.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Pale Pink Roses

Pale Pink Roses by randubnick
Pale Pink Roses, a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

I was looking at roses today, picking out a birthday bouquet, and this one caught my eye. I liked the color, a very creamy pale pink. I liked them so much that I took a quick picture before I bought them. Tonight I used iPhoto to do some basic editing and then cropped the image to get this composition.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Ferns at Bradley Palmer (Digital Woodcut)

This is the same photo that I published here last night (ferns at Bradley Palmer State Park), but I used Painter 12 to apply the woodcut effect. I wanted to see if the black outline would enhance the patterns of the leaves. I also created a version that is lightly posterized, but it is so close to the original photo that I decided not to post it here. However, I might upload it to Zazzle and see what I can do with it.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Ferns at Bradley Palmer (Digitally Edited Photo)

About a week and a half ago (June 12), we stopped at Bradley Palmer State Park, on the way home from the vet. There was a lot to see, but I really liked the patterns and lines in these ferns, so I took some pictures. This image had the best composition, right out of my iPhone camera. But it needed a little clean up (a few dried leaves, etc.), so I opened the image in Painter and used digital pastel to make these problems less visible. While I had Painter open, I also created a posterized version and a woodcut version, which I plan to post here over the next few days.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Colorado Drawings at Open Studios

Last week, for open studios at Porter Mill, I framed up four Colorado drawings. (This is a new series of multimedia drawings created from an old sketchbook from a trip to my home state in the 1980s.) I was running out of wall space, so I put them in four small easels on the work counter. It was interesting to see how they looked when they were displayed together.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Aspen (Framed)

Aspen (Framed) by randubnick
Aspen (Framed), a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

Here's one more of my Colorado drawings, framed up for Porter Mill open studios last weekend. This one is a drawing of Aspen, based on a pencil sketch from a small sketchbook that I used during a trip to my home state in the 1980s. I have been scanning, copying, and tracing the sketches so that i can then draw into the image with colored pencil, fine line marker, and colored chalk and conte crayon.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Dillon (Framed)

Dillon (Framed) by randubnick
Dillon (Framed), a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

This mixed media drawing is based on a sketch that I made near Dillon, Colorado, during a trip through the mountains in the 1980s. I have been making copies of the sketches and then adding color with markers, colored conte crayon, and pastel. Last week I put them in frames for open studios at Porter Mill, here in Beverly, MA.

Monday, June 18, 2012

To Leadville (Framed Drawing)

Last week I put some of my Colorado drawings in frames for Open Studio at Porter Mill. This one is "To Leadville" and is probably my favorite of the set so far. (These drawings are based on drawings from an old sketchbook that I used on a trip to Colorado, back in the 80s. I scan them, print copies, trace the drawing into a new sketchbook, and then draw into the images with marker, colored pencil, and pastel or conte crayon.)

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Dad and Me (Digitally Edited and Posterized Family Photo)

Yesterday I was looking for pictures of my dad for a Father's Day project. I was rifling through albums trying to find one of my favorite old photos, and then realized I was looking right at it, in a little plastic cube frame displayed on the shelf where I keep my albums. This is a photo of my dad with me on my birthday. The picture was taken by my uncle, Isaac Fitterman, a very talented photographer (professional name Jay Phillips) who took many great photos of the whole family! Well, this particular copy in the cube frame was much loved, and as a result was was much loved and the copy in the cube frame was worn, bent, and cracked. No doubt there is another copy somewhere (and I probably have the negative) but I decided to use this one. So I scanned it into my computer as a color photo, and used iPhoto's retouch tool to take out the worst of the cracks and marks. Then I used Painter to posterize it, which created the pink and green tones, and added a little sparkle to my ruffled blouse. Then I cropped it a little to get this composition. So this image is a collaboration with my Uncle Ike (who was a wonderful uncle to me), and a way to spend a little time thinking about my dad on Father's Day.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Sunset Celebration (In Porter Mill Gallery)

This is one of my oil bar paintings, and it is currently hanging in the Porter Mill Gallery. As part of open studios, every artist has a chance to display art work in the gallery, and this is the painting I submitted. I liked what the gallery lighting did for this painting, so while I was at the reception tonight, I took a quick picture.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Lots of Strawberries

Lots of Strawberries by randubnick
Lots of Strawberries, a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

Yesterday's post was a digital sketch of strawberries that I created using Painter 12. I also created a pattern from my strawberry sketch, and then used the pattern to create this image. It might be fun to use this pattern to make things on Zazzle.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Digital Strawberries

Digital Strawberries by randubnick
Digital Strawberries, a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

Last week I picked some strawberries and it really makes you understand that one of the functions of color is to help us eat! If you want to find strawberries, you have to look for flashes of red among the green leaves. And if you want to tell if the strawberries are ripe, you have to look for bright red throughout the fruit. So color is necessary and delicious! Tonight I used Painter 12 to create this digital sketch of strawberries. I also used this sketch to create a pattern, which I plan to post here tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Red Roses in the Shade (Posterized Photo)

The other day, during a walk at the Cummings Center Pond, I took some pictures of some bright red roses growing under a tree. They looked great in the afternoon light. But I didn't like the cluttered background. Tonight I used Painter to do some digital cut and paste on the background, and then posterized the image. I still wasn't happy with it, so I transferred in into iPhoto and cropped out the background, leaving this close-in view.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Clematis on the Fence (Digital Woodcut)

