Wise Words...

I love this quote from Winnie the Pooh, and when Kim's challenge this week was to use 'wise words' this immediately came to mind.  I've used some photos shot this week of Arbour and Casey, but I've also dipped into the archives to pull out shots of Spencer (we lost him to kidney disease a couple of years ago) and some of the oldies from when they were just young'uns.

As you can see, our dog, Casey, loves her cats.  When we first got Arbour she was so tiny I worried that Casey would accidentally crush her, but she was always so careful.  Arbour loved to snuggle in her 'arms' and that centre shot where Casey is looking at her like a loving mother is one of my favourites!  Now Arbour tends to sleep in my studio on whatever I'm trying to work on LOL, but she also loves to cuddle with the teddy bears on our antique settee.

Spencer was our 'puppy cat'.  He seemed to identify more with Casey than Arbour and although they all got along well, he preferred to be with Casey whenever he could.  I love the shot of them cuddling on our bed as well as the shot of the two of them on their respective steps.  As you can see in the bottom row, when he was sleeping alone, he had an odd way of lying with his butt raised up...too funny!

To quote my husband, "I'm going to have a little nap 'cause it's too early to start doing nothing..."

Hope you all find time to have a little snooze of your own today.  Siesta time is way underrated!

For those of you interested in the processing, I created the collage in Lightroom's Print module and then added the text and textures in Photoshop Elements. Here's a screen shot of what I did in Photoshop Elements:

Linking up with Our World Tuesday, Texture Tuesday, and Sweet Shot Tuesday.

Standing Cat Visits Toronto...

Sometimes you just have to play and sometimes all the elements just line up.

Element #1: A challenge...  Bonnie's challenge for Photo Art Friday this week is to create a collage.

Element #2: An idea...  A few weeks ago I send an email with the "mere cat" image to a number of family and friends.  My son responded by sending me with a list of about 8 or 9 links of images of the same cat in a variety of other places and scenarios, letting me know that there apparently are more where those came from.

Element #3: A photo...  On Saturday, while walking around in downtown Toronto, I took the above shot of the iconic Gooderham Building (also often referred to as the Flatiron Building) in the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood.  As I continue to learn to use my camera out of 'auto' mode, there are sometimes some mistakes with focus, exposure, etc. (BTW, I did correct things and get a great, clear shot too).  I decided to see if I could have some fun playing with this image and the standing cat (although I see I got the wrong cat!).

Element #4: A concept...  I decided to make the cat a tourist visiting Toronto.  Thus the bag with the souvenir CN Tower inside, as well as a lovely big fresh fish from the St. Lawrence Market.  I was considering a classic Canadian touque or a Blue Jay's ball cap, but when I saw the good old 'cat in the hat' hat I just had to go with it.  I love the bright pop of red that it brings to the image.

Element #5: An inside joke...  My son is just finishing up his first year at U of T's Faculty of Law and something he told me on Saturday inspired me to find the law school logo and use it on the shopping bag that the cat is carrying.  I'm hoping this brings a bit of a smile to his face while he studies for the 6 gruelling exams he is facing in the next couple of weeks (now get back to work Lucas! =P).

Following last week's "graffiti' challenge, I just have to share this other image.  I saw this old mattress that someone had put out for garbage and it became a canvas for graffiti.  In an area where there was no other available large blank surface, this artist used what was handy!

Puppy Love...

Last spring, our neigbours got Buddy, a Shih Tze puppy.  From the first day they got him, as they tried to walk past our back yard (we're on a corner lot), Buddy saw Casey and just walk in through our fence to visit with her.  It was love at first sight for all of us!  Casey was about to turn 12, a senior for a dog her size, and here was this tiny puppy that just wanted to jump up on her and give her kisses...so adorable!

As you can see in the top left image, Casey was quick to get in on the pouncing fun.  Although we certainly see signs of her age at times, when Buddy's around Casey just becomes like an over grown puppy herself.  It's so fun to watch them wrestle and play and I really think he helps to keep her young.  However, notice the very centre image...that's Casey's way of imposing a short break to get a little rest.  Has she captured an adorable little sleep toy or what!

These days its a bit of a tight squeeze for Buddy to get through the fence, but they still play regularly, and right now they are loving the snow!

