Warmth

One of the things I love about our new house is our living room/mancave.  We no longer have a formal living room, but instead have an open floor plan with a “great room” (we never call it that)- where we sit by the fire in the evening and watch TV.  It’s designed for comfort and warmth, with recliner couches, a fireplace with a gas log, and a TV. I have added flowers and some decorative touches to dilute its mancave-ness; it suits me as well as the male members of the family.

This photo shows my gerberas in front of a lantern (with a battery operated candle in case of power outages). You can see fireplace bokeh in the background.

25Jan2014-1699-EditTextured with ecru by Kim Klassen.

Melinda2 Comments

Little Visitor

This little bird stayed at our sliding glass door for the longest time; I’m not sure if he could see in or was studying his reflection. Eventually, another came around, and they both flew off.

Waiting to see which of my friends will tell me what kind of bird it is. . .

10Jan2014-1435-Edit

Textured with several textures from Kim Klassen’s waterfront collection.

Melinda5 Comments

Beyond Beyond 38- Triangle Composition

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I used more of my finds from my walk last weekend to create this still life, using a triangle composition, which was part of this week’s Beyond Beyond lesson. I then textured it with magicfilm, one of Kim Kassen’s magic textures from her Cloth and Paper collection.

Another part of the lesson was on using the Wacom tablet, which inspired me to hook mine up again.  I normally use it a lot, but I had not really arranged my desk the way I like it since I moved in- and the tablet wasn’t being used regularly.  I have carpal tunnel and other hand issues, so using a mouse isn’t a good idea for me.  My desk is now clean and organized, and my Wacom is back where it belongs.

Linking up today with Texture Tuesday

Melinda10 Comments

I Heart Christmas

My talented and creative friend, Debbie, made this sweet ceramic heart for our Christmas tree this year. In fact, if you walk around my house, you will see quite a few items handmade by Debbie! We are so lucky! ❤

7Dec2013-0388-Edit

Textured with rue, magic film, and desert from Kim Klassen’s cloth and paper collection.

Linking up with Texture Tuesday.

Melinda8 Comments

Snowy Marigold

Our first snow seems to have finished off the last surviving bunch of marigolds, unwatered and forgotten, but still blooming out front.

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Textured with several layers of Kim Klassen’s rue, altered to have golden tones.

Linking up with Texture Tuesday.

Melinda4 Comments

Looking at Ice

Being able to experience life through the eyes of a two (almost THREE!) year old was one of the pleasures of spending a week with my grandsons at their home in Yellowstone.  The snow was almost gone when we got there, but Henry had a great time stomping on ice and watching the cracks form as we took a walk one day.

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Textured with two layers each of cool grunge and sybil, from Kim Klassen for Texture Tuesday.

Melinda6 Comments

The Leaf

My husband found this beautiful leaf in our driveway and brought it to me, knowing I would want to photograph it.  I’m still experimenting with the newer version of Photoshop that I got through my Creative Cloud subscription, so I had a lot of fun adding an artistic filter and several of Kim’s textures, including two magic versions of 1301 I “created”, KK2, and partings.

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Melinda5 Comments

Monarch

The Desert Botanical Garden also has a butterfly garden; at this time, it was all monarchs, which were great fun to photograph.

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The last one was textured with a sample from Kim Klassen’s Waterfront collection for Texture Tuesday.

Melinda7 Comments

Key

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I spent part of today working on some lessons in the Photoshop Artistry class I’ve just started.  I decided to combine a topic in my Flickr daily challenge group (lock and key) with Texture Tuesday and some of the skills I’m trying to learn (and re-learn) in Photoshop.  The fun part was trying different adjustments and filters and taking snapshots in the History Panel- a technique I tried a long, long time ago and had never really added to my workflow.  Snapshots! I had totally forgotten about using them, and they are a quite useful tool when trying to do something artsy.  This photo has a painted effect AND a texture.  I added text- and ended up having more trouble with that than anything else- go figure.

texture= Kim Klassen’s granny’s cupboard

Melinda10 Comments

The Camera in my Purse

After the first year of doing my Project 365, I stopped carrying my camera with me all the time.  And I always seem to come across beautiful scenes like this one, when all I have is my iPhone. I used to turn up my nose at iPhone shots, but no more.  It is a perfectly adequate little camera, certainly better than not taking a photo at all- so, if my big girl camera is at home, out comes the iPhone.

autumn-Edit

I added a texture (Kim’s reentry) for Texture Tuesday, but the basics of the photo (including the colors) are just as recorded on the camera.

Melinda3 Comments

Buzzing

We don’t seem to have many birds in our yard right now. The hummingbirds are gone, and there are just ravens and some little mystery birds flitting here and there. But we do have bees and wasps. . .

21Oct2013-6809-Edit

 

 

I desaturated this photo, because I didn’t find the colors pleasing, and then added a bit of split toning in Lightroom.  Because it is Tuesday, I added one of Kim Klassen’s textures, 1301 (a favorite of mine), which I also desaturated.  If you go to kimklassencafe.com, you will find links to some beautiful images using her textures.

Melinda6 Comments