Finding My Way Off Of The Couch . . .

As you may have noticed I have not blogged since Friday.  That is because I have been sick since Saturday evening.  And today is the first day I am finally feeling better.  It started with a sore throat that I brushed off to allergies which progressed pretty quickly to a full blown bad cold with a fever that has kept me couch bound with my puff's plus tissues for the past four days.  

In other news Rocky had surgery his neutering surgery yesterday so we are both resting.  Although I seem to be wanting to rest more than him.  He is of course bouncing back much more quickly than me!

I have not painted in almost 2 weeks which always makes me nervous.  You know, like I will never want to do it again.  Silly girl.  But I did manage to play with some iphoneography which I have to share with you today.   

The above image started out as this . . . 

I put it into Snapseed, one of my fav iphone photo apps and love the result.  Cool makeover that I hope you enjoy!

Hope you are all well!!  I have missed visiting all of you!  I will make my way around soon!

xo

Flowers In The Sun . . .

A Beautiful Surprise . . .

Yesterday was one of those days.  It was a rough morning, there was a bit of a crying meltdown, some anxiety, and a hyper puppy.  I had planned on meeting a friend for lunch.  I didn't want to go.  I was too bummed out.  

Then I thought that it may help me feel better, getting out of the house, enjoying a nice visit with my friend.  So off I went.  

These flowers were a belated birthday gift and brightened my day.  I had an amazing time. I think sometimes the universe sets things up to give you what you need, what will help, what can heal . . . 

Orchid Love . . . A Before And After

                                         

I have a friend who just loves orchids.  I am not an orchid person but when I saw these in the store the other day I just couldn't resist getting them for her.  She loved them.  I took some photos of the orchids in her office.  I was struck by the blue color.  I  had never seen them before.  Neither had she.  Here is the original image . . . 

                                                                      

So gorgeous!  Well, despite how pretty they already were I wanted to amp them up a bit in photoshop.  So I took this image, added some texture, and inverted the image (which I often love to do).  Despite my love of the blue I really love the changes in colors that happened from inverting.  So cool!  

Thought you would enjoy the before and after.  I will be adding the top image as a print to my etsy shop soon!

Hope you are all doing well.  Me and my arm are still on the mend.  I know, its been so long already!  Hard to believe my surgery was april 23.  I had another issue over the weekend with more oozing and it ended up being a stitch trying to fight its way out.  So yesterday it was back to the doc to get it clipped!  I am hoping this is the last leg of this journey.  I haven't spent this much time at a doctor in 11 years!  UGH!  Anyway, it looks much better now and I am looking forward to saying goodbye to bandaids very soon!  lol

xo

Back To Still Life . . .

I am still enjoying cardboard as a substrate. This piece I ripped off one of my watercolor paper pads and collaged lots of paper onto it. Then I gessoed it and began sketching. I used a marks all pencil and some graphite and attempted a vase with flowers as you can see. What I struggled with though was getting the flowers to not look like boobs! lol After much frustration I think I succeeded. It is still amazing to me that once you draw that line behind your object it immediately gives it a surface to rest on and establishes depth.

I used some watercolor crayons along with the marks all pencil on this piece. I love to draw and am discovering how much I like to combine it with painting. Of course for me this piece was just not complete without the dripping. And I think I may have gone a bit overboard with drips but I like it.

I am sharing this over at Sunday Sketches. Hope you are all enjoying the weekend!

And thanks so much to all of you who commented on my last post!! I was overwhelmed with all of your lovely words!

xo

Watercolor Flowers And Drips!

"Its a lovely life"

watercolors and pitt pen on 5x7 journal page

As you can see I am still having fun with watercolors. Most of you know by now my need for instant gratification. And that is some of what watercolors do for me. I saw this image in my mind when I was in bed last night trying to fall asleep. That is always the time when my mind races, ideas appear, and words come to life. Of course the same thing tends to happen while I am driving! And always when I am not near a pen or too lazy to get out of bed and record any of it.

But luckily I was able to recall this image when I woke this morning. Although it didn't come out exactly the way I hoped (I need to work on my flower skills!) I do like it. I think I need to get a bigger journal though, the 5x7 is just not enough room for me especially when I love to smear and get messy with this medium. You can see the flowers are just busting out of the edges. lol

I am sharing this over at Paint Party Friday today. Won't you come by and join us? :)

Click HERE!

Celebrating 2 Milestones. . .

