drawing an ordinary thing

***

Canon 6D

Tamron SP 24-70 f/2.8 lens

Manual Mode

ISO 200

f 3.5  1/25 sec

on tripod

LR preset: kk_likeadream

Texture: kk_follow

Drawing

done with

Prismacolor colored pencils

Sketchbook page

embellished with

stamping ink

paint

collage

I can't prove it,

but I do believe

this pear

tasted

especially

delicious.

***

Linking up with

Be Still 52 (week 32)

Friday Finds

Texture Tuesday

Sketchbook Skool (Beginnings)

not still life...real life

So

I've been busy lately

...

watching my child

watch her child.

It doesn't get any better.

***

Canon 6D

Tamron SP 24-70 f/2.8 lens

Manual Mode

ISO 1600

f 3.2  1/100 sec

LR preset: kk_barelycolor

Texture: kk_epic

Drawing

done with

Sanford UniBall Fine pen

***

Linking up with

Be Still 52 (week 30)

Texture Tuesday

P.S.
Happy Birthday
to my own
Mom
Great-Grandma Peggie

mary's boy child

Long time ago in Bethlehem

So the Holy Bible say

Mary's boy child, Jesus Christ

Was born on Christmas day.

Hark, now hear the angels sing

A new King born today

And man will live forever more

Because of Christmas day.

music and lyrics

by

Jester Hairston

sung

by

Harry Belefonte

***

LR preset: kk_litely

Textures: kk_waterfront30 and kk_myrtle

Drawing: newborn Fen (from my own photo files that day)

Linking up with

Be Still 52 (week 29)

Texture Tuesday

***

Merry Christmas!

in this place

...and I knew it not.

Genesis 28:16 

Sometimes it is hard to believe

that God is

present

in our lives,

especially

in

trying times.

If He seems distant

we have only to

reach out

to

Him.

I remind myself of this on a regular basis.

***

LR preset: darkmood

Textures: kk1 and kk-magic0916

Linking up with

Be Still 52 (week 27)

My Still Sunday (via Instagram)

Texture Tuesday

an american-italian thanksgiving

These things

say

'Thanksgiving'

to me:

Canon 6D + Tamron 24-70 lens
LR preset: kk_earthywgrain

PS textures: kk_waterfront1 and kk_waterfront21

as seen on Instagram
iPhone 6 captured with Camera+ app
edited with Leonardo and Stackables apps

family heirlooms

now in my keep:

ravioli rolling pin,

collander,

macaroni pot,

Italian embroidered linen tablecloth
and matching napkins

(a wedding gift for my folks in 1953)

***

This is what

Thanksgiving dinner

looked like

in our family:

homemade ravioli

with

homemade ricotta filling

and

the best ragu

you ever tasted.

We kids never had a traditional

Thanksgiving turkey dinner

until we were

grown

and living on our own.

For the record,

none of us

ever objected.

Also for the record,
we considered ourselves
Americans
of
Italian/Irish/Swedish
descent.

Greg, Cindy, Mom, Grandpa,

'Dudie,' Adrienne, Lissa

(Dad was behind the camera)

Thanksgiving 1966

at Dudie & Grandpa's house

Dudie wisely got out her best

plastic faux lace tablecloth

for us kids

(tomato sauce stains quite reliably)

Greg, Cindy, Adrienne, Lissa

making ravioli with Grandpa

in our kitchen

November 1969

See the rolling pin?

The tradition continued

- in a way -

when we kids

had kids,

only now it's

Christmas Eve

dinner...

Linking up with

Texture Tuesday

Be Still 52 (week 25)

Happy Thanksgiving!

humble of heart

There's something about

dried flowers

that speaks

to me

so

eloquently

of

life.

LR preset: kk_pause
Textures: kk_anne and kk_bamboo

I gathered several of these
'daisy heads'
from my garden
this fall.
I found them
to be
infinitely more
captivating
than their
showy summertime
incarnation,
the black-eyed susan

I set up
this little still life
and captured it
with my iPhone 5
just so I could
experiment
with some apps.

as seen on Instagram

It is a mystery that unless unless the seed falls to the ground and unless it dies, it remains alone. I realize that there are many things in me that must die before He can live: my pride, my ambition, my impatience, my anger. The difficulty in loving my neighbor, or listening to the problems of another. There is much that I must die to. But unless these things are conquered, He cannot live in me.

 Mother Angelica

***

Linking up with

Friday Finds

still life: unwrapped

NOTES:

INSPIRATION

This week's Be Still 52 challenge:

Start with just two things.

