The Light of Day ...

Here it is moments from changing from Thursday to Friday, and it seems I came up from my "base of operations" in the basement only to let out the dog, eat, and use the loo. It looked like it might have been a nice enough day outside, but I just had too much to keep me occupied between all of my various avocations, so I really couldn't say for certain if it was nice or not.

I did download just a couple of photographs from the Finch Arboretum, and I'll share those with you tonight. I'll sort through the rest of them tomorrow and see if there's anything worthwhile among them.

"Maple en Grille" has been featured in another Etsy treasury:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTEwODIyMTV8OTMwNTY4MDY2/leaf-pile

Theme: Leaf Pile

Curator: Betsy Sio at eastsidepins.etsy.com

Speaking of leaf pile, it was so peaceful and contemplative meandering through the trees and falling leaves at the arboretum. It was later in the day, that golden time, and Mel and I had the preserve pretty much to ourselves.

Of the two photographs I'm uploading tonight, I loved the yellows and gold leaves of the one shot, with the black trunks and branches. The leaves were so unique because they looked individually painted on, one by one by one; so evenly spaced. It was some kind of aspen, but I can't recall the genus.

The other shot is simply an overall light through the trees beauty, with a hint of the autumn display of color.

I brought home some of the fallen leaves and sealed a couple in self-sealing laminating pouches. I'm curious if they'll keep their color by being sealed away from air, or they will simply turn brown.

I hope you'll enjoy the photographs! They'll always keep their color!

Keeping Tally ...

Yesterday I meandered around the John A. Finch Arboretum in southwest Spokane, and I think I got some good shots. Haven't uploaded them yet from the camera, but I'll share some of them in tomorrow's blog entry. Stay tuned!

I've mentioned a number of times the Etsy Treasuries in which my photographs have been featured. Here are two more:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTYwOTExNDB8OTA3NzA0MTc4/gift-guide-autumn-trends

Gift Guide: Autumn Trends

Darlene Martin Jewelry

Photograph: White on White

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTMyMDYwMjZ8OTEwMTQwODM2/lets-dance

Let’s Dance

Curator: Nicole La Pierre  www.coloartisanjewelry.etsy.com

Photograph: Ladies Dancing in Black n White

I've been maintaining an unofficial tally, and one photograph that is featured in more treasuries than any other photos of mine--at least six or seven times thus far--is White on White, seen below. Ah, what the heck, I'm including the other treasury photograph, as well.



White on White
Part of a dilapidated building in LaConner, WA,
which has since been torn down




Ladies Dancing in Black and White
2009 Fremont Solstice Parade, Seattle, WA



 

Day 289 Mish Mash

Today is Day 289 of Project 365



If I can't be by the beach, I can pretend!
I set up a little "beach" in a cobalt blue ceramic platter,
complete with beach glass and barnacles.
iphoto




This, on the other hand, is another shot
for my Bondo Series.
I pulled into the parking space next to the sedan
on which I found this patterning bitten
into the paint down to the metal ... Hallelujah!
iPhoto



Textures ... before and after

The other day while browsing through one of those shops that carry all manner of wonderful and exotic imports, I took a couple of iPhotos of some fabrics. The bright colors delighted my eye, and when I uploaded them to my computer I wondered "what if ..." So much fun!

Here are the two "what ifs" and their original iPhotos:



Pastel Soft Dark Effect



Original iPhoto




Pastel Soft Dark Effect

 

Original iPhoto



What? Friday night? No way!

It is said time accelerates the older one becomes, but this is ridiculous! Not much I can do about it other than note it and shake my head in disbelief.

Over lasagna and a glass of wine tonight, my sibling Mel and I "grilled" Rev. John Hinsvark, a distant cousin, about our shared family history. He has been painstakingly gathering and putting together this family tree for some 20 years or longer. I marvel that he has taken on this monumental task.  Bless him!