This photo collage was creating using the print module in Lightroom 4.  I then exported it to  PSE 11 where I added a subtle soft texture called Cora, by Kim Klassen, at a soft light blend mode and lowered the opacity.  I put a layer of the digital scrapbook paper with the musical notes over the lower part only, and again lowered the opacity to allow the text to show through.  The final step was to use a variety of heart brushes to stamp on the little hearts on the last image as well as over the text area.  Love is in the air...

Linking up with Our World Tuesday, Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday and Photo Art Friday.

Abstract Collage...

Bonnie's challenge this week in Photo Art Friday was to play with a couple of her textures and create an abstract image.  I decided to use some more of my 'pinhead kitty' shots from last weekend's shoot.  I could see using this as some funky wrapping paper. :o)

I played around with a few other filters in Elements and came up with these additional versions.  The first one reminds me of a chalk board.

It's a Matter of Point of View...

One of my goals this year is to learn more about photography and specifically about using my camera to it's full potential.  My top priority was to get out of 'auto' on my DSLR camera (and stay out!), which so far is going well.  I've also switched to shooting in 'raw' and I'm learning that it gives me a lot more wiggle room in Lightroom.

Today's photo collage is a study of point of view.  The subject is an fun little assemblage piece that I created a few years back at my friend Sandra's Open Studio.

The collage itself was created, literally in minutes, using the Print module in Lightroom 4.  If you've been considering it, you've got to go ahead and get Lightroom and then take Kim Klassen's Round Trip class.  You won't regret it!

A Pop of Colour...

Yesterday, while driving to my daughter-in-law's place, I passed this beautiful church and it immediately reminded me of Kim's challenge for this week's Texture Tuesday, 'a pop of colour'. Fortunately I had brought my camera along with me because I knew I'd be driving along country roads and I planned to get some barn shots on my way home, but when I saw this wonderful bright red door on the church I knew it was perfect for for the challenge.  I created the collage in Lightroom, and then added a subtle layer of Kim's texture, 'stamped' using a soft light blend mode to give it a cool, soft look. I used a layer mask and brushed the texture off of the white frame and sashing of the collage, as well as the red door so that the wonderful colour could 'pop'.

This photo is being linked to Our World Tuesday, Texture Tuesday and Sweet Shot Tuesday.

DOF Study: Pinhead Kitty

I'm working to get more comfortable with shooting using Aperture Priority on my camera and eventually moving into shooting in manual all the time.  My goal is to get out of (and stay out of) the auto setting for good!

In this shoot, I grabbed my crazy pin cushion* to play around with DOF (depth of field).  I love the great results I can get with my 50mm 1.8 lens.  So much fun...

*Several years ago my friends Heather, Doeteke and I were making these silly Halloween cats. I made my head, following the pattern, and when I held it up to the rest of the cat it was way too small.  Heather said it looked like a pin head, and that gave me the idea to make a pin cushion out of the little head.  I went ahead and redesigned a larger head for the Halloween cat (in hindsight it could have even been bigger...).  Anyway, when I got home, I used the little head to make the pin cushion and attached it to a tiny mason jar so that I could store extra pins inside the jar.  At first it was a bit creepy sticking pins in the cat's head, but I'm over it! :o)

The Beauty of Aging...

I had a lot of fun creating this digital journal page.  I tried something different with one of Kim Klassen's textures.  Instead of just using it over the photo images to enhance them (which I did by using 2 layers on each image, the first at soft light 100% and the second at screen 25%), I also decided to use it as my background 'page' for the collage.  The texture, called Autumn Burst, was the perfect choice because of the journal page holes along the left edge.  It also had the perfect colour for the warm Autumn look I was going for.

The three images were all taken in my garden last fall. I love the look of the black 'balls' left after the Black Eyed Susan's loose their petals and find them especially attractive poking out of the snow during the winter.

My favourite shot is of the wonderful skeletonized (new word?) Chinese Lantern.  It's incredible to see that perfectly round orange berry encased inside the delicate cage left after the orange skin comes off of the lantern.

I also really like the shape shape of the seed pods left after the Columbine flowers have died away.  Again, they add some interesting interest when poking out of the snow in the winter.  In the background of this last shot you can see the beautiful deep pink of our Sedum.  The Columbine's self seed very effectively and seem to pop up in the most unusual places, like right in the middle of other plants.  This can result in some confusion for folks who are not familiar with gardening since you get Columbine flowers blooming out of some odd foliage.  LOL

This photo is being linked to Photo Show Off, Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Our World Tuesday, This or That Thursdays, Photo Art Friday, Shoot, Edit, Submit, Fabulous Friday, Flower Art Friday and Photo Friday Link Party.

