Hanging Around

Playing with what's hanging around. And starting to feel the old pull of bead work. Coral RED is on my mind, mixed with my always favorite turquoise. Had the day off and did some digging in my bead stash. Mulling ideas. Interest doesn't always mean action and I'm doing a bit of project juggling right now. Who isn't?

Sketching: Before and After

I'm following up on a comment I made while responding to Taos Sunflower in an earlier post, about sketching, post processing changes in Photoshop Elements and providing before and after images. The sketch above is in its original state. (My sketchy thoughts of what Tinkerbell or some other faerie might look like.)

Taken a few steps further in Elements, she leaves me with the impression she is emerging from a tree. A magical woodland faerie? To arrive in her woody state she went through a few processes, most I cannot remember I'm afraid. I tend to apply and remove lighting, filters and make other changes in rapid succession, until I hit on something that feels right. Then on to the next round until I'm comfortable with the results.

Sorry for the signature across the faces. Just discovered my copyright protected images from both blogs are being grabbed and posted in the 'google images' area without my permission. Hopefully this will be a deterrent while I work on why that seems OK to google.

Falling Down

Falling down and all around!

Sketch Practice

Sketch practice with a couple of filters added to darken it. I tend to draw too lightly. Gee, wonder if that has anything to do with not really knowing how to do it? Uh, yep. And that is why it's called practice. She arrived through the pencils imagination but the dress is a version of one I had back in the sixties. Chocolate brown velour. Soooo comfortable. My mom hated it. Well, it didn't exactly have that dark neck to shoulder portion. Actually it started about where that ends, with gathers. Hey, it was the sixties. If mom's keeping an eye on me from out there in the universe, I suspect she is much happier with the revised version.

Seattle Sunday

On one of my every-other-week Sunday morning drives, the boat ramp at Manchester grabbed me again. It was a really foggy morning. As I stood there the brisk winds quickly moved the fog along. Off in the distance Seattle began to appear with hints of early light on the buildings. Soon the fog formed one large bank behind the city.

My camera can't pick up Seattle with clarity at that distance. This photo was cropped bringing it closer than it actually is from Manchester. Soft, out of focus photos really can be some of the most fun to play with. The white section at the city base is a departing ferry. Nothing like enjoying a Seattle Sunday without involving the freeway.

At Longmire there Sits

In Rainier National park at Longmire there sits a wonderful community hall back off and away. It is log built with a craftsman's copper lights hanging from the ceiling on racks and around the room as sconces. The lights are delightfully tipsy and irregular. A huge rock fire place rests at one end of the room extending to the full height of the tall walls. When the fire is crackling and the coppery lamps cast light on the log structure, clocks turn back. Or so it seems.