Don't fence me in ... or out ...

I had finished with a meeting and was heading home a back way I hadn't taken before. I was tooling along, humming a little ditty, when my eyes landed upon an abandoned house just back a bit from the street.

Did I stop? You bet I stopped; almost gave myself whiplash braking and careening across the road! The colors were too juicy and inviting NOT to stop and snap a shot or two.

Here they are, this Day 270 of 365

Never Too Old for Blocks ...

... especially when the blocks have cool textures and configurations!

Out driving by Airway Heights I noticed this wall of cinder blocks. Not sure about the purpose of the different colors. The wall seemed rather helter skelter blocked together, but there may have been artistic method to the madness. Who knows? Who cares? I just had fun capturing the images.

I realize I missed yesterday's upload, so today there are two, which brings us to

Day 267 of 365



Cinder Blocks IIII
iPhoto




Gold Square
iPhoto



A Bounty of Bondo Images

Mel knows about my predilection for dilapidated vehicles, so while we were out doing the monthly shopping, she took me by an old vintage truck she had previously noticed out by Airway Heights on the way to the Base.  Thank goodness it was still there. I've had so many instances where I thought I would come back to photograph something, but by the time I did so, the treasure trove was no longer there.

I was in luck! It was there, but since I didn't know I would be doing anything except shopping, I hadn't brought along my camera. What kind of serious photographer am I, anyway? Ah ha! The iPhone comes to the rescue once again!

I'll have to go back and take some better quality images ... hope it will still be there. But in the meantime, here are just a few of the shots I took. I was shooting into a strong, afternoon sun with no way to compensate.

There will never be an end to my Bondo Series of photographs. Hooray!

September 21, 2011

Printmaking ... Photography ... CREATIVITY

Earlier in my creative life, I really got into linoleum and wood block printmaking, especially the linocut, where the edges were so sharply defined. I particularly enjoyed reduction printmaking.

If you're not familiar with this technique, the printmaker cuts a preliminary image on a lino block, print it; cut more away from the lino block, ink, register the block with the original printing, and print the second image in a different color directly on top of the original print; cut more away from the lino block, ink and print the third image on, and so forth until the artist has the finished effect he or she wants in multiple colors. This is a very simplified description, but I hope you get the gist of the printmaking technique.

I moved on from printmaking to photography, and love it for all of its different, but in some cases parallel features and benefits.

But, when I came across the Cutout effect filter, I found it to be a technological marriage of two creative techniques I enjoy.  Here are some of the photographs I've taken, to which I've applied the Cutout effect. It doesn't always work out well, but these seem to translate well with the effect.

September 19, 2011



This was a white feather on a charred background,
which I applied a Negative effect, and then
applied the Cutout effect




This was a Cutout effect
applied to the original digital photograph




This, too is the Cutout effect
applied to the original digital photograph



Bird Abodes and All ...

I had three photographs included in Etsy treasuries in the last two days. I am almost embarrassed to keep uploading those features to Facebook. I'm not really facile at tooting my own horn. I would love to toot the fact and I'm selling photographs on Etsy. Alas, one of these days.

In the meantime, I enjoy the bric-a-brac I see while driving around my little ol' beach town. There are seagulls everywhere, in fact, I've started a series, Faux Seagulls, which are photos of all the kitschy seagull plaques, stone seagulls, plaster, shell seagulls, and the like. It's a fun series, but I'm aware right now of the more everywhere kinds of birds, like robins, which are prevalent where I'm now staying, claiming their territory and starting their nests.

Today's photograph isn't of a robin, nor of a seagull. I take photographs of stationary objects. If it starts to move, my photo-taking skills diminish considerably!

It is of a kitsch bird house, but I like the composition with all of the electric and phone lines criss-crossing in the background and the faded beach blues.

04-12-2011



Beachy Bird Kitsch



Recycled and Project 365

Sunshine today!!!!! Huzzah!

Today's photograph is a detail of a glass sculpture installation by San Jose, CA artist Marta Thoma at the Lighthouse Point Water Reclamation facility in Blaine, WA. I love the swirls of aluminum and all of the bottles and the blue blown glass "droplet!" I understand her intent was to demonstrate nature's hydrological cycle. The entire installation is beautiful, but I wanted to highlight the motion of this part of Thoma's sculpture.