Tonight I used Painter 12 to create this digital woodcut from yesterday's post, my photo of purple clematis on a chain-link fence. I knew I would have to use trial and error to get the right amount of black line. But I kept losing the rich purple color. So I created a color set from the original image, and then used that color set to make the woodcut. It worked!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Clematis on the Fence

Clematis on the Fence by randubnick
Clematis on the Fence, a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

Today I was doing yard work when I saw the clematis in bloom on the chain link fence. They looked so good that I stopped and took a few pictures. This is one of the best. Tonight I cropped the original in iPhoto to get this composition.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Colorado Drawings "Aspen Again"

This drawing is based on a little sketch somewhere near Aspen, back in the 80's. It is part of a series of drawings based on a small (5"x 8") sketchbook that I took with me on a trip home to Colorado during the 1980s. I was drawing from the passenger seat of a moving car, just trying to capture the lines of the mountains, and sometimes I wrote down the location, as in this one. For this series, I am scanning the sketches into my computer and printing out copies which I then use to trace into a new sketchbook. (I put the print-out copy over graphite paper and trace over the lines.) The original sketch is posted here on April 25th. This is my second attempt at a drawing based on the Aspen sketch. (The first one was posted here on May 3). As with the earlier attempt, the color scheme for this drawing is inspired by the accidental inspiration of a printer malfunction when I printed out the copy for tracing. The printer heads weren't working and instead of black and white, I got turquoise and white, with faint red lines. (See post for April 27th.) For this second version, I wanted to maintain the accidental color scheme of turquoise and red, but this time I left more white area so as to give more emphasis to the lines of the mountains. If you want to see other drawings in this series, search my posts for "Colorado Drawings" and "Colorado Sketchbook".

Saturday, June 09, 2012

Bright Azaleas (Digital Woodcut)

Last night I used Painter 12 to create this digital woodcut version of my photo of bright pink azaleas, posted here a few days ago. I fiddled with the controls to get the amount of black line that I wanted.

Friday, June 08, 2012

Bright Azaleas (Posterized Photograph)

Two days ago, I posted a photo of bright pink azaleas, taken May 20th at the Cummings Center Pond. Tonight I used Painter to do a little digital cleanup and the apply a posterized effect to the photo, and here it is. I also created a version with a digital woodcut effect, and plan to post it soon.

Thursday, June 07, 2012

Stone Spiral (Digital Woodcut)

Last night I used Painter 12 to create this digital woodcut from a photo that I took a few weeks ago. We were walking around outside the Danver's Yacht Club after a Mother's Day Brunch. I was admiring the pattern, so I took a picture. Last night, I went to Zazzle.com and uploaded this image, and then used it to make some guy gifts, suitable for Father's Day. (If you want to see what I made, go to www.zazzle.com/randiart

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Bright Azaleas

Bright Azaleas by randubnick
Bright Azaleas, a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

This is a photo that I took back on May 20, bright azaleas in bloom at the Cummings Center Pond, here in Beverly, MA. This is the image just as it came out of my iPhone camera.

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Chicken Collage Day 23 (June 5, 2012)

Lately, I have seen a lot of birds: chickens at Green Meadows Farm, guinea hens at Long Hill Gardens, and this morning, two big wild turkeys walking around on the lawn across the street. I took this as a cosmic reminder that it was time to work on my chicken collage, so I went up to the studio this afternoon. I am making a chicken out of patterns cut out of paper, and although the idea came to me all of a sudden while I was looking at some chickens, it is taking a while to finish it (my usual pattern with collage). Today I worked on filling in black and white pattern in the tail feathers. Cutting and fitting the tiny pieces is a lot like working on a miniature jig-saw puzzle. The work is tedious and it's hard to see progress, but I really like the way this collage turning out, so I am going to stick with it.

Monday, June 04, 2012

Purple Violas at Green Meadows Farm

Another photo of a window box that I was admiring at Green Meadows Farm last week. I am always surprised to see violas, and they always look surprised to see me! Tonight I cropped this image in iPhoto, and then did a little cleanup with digital pastel in Painter 12.

Sunday, June 03, 2012

Necklace with Wood, Reed, and Bells

My break today was creating this necklace out of wooden beads, incised reed, and antique coiled metal bells. I put the design together on a soft green suede cord, using knots as part of the design. It's fun to wear because the bells make gentle music when you move.

Saturday, June 02, 2012

Climbing Rose at Long Hill (Digital Woodcut)

Yesterday's post was a photo I took of these climbing roses at Long Hill Gardens, here in Beverly, MA. Today's post is a "digital woodcut" that I created from that photo, using Painter 12. I had to experiment with the settings to get what I wanted. I also used the "magic wand" selection tool to make the woodcut effect heavier on the brick wall, but using a lighter touch on the roses.

Friday, June 01, 2012

Climbing Roses at Long Hill

This is a photo that I took today at Long Hill Gardens, here in Beverly, MA. (This used to be a private estate, but now the house and grounds are owned by the Trustees of the Reservation.) As usually, I didn't think there was time for a walk at Long Hill: tight schedule, too much to do. I have learned that when I am thinking that way, it's a sure sign that I need a break! I am glad I went to Long Hill today because the weather was lovely and lots of flowers are blooming, especially roses. I saw these pink roses climbing up a little balcony, so I took a picture. I liked way the roses look against contrasting textures and patterns. Tonight I also used Painter 12 to create a version with a woodcut effect; I plan to post it here tomorrow.