All Spruced Up!

Linda and I did a little sprucing up (pun intended) in front of the church for the Christmas season.

We started with a live Hinoki cypress in the big urn and kept it simple with just a few red stick and berries. We'll find a place on the property to plant the cypress in the spring.  

Words and Paintings

This is another original watercolor that was uncovered while treasure hunting at Connie's.  I am completely in awe of people who can take what look like effortless strokes of paint and turn them into something so beautiful. Well done Connie!

The Birthday Frogs!

When it's someone's birthday month in my family my little party frogs are out. They're kind of silly...but they make me smile. Paul's birthday is tomorrow (Sunday)...and I have enjoyed the little frogs all of November in the corner of my kitchen.

Happy Birthday Paul!

And Happy Birthday to my brother Ed....today!

And I also am enjoying a little joy!  A sweet little heart I got at our local "Crafty Yankee" gift shop.

Still Beautiful!

The bloom was pretty much the same today but still very beautiful. I didn't notice the little bit of yellow on the ends before.  It will be fun to see it in a week when we come back!

You just have to enjoy the little things in life!!!

 

Digital Collage

I'm kind of hooked on digital art. And since I am in the middle of a slow overhaul of my craft spaces it's working out pretty well. And my computer is always with me when I'm in Maine. This trip I brought my felt garland to work on....but I didn't have some of what I needed....so it was digital art time...again!


I did this silly little line drawing of the bookshelf in my living room a few weeks ago. It's not all that great...but I liked it better when I started playing with it digitally.


Thanksgiving morning I was sharing some art stuff with my niece Clarke, including Stephanie Levy's collage/drawing work....and she said...you could do that with your drawing.  So here it is...my version.




I included a few images of bottles....the blue ones are from this very early post. And here they are up close.

Clarke...by the way...is quite an artist. I will share some her amazing line drawings at some point soon.



Here are a few on Stephanie's collages. I like the mix of drawing and collage.  I will play with it some more at some point.

Bloom Progress....

I can't help myself...I had to share the succulent bloom today. I think it's just beautiful...nature is so amazing! And I love how it waited to bloom until we got up here.  A real joy!

Yesterday's photo....and yes...I will be reporting in tomorrow before we head back.

Gratitude

We are in Maine for Thanksgiving....and I was thrilled to find my succulent just starting to bloom! We had a wonderful family day complete with the moonrise over Willard beach.

In no way does this picture do it justice!  It was a mild evening for November...so it was lovely at the beach.

Joyfully Thankful!

I saw this delightful fall wreath on my Tumblr feed and I wanted to try one of my own. The inspiration wreath can be found on a website called Society 6. 

 

I took a photo of a piece of blue scrapbook paper for the background and imported it into a Pages document. Then I did this simple little drawing with my new colored pencils and took a picture of it too. Using the instant alpha tool I isolated the image and copied, resized, rotated, and pasted it several times into the wreath shape on the blue paper image.

I thought it needed a little different color and texture so I made these yellowish leaves to tuck here and there.

Happy Thanksgiving!  I have much to be thankful for!

A Splash of Color

Hand picked Maine cranberries...getting cooked up for Thanksgiving.

My friend Patsy has wild cranberries growing at her coastal Maine home. Every few years in the fall the cranberries cover the ground in the low wet spots....and we stock up for the holidays. Yum!




They are so pretty nested in the grass and moss.

Be The Best....

version of yourself! 

Artwork done by Laura Gaffke.  I love the mixed media border.

I love this piece in her "above and below" series.  

It makes me smile.

Playing With Letters

I absolutely love it when something on my blog inspires someone.

My friend Anne had been thinking about a project for her great-nephew using his name and images starting with each letter. She had done this before manually collaging cutouts onto large block letters...but wanted to do it digitally this time. She saw my post on "playing with leaves" and it inspired her to try it using "Pages." Using the "instant alpha" tool she copied and isolated all the images. Then she resized and arranged them on the letters. After a simple e-mail exchange asking for advise....she came up with the final product you see above.  I love it! You made my day Anne!

What can I help you with?

Anne and I did a year long art exchange a while back.  Here is part one....here is part two.

Splashy Gift

My thoughtful husband came home a few days ago with a new set of colored pencils for me....he thought I had been neglecting my art.

So tonight I put my feet up and did a little doodling and coloring...I need a lot of practice...but I had a good time.

Thanks Paul!

Greeted By Radishes

As you enter Connie's new space...you are greeted by this sweet radish display right inside the door.  Yes, Connie did the watercolor.

And this one too....another original watercolor that was uncovered as we treasure hunted.

It's hard to tell from this picture...but one of the radishes is actually a cut out from some sort of red paper.  It gives it interesting character and texture.

A Splash of Color

I just ordered this puzzle...aren't the colors amazing?  I may have to tuck it away until next fall...I love having a few in the wings.

Marc's Mosaics...

....and so much more!

Last weekend I attended a party at a beautiful home full of art....bright, colorful, whimsical art. There was something to look at in every nook and cranny. Even the rugs were handmade works of art. Here's a tiny glimpse at Marc's eclectic collection.

Marc and his husband are art collectors...but Marc is also a mosaic artist. Although for now he's a realtor...which keeps him pretty busy. I first knew about his work through my friend Jane who has a few of his pieces. This blue and white china mirror hangs in her new bathroom and this multi-colored one hangs in her hallway.

(The "mirror selfie" is an unfortunate byproduct of taking pictures of mirrors. Here I have on my painting shirt...)






While touring Marc's home I enjoyed seeing his mosaics scattered throughout.  My favorite was his "found object" mirror hanging in the living room...so many interesting bits of this and that.

I also love this beautiful table top...the colors are so rich!

Thanks Marc...for a great party and letting me photograph your art!

Today!

Pooh and Piglet
generally
get it right!

Thanks Linda
for sending
this to me!

Today should
be everyone's
favorite day!

Playing With Leaves

These are digital images of actual leaves I picked up and pressed. I've done this type of thing before several times...but I wanted to try and show a little more about the process. I really enjoy playing around with digital art...maybe you will too. I would love to help.

The possibilities are endless!!!

I pressed a few beautiful leaves a while ago....and just remembered to check them. Because I'm easily distracted that led to a little playing around on the computer...which led to this little "Pages" tutorial.

I thought I might want to use the images of the leaves in various artwork and cards....so I needed to isolate them.  I started by photographing each leaf on a dark background.

Next I imported each photo into a pages document.  When you have an image selected you can manipulate it in a variety of ways.  I chose the feature called "instant alpha" so I could eliminate the background.  Putting it on a solid dark background makes it easier.



You can see below I have already eliminated the background on two leaves...and I'm just starting the third.

When you you are in instant alpha mode you get this little square. You drag the square and it grabs all the color that is the same as what's in the view finder and eliminates it. If your background has different colors...you just keep repeating until you are satisfied. Now you can see why a plain, distinctively different background makes it easier.

Here I was grabbing a little black shadow that was along the edge of a leaf. That tiny little square inside the square is what is detecting the color so you can isolate and remove tiny little bits. Unfortunately on some of the leaves the instant alpha also eliminated the stem...but I had a plan.

I copied and pasted the red leaf and masked out the leaf leaving that floating stem you see.

Then I coped and pasted the stem next the the stemless leaves. 

I selected both the leaf and the new stem and grouped them so now they could be moved and manipulated as one unit.

Once you have the leaves....they can be copied, resized, turned, flipped, and used in any document or photo. These little falling leaves could be made into note cards or stationary...and they're MY leaves.  

One last experiment...a starburst of fall leaves on a beautiful blue sky.