One "Oops" and Project 375

I received an invitation from a team leader on the Etsy site to join their team of vendors because she liked my photography and thought it would be a good match for their group. However, I had to decline at present because it would mean a commitment of time, which I don't have right now. It is an open invitation, so when my schedule solidifies somewhat I'll be able to follow-up. How nice to be invited!

I received notice this morning that my photograph Arc on White was featured in another treasury. I'm pleased at the exposure ... now if I would just sell one, or more, of those lovely photographs.

Today's and yesterday's Project 365 photographs are a continuation of a long line of Street Art obsessions. I took one photograph yesterday, got sidetracked and didn't upload it. As fate would have it, while at the market today, I couldn't help but notice the curb had been repainted ... Yahoo!!! I particularly favor the pink one.

So here are the two:


03-26-2011



Street Art--Red, Yellow and Blue



03-25-2011



Three Pinks



Day 80 of 365

It was raining this morning, but the sun is trying to shine through at almost 5:00 p.m. I love that it is staying light longer! It makes for a huge psychological boost, and I need all the psychological boosts I can get. As I drove to the office I noticed that the plums lining the road are in bloom. I'll stop tomorrow and take some shots before they all burst open. I really do love the new growth of spring!

The subject of today's photograph has nothing to do with daylight or dark, nor does it have anything to do with the season. It's just an onion, an onion that has been cut into, at that. I enjoyed the straight angles of the dish on the diagonal, versus the roundness of the onion, the curved lines in the onion, and its frayed top. The image is a little dark, but I favor that, as well.

This is a sweet-tasting onion. I look forward to chopping it up some more and adding it to whatever I decide to cook for dinner tonight. Hmmm, what am I going to cook for dinner tonight? Something with chopped onions, to be sure!

Sometimes the simple things are the most enjoyable.


03-21-2011



Slated Onion



First Day of Spring ... Huzzah! Oh, and 365.

Am I one day behind? I thought for certain I had uploaded a photograph for March 19. No? Well, I'll provide two today. I've been busily "trying" to put things in order for my move, but it surely seems like I'm merely shoving things around into different positions and not getting anything OUT OF THE HOUSE!

I tried to take a couple of photographs of the Super Moon last night, but I was not up to the task and neither was my camera. C'est la vie. At least the clouds cleared and I saw it; awesome.

Okay, I got that off my chest and I can move on.  The two photographs below were of trinkets I had pinned on my bulletin board as reminders, as treasures du jour, as things I didn't want to misplace.

03-20-2011:



On the Wing




Not so Super Photo of Super Moon




Colorado or Bust!



Just a little wind and rain here, thank God!

My heart goes out to those folks swept up in the 8.9 earthquake in Japan and the resulting tsunami. It was a miserable weather day here in Birch Bay, but I can handle rain and wind.

Maybe because of the dour weather today my eye was drawn to YELLOW! However, some of the yellow was rather menacing. I had another yellow photo today, but I can't figure out the intricacies of this blog template, so I couldn't go back and retrieve another photo file, once I had already selected the three below. Oh well. This will have to do for today, I mean yesterday.

03-10-2011

What? Oh yeah! Project 365

Busily trying to finish a pair of earrings to upload to Etsy tomorrow and the time got away from me.

I wandered a bit around Blaine this morning before it started raining ... again ... and managed to capture a couple of shots.

Patterns galore and birds on a rooftop:

03-01-2011


LUV those patterns!




Wet Spot Yellow Line




Plywood Eyes




Library Birch




Rooftop Birds



365 ... four versions

The rain let up long enough for me to take this photograph, before it started falling again. I was happy it melted all the snow. I took this quick shot of the beach across the street from the office.

I love to play around with editing and have a very rudimentary photo editing program I often fall back on using because I don't take the time to learn how to easily work with my Photo Elements software.

In any case. I was curious how different effect filters would alter the appearance of my photograph; interesting results. Two of the filters, Dry Brush and Watercolor, give the photograph a distinctly painterly interpretation.