Tonight is the first time I've actually met him, after years of sporadic e-mail correspondence and Christmas letters. Our dad, Eugene Melvin Hinsvark, died at 42 years of age, and I wondered tonight how much like Cuz John our dad would have looked at the same age, 70 years old. There were some shared physical characteristics; fun to see!

Although this has little, if anything, to do with photography--oh damn! I didn't take a photograph of us together--I have it on my mind and simply had to make note.

John spoke of members of my family he had researched and met with personally, like my Grandma Abigail Claire Sanderson Hinsvark, who had a green thumb that just wouldn't quit! Every time I see dahlias, it triggers memories of Grandma and her delightful garden.

This does have to do with today's photography upload: dahlias! There was a wonderful garden of dahlias in front of one of the veteran's clinics here in Spokane. Thank you, Steve, for the heads up!



Watercolor Effect




Cutout Effect




Poster Outline Effect




Watercolor Effect

I regret not being able to photography Grandma's dahlias, and not having had the opportunity to share my photographs with her, but I will be forever grateful to her for inspiring me to show flowers to their best as I can make them advantage. I know that love of flowers and gardens is in our shared DNA. I get a double dose from both the Hinsvark and Lyon sides of my family!

Spokane River all on a sunny afternoon ...

Mel had to take her grandson out to the mall to buy some things for a homecoming soiree, and I tagged along. I'm still learning my way around and throughout Spokane, so I was up for a ride along. I took some photos of skulls I had seen in one of the shops. It was a pleasant diversion while Mel did her grandmama thing.

However, once the shopping excursion was done, and grandson was safely dropped off with his goodies in stow, Mel and I headed back home. On the way, we crossed over a bridge and I asked how she would recommend I get down to the river from there. She showed me a cool little place right by the river, out past the water reclamation place.

I imagine in the heat of the summer, it would be a very popular place, but it was getting later in the afternoon and the temperature quite cool, so we had the place all to ourselves.

I could hear the water rushing over the rapids just down from our location; the sound was wonderful! Three paddlers floated by in their kayaks. What a glorious time to be on the river.

So, today I'll share those photographs with you. Enjoy the water this Day 285 of 365:



Color display just starting here; more
evident other areas of Spokane




Looked like so much FUN!



I applied a Dry Brush effect to this shot.




This one has a Poster Edges effect



Mel, waiting patiently while I scurried about
photographing this, analyzing that



The World Through Filters ...

Today I thought about how we see things. I've been playing a lot with effect filters and it is amazing to me how I am affected differently by the same image filtered, resulting in different effects.

It got me to mulling over how differently I see things if I'm sad or depressed, or if I'm ebullient and on top of the world. The same darn thing looks one way if I'm stressed about something my children are going through, and totally different when their issues have been optimistically resolved. Our emotions color what we see, don't they.

How many times are we told things like, "Just go out and take a walk around the block. Things will look better if you simply get out of the house and breathe in some fresh air." (It works, by the way.)

There are painters who create photorealism with their brushes and paint, but the reality of photography is changing, evolving ... anything goes! It is what it is, until it's something else.

Perhaps this is one reason I have such a blast experimenting with these various filters.

Today's photographs were shot back at Hansen's Orchard, and, yes, I have altered my images. This is the reality of how I see them at the moment.


This crate of apples was edited
with a Paint Fresco effect



Oh my! I love zinnias. They're such an
old-fashioned flower that touch me for some
unfathomable reason.
These have been edited with a Poster Edges effect.



I'm Obsessed ...

Still playing with filters. Here I've used
the Accented Edges effect

I found I was out of New York bagels and cream cheese, so off to the market I scurried. What was I to find? SUNFLOWERS! Why did I photograph them? Because they were THERE!

However, I also photographed the pumpkins, the squash, a pomegranate and some chili peppers. I'll share the others with you another day. I am going to share the squash because I love how the Poster Edges effect really picked up the variety of colors in the squash; too cool!

