Day 223

This was a fun night for Star Trail photos.  Each photo took about an hour and when 3 photos were combined, they created this image.  It looks as if the stars are rotating, but it's us who are moving, and with time lapse imaging, we can create some pretty unusual photos.  I've been playing around with light sources at night too and I'll share one of those when I get the hang of it. 

While we were waiting for the time lapse imaging to process, we ate a picnic dinner and told Zombie stories to scare each other.  Out in the desert, away from any lights, it can be pretty dark.  The perfect environment to tell ghost stories! 

Day 204 & 205

 This first photo is of a tree that appeared to have Japanese Lanterns hanging all over it.  They were probably seed pods, but my DH spotted this and asked me to take a photo of it.  We were both in awe.









This second photo is of our plum tree when it was in bloom. The grandkids were all eating the ripe plums this past weekend and I was surprised that they actually liked them. 

Day 203

Yummy! Delicious! Fresh Popped!

Day 172

I haven't played with the digital software for awhile, so thought I would add some texture to this photo of these beautiful flowers.  This might be an interesting subject for a painting in the future.

Day 150

I love older Victorian homes and this one was found in "Deadwood" on a recent road trip up to South Dakota.  I changed it to a black and white because I wasn't crazy with the colors it was painted.  Very drab and dark.  I don't remember the specifics either, but I think it may have been the mayors mansion at one time or another.

Day 119

While cleaning up and re-organizing some files yesterday, I came across this oldie scan of some dried seed heads that I did a year or so ago.  I kept the scan because I had every intention of using it in a digital piece.  Well, here it is!  I also used another quote from my friend Currie who helps me move forward each day, by starting me out with her wonderful posts to read every morning.  Thank you Currie!

Day 118

I was notified yesterday that my favorite iphoneography group was closing at the end of this month.  It was a place that was full of aspiring digital artists, who were so willing to share their knowledge and art with the group, that it was really like an on-line family.  Several of the people are members of other groups or have their own websites that I already follow, but the atmosphere at the other sites just isn't the same friendly place.  I am so saddened that I will not have this group of wonderful people to share my love of digital art with any more.  I will continue exploring the possibilities of this amazing art-form,  but with not as much interest, unless I'm on a long road trip and need something to keep my mind occupied. This was also the site that was hosting my 52-word prompt challenge this year, so I guess I won't be continuing that challenge any further.  I think posting daily is plenty right now.  I'm determined to see this challenge through to the end of the year, but probably will never do it again. 
Have you ever been admiring the beautiful silk flowers in your local craft store and wanted to grab a photo in the winter to remind yourself that Spring was coming?  I did and I did.  Then I ran it through a fun app called: "Glaze".  It applies a technique that looks like quilling or tight stitching.  (Quilling is rolled papers that are then assembled into pictures.  The results are of a beautiful, detailed art-form).

Day 117

When I was at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas awhile back, there was a large bust of Caesar outside the ladies room.  I took some wonderful shots of it as I walked around it, viewing it from different angles.  Teamed up with one of Kim Klausen's great textures and one of Jerry's photo masks (shadowhousecreations), plus a quote I got from my friend "Currie", this is what I put together using my digital software.  It shows strength, has wisdom and some wonderful textures. 

Day 116

Isn't she a beauty?  She was just standing there posing for me so casually.  She kept turning this way, then that so I could get her best side.  The wind was blowing pretty strongly too, so her tail was caught in a draft.  She is a magnificent creature and one I would love to ride.  I haven't ridden a horse in over 30 years, but looking at her reminds me of all the fun I had.  Makes me want to roll up a bed roll and head for the hills for a camping weekend.  (Not going to happen! LOL!)

Day 108

Last week or perhaps the week before that, we went downtown to an open art gallery that was hosting our local watercolor society exhibit.  On our way home, we decided to drive around and visit some places we hadn't been for a long, long time.  One of these places was a used book store in the Sugar House area of town.  We would visit it quite often when we lived a short distance away, but now we live at the opposite end of the valley.  Anyway, we had to park in the back lot since street parking is at a premium and free on Saturdays.  I'm so glad we were inconvenienced because I never would have found this awesome wall of dried/dormant twigs.  The whole wall was covered like this, with little bits of dried leaves clinging to the tips of these branches.  Only thing missing were some red berries but the tulips were in bloom.  I cropped them out!  They just weren't right for this image. 

Week 16-Day 105 & 106

I knew it would happen eventually-time gets away and I end up trying to catch up.  But that's OK because I have been in the studio working some long hours trying to get some paintings done for the fair this year.  Yup-I haven't entered a fair in over 10 years and thought it might be time to enter some of my paintings.  Anyway, this week I thought I would share a game board I created for the first mixed media book I co-authored with Sherre, Leslie & Elizabeth: "Exploring the Latest Trends in Mixed Media Art" Volume I.  This art project didn't make it into the book, but I love the way it turned out.  My Grandkids love to play this game, as they get to make up their own rules.  I have only one rule for them and that is their playing piece must go to each color sometime during the game.  That means they have to either roll the dice or spin the wheel and move a playing piece around the board.  What else they do is up to them.  This entertains them for quite awhile and they will even play it alone.  This allows them to use their creative side and they both are gifted when it comes to art and having imaginations.   The second image was run through one of my ios apps called: Picsart.  It has some of the neatest filters and the black & white ones are terrific. 
If you haven't guessed what the word for this week is:  it's "Games". 

