Friday, August 31, 2012

Philodendrons Gone Wild

I went out in the yard and took pictures of my plants as Isaac was rumored to be a threat to Florida. They always seem dearer to me at the thought of their possible destruction. I have two large leaf philodendrons that are at least 36 years old and they have extended themselves many feet into the yard from their initial corners. I love the "eyes" and decided to play with the most recent picture of them. Although it's not a great photo I wanted to see what I could do with it to create an image.
After about an hour in Photoshop, I had a moderately successful photo that I gave a formal treatment to, shown below.
Then, I tried experimenting with doubling the image to look like a reflection. That didn't work. But, a face appeared when I doubled the image and so I changed to a vertical format and played around with aligning the mirrored view until it looked quite menacing. After another hour of playing with custom brushes and patterns in Photoshop, Zarathustra came to mind. It's a long way from my sprawling philodendron. But I thoroughly enjoy the process of playing with Photoshop, and going a little wild with it.


I've been using CS3 for quite a while now, but have just committed to CS6 and the Creative Cloud. As soon as I get a laptop capable of running it all, I will probably never stop playing. And I'm glad Isaac has passed us by!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Hello Kitty

My brother-in-law is a cat lover. He has owned cats as long as I can remember and gets very attached to them. Several years ago he lost Calliope and vowed that was it, until now. He recently "adopted" 2 cats, brothers, that he helped place several years ago. Their owners were moving to New Mexico and did not want to take the them so after careful thought Michael decided to adopt Rocky and Rambo. He is a happy man.
I was visiting and decided to take some photos of my new nephews and although Rocky is the king of all he surveys, Rambo is more elusive and not so interested in being the center of interest. I loved this photo of Rocky doing his catly duty of guarding Michael's shoes and socks, a task I am told he takes very seriously. I don't ususally paint animals but I really wanted to try a Rocky portrait. Here is a photo of the picture I took next to the painting. As you can see I took one of the socks out so it had more contrast. I hope the boys like it.
Donna Vines











Wednesday, August 22, 2012

SARA AND BRYNN AT THE
                    BEACH
Every summer our grand girls come from Colorado to visit us in Florida.  Our days are filled with sunshine and joy as we journey from our home to the beach to the pool and anywhere else they might want to venture.  We love to build sand castles, chase the waves and go for long walks.  We always took our children to the beach during the summer and one of their favorite things to do was build a really large sand castle then watch as the tide would come back in and take the castle back out to sea.  We would stand or sit around and guess which part of the castle would fall first.  Of course our castles all had moats that will fill up with the incoming tide then merge again with the ocean. It is a joy to continue this tradition with our grand girls.  Do you have traditions that have been passed down to your children and now perhaps to your grandchildren?  I hope so!  I painted this 8"X10" oil on canvas from a photo that I took this summer while our girls were playing on the beach.  Their father has claimed it.  I believe it must remind him of his childhood days on the beach.  The only thing better than memories is making new memories.
Smiles!
Phillis Holland

Sunday, August 19, 2012

News about our own Carol Schiff!

You might all know that Carol Schiff is a Daily Painter as well as a member of PO8. Recently, Carol was contacted by the manufacturers of some delicious candy to create images for their bags. An article all about it appears in Brevard Art News at http://www.brevardartnews.com/2012/08/news-from-carol-schiff.html. Check it out! And if you are a Florida Artist and want to keep up with what's going on in Brevard, Lou Belcher's newsletter is a great source.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Memory Lane

I just returned from a wonderful trip to New England for a class reunion and a dear friends annivserary. We got to stay with our old neighbors, just across the street from where we used to live and our kids grew up. The neighborhood has really changed but being at our friends felt just like we had never left.
On a beautiful, picture perfect New England day I asked my granddaughter to drive me around so I could take some photos of my favorite spots in Ipswich. I would love to share a few with you.












Riley and the screen porch beckon.













Sailing in Gloucester Harbor.













The marsh and Ipswich River, always beautiful.

Ballard Park, Original Oil on Canvas

  I had not painted outside in two years, so this was quite a challenge. It was one of those paintings I had to improve upon in the studio. ...