I meant to write this post yesterday but time quickly got away from me! Yesterday was a double celebration for me. It was my 8th wedding anniversary and my 10th year cancer free!! Hard to believe all the years that have sped by. When my first husband died almost 17 years ago I never imagined that I could find love again. And when I was diagnosed with cancer it seemed like wishful thinking that I would ever reach this milestone.

Despite the fact that Lou had a long day at work he surprised me when he came home with these beautiful roses! One rose for each year we have been married. Lovely colors of pink and lavender which I had never seen before!

It was a quiet night of pasta , brownies, a movie, and a dance. We watched one of our favorite movies (at my request). . . "The Notebook". Then we made a toast and danced in the living room to our wedding song "At Last" by Etta James. The dance is a tradition that I began a few years ago.

This photo was my gift to him. I altered one of our wedding photos with sepia and texture adding the title of our song. I put it in an espresso colored frame to bring out the sepia tones. He really like it. He loves the vintage look!

I was glad to spend the evening with him quietly at home. I feel so grateful to have such a wonderful man that supports all that I do and encourages me each step of the way. I never imagined it possible after all I had lost. I tell him it must have been written in the stars . . .

Texture Tuesday . . . Orchids

Its that time again my friends! Wow, do the weeks just fly on by! This week Kim' challenge was to share any image we wanted with our choice of texture. I choice this orchid photo I shot at my friend's office. She loves them! I added Kim's Luminous texture. I love it! I have used it quite alot lately! I added one layer in soft light and one in multiply. Then I took down the saturation to get rid of some of the yellow tones. I do like the softness it has with this texture. When I first saw Luminous I knew exactly which photo I wanted to try it with first!

Here is the original photo . . .

If you would like to join us or just check out the other lovely photos for this weeks challenge just hop over to Kim Klassen's blog HERE!!

Texture Tuesday Fun!

This week the challenge was to use Kim's "sweet treat" and "silence" textures. I have added the original image below. I took this picture at the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx last year. Normally I am super scared of bees but thanks to the zoom lens on my canon I was able to capture this lovely shot!

If you want to join us and play with textures check out the button along my sidebar!

Wishing you all a lovely Tuesday!

PS . . . Thanks to all who commented on my still life in my previous post! I am so happy you like it just as much as I do! xo

Still Life Is Finished!!

Thank you all so much for your supportive comments on my last post. Again I feel so grateful to have a wonderful community to share those feelings with who really "get it"!

I am excited to share my still life once again now that its complete. I lost count of how many times I painted over the flowers! That was quite frustrating but then I tried to realize that it is all a part of the learning process. Too bad my left brain is always working overtime! If you look at my last post you will notice that I changed the table so it didn't look as if the vase and candle were hanging onto the edge. I wanted more depth and with practice was able to achieve a look I was happy with. I did however need to step away from the canvas before I reworked it too much and potentially ruined all I had accomplished.

Hope you are all enjoying this day. I am off to get some dinner soon with hubby and then we are going to take the pug for a walk. The bad storms we had last night have left nice breezy weather behind!

Wild Flowers

As we are on the verge fall's official arrival I wanted to share some pictures I took in the spring! Our house is across the street from a beautiful reservoir. I spend alot of time down by the water since they recently built a paved walk trail that runs right along its shore. I grabbed my camera and headed across the street to capture a few shots of these pretty purple wild flowers.

This is the view I can see from the bottom of our driveway.

These pictures were taken early morning with my Canon D10. I love to take macro shots and want to get a macro lens for my Canon XTi but I need to save up some dough for that one!

I did however get some great macro shots with the smaller D10.

And then I wanted to get even closer!

These are such tiny flowers but so pretty and what a vibrant shade of purple!

Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Botanical Gardens

I was born in the Bronx. That is where both sides of my family are from. I lived there till I was 8 years old and then we moved to the burbs. My grandma continued to live in the Bronx and it was always fun to go visit her on the weekend. She would take us on the bus, we would go the Bronx Zoo and Botanical Gardens. I had not been back to Botanical Gardens since I was a teenager. My husband and I went last fall. It was a beautiful day and of course I brought my camera. I love flowers. I enjoy taking pictures of them and macro shots at that. This first one I had to be quick with my camera because I am terrified of bees! And I needed to get super close for this macro shot!

The colors were beautiful and we enjoyed walking around. I love the richness of the purple in this shot.

There was something pretty around every corner. I thought these looked so interesting. They looked like lavender cotton balls to me.

This orange flower struck me with its deep color. I am looking forward to returning this fall when the weather is cool and crisp and walking amongst all its splendor . . .