What I don't know

Well some of what I don't know, and one of the things is I don't really know how to use my camera, I don't understand all the icons, and the vocabulary, so I focus and press most of the time. The book is not complete, it thinks I know and I don't.
Bit by bit I find something I like, and then to remember the steps to get to this thing I didn't know and now do but can't remember. However I love feeding these photos into the computer and doing things with them and even then I don't know everything these is to know about the altering either. I want less lines to show
and blurring of the edges. I don't think my program has enough sophistication, yet another would cause me more paths in the maze of gadgets.

So this is what I did today, took close up inside photos of stuff around the house,
little arrangements, used some photos from a thrift store, and some saved things from paintings.

Leaves, We Have Leaves

Of course all these leaves are falling to the ground, Os that why someof the time we call it FALL? Apples fall, evening falls earlier, everything comes down.

I wanted Oak leaves around her head, the stamp was too shallow, so I cut leaves from a paper, and I had a Lot of paper designs there but they are lost except you can see the seams in areas of the painting. She is painted quickly and is not really edited for perfection and who gets perfections is so fortunate. I had nice wrapping paper that I just came across by accident and some stars. I should be proud of the stars, but to really take pride in a star someone else has to give it to you. I didn't get a lot of them in grade school as I always had to talk at the wrong time. I was also a note writer and you know what happens then, it gets shared with the rest of the class.

Some of the lastest garden photos, I have these fall perennial asters that want to be taller than I am. they have a great color tho, they do act like they can come up wherever they please and look quite silly in the front of the garden, I take heart if you walk to the other side of the garden they are in back where they should be.
Also a little cropping of a house painting I have done a time ago.

thank you, I am always thrilled to see you were here.

Wherever You Are

Goodness, I can't think of what to say, I was thinking of the text in the painting, and about making the best of things wherever I am. I always play games about things to do that are unpleasant, like the dentist, I think appointment is less time then a movie. Or, a longer thing I think tomorrow I will have this over. Sometimes you have a list of calls to make that are not social, business calls and maybe dreading what sort of service you will get. I start with an easy one and sometimes that ends up being the hard one, but in an hour they are done, at least for that day.

I like this painting, I don't always like them and I don't tell you, they get clipped into a book with a fancy clip and in days to come sometimes a lot of days I see it and think, I sort of like that. It feels good to like it NOW.

Challenge, Words, Color, Situation

I sort of blank out when offered a challenge, but a painting, some words, and my mood happened to be just right. If you to to All Nora's Art you will see the challenge that I couldn't resist, there is also a poem there Peter Dickenson that I have read several times and liked many of the words. So I thought of a bride and red and wanted a red veil which is not tradidional at all but that suggestion anyway because it just stuck in my head last night and this morning.

Also another blogger I admire took the challenge Manon Popjes and created a lovely painting, and you would enjoy her blog as I do.

What fun the morning has been.

Leaning New Stuff About Your Stuff.

I learned that my camera has a little flower button that I have ignored, I must of thought it decorative and not a tool. It helps with close up small things. So you know this camera didn't come with great instructions, and it would help if I understood the terms. Every electronic thing or new type thing has a different vocabulary, and I don't always get it. Life is so funny, just when you think your smart you find out your not.

So I picked great flowers from the garden today and took photos of them and then did some altering and added my dear Hermie.

Figureing it Out,

That is what I have been doing, figureing out how to make a pendant, without many tools. Remember I talked about JB weld, a product that works well on metal to hold things together, then you can guild it to have a metal appearnace. Dug around and found odd bits of metal jewelry, but tough since I have very little being allergic to most excet sterling silver and brass. I also took apart a Christmas angel that had copper like appearnace was not copper tho. Dug through the garage in all the coffee cans of parts, I also cut apart a twisted metal easel that was small and found parts to form a bezel. I cut the metal with an old scissor, used the vise in the garage to bend edges, and used Diamond glaze to cover the back so maybe I could wear the pendant.

If you really want to do this in a professional way go to Nora's
Nora and Deryn have a class that will keep you from fumbles, and lovely creative sheets to use with magnificent art. I couldn't take the class.

