Forest Magic, Movies, Sunrises and Giraffes

Hello my friends!
I am still recovering from the flu but feeling better everyday. I can't wait until I am 100% and can get out and about again in the world of the living, although if anyone gets me sick again I will be very ticked off. ;-)
This week I found out my sprinkler system has not been coming on for two months! Thus, not only is everything dead in my yard but the stuff that is living has a white-fly infestation. Let me tell you, those buggers are voracious and not easy to get rid of. I was very depressed about the whole thing for a day or so until I realized this is a perfect opportunity to replace the dead stuff with native plants that will attract even more birds and butterflies to my yard. So, I'm trying to look at the bright side of the buggy situation. Maybe by next summer, I will have a lush garden again and new flowers to take pictures of!

So, what have I been doing since being stuck inside with the flu? I've worked on art of course! I finally finished my first illustration done completely in Photoshop. It was a learning experience for sure. I used all my own textures except for one from Distressed Textures for an overlay on the background. Picking out the textures was quite the fun part as I didn't know after making it into a pattern stamp what it would look like on the page until I started painting it on.

Forest Magic

I first drew a rough draft by hand and scanned it into Photoshop. I realized two things at this point: that I drew her two elbows (haha, talk about double-jointed!) and that drawing this directly into Photoshop would have been much easier as I had to go over all the lines anyways to create the "piece" look I was going for.

Rough Draft

I then began to paint in the textures. I ended up with a total of 40 layers! I used textures I made by running ink off of old Nat Geo pages. I then scanned them into Photoshop and created textures from them. Using the Pattern Stamp, I then created a paintbrush effect and added them to my selected areas, one at a time. Yes, that took forever!

As I began to redraw it in Photoshop, some things got erased and some things got added to improve the overall composition. Finally, background textures where added and some of the line drawing layers deleted. I used an old map texture to create the ground. I loved how it looked!

When I finished, I printed it out on my printer on high quality paper and let me tell you, it's gorgeously rich and delightful! I'm going to giveaway the print so if you comment on this post, telling me your favorite part of the piece, I will put your name into a hat and will draw a winner on Sunday. I will send the print matted, signed and ready for framing! What a fun project! I can't wait to attempt another!

I continued the Sunrise shots this week...somehow that has turned into an iPhoneography series and I just hope I can keep up with it. I really only meant to shoot the first sunrise of the year but I've been up everyday in time for the rest of them. Probably not a good thing since I go to bed late and really need rest right now but honestly, who could resist seeing this:

Sunrise 1.9.2013

And wanna know what else has cheered me up this week? One of my goals each year that I put on my dream/visualization board is "continued learning". Last year I did this with gusto and took way too many online classes that I ended up not being able to finish because of all the traveling I did. I have the same kind of adventurous year ahead of me again but I didn't want to give up on the idea of an online class because I really enjoy learning and being pushed out of my comfort zone. So, I chose one that my friend Constance told me about. It's Carla Sonheim's Year of the Giraffe! It's a year-long art project all about Giraffes! OMG. I love Giraffes. How fun is this going to be? I love Carla's drawing. I would love to be more silly and free. I'm too technical with my drawing. I hope to loosen up quite a bit by the time the year and the project is over. And I can't wait to see what kind of giraffes end up being my companions. ;-)

If you would like to read about the Year of the Giraffe or sign up for the course, click here

And finally...I wanted to share a Kickstarter Project with you and hope you will help this talented group of students complete their film, The Furnished Room. The leading lady is my friend Constance's daughter. You can see the video and learn how you can help get this movie made by clicking here. I donated to the project and it feels good to not only give, but to support the arts. Every little bit will help them so don't be shy! You know you always wanted to see your name in the credits of a film. ;-)

I hope everyone has a great upcoming weekend and don't forget to leave your comment regarding the "Forest Magic" piece to be entered in to win the print!

January 1st, 2013

It started out with a beautiful sunrise...the morning light brought forth the dawn song from a plague of Grackles, who were flying back and forth across the lake, egging me on to capture them in a perfect composition on my little iPhone:

The first sunrise of 2013

My poor hubby spent the morning in bed suffering from a cold. Not a great start for 2013 but he still managed to find something good to write down and throw into our "best of" jar (see previous post).

While he coughed, sniffled and sneezed, I retreated from the germs and took refuge in my art room. I wrote and sketched in my 2013 art journal and worked on a graphic art piece that I started a couple of weeks ago. The piece is still a work in progress and I'm learning as I go but what fun it is!

Still in progress, I have yet to name the piece. I need to work on the background, the forest plants and add some details, like a butterfly or two. :-).

While I did art, Sami lounged in her new bed, soaking up the warm sunlight beaming through the window:

It's a lazy day at Casa George

One of the goals I've given myself for 2013 is to process one image from my archives everyday. I'm so far behind on processing pictures...four years worth sit in files on my laptop! Being a photographer means that I'll never catch up. I've accepted that but I can at least keep up with the images I take in 2013 and revisit one image from the archives each day. By the end of the year I'll have 365 images done! That seems doable. So here is the first one, taken in 2010:

Just One

This year, Lita and I are recording all our bird sightings each day on eBird. My count today:

50 Grackles

3 Painted Buntings (2 male, one female)

1 Palm Warbler

3 White-winged Doves

2 Mourning Doves

7 Muscovy Ducks

1 Northern Mockingbird

That's it! Day one of 2013 is done. A sore throat has come upon me as I write this (glares at sick hubby). Hopefully my creative train won't be sidetracked by an illness. Fingers crossed, knocking on fake wood.

Oh...and, pat on the back...I blogged two days in a row!

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