"fall.there"

NZ fall pictures, the egg shaken until scrambled light and fluffy. Pre.embryo, post.john. Post no bills, just nice comments. Or be rude, I can.take.it.on.the.shin.

A kissing cousin is in the basement.

Cloudy Saturday morning in New York - glad celebration is over so now I, moi - yo, can celebrate.

Have a joyous week.start. We have to stop callng it an end.

"fire.worked"

This one has been kicked around for a while and has finally boiled over. I assume it is based on a sample but right now closer to a Vienna sausage than anything from my creative compatriots. It may have a wee bit of NZ summer sky....

Never ask what is in sausage. Or what goes into Uncle John's famous canned fresh bird soup, Lisa.

This image's first cousin is in the lint.trap.

God bless Tiny Tim. Not sujre why that idea popped into my mind.....

Somehow, I was selected as an art blog of the day....go here....thank you.

"tree.three.we"

"wax.wing.study"

Pulled out of leftovers, not quite a turkey sandwich at the cusp of thanks.giving.

Growing up you always wanted a piece of turkey before the late November feast and then dreaded it for the three or so days after when the last dry pieces were finally consumed.

Anticipation, always good. Thanks for your visits and kind words.

no.art.weekend

alex puppet school project - thomas edison puppet

"fault.line"

"sea.foam"

MS Paint snippet of larger image made with paint.net et al.

"spring.fever"

tennis.court.gum.satutated.indeed

"back.hand"

Tennis.court.puddle

"again"

Snippets are pan.caked and now lint.free.

Kim at laketrees has an art contest right now on her blog that there is some great art entered there worth seeing. I put my image in there and you can vote for it or any other on you prefer.

laketrees is always an interesting read and Kim does some great portraits. I hope you visit soon.

Like Hillary, I will not give up until every vote is counted. It is about us, the little.people. No artist will be left behind. I will lower gasoline prices. Only the occassional bribe and/or sex scandal, I promise. It sells newspapers and, thus, helps the economy.

"forty.love"

Taken in a dilapidated set of tennis courts next to where Alex practices soccer. Old painted court, scrapped and rutted cement, and a bright majestic piece of dried gum that was perfectly placed by the gods (or a punk).

I liked a lot of the photos taken on the courts - will post more.

Alex playing soccer Saturday morning. Good action shot with pocket camera. I cannot believe how straight the horizon line is - the fence and placement of the cones. All luck.

Lousy field (pitch) that is used on Memorial Day weekend for a Strawberry Festival carnival and they chew up the grass putting in all the travelling amusement park rides. Those are the tennis courts behind the fence.



Neither photo has been cropped or manipulated other than to reduce here the file size. Someday I will get a real good digital camera. I will probably play with the top photo in a wide.world.of.sports.tut.orial.

Vaya con camera.

"for.kappa.1"

The Altered Page left a comment atop a flap.jack and I found his blog and I enjoyed photos and content....go here.. There are some excellent shots of NYC art he took on the street. Explore. Excellent site and he truly appreciates what NYC has to offer, what most cannot appreciate.

Page includes a photo of a painting that was spectacular. When I saw the painting "Kappa,1" at MOMA at least two months back, it was the painting "in the room" that I wanted to take home. I always like to pick one thing in each room that I would take home. I try to stay with what was most amazing rather than what I would have to look at the rest of my life.

A truly great painting makes me laugh with joy. Happens less often with music, something that I also need a daily dose of.

Somehow I needed to continue work - seduced by color and here is where I went.....



In the end, I added Andrea's backyard tree and a snippets of a mandala from the artist formerly known as Sweet Irene - Nora. Not a great image, but experimenting.


"early.morning.mist"

A circuitous route to comment on how I had wanted to do something with less color, minimal. With a U-Turn. Like chasing a sun dress in the rain.

"close.up.de.tails"

"dry.clean"

PS Play, mostly, but some paint.net too. Back to Lisa's field.

Neda mentioned this in her post today and I went to the website and enrolled. Peace.

"field.trees"

Lisa post from yesterday or so - I never understood the dateline in the Pacific. Earlier later - California is later.

Pure PhotoShop until I reduced file size to show here.

The pic inspired me - from moment I saw it. I work with spring and then with fall. Like being a jet setter. But, this image looks like older work with new tool - nothing inspired. File size is better, larger. I can drive PS a bit now in reverse I guess.....

Past, imperfect, but promising, getting a glimpse of tool set and learning to flatten out. Cautious George working quicker.

