afternoon delight...

the cats eat anything that is green in this house. 

then they throw it up. 

because of that, i've stopped buying flowers, and have to hide the plants. 

but because i've been looking at so many images of flowers online these past few weeks,

i had image envy. big time.

so on saturday, i cracked.  i went and bought tulips at the grocery store. 

i spent saturday afternoon taking pictures, it was lovely.

i spent saturday night and sunday morning cleaning up cat vomit.

and in the end, fun was had by all :)

some images contain textures from Kim Klassen's Cafe,

along with her brush quotes :)

follow the link for Texture Tuesday to see more

fragile beauty...

back in late October, we got clobbered with 14 inches of snow.

because the trees still had leaves, the weight of the snow was devastating...

four months later, there are still broken trees everywhere you look.

i'm worried that this very strange winter is going to take a second toll on the damaged trees -

they're looking like they think it's late march, not mid-february and they're starting to show buds...

the magnolia tree in our front yard took a major hit and lost multiple branches.

it doesn't have a beautiful shape anymore, it's lopsided and funky...

and yet,

the little tree makes my heart smile :)

there she is, showing us all what true beauty and strength looks like.

as she bravely puts forth her buds,
i can hear her say...
"i am stronger than you think"

she gives me

hope,

strength

and faith...

i love this little lady

enhanced with kim klassen's shine texture



a light heart...

when i brought my plants inside last fall, hoping to keep them alive over the winter,

i knocked a piece off my begonia...

i stuck it in a bottle of water and forgot about it.

last week, just in time for Valentine's Day,

the broken piece had a tiny fragile bloom...

enhanced with kim klassen's 'awaken' texture

heading towards the light...



the Beyond Layers assignment was to work with an image on photoshop,

using layers and textures, and give it a painted effect...
used kim klassen's phoebe, waterstained textures, along with multiple layers

this was great fun, all i want to do now is play with some pics i have already taken...

 it is addicting :)

vintage still life...

i struggled with this week's challenge - a lot.

i tried friday night, saturday and again on sunday... 

not sure what my issue was - or is - but i am thinking

i need a different lens so i can get shallower depth of field.

i stood on the couch, on a ladder, across the room, e t c.  

still didn't get what i was seeing in my head

but this came closer than the other attempts...

 

i used two of kim klassen's textures - revolution, soft light and silence, multiply 100%.

i added of gradient map and hue/saturation.

and this was my set-up...

i could have filtered the sun to get more of a moody feel

but was liking it.   kinda :)

winter beauty...

it was supposed to snow on saturday, not a blizzard, but somewhere between 3-6 inches.  thinking it would be perfect timing for some winter pictures, i got up early to photograph the snowfall at daybreak. 

 it was disappointing to see there wasn't a flake in sight.  

a year ago, we had 3+ feet on the ground; this winter, the only significant snowstorm was in october. 

finally around 7am, a few flurries fell but by 9am the sun was glowing behind the clouds, ending any hope for a winter wonderland...   

despite the disappointing accumulation of nothin', i went out to take pictures anyway. 

and on a grayish brown day, that looked pretty boring at first glance, there was a whole lot of beauty, everywhere i drove...  

apparently, i needed that lesson :)

a winter garden...

enhanced with kim klassen's textures 'awaken' and 'organic' (i think)

sweet angel in stone...

the sun glowing thru the clouds...

bending can make you stronger...                                   a horse, alone in morning flurries...

color on a gray day...

a door with a view...

enhanced with kim's 'simplicity' texture...

stone beauty...

this statue is in a small cemetery

she sits off in the corner, not in plain sight

in late afternoon, the light hits her face and somehow she comes alive

i love her....

she has been enhanced with contrast, saturation and one layer of kim klassen's awaken texture, very light...

my new old window :)

i had a chance to go to a couple of salvage stores over the weekend and found an old window for $5.  that $5 bought me a whole lot of fun on sunday with my camera.  i should have been cleaning or exercising or something like that, but instead i played for hours.  i experimented with camera settings and photoshop and textures and next thing i knew, superbowl was over and it was almost monday :)   

besides the 'almost monday' part, it was a perfect day...

enhanced with kim klassen's revolution texture

a winter's day...

finding beauty in winter without any snow

did not seem easy...

but there it was, all over the place  :)

created with kim klassen's 'storyboards,' with guidance from xanthe on 'time capsules'

for beyond layers...