I want to emphasize that I do not demean or lessen the skill involved in an artist doing an actual dry brush or watercolor painting. It is no easy talent to master. However, I enjoy seeing how my own photograph changes with the application of these effect filters.

02-27-2011




Sand and Cobble (Watercolor effect filter)




Sand and Cobble (unedited photograph)




Sand and Cobble (Film Grain effect filter)




Sand and Cobble (Dry Brush effect filter)



Project 365 and it's snowing ...

Today was a day of work, not of playing with my camera. However, on the way home I almost drove over something in the road. I stopped and with camera in hand went back to check out what was quickly disappearing under a dusting of falling snow.  It looked like a gym bag or the like, but it had a certain grace with the softening of the snow. I photographed it, and it was done today. Voila!

02-26-2011

However, YESTERDAY there was just enough sunshine to snap a couple of shots at a tire recycling place by the post office in Custer.

Day 56 of 365 ...

Waiting

Today's photographic image is a view of a lone tree and an empty bench looking northwest across Semiahmoo Bay out beyond the bouy into the Sound. They looked to be waiting. Were they expecting you?

02-25-2011

OK, OK ... you know I can't stop at just one.  This was a really cool metal bin I found behind a building.

II, 3 and 12

Another day, another Project 365

As a viewer familiar with my work can easily ascertain, my photographic eye is often drawn to patterns, and geometric compositions. Today's photography falls within those parameters, but I love how the arc lends motion to an otherwise static composition.

02-24-2011

Exhibit Acceptance and Project 365



Semiahmoo Shoreline

 Received notification from David Vargo, owner of Loomis Hall Gallery in Blaine, WA, that two of my photographs have been selected for inclusion in "Northwest Sea and Sky." The exhibit will be held in conjunction with City of Blaine's annual "Wings Over Water" northwest birding festival.

I'll provide more information later about the March reception.

I've included the two photographs accepted, Semiahmoo Shoreline and Birch Bay Sunset.



Birch Bay Sunset



Today's Project 365 photograph is:

02-23-2011

A Belated Project 365

Ok, I admit it. I took a little nap after dinner and didn't download the images until just now. So, these photos are technically for yesterday. I'll have more later today.

I was going to use the iPhone photos I took at the post office while I waited 90 minutes for AAA to come and unlock my car. Thank goodness I at least had my phone with me!

But then Suki and I were out previewing a home for a client and we were sooooo close to the state park beach that it would be criminal NOT to go for a quick beach walk. Quick it most definitely was because the wind was howling muy frio and just holding my camera was painfully cold, and the sun was setting. But I managed to capture a shot or two of seaweed making its mark and some driftwood. Here they are.

Oh, one last note. I wasn't the only one out braving the elements. There was a guy out on the water, a sail surfer. I don't have a good enough camera to capture him to advantage, but I've included it here because it was so incredibly cold (snow forecast for tonight) and there he was whipping along the bay.

02-22-2011

Project Neon! and Project 365

I was reading about Kirsten Hively, an architect/photographer in New York. She values that city's gritty character, and is concerned that the big box stores will blot out the moms-n-pops places, the old neighborhood bars and taverns, the budget motels. She has commenced her own photographic project to encourage appreciation of New York's historic neon signage.  She also puts value on the handmade aspect of neon signage.

You might think the old neon signs a blight on the cityscape, but I'm with Hively in placing a historic and visual appreciation on neon.  You can find out more about Project Neon! at http://www.projectneon.tumblr.com/ .

Here the day was a mish-mash weather day. However, I combined my attraction to neon with the raindrops on my windshield to create a composition of color, light, horizontals, diagonals, grids.

(I love ordering Crispy Chicken Kung Pao from this little Birch Bay cafe.)

02-21-2011

Etsy Update and Project 365

Uploaded two photographs to http://www.kweststudio8.etsy.com/ and worked in the office all day, so I'm a lazy bum with regard to today's photograph. I came home, heated some leftovers for dinner, and could not get motivated. Here's my unmotivated iPhone foto One Foot Two Boot:

02-19-11

OOPS ... Project 365

It always throws me out of sync when I forget and leave my computer at the office. So, I wasn't able to upload yesterday's photo.

Today's photo(s) AND yesterday's photo ...

02-17-11

02-16-11