Sunday Snaps

Sunday was a gorgeous day here, and I got out for the first time and took some pictures in the park nearby.  Unfortunately, I hadn't been out for very long before the pollen started to sting my eyes and render them blurry, so the shots were few.

I liked the color on this little flower, nestled in the grass.  It's nice to have warmer weather on the horizon.

There are a great number of projects that need my attention right now, and sadly most of them aren't art related.  My house is gone from just disorganized to chaotic, so that must be remedied.

A Bit of Good

This week was a rough one, wasn't it?  I'm still trying to get my bearings from all that has happened.  There was a bit of good late this week - I purchased a pancake lens for my camera.  I'd heard about the image quality before, but it is simply wonderful in the few test shots I've taken.  I can't wait to take more with this!

Lens are one of the few things I am comfortable buying for my camera right now.  I don't feel like I know enough about flashes or filters, and I'd like to change that.  There's so much to learn, but I've come far too.  There was a time when I didn't know how to use the manual settings on my camera!  At least I've had fun finding my way.

Image from Adorama - where I purchased my lens

I'm branching out - this week I did some soul searching, and I've decided to do more connecting on and offline.  I've been reading and working a good deal the past week, just trying to get myself together and see what the next best move is for me.  My new business cards came from MOO.com recently, and they've got four of my photographs on them - they look great!

Were you able to see the aurora?  Last Saturday there was an aurora, but it was foggy here and I had no visibility at all.  I would have liked a glimpse, but I guess I'll have to settle for the ones in Skyrim.  Perhaps I'll try my hand at painting one soon.  It would be interesting to try it with watercolor.

Take care,
Em

Boston

Boston - City and Airfield

I grew up in Boston, in the best possible way.

I'm from the midwest originally, but I went to college in upstate New York, and after a year in Americorps back home, I moved to Boston.  Well, I moved outside of Boston to serve that year, but the majority of us moved into Boston right after that - all in our early twenties and feeling the allure of the city lights calling us.

Back in those days I lived in Jamaica Plain and slept on a futon.  But it mattered little, because I was where I wanted to be, even if I had to work 80 hours a week in retail to get there.  It was exciting being in the city, I met people, went out to eat, worked and went to parties - normal stuff, but it somehow seemed grander in Boston.

I got what I considered to be my first real job at a Boston institution - Filene's.  I loved working there.  It was one of the single best working experiences of my life, including working for myself.

My husband and I met in Cambridge.  We went for coffee one day, which I didn't drink at the time but for whatever reason when someone offers me Turkish coffee, I can't say no.  To get to the date, I had to borrow a T pass from my roommate, because even though I was living in the city, I had begun to work outside of it.

Closer to the race site used to be a store where I worked at for months.  I loved working in Copley Square.  I hated the (now closed) store I worked it, but the people were great.  I've worked through a race day before, and they rope off the streets early.  I don't remember how I got around the barricades, but I know the police had to escort my store manager around when she got caught on the wrong side.

That street is the same street they parade down in Boston for just about everything, when the Patriots win the superbowl, when the Red Sox won the world series for the first time in 86 years.  I lived in Boston then.  I attended concerts, listened to WFNX, and took my visiting dad to the Cheers replica bar down at Fanueil Hall.

Yesterday, I was so very horrified to see the news.  I don't live close to Boston anymore, but I grew up there.  It will forever be part of me.  My heart goes to Boston and the visiting people that were there for the marathon.

Blushing

Here's my first attempt at making a texture with words - Blushing.  I will try again, but for a first attempt, I am pleased with this.  It was made with watercolors and edited in Lightroom.

For whatever reason, the previews on the download are much darker than the file itself, so refer to this shot instead.  Blushing is a texture with bits of script around three edges, a little grit and an antique feel to it.

Blushing can be acquired through the purchase of my textures set Dramatis, through my etsy shop.

I used Blushing on my picture Wonder.  To add the texture, I used it twice, once as a soft light layer and then as a multiply layer on top of the other.  I rotated the second layer, to make it seem like there was more text in the piece.  Here's the result.

So Blue

A new texture!  This is an acrylic texture I made, with tones of sky and sea in mind.  It's been a while since I worked with acrylic paint, and I forgot how fast it dries!  It was a departure from the watercolors I've been using lately, but I am glad to get back to using them.


Here's So Blue used as a texture on an edited photo.  I really liked the way it came out, making the sky much more painterly than it was before.  I added the texture so blue as a soft light layer and adjusted so it wouldn't overwhelm the picture with the short strokes.  I think it adds a great deal to the photo, the obvious brush strokes making it more visually interesting.  Feel free to use with your photos and share the results.