Celebrating Teens: why not my teen, even if he was grumpy because I was going to make him late to pick up his date for the prom and stomped off angrily while I kept shooting (wish I wouldn’t have cut off his feet). Might as well give it a try:
Now I know not to say “cheese” just “stomp away all grumpy like” so I can get a good shot of you! ♥
Hey, I might as well give it a try since I’m learning. This morning there was a fog that created this magical thick frost on everything. It was so beautiful.
My daily routine is to go in my son’s bathroom and turn down the thermostat. Guess he likes a “steam” shower.
I used a Lightroom Preset called General Punch and one of Skeletal Mass’s textures in PSE.
My interpretation of Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.
This painting was the first thing that popped into my head when I read Jefra’s assignment, and since the moon was so gorgeous all weekend (and I wanted to learn how to shoot it – still learning), it was a natural tie-in. Mine is more subdued. I did use a texture (from Shadowhouse Creations) to try and give it some movement/painterly effect along with some star brushes for faint twinkles to the photo.
I have always loved his painting since I was in grade school but I’ve never put it in to words before. The vibrant color would be the first thing that comes to mind. Then the motion that he captured with his brush strokes, and his interpretation of the brilliance of the night sky.
Inspiration File:
When I see or think of this painting Don Mclean’s Starry Night song automatically starts playing in my head.
Starry, starry night. Paint your palette blue and grey, Look out on a summer's day, With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills, Sketch the trees and the daffodils, Catch the breeze and the winter chills, In colors on the snowy linen land.
Now I understand what you tried to say to me, How you suffered for your sanity, How you tried to set them free. They would not listen, they did not know how. Perhaps they'll listen now.
Starry, starry night. Flaming flowers that brightly blaze, Swirling clouds in violet haze, Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue.
Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain, Weathered faces lined in pain, Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.
Now I understand what you tried to say to me, How you suffered for your sanity, How you tried to set them free. They would not listen, they did not know how. Perhaps they'll listen now.
For they could not love you, But still your love was true. And when no hope was left in sight On that starry, starry night, You took your life, as lovers often do. But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one As beautiful as you.
Starry, starry night. Portraits hung in empty halls, Frameless head on nameless walls, With eyes that watch the world and can't forget. Like the strangers that you've met, The ragged men in the ragged clothes,
The silver thorn of bloody rose, Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.
Now I think I know what you tried to say to me, How you suffered for your sanity, How you tried to set them free. They would not listen, they're not listening still. Perhaps they never will...
Another artist that I love is Sue Ellen Ross. I love animals and her realistic depictions of cats and dogs in the watercolor medium that she uses. I’ve read her book that she did about her process and it’s amazing. The lighting that she captures in addition to the personalities of the animals is what attracted me to her paintings.
This is an older photo that I did of my dog Chessie that reminds me a little of her paintings.
I can’t think of just one photographer who inspires me because there are so many and most of them are on blogs. Rhee Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, has always been one of my favorites because of her subject matter. I love the country, horses and animals (I once took care of a farm) and that is what draws me to her photos. The Shutter Sisters, I Heart Faces and on and on.
Music, I cannot pin down to one specific artist as I love just about all genres: classic rock, modern country, rap and classical. I don’t know a lot about classical but depending on my mood it can be very inspiring.
My music teacher in grade school was a wonderful teacher that I didn’t appreciate at the time. But one section in her music class she was having us listen to some classical music (wish I could remember which piece). She turned out all the lights and put the music on and said imagine in your mind the Grand Canyon with a storm with lightning crashing around you. I could picture it clearly due to the music.
Graffiti:
Nature and Color:
Light:
Textures:
Old buildings:
Smell:
lavender
Our flag:
Our flag is very inspiring to me – what it stands for – the colors that I love and beauty of it blowing in the wind.
This caught my eye this morning as the sun beam hit the money setting on the counter. I used 4 Hens’ Patty Cake action
Jefra (a wonderful photographer) and Liz (from Paislee Press) started this wonderful project on the 22nd of January, and I thought I would join in to help me learn my Sony Alpha 200. We were to take at least 75 photos of one subject, narrow down to our favorite and five runner-up photos. Here are mine:
ISO-100, 40mm f5.6 1/2 sec.