Acceptance in Seven Words

Bonnie at Pixel Dust Photo Art posed a fun challenge for Photo Art Friday this week:

this week you can use the prompt to compose a seven word sentence that describes your life or experience or process as an artist (be it a photographer, painter, mixed media artist, digital artist, whatever...) and marry your sentence to a piece of photo art that somehow illustrates your sentence.

This photo collage is being linked to Photo Show Off, Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Our World Tuesday, This or That Thursdays, Photo Art Friday, Shoot, Edit, Submit, Fabulous Friday and Photo Friday Link Party.

Seven Word Sentences...

Bonnie at Pixel Dust Photo Art posed a fun challenge for Photo Art Friday this week:

this week you can use the prompt to compose a seven word sentence that describes your life or experience or process as an artist (be it a photographer, painter, mixed media artist, digital artist, whatever...) and marry your sentence to a piece of photo art that somehow illustrates your sentence.

I've used part of that challenge to play with a photo that was emailed to me yesterday.  Unfortunately, I don't know who took this wonderful shot (as is so often the case with the photos that get emailed around), but I just had to share it with you.

I am working on completing her challenge in its true spirit, but that's not finished yet. I'll share it when it's done...

These photos are being linked to Photo Show Off, Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Our World Tuesday, This or That Thursdays, Photo Art Friday, Shoot, Edit, Submit, Fabulous Friday and Photo Friday Link Party.

Love Me, Love Me Not...

I spent some time today playing with my new lens.  My husband got me an AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8G for my birthday a couple of weeks ago.  I'd love to say I know what all that 'code' means, but all I really know is I can take some great close ups and get some wonderful blur in the background.  Yes, I do need to learn more about my camera and lenses - all in good time!

These pics were taken in my studio, on my white sewing table.  I didn't quite have the bright sunlight I was hoping for, but overall I'm happy with the results.  After creating the collage, I added a couple of Kim Klassen's wonderful textures: "...and then some" at soft light 85% and then "revolution" at multiply 26%.

Having Fun with Photo Collages!

These photo collages or storyboards are addictive.  I did a search online for storyboard templates and found The Coffee Shop Blog.  It's wonderful!  Rita is passionate about photography and sharing her creations.  That's where I found this storyboard template.

In Beyond Layers, we've been encouraged to explore 'vision & blur', visual time capsules and storyboards.  I decided to combine all of these in this piece.  I especially love the top left photo in which the interesting texture on the tree is crisp while the background is blurry.  Last weekend my husband and I went to visit our friends, the Woodill's, in Michigan and although we arrived to green grass and spring-like temperatures, Saturday morning we had a big snowfall.  I wandered their huge property with my camera in my hand and Casey at my heels.  I couldn't help my self with the text - I just had to go for alliteration!  I think that's what Casey's laughing about in the top centre photo :0)

Storyboard : Art Every Day

In Beyond Layers Kim has us working on time capsules and storyboards.  Since I've committed to doing art everyday, and Arbour*, the cat, and Casey are never far away they had to be included.  I've used the storyboard template Kim provided and added her "backin" texture after adding a gradient map at 69% to remove most of the colour and then adding a sepia filter to give it a warmer 'feel'.

*We got Arbour as a free kitten from a gardening centre and we couldn't come up with a good name for her.  The next morning, my husband took the nameless little fur-ball to the vet and when the vet walked in kitty arched her back and hissed at the vet.  The vet decided to name her for us: Arbour (as in the garden arbours that arch up in people's gardens as a passage way).  What can I say, it was already on her file at the vet's office so it stuck!

New Look for My Blog!

Well, as you can see I've spruced up my blog to give it a new look.  I've been wanting to do this for a while and I finally got around to it, in part because of a wonderful template from Kim Klassen in our Beyond Layers' group.  What had been holding me back was figuring out how to create a photo collage in Photoshop, so Kim's timing was perfect!  Thanks Kim :0)

Now all I need to do is figure out how to get my background (hand stitched and beaded silk fusion) to extend all the way down the sides instead of just at the top of the page. Sigh..