I used my paintings for faces and one of an house in my pendants. I worked on getting my stuff together for my attempt which I rather like. For several weeks I made a lists of the order to do things, I still have to get that perfected. I am going to make a few for friend gifts
and maybe and not to be to tacky a refridge magnet as I use them for notes and lists.

The photos are rather blurry, very hard to photograph and I worked with this 3 different times.

Just Stuff That Is Around

Most of us have things that are just around, I have more stuff around than necessary for life, but I enjoy stuff and it can be correled into the space I have. I enjoy home and garden type magazines and admire the photos in them. I arrange and take photos also and could do a book called "Enjoy Your Stuff" It would be fun.
I enjoy other people's stuff so the sequel could be "Enjoy Other People's Stuff"
I am beginning to soumd like George Carlin so I will just post my photos.

The Mood Of Lavender

I didn't know I was in a lavender mood when I started this painting last night. I am rather color blind when it ocmes to browns and purples. The more subtle shades are the ones that fool me.

The painting of the face and the buildings are mine, the tiny roses are from a garden photo, in the more complicated collage there is a photo of a stone tile.

I was thinking of the time, very enjoyable time, doing the paintings, taking the photos, scanning, fussing with the 2 collages, it amounts to around 5 hours. Of course all the time I am doing this I also have thoughts of the next thing to do, then there is the everyday stuff that gets thrown in and I wonder why time goes so fast. Oh I forgot the time I spend staring into space thinking, remembering, having gratitude that I am enjoying myself.

Autumn Garden

We have been gone for several days, and had a rainy windy day also the first day we were home. I was too tired to race out to the garden anyway so good the weather was crumby. Yesterday and today I did race out there however to get things in shape as fall garden is a favorite of mine. Wind and rain had arranged things differently then they were when I left. Does nature really know about arrangements then I?
BTW (I just had to look up then and than in the dictionary) I hate to make mistakes and seem so _______ fill in the blank.

Anyway back to the garden, so much mess, so much weeds, so much vegetables. However about the vegetables so nice to just go what you want for a meal. Lille sides of cucumbers salad, fresh sliced tomatos, fresh greens, and wonderful green beans it just makes a nice meal. The chili is wonderful from those tomatoe, added grated carrot, and a little mashed potato to thicken and let it rest a day before eating.

But, best of all are the flowers, the color, the bouquets, the sedums and hydrangea are so pretty now. Cosmos, dahlias, and the mish mash of it all combined, as I feel panic as the growing season here is getting short. Tonight the sun was setting and our leaves have not turned that much, but, the slant of the light gave good color to the garden and also my camera does not see weeds, it is better then a scale that sees everything. (painting is on my mind)

Migration

Thinking of things leaving, birds on the wire, butterflies gathering, all in the process of a cycle.

However I don't have birds on a wire or a gathering of butterflies, but, I have them.

This face kept getting younger and younger as I painted, makeup doesn't really do that, I could try some acrylic and see for myself how I look. When I put in the hair scraggles she even got younger. But I am rather pleased anyway and there is always another face in the crowd.

You Never Know

Of course we never know and that is the beauty of some things, When I start to paint I never really know what I might have in the end. I am in a rather orage mood now as autumn approaches. Except I like tan or pinkish and even white pumpkins best as I bring some in the house, they are not done with their warts yet so will wait with posting.

My art lately has taken a dip, a rather careless approach, it gets muddy, and I have not been able to focus. I have probably been poisened by mosquitos, they are so horrible right now they come in swarms so you can hardly breath and I do like to be in the garden. Actually I think I have been a bit lazy, and distracted.

I was making the art room more organized and neater yesterday and could not resist starting a face, I had some background papers done with some collage on them that had been in the basket for a while, some were even cut off portions from other paintings. The part of this painting I don't like is it seems sinister to me and the innocent girl seems wrong. I am not certain the digital altering helps much.
However it will be kept in an art journal of lesser works. The reason I say, "You Never Know" as there are times when a person asks for a print or the original of things I don't especially like. Another point is I didn't do this to show, I did it to satisfy an urge to paint, however satisfaction doesn't come with disatisfaction.
There will be another day to paint. I over explain and ramble.