Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

Our favorite alpha cat, Arnie, poses for the Howliday.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Little Houses


All summer I've been meaning to make photos of the schoolyard birdhouses.  They're a collection of lively colors on a stick in the wildlife habitat the school has created in back of the temporary classrooms.  I love the whimsical nature of the painting, the arrangement, the fact that some of the birdhouse sticks jaunt off to an angle while others are straight and perpendicular.  Here are some of the better photos I made on our first overcast day.  Our neighborhood school, Llewellyn Elementary, rocks!


Friday, October 19, 2012

One Two

Every couple of weeks I go down to The Pearl for bodywork.  On the way to the studio I walk past wonderful art galleries.  Lately I've seen heroic sized abstract paintings with slashes and drips of BOLD color hanging in their windows.

Feeling itchy to groove off inspiration from those art works, I photographed a few graffitied windows and slashes of purple paint drips.  I blurred Christmas lights in the hardware store window.  I piled them together on a piece of watercolor Id made, fidgeted them this way and that.  Fiddled with filters or shadows--adding, taking away, moving throwing out.  Hid a number in there--because it needed something and because Carol would.  :)

Not sure I like it; not sure I don't.  Put it down as MY art and call it a day.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Marine M With Rust

This has been sitting on my screen in Photoshop for about a week, an assignment for me to figure out something to do with it.  The longer I looked at it, I decided cropping it close on the left hand side to offset the weight of the rusty part was all I needed to do.  It's been so long since I did initial work on it  I can't remember if I Topazed it at all.  Perhaps I did to bump the colors.  A look at my original image could tell me but I'm too bummed out by our sudden rain dump today and the end of 60 days or more of balmy weather that I don't want to go on an M-hunt right now.  Perhaps there will be more to come on this one, then!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Fancy Feet

While at the Astoria Column, sitting in the shade of an 80 degree day, I actually asked the woman next to me if I could make a photo of her feet.  I love the colors!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

All Of Us

Made this a couple of months ago when literally ALL of the kids, grandkids, and spouses were around.  There were a couple of dogs, too, but we decided to keep this strictly for humans.

If you're interested, here's who:
Back row: #1 son, Andy; future SIL, Drew; #1 grandson, Zack; SIL, Erik
Middle row: #2 son, David; DIL, Nina; #2 daughter, Sarah; #3 daughter, Carolina; #1 daughter, Joanna
Front row:  #2 grandson, Sean; DIL, Yukie; #3 grandson, Ewan; Hubby Extraodinaire, Hugh; moi; granddaughter #1, Abbi

More photos on our family site here.

Monday, October 8, 2012

In The Waves

Abstract "image" I made shooting boat hulls at the dry dock in Astoria.  Carol, do you have one just like this?

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Piano Harp and Strings

Hugh and I drove about two hours south of Portland today to Falls City, Oregon.  A speck of a burb where 30,000 people lived and worked in the mid-1800s but where only a whisper of commerce still remains. Our mission was for Hugh to try out a musical instrument for sale at an antique shop there.  I poked around with my camera.

The two owners of the shop had a fun assortment of piano works stashed in the back, including a wall of soundboards (harps) shelved up on the wall near an open door.  I loved the curving detail of the strings, felt and pegs on this old Wurlitzer harp.

These guys go collecting old, junk pianos listed on Craigs List for free.  Then, they gut the works to make computer desks out of the cases which are often made from exotic woods, especially the centenarian pianos.  The harps they encase in a box, add legs and plexiglass.  What you have then is a giant coffee table, train table, or dining nook table.  As to what they do with the keys (the action), which are pure ivory, I've no idea.  But what a recycling process!

End Of The Road Antiques, Falls City, Oregon.  I was going to post a link to their store.  Alas--there are still some businesses in the world who haven't developed a web presence.  Imagine!

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Tied Up

Another good one from the waterfront in Astoria.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Morning Glow

It's beginning to look a lot like Fall around here.  Hazy skies from forest fires plus the marine layer are making for some spectacular sunsets--and sunrises.  Here's the way things looked from Seaview, WA, one morning when I was rushing to meet up with the Astoria photo group.  I loved how the sun looked caught in the wires as well as the utility pole silhouettes on the left.  Mmmmmm.....where's my coffee?