Day 103

Another photo to add to my series of "Left Behind".  We have the most amazing Magpies in our yard all the time, along with a covey of Quail who live under our shed.  Once in awhile a bluejay will venture over, but never stays long.  The other day I found his stash.  A peanut from our neighbors feeder and a marble that the magpie must have left behind.   Truly unique "Treasures from the Garden". 
I used a beautiful soft layer of texture I created last week for this image because it was rather boring with all the little pea-gravel bits, twigs and muddy browns & grays.

Day 100

I decided to play with this image yet again.  This one was slightly different than the ones I had posted before.  These images were more ghostly.  I changed it to a black and white by adding a new texture that I made last week.  I will be putting together a small package of these textures soon.  If you would like to know when they become available, please follow my digital blog at: CynthiaPowellDesigns

Day 93

"Thistles"-I love the shape of thistles when they are dry and have turned brown.  This image was taken along a mountain trail not to long ago and converted using some apps on my IOS.  I love the colors but I really like the look of what appears to be the ribbing of a corduroy fabric.   

Week 12-Day 77

Being a people watcher, I noticed there were plenty of tourists hanging around Las Vegas, but they weren't at the tables or playing the slot machines.  They were enjoying the free outdoor shows, the free Flamingo Habitat, the free indoor shows at the hotel bars, a few (OK more like a lot of people) were enjoying drinks at the Margaritaville Bar and souvenir shopping.  Everywhere you looked, there were people carrying bags from the local shops.  I'm not sure if this is really the largest souvenir shop in Las Vegas anymore, but this sign has been around forever and since the word for this week is: Signage, it is appropriate. 
I did grab a great photo of the Margaritaville Bar sign too, but I plan to use it in a future painting, so I won't share it just yet.  

Day 71-72

I know I am way ahead of myself, but that's because I will be away from my computer for a few days and when I get back to it, I will be caught up instead of way behind.  I hope to have some more interesting images to share with you then.
While I was at the Farmers Market this past Sunday, it was softly raining.  I find it interesting that people in general, tend to either love the feeling of the atmosphere when it rains or they don't.  This day I was enjoying it to the fullest.   It was the very first time I actually took photos while walking in the rain and  I had specifically planned on shooting images while it rained so I came prepared with very large umbrellas.  I didn't want my camera lens to have water droplets on it, but I did want shots of the water droplets.  Dilemma solved.  I asked my DH not to turn on the windshield wipers until I grabbed a few shots first.  So, sitting inside the car I got the best shots of the day.  By using various settings on the camera I was able to get these two awesome images. 
I love both of them and have no favorite here.  The first one is so soft and the fog so gentle.  The droplets barely visible on the glass.  The second is so distorted the whole of it is lost except the basic shape of the tree.  I have to admit, it was fun playing in the rain.  I had a wonderful time experimenting with settings and posing my DH in some of my shots.  (I'll share one or two of these images, at a another time.) 
PS-These images are straight from the camera, no apps or other alterations were made.

Day 70

In one of my apps for the Kindle Fire, I was able to download several interesting shapes, such as this crystal ball shape.  There are TV screens, Iphone screens, snow globes, magnifying glass, etc.  I used my own photo of the trees (posted below) as the reflected image.  Looks very abstract since it no longer looks like trees.  Now it looks more like scratches and strong diagonal lines. 
The app is called: Pip Camera and it is available in the Amazon App Store for Free this week.  If you don't have a Kindle, but you do have an iphone or ipod, explore:  Picsart from itunes.  Have fun! 

Week 11 -Day 69

For the "52 Word Group" challenge that I am hosting over at iphoneart, the word this week is: "Circular".  What a word.  What fabulous ideas are running through my head when I hear it.  Circles are one of my many personal symbols and I love them.  (Circles represent the sun and the moon to me and of course they are personal symbols but maybe we'll get into that later.)
I took this theme in a totally different direction than I originally had planned.  I was shooting this amazing tree for well over a year now and one day in the distant past, I grabbed my fish eye lens as I was running out the door.  (You can get this same effect using your digital software and the elliptical marquee tool.)  It was a bit tricky to accomplish, since I altered the photo in several different ways before it was put back into the frame, but I kind of like the pink sky and sharper image.  Rose Colored Glass anyone?

Day 68

The Photo Art Friday challenge was to create another abstract using Bonnie's textures.  Well, I piled them on!  Here is the list of textures that were used to create the background for this layout: 1. Antique Me, 2. Cobblestone Road, 3. Dropped Petals, 4. Sweet Thoughts, 5. Scratched Lens and 6. Soft Reflections.  I cut and pasted parts of these textures to get the layout covered then I applied a hand-painted and stamped detail from my art studio.  With blending modes, each layer was altered and here is the final design. 
This 2nd image is of the first version using nothing but Bonnie's textures and some brushes.  I'm so glad I kept this because I can see using it again in the future.  A quote would be nice, or maybe just one simple word. 

Day 67

I used this cropped image to make my new FaceBook Cover.  Reversing the colors really made this pop.  Instead of snow on the ground and the bark on the trees, the trees now look like white birches.  This was shot at Wheeler Farms picnic area a few months ago when snow covered everything in sight.  I wasn't wearing my boots or I would have ventured off into this grove of trees for more photos.  Opportunity missed, but I don't think the trees are going anywhere.  I'll be back to capture them year round.  Every season is an opportunity here.