52 Photos Project ~ Gallery 1 {Begin at the Beginning}

First prompt for the first week of Bella's 52 Photos Project is beginnings!

Marvelous, my life is one continues beginning!

So, I'm going to take beginnings and break it down into what I consider projects.

Projects can be personal, such as Bella's, desire to balance her mind/body/soul connections.

Projects can be what is around us, what makes us comfortable in our life.

The beginning I am sharing is the beginning of getting my digital life in order!

I have two external hard drives, a 500 GB and a 1 TB; I use them for the majority of my files. 

Basically only my program files and current "working files" are on my hard drive.

I have no idea how things get so out of whack, but they do.

My 'beginning' (project) is to clean out and reorganize the files; simplify my filing system.

I'm tired of spending hours looking for what I knew was on drive "C", "I" or "J" and wasn't!

not exciting, not life altering, but my current beginning! 

and because that was boring, I'm sharing a photo of my little niece, she is 18 months old
and IS the very essence of beginning!

Sierra

Edit Me 2012 - Week 17

Below is the photo that we are to edit this week;

I found it to be beautiful "au natural", but here we go.

Original Photo

and my edit to the beautiful tulips . . .

Edited Photo

Simple edits.  Decided not to crop because I liked the balance between the tulips and the open space, but I did rotate the photo, seemed to enhance the balance in my minds eye. 

1) a level adjustment; 

2) added an Adjust 3 oil which I overlaid on the original, color burn @ 100%; 

3) a light Gaussian blur;

4) Pixel Dust Photo Art texture, "Painter", color burn @ 13%; and

5) Nancy Claeys texture, "Fog", overlay @ 35%.

I kept pushing for texture and rich red tulips while enhancing the white tulips.

Although only my second challenge, I am enjoying "Edit Me", and the work that is submitted by the digital artist that participate is phenomenal!

Three Muses ~ Words in Art

I've either forgotten how to read in context or I'm beginning to make things up!  The challenge for this week at Three Muses is "Words in Art", which I translated to verses in music!?! And that is what I did.

I must have sunrise/sunsets on the brain which prompted me to go with John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High".  I love the verse 'I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky', which is such an apt description of so many of our sunrises and sunsets!

Rendered photo taken at Vail Lake, Vail, Colorado

If you have an opportunity to visit Three Muses, I encourage you to do so; there is such a variety of work and interpretations, it truly gets the juices flowing!

{Texture Tuesday} ~ a WaterColour eDition

This weeks theme was to use one of two, or both of Kim's new watercolor textures, Oh my or Let Go. 

Recipe: Let Go, saturation@100% and Oh my, color burn@75%

Recipe: Oh my, color burn@75%; Let Go, hue@31% and ugglovesepia, hue@41%

Recipe:  Let Go, difference@100% and Oh my, color burn@62%

This bush is a "sucker" at the far back-end of my backyard.  Don't know where it came from; a tree that originally grew there that was cut down?, or a sucker from the neighbors yard? 

We have a 7' tall cinder block wall that divides the yard, so I have no idea what grows in their yard besides a cedar (which does droop over the wall) and their pesky, invasive Tree of Heaven that pops up all over the place.

I keep watering this little whatever, it helps hide the cinder block wall,

is pretty when it blooms and adds a nice touch of green at the very end of my backyard!

Plus, I'm a "sucker" for volunteers!

texture challenge

Nancy Donaldson at all pulped out  is hosting a texture challenge

with her GREAT new cemetery textures.

Cemetery Textures 5 & 6 and ShadowHouse mask

Cemetery Textures 2 & 6 and CottageArt mask

Cemetery Textures 1 & 2 and ShadowHouse mask

Cemetery Textures 1 & 4 and CottageArt mask

congratulations to Nancy!

on Sunday, April 22,

Nancy celebrated four years of blogging,

a feat I consider to be phenomenal!

(alas, I cannot take credit for the photography on this posting -

whether all pooped out on photography or longing for summer that is yet to be!

photo credits belongs to Wikipedia Commons and  stockxchng)

"Flowers whisper "Beauty!" to the world, even as they fade, wilt, fall." Dr. SunWolf

Your Sunday Best ! #14

Not sure what this shrub is, we had them at the house I grew up in;

I called it the "bumblebee bush" and continue to do so,

because they were always surrounded by bumblebees when in bloom.

I have a couple where I live now;

one a soft pink the other a strong, vibrant pink.

We had a hard, cold winter in 2011 with a over a week of 18 below during the days.

I though the shrubs had been killed.

I continued to water, did not prune,

and decided that if they didn't pull out by this year

I'd go ahead and dig them out.

They have come back, and while in need of a drastic prune job, they look so soft and pretty!

Just learned how to do a snapshot withing a photo, so I'm practicing!

  
Pruning will start once they have finished blooming!

Photo Art Friday ~ April 20th - 22nd

The challenge?

A piece with a theme of new life.

The epitome of "new life" for me

is spring and all that it entails

the resurgence of green in the garden, on the trees

the awakening and the beginning of new life

and to add to the thrill of new life, my dear friend Victor made two grow boxes for me!

the new summer home for my heirloom tomatoes

all surrounded by sun loving herbs and

bordered by trailing nasturtiums and marigolds! 

 recognizing there is absolutely nothing magnificent about these photos,
it is what I'm loving at the moment!

"The living moment is everything." D.H. Lawrence