Happy day! Happy day! I have bagels for breakfast in the morning and I snapped a shot or two for Project 365. This is Day 278, by the by.



Squash Trio
Poster Edge effect



Even rainy days need a little sunshine ...

Loved, loved, loved the rain today. There's more in store before week's end. But I decided to go back in and re-visit some of the sunflower photographs I took at Hansen's Orchard.

The one I've uploaded tonight ... er, this morning ... has an accented edges effect. I love how this filter intensifies each individual sunflower seed. It was fun and a nice break from editing photographs of beads and cabuchons.

OK OK ... so I'm adding a couple of others I took at Hansen's. The following aren't edited.




Many hands make the job go quicker




Give me angles and I'm a happy camper



Autumn rain on the way ...

Forecast is for rain before morning; can already feel the temperature dropping and there's a certain feel to the air. I love waking up to the sound of falling rain. I can hardly wait.

However, before the rain cometh, we were able to drive up to Hansen's orchards in Green Bluff, just north of Spokane. Pleasant place a-bustle with people picking their own apples, perusing the wonderful crafts and preserves in Hansen's gift store, and wishing they had gotten there earlier before the apple cider sold out.

I wandered a bit on my own and caught a couple of shots of sunflowers, et cetera.

What was I thinking?!!!!!

I just wrote and uploaded an entry with photographs--thank God for this--which was meant for a different blog, a jewelry-making blog ... http://www.birchbaykaystudio.blogspot.com/.

My, oh my! What, indeed, was I thinking?

So, forgive my senility ... at least there were photographs. Have a good laugh on me!

K

Influence of Surroundings



Birch Bay Sunset



Birch Bay shells, beach glass and pebbles

Like a lot of artists, I'm heavily influenced by my natural surroundings. Having lived in Birch Bay on the west coast of WA for seven years, I still feel the water sloshing around in m'brain!

A number of years ago I read a Barbara Kingsolver non-fiction "High Tide in Tucson" about transitioning from ocean to desert. If I remember correctly, she wrote of her hermit crab still moving through its cage in time to the tides.  (Her insights about nature and the desert are almost lyrical. I highly recommend this as a good read!)

However, I am planted here in Spokane for the present and this is where I have to find a new ebb and flow. It'll happen ... with patience.

It will be fun to see what new jewelry will result from this new environment!

Pine cone by Spokane River



Pine trees in Spokane woods



Reflections, Watery and Not ...

A couple of days ago a good friend of mine was expressing the irony that she, who loves the woods and forests, ended up living by the Pacific Ocean, whereas I, who loves the water, ended up by the woods and forests. Life has a droll sense of humor.

There's something about water that mesmerizes me. I know this is common, nothing extraordinary. I just love the movement, the play of light, the distortion of reflections in the ripples. Did I mention the movement? Oh, yes. This particular photograph of a pond along Mirabeau Parkway in Spokane, reminds me of a plume agate or sagenite, parts of which are transparent showing feathery or plant-like inclusions within the stone. This layering of images below the water, the rippled surface of the water, and the reflections of things above the water delight me no end.

Another thought came to me. Ruth Bavetta, a wonderful poet, sent a link to Pamela Northcutt's blog wherein the blogger paired her photographs with Ruth's poem. It was lovely. Pam's photographs, entitled Muir Woods, were tranquil and restful and the "big" picture. My photographs, on the other hand tend to be close-up, details seen at the end of my nose. Vive la difference!

Never a dull moment!

I had two more photos included in Etsy Treasuries:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTYyOTgwNjh8ODAzMDkxNDcx/boy-oh-bouy

Treasury: Boy Oh Bouy

Curator: MonkeyFrouFrou

My photo: Fishing Nets n Bouys

 

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/ODEwMTEzNHw3NzU3MjkzODg/natural-dream-state-autumn

Treasury: Natural Dream State: Autumn

Curator: Maclh.etsy.com

Photo: Frosty Maples