"no.doze.firehose.study"

Little time these days - expect the coming weeks to be difficult to find creative time. I know I keep saying that, but it is truer each day....this one again use a lost luggage challange snippet.

I do need a weatherman (somedays) to know which way the wind blows....

I have been listening on my iPod to this Nada Surf concert for a couple of weeks and I find it refreshing. Nada Surf has a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers feel, but being a trio they are more bare bones. In this concert they were assisted by a guest musician.

If you do not have time to listen to the entire concert, the first three encore numbers might be a good place to sample:

Blizzard of '77

Blonde on Blonde

Always Love

The Kaki King concert on this link is also interesting - often she plays the guitar like it were percussion. I found the other opening act - the Jealous Girlfriends - to be "so so."

"fountain.spirea"

This started out being a lost luggage challenge using PS 7 and ended up being caressed by paint.net which I know and kind of like it because I have used it a bit...familiarity breeds affection.

Mother's Day here - a lovely day and spirea is in full bloom. Cherries flowers are down and dogwood and redbud are fading to leaves. Azaleas, particularly the most common kind, are in fluorescent high voltage splendor.

Leaves are like a savings account. Blooms are like a credit card - all the thrills of instant gratification.

The soccer pic is of my daughter, Mariana...they do not wear uniforms when they practice. Mariana won again today, and she made a goal but it got called back because another kid fouled. Alas.

Mariana near spirea, yesterday after her practice.

"soc.cer"

Installed PhotoShop 7 today. Lost for now - new layer each paste.

Two soccer practices and one game - oldest team lost 1-2. Two games tomorrow. Younger kids end their spring league next weekend.

My favorite sports are tennis, baseball and soccer. Of the three I was pretty decent at tennis. I got into soccer with my children. It is about individual and team execution more than about a high score.

A perfect cross, a pass across the front of the goal box, is a thing of true beauty.


"pet.als"

Cherry blossoms fall.

"duck.flight"

Lisa duck's photograph - roasted and chewed. No shotgun pellets, but in a barrell humting, more humane for moi. Ms Painted with some Photo Manager alterations and overlays.

I am installing PhotoShop tonight and will redo the lost luggage challenge - ready to fly like a plump duck.

"no.shop"


Across the Pond from Frances (good name for a rock album, if they still made albums) I learned about a Lost Luggage (good name for a indie band) challenge - go here....I used PhotoShopNot...aka MS Paint.

Software rule broken - sorry. Rules were meant to be spoken.

"can.vas"

no.time

How and why did I get the ratings feature? Anyone else have this? New? Not in my other blogs...I am stummmmmmmped. I went to blogger help and there is nothing about ratings.

"it's.time"

"off.rock.ville.centre"

Suddenly I am using brighter palette - something I have mostly avoided. Most times I have opted to under saturate rather than enhance.

My noon time stroll in Central Park yesterday was uplifting. I went with four friends and we birded without binocs, meaning birds had to be fairly close to identify, unless by song.

We saw red winged blackbird, American robin, hermit thrush, white throated sparrow, common yellowthroat warbler, magnolia warbler, grey catbird, two red tailed hawks, common grackle, house sparrow, starling, rock dove, mallard, and northern cardinal. I heard a yellow shafted flicker calling in the woody island (my wife saw a flicker in our back yard today so they are passing north). Many catbirds and the two hawks likely are the ones that nest on Fifth Avenue.

Have a great day.

"flipped.draft"


"one.eighty.then.some"

Andrea commented yesterday that in her mind's EyE she had turned over the image in the prior post, the draft...

I had already flipped that draft using paint.net and I had also adjusted the lightest section to increase detail and contrast lost by the multiplying layer (copy and paste form prior version). Having the light boxes in the bottom right corner left the viewer's eye "there and static" more than I wanted. Composition was good - a rule was broken with some grace, but it was less lively than I often strive for. Nothing wrong with it, per se, but...but...but. In the end I flipped it over again.

Has everyone found the other.world yet? Chair and stare alike. Posts there will be left up for a while then removed (draft status) cuz the intent is just to share process with friends.

Oh, heck it is Monday.....

"no.bird.cage.here"

An almost done image - please look around for something that kisses and tells. Shave and share alike. One if by land, three if by see. Turn, turn, turn.

"ring.around.the.rosey"

We all fall down.

"e.clipsed"

As promised in my comments the post below - this was the prior version before colors were inverted, then manipulated, etc....I prefer the version below but thought I would show this one too. Lint that stuck to my pants' cuff and made it into the parlor.....