LRPS - A Girl In Love's Cyrian Summer
PSE - My 4 Hen's Carbon Paper action
Ugh, can't remember specifics other than I used Retro texture from Shadowhouse Creations.
ISO-100, 45mm f5.6 0.8 sec.
LRPS Matt's Auto Adjust.
LRPS Nathan Patching's Boon Doggle 2
PSE - Toy Camera Action
ISO-100, 35mm f5.6 1/2 sec.
Matt's Auto Adjustment (Everything Else),
LRPS - A Girl in Love's Cyrian Summer
PSE - Duplicate Layer Linear Burn
ISO-100, 60mm f5.6 1/2 sec.
LRPS A Girl in Love - Cyrian Summer
Action Coffee Shop's Hot Coco
Jefra had suggested that I shoot horses, but since I'm not close to any right now. I thought I would shoot what I have left from my horse - his saddle.
This was hard, especially since I took close to 100 shots.
I know it's funky looking but it was my favorite.
ISO-100, 30mm f5.6 1.6 sec.
LRPS- Matt's Auto Adjustment (Everything Else)
LRPS - Nathan Patching's Boon Doggle 2
PSE - Shadowhouse Creations Dirty Thoughts texture at Difference layer
Just realized I need to start changing my aperture. I left it on 5.6 on all my photos - novice!
The pictures of this assignment on her flickr group are just amazing. Mine isn’t as outstanding as the others but I like it’s color and the shadowing. Taken with my little Sony W55 Cybershot back in the Winter of 2009.
For P52 a macro of my reading glasses with Whitehouse Creations texture “We the People” set to overlay.
Maybe I can get this one done since I wimped out on 365 last year. This one I signed up for is for macros, so I’ll be using my little Sony P&S till I get rich and get a macro lens for my Sony a200.
Spider on my window blind and I just dusted that yesterday. I used We are the People texture from Shadowhouse Creations site
The next one is of a ladybug that was on my sink – hope that means good luck for 2010!
Didn’t turn the computer on till late afternoon. Yesterday I brought in the Rubbermaid container for the Christmas tree ornaments, and that was all I did – no de-cluttering. I did manage to take all the ornaments off of the tree and pack them away in the container. We are still on slow gear here from the holidays, so I’m taking it slow. Tomorrow I will try and accomplish a little more. Monday will be the big test.
Today Mandi at Organizing Your Way reviewed starting a budget. We will see how this goes as I still have to wrap my mind around the de-cluttering.
I found a new site via Money Saving Mom called The Coupon Project. She has a free downloadable (Excel – I used Open Office) 2010 Savings Tracker.
With this spreadsheet you'll be able to:
- Easily input your monthly and yearly goals
- Enter data from your receipts and let my preset formulas tally your spending, savings, actual-to-budget, and more
- Track and manage your rebates (NEW!)
- Determine how much you saved with coupons, store sales, and rebates
- Have your monthly and year-to-date savings ratio update instantly
I've worked hard to create this spreadsheet and make it as user-friendly as possible. My goal was to have you be able to enter only a few pieces of data from your receipts and let it do all the calculating for you.
To get started, download and save a copy of the spreadsheet to your computer. Then, open the Summary tab. This is where you can get a year-to-date view of your savings. All you need to do on this tab is set up your monthly budget for food and household items - one entry per month. Once you input that information, your monthly tabs will pre-fill with your goals. At any point, you can visit the Summary tab to keep an eye on the "bigger picture" of your spending and savings.
Each time you shop, come back and fill out the few pieces of information from your receipts onto the appropriate monthly tab. Again, I have formulas preset to keep your stats updated EVERY TIME new information is entered….
Via Lifehacker, they have Top Ten Mind Tricks For Making Your Resolutions Stick today. They also have an article on how to make your own Bailey’s Irish Cream.
One of the deals at SlickDeals.net that Amazon is offering is James Taylor’s Greatest Hits for $2.99 (from August 23, 1977).
That’s it for today.
