Your Sunday Best ~ #24

Nancy Claeys who hosts Your Sunday Best is truly a magnificent photographer and artist.

So many of her captures and renderings have been an inspiration and 

I thank her for hosting  'Your Sunday Best'.

I wintered two of my MOST favorite geraniums which are finally coming into bloom.  I love their brilliant blue/red clarity!

Clouds, clouds everywhere

big barren, white, fluffy, puffy clouds!

Rain, rain come my way,

don't stay away another day!

Rain, rain come my way ...

soft and gentle for several days!

Flowers on Saturday ~ Week 81

I'm jumping in quite late on Ewa's 'Flowers on Saturday'

but I felt it was fitting to post on the last day of June, 2012!

     Decided cool colors from the garden was the way to go ... I'm ready for cool!

It has been unseasonably hot this month,

daytime temperatures in the mid to high 90's, night time temperatures in the mid 70's.

While in some parts of the country that may not be too bad,

for a city that is 7,000 ' above sea level, it's HOT!

I'm more accustomed to highs in the mid 80's, evenings in the mid 50's even in July and August.

Living in a home without air conditioning, I'd have to say it has become almost miserable!

But probably worse then my 'discomfort' is the fact that not only is it hot, it is dry;

which only adds to the threat of more wildfires in our forests and grasslands.

We are getting beautiful, big puffy clouds that float by and sometimes even turn dark ...

but no rain.

Praying for rain before we get into the even hotter months of July and August.

"A rose must remain with the sun and the rain or its lovely promise won't come true."  Ray Evans

Photo Art Friday /June 29 - July 01 ~ Painterly Edition

Bonnie always offers us an opportunity to post a favorite photo art

or she offers up a challenge for us to participate in.

This weeks challenge is to render a photo to look like a painting . . .

and I'm always up for a challenge and was all over the board on this one!

Butterfly Bush

Gulf Coast, Florida

Heirloom Roses

New Mexico Sky

Each photo was rendered a tad bit differently, although I have to admit
I loved the 'heavily embossed' technique used on the first two photos!

Heirloom Roses was rendered with the gradient map a la Bonnie's tutorial on top of an embossed filter, with an added gradient fill and I used my texture (home grown), along with Bonnie's texture "Painterly".

The last photo of the clouds was rendered by 'popping' the clouds with a high pass filter which was desaturation and then used as an blending layer.
Then I added an additional (home grown) texture.

All photos' were initially processed in RAW prior to rendering in PSE.

Flower Art Friday #10 ~ June 29, 2012

I have "islands" of summer flowering annuals in pots on my patio as well as along the perimeter.

Included in the array of pots is an old Mexican pot in the shape of a goat!

I used to have two, a large goat and a medium goat.  The large goat lost it's head (never to be repaired) in my move, but the medium size pot survived the journey.

This year the goat is filled with red calibrachoa million bells and dark leaf coleus,
and is backed into a pot planted with portulaca.

He makes me smile! 

Edit Me 2012 ~ Week 26

This week's challenge is a photograph by Stephanie, one of the hosts of "Edit Me".

The photo is of Stephanie's 'little guy', who LOVES water!

Original Photo

Rendered Photo

 Rendering Steps:
Cropped photo

Cloned out arm

Removed as much shadow as possible from the child's face;

 Topaz Detail to bring out the water drops on the child's face;

Added color to the sidewalk with a warming filter;

Added color to the water with a gradient fill;

Added texture to the water, masking out child, poolside and fence;
Add depth of field by blurring out all but the child; and

Added neon yellow frame.

52 Photos Project Week 10 ~ Release

This week's prompt is Release

What do you do to lighten up? 

How do you let go of the stressors of your day?

Much like my winter cozy corner where I sit back, relax, enjoy the fire, and read my books

I do much the same in summer except in summer

my place to unwind is the chaise lounge

on the lawn under the apricot tree

where I relax, meditate, enjoy my garden and read.

While not nirvana
I let very few circumstances, situations or outside forces debilitate me.

My release is an almost daily routine and I do it because I enjoy it and it keeps me centered!

“There is more to life than increasing its speed.” Mohandas K. Gandhi

{Texture Tuesday} ~ The Posie eDition

For no particular reason I haven't posted for quite a while on Texture Tuesday.

When I received the announcement for this weeks challenge I thought
"FLOWERS, I've GOT FLOWERS!"

I have been playing around with manual mode on my camera (Canon Rebel XS),

processing in RAW and practicing on every flower in my garden.

KK's texture 'Sweettart', blending mode color burn@74%

KK's texture Happy Heart, color dodge@25% and Little Nothings, multiply@100%

I love my zoom lens!

It's a 55-250mm lens and is seldom detached from the camera;

while I have a standard 18-55mm and a macro lens kit with a wide angle,

my 'go to' lens is the zoom for the majority of my photographs!

Photographs were taken with the zoom lens and processed in RAW before adding the textures in PSE.

 "All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower

wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind." Abraham Lincoln

Favorite Photo Monday ~ Red Geraniums

Lovin' my patio and all the brilliant red geraniums!