My latest photo-manipulation. I’m having fun playing with Corel Painter X and my photo program. Ignoring my husband and my chores I suppose (my books too) but learning new stuff is good for the aging brain cells (and for the soul). Have a safe and happy 4th!
I’ve been practicing using my wacom tablet and I did my first photo-manipulation from two stock photos I bought and downloaded from istockphoto.com. I edited them in PhotoImpact and Corel Painter and I’m pretty happy with the outcome. I just hope I can remember how I did it!
This is a photo of my daughter Lizzi and my father-in-law, Hank. I took out the background and color in Photoshop and I used the oily blender in Corel Painter to give it a brush stroked effect. Lizzi is twenty-four now and Hank passed away seven years ago. I still think of him often, and I will miss him and remember him fondly today. Happy Father’s Day all.
One of the things I like best about summer is the smell of the honeysuckle vines I have growing next to the backyard gate. In the evening, when the air outside begins to cool, the night breeze gathers the sweetness of the little yellow flowers and carries it into the house through an open window, laying it before me…the perfect summer gift.
I’ve been attempting to make a dent in this huge mulch pile. To show you how big it is (so you can feel really sorry for me) I put my gigantic Irish Wolfhound, Nikki, on the pile for perspective. As you can see I will probably be shoveling mulch for the next month, poor bookbabie, her little hands are already calloused and raw. Okay, back to work, blog break is over…
I haven’t been reading much lately, between my mom’s health issues and my garden chores, I’ve been busy (and a little tired and stressed out too). Last night I grabbed my camera and ventured out into my backyard. It felt good to do something creative, to slow down, breathe, and appreciate nature’s gifts.
My gardener friends say I’m supposed to cut the chives back now, but how can I, they’re so pretty when they bloom!
One of my Clematis blooms, I’ve planted them everywhere, some are happy, others would like more attention than I’ve been willing and able to provide (kinda like kids).
Our uptown ducks, we usually try to run them off, but this year we gave up. They eat the bugs off the surface of the water so we figure they are doing their part to clean the pool (if only they didn’t quickly digest those bugs and poop them right back out we’d be golden).
My mom is home from the hospital and doing better so I’ve been busy buying flowers and catching up on my gardening this week. My favorite all around gardening guide is published by Reader’s Digest. It covers everything and anything you might need to know from planting to pruning to pests. It’s been a tough ten days, I think I’ll go get some dirt under my fingernails…there’s no doubt about it, flowers are food for the soul. Thanks for all your kind words and prayers, what would we do without the support of our friends and our family:)
Well, Larry and Curly are gone, poor little Moe is still in the nest as I write this but seems to be thinking about leaving. Mom and dad fluttered around and hollared at them all morning to get the kids to go. I’ll miss them, but now I can toss out the wreath and hang my summer wreaths. How fun it was to be able to watch them up close and personal this spring. Look back at my May 8th post and compare it to today’s final pics to see how quickly they went from fragile, bald little guys to fine feathered teens….just checked, we now have an empty nest!
bookbabie 