CAMERA

Canon EOS 6D

Tamron SP 24-70 f/2.8 lens

Aperture Priority Mode

on tripod

ISO 400

f/5.0 1/200 sec

original photo SOOC

LIGHTROOM

Preset: kk_truecolor

PHOTOSHOP

I've been revisiting Kim's

Photoshop Recipe Book

which, BTW, is now

included in a subscription to her

Photoshop Test Kitchen

There is so much goodness here,

you gotta check it out.

I experimented with

a few recipes

and ended up with my own.

Playing with filters is fun too!

'distress'

is one of Kim Klassen's classic textures

from her

Texture Collection 1

Linking up with

Be Still 52 (week 24)

Texture Tuesday

Friday Finds

still life: mountain bike shoes

This week's Be Still 52 challenge
was to
"create a still life photo
inspired by a still life painting."

After a little bit of research

and

a lot of thought

I captured this

still life

of

my beloved

mountain bike shoes.

***

And once I had

'seen'

through my lens

I felt compelled to

see/draw

with pencil on paper.

When, at last, while seeing/drawing,

you see for the first time

what all your life

you have only looked at and recognized,

it reveals itself to be of inconceivable intricacy.

The commonplace becomes uncommon.

~

Frederick Franck

The Awakened Eye

***

I have been biking the trails in these shoes

for years,

from the foothills west of Denver

to the steep summertime slopes of

Winter Park, Copper Mountain and Crested Butte

to the rugged cliffs overlooking

the Colorado River.

 

You might say

these are my favorite shoes.

Period.

They securely fasten me

to my trusty

Specialized Stump Jumper

and are

comfortable enough

for hiking long distances

in all terrain.

(I once walked over a mile in them

with my flat-tired bike.)

***

NOTES:

CAMERA

Canon EOS 6D

Tamron SP 24-70 f/2.8 lens

Manual Mode

on tripod

ISO 400

f/5.0 0.6 sec

incandescent light

I purposely chose to shoot in the laundry room

as that is where we store our bike gear

and I wanted to capture

an authentic

real-life

still-life.

original capture SOOC

Staging in a cramped space,

my back against the wall

(literally)

Lillian doesn't like the laundry room

LIGHTROOM

I experimented a lot with

color saturation, vibrancy, clarity, exposure

because - face it - bike gear can be gaudy;

and the basement laundry room

is not the most flattering setting.

Then I applied

Kim's kk_walnut preset

and further adjusted

a bit more.

PHOTOSHOP

I auditioned a number

of textures and combinations

before settling

on this one

Font: Carbon Credit

I was inspired by these still life paintings

pinned from http://cargocollective.com/creativesyrup/Still-life-painting

***

Linking up with

Be Still 52 (Week 23)

Texture Tuesday

weekend walk: just up the street

Most of us lead far more meaningful lives than we know.

Often finding meaning is not about doing things differently;

it is about seeing familiar things in new ways.

~Rachel Naomi Remen

There is an irrigation ditch at the top of our street,

and the path alongside it

is a popular destination for folks

in our little neighborhood

to go for a stroll.

Recently I took

my iPhone camera there

for a little spin

(funny how I think of my iPhone

primarily as a camera -

probably because that's the main reason

I got an iPhone in the first place)

No definite intentions

or real plans

for what I might

capture...

...just delighting

in the

serenity

and

simple beauty

of the place.

The dirt path is shaded by

many big old trees.

A couple of these

big trees

had been recently

cut down.

I mean

b i g.

Someone had

gathered some apples

...

and then left them

to rot.

I was of course

drawn to this rusty old

piece of machinery;

I think it controls

the water flow

somehow.

The entire ditch property is bordered by

several fenced-in back yards

with gated access

to the trail.

Lucky for me

the gates are weathered

and rather rickety.

One property

has this little old cottage

on the banks

of the ditch.

I like to imagine it

as an artist's studio.

October is a beautiful time of year,

with its contrasting colors

of early fall.

This was my favorite

wabi-sabi

fence/gate shot;

I am fascinated by the

tenacity of nature

as it overtakes

man's efforts.

Notes:

CAMERA

iPhone 5

ProCamera app

I love how I can control

focus and exposure

independently,

especially useful

on a hazy-bright day

with plenty of

dappled sun and shadows.

LIGHTROOM

I haven't yet figured out

how to efficiently

edit a batch of iphotos

(I'm sure there's an app for that)

so I just imported everything

into Lightroom.

Minimal editing:

just a bit of the basics

and minor cropping.

Then I auditioned several presets

and finally chose Kim's

kk_earthy.

PHOTOSHOP

No texture work needed;

I tried a few but found

that it interfered with

the clarity,

and literally

muddied the waters.

Linking up with

A Weekend Walk

Friday Finds

Be Still 52 (Week 22)