clouds at eventide

YellowClouds

Recently my husband got me an iPhone, a used older model for emergencies or quick contact when away from home. I’m still new with this technology. One of the things that intrigued me is the camera and the quality of the photos. I’ve seen others using Instagram for processing and sharing photos and like some of the results I see out there though I’m not interested in the sharing aspects. I am just trying it out. The above photo is one I’m rather pleased with, a capture of the southwest sky last week from the back deck, and using some of the Instagram filters. (You would not like the black rain clouds around here now!)

Clouds_Denmark

While thinking about posting the top photo, I came across an odd envelope tucked in with some old Christmas cards. Inside were some photos of my children when very young as well as the above scenic shot, which I think was taken decades ago on a beach in Denmark. The ‘instagram’ look, caused by aging I know, made it a timely find so without any processing I decided to add it here to compare.

These are to also show that I do look up at the sky often, not just down at what is underfoot, as I’m often teased about! And I like the old English word eventide, just right for these images, I think.

year’s photos

seedhead_sepia

I have been going through this year’s photos and even some from years past. I found many that did not get posted on this blog and some that I ended up playing with just for fun such as this one.

I still have to decide on an image for the annual Christmas card. The other possibility is to make something from the print proofs in that pile in the studio… hmmm…

paper leaves

PaperLeaf

2PaperLeaves

inspired by the season
a little play with scissors and a print proof on paper

variations

July’s long heatwave (often up to 35c with the humidity) has made me lazy
watering the garden mornings and evenings
much reading of books, from very good to some disappointing
a cooler weekend with a bit of rain restored some energy
and an urge to play a little more with a favourite image

HandWithMagnoliaLeaf_invert2

here are a couple of variations on the black and white hand with magnolia leaf

HandWithMagnoliaLeaf_invert3

now it’s back to hot weather and laziness and more books
sorry for being so quiet here – I’m on vacation time
hope you are all having a great summer!

ten years

TEN

Happy 10th Birthday to my dear blog!

You are my artist’s diary, sketchbook, photo album, scrapbook and catch-all of impressions and inspirations.

You have been the medium for making many amazing friends and connections around this globe for which I’m deeply thankful.

Ten years is a short time in a human’s life, but long in this technology. How long will this last, I wonder?

quiet

HydrangeaSeedpods

A picture is a poem without words. – Horace

You don’t take a photograph, you make it. – Ansel Adams

winter petals revisited

HydrangeaScan1B

HydrangeaScan2B

HydrangeaScan3

I enjoyed some further play with the faded and dry hydrangea flower head which I had photographed and posted previously. This time I used the scanner and dealt with two challenges: the shallow depth of field for a very three-dimensional object and the lack of lighting behind it, that is ‘above’ the flower head sitting on the scanner bed. Thus parts of the images are out of focus as well as missing those sharply delineated tracings in the petals that you saw in the previous photographs.

It was like working with different beasts of another dimension. Also for the third image, I shone a desk lamp down very close in the hopes of some backlighting but instead captured a bit of the movement of the scanner bar (or whatever it’s called) moving across, resulting in some interesting distortions in the background. In the end, I grew to like these a lot and now wonder how they would print, for they are a much higher resolution than the digicamera photographs.

hand with tissue

hand_with_tissue2

One idea leads to another as I play with the scanner. I find myself returning to the idea of a series of smaller prints of images of hands with objects, like these ones. When and if I have enough of a collection, I may print these with my home printer.

As many readers know, I have done numerous ‘hand’ images on this blog. Some became a series of large prints in the HANDS series which I finished last year. These may be most quickly seen all together in the gallery if you have not already seen them.

untitled

UntitledInkjetPrint

Another found image, not a photo this time but a small inkjet print. It was tucked amidst some Christmas card tests from my early digital printing days. I don’t remember what this is about, probably just some playing around while learning. I now find it rather intriguing to look at some fifteen years or so years after making it. Sort of like looking at one’s old drawings from art school days.

two weavings

SwissWeaving

Today I have thinking again about possible designs for this year’s Christmas cards. I usually like something red and something that has a bit of a story and is a bit personal. We have many weavings in our home, many were gifts to us or inherited from my mother. I thought I’d play with some scans of sections from a few of them. Above is one that came from Switzerland, I think. It is a reversible table runner. The other side has the red colour dominant.

FinnWeaving

This one is a section from an old Finnish weaving that had been in my parents’ home as long as I can remember but I don’t recall who made it and gifted it. I would not be surprised if it came from a great-aunt who was an amazing weaver, but there are others in the family as well. This is a small wall-hanging, also reversible, but with two layers, a very old traditional technique I believe. The design areas are woven together while the top edge is sewn together. The bottom edge has a fringe.

To me, both of these are like children’s storybook illustrations. So, I then became inspired to try a card design with one of them – can you guess which one?