Fairy Rose & Wormwood

Bricolage :: Sunrise, Sunset at OOB

They were speaking French as they strolled past our beach house . . . the little girl reached for her Father's hand as she skipped along, her feet barely touching the ground . . . the sun was still playing hide and seek, as it tickled and teased the clouds and the water with brush-strokes from God's palette . . .

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze

OK, y'all . . . this one is a double-exposure collage of two photos I took at Old Orchard Beach four weeks ago today . . . on Sunday, the 9th day of October . . . that was Columbus Day weekend . . . New England had record-breaking heat that Sunday and Monday . . . and the crowds were out at OOB . . .

This little family caught my attention early that morning before we left for a day of touring Peaks Island . . . I did not get the camera up in time to catch the little one as she looked like she was trying to fly . . . she was flapping her arms and jumping around at the water's edge . . . in this photo you can see that her father's feet are just barely in touch with solid ground . . . he was jumping around just like her! . . .

P.S. . . . the two photos included the beach shot of the little family . . . plus a photo-thru-the-telescope of the almost full moon that night . . .

Bricolage :: Unidentified Tweeter

Bricolage :: Cat Portrait

Clicking on the oil portrait of Cisco the six-toed cat will open an online Picasa album containing the photo I created this portrait from . . . as well as a mother and daughter portrait . . . and the original photo for that image . . . I finally captured a family photo of Momma Kitty and her babies, but it is not very good . . . unfortunately, they did not give me a choice of location when they lined up for me today . . .

Bricolage :: Catch a Falling Star

Catch a falling star . . .
and put it in your pocket . . .
never let it fade away . . .
Catch a falling star . . .
and put it in your pocket . . .
save it for a rainy day . . .

For when your troubles start multiplyin’ . . .
and they just might . . .
it’s easy to forget them without tryin’ . . .
with just a pocketful of starlight . . .

The falling star texture was created from the above photo . . .
using features in Picasa as well as Irfanview . . .

Bricolage :: Garden Trellis

This background texture was created from the following photo . . .
using features in Picasa as well as IrfanView . . .

Bricolage :: Harley Davidson

This texture was created from the following photo . . . which is of the dirty back window of a pickup truck that lives in the neighborhood . . . I used features in Picasa as well as IrfanView to come up with this texture . . . and part of the process involved creating a double exposure collage using a texture from playing with PSP . . . let me know if you need a higher resolution version . . . and I'll send it to you . . .

Bricolage :: Clouds

The above image was created from the following solarized photo . . .
using features in both Picasa and IrfanView . . .

Bricolage :: Raindrops

Bricolage :: Moon Eclipse

This texture was created from the following photo of what is apparently called a concrete hoe . . . looks kinda like an eclipse of the moon to me . . . if you find a use for this texture, please do share . . .

Bricolage :: Blooming Butterflies

I have a tree I call my butterfly tree . . . because every year the butterflies literally just seem to come out of the bark of this tree . . . and it's been blooming butterflies lately . . . hence all the butterfly photos . . .

Bricolage :: Bible Page

Clicking on this photo will take you to an altered version of this image of a page from an early 20th century Bible . . . altered using Picasa and IrfanView as well as a texture from playingwithpsp . . . please do let me know if you come up with a good use for it . . .

Bricolage :: Stained Glass Butterfly

The above stained glass image
was created from the following photo,
using features in Picasa as well as IrfanView . . .

Bricolage :: Palomino

Clicking on this altered image will take you to another altered image from the same photo session with my palomino friend . . . please do let me know if you use this texture for a project . . . I would like to see what you do with it . . .

Bricolage :: Flowers for Mothers

Dedicated to anyone missing their Mother today

You scattered beauty as the rose sheds leaves,
My mother, as you journeyed down life's ways.
You wove love's tapestry, as moonlight weaves
Rare shadow-patterns through a silver haze.
You lifted sorrows from the burdened mind,
And comforted the weary and distressed;
With gentle understanding, helpful, kind,
You brought the pain-wracked ease, the weary rest.
And now that you are gone, no monument
Of massive stone, however deftly carved,
Could fittingly portray the strength you lent
The sick and desolate and beauty-starved.
Remembering, I'll plant a thousand flowers
To banish suffering through countless hours.


My Mother
by
Nancy Richey Ranson




Clicking on today's photo will reveal a textured background image created from this photo of dried flowers preserved from my Bennie's memorial service in April of 2010 . . . which, along with a texture from Shadowhouse Creations, was used to create a double-exposure collage in Picasa . . . and was then texturized using IrvanView . . . please do let me know if you use this for a project . . . I would like to see what ideas you come up . . .

Bricolage :: Devil's Pincushion Memories

Memories curve inward
like grey spines
on Devil's Pincusions.

They sit like cacti,
low and round
in red clay.

Ordinary blotches
in brown grass
among prickly pears

Memories hold
deep green and rose pink
traces of color,

Sky-full Texas sunsets
lingering late
across orange plains.

Until stars pierce
blue twilight
and a full moon rises.

Dorothy Lee Hansen

The two textured backgrounds were created from this photo . . . using features in Picasa as well as IrfanView . . . I think they have kind of a southwest flavor . . . please do let me know if you come up with a good use for them . . .

Bricolage :: Whirlwinds

If they should bury me apart from you,
Who loved you well through years too brief for love;--
Whose parting then was marked by pain and rue--
If they should think my heart unconscious of
Deep grief, or my mute body all unknowing
Because so powerless to guide their feet
To your bright hill where desert winds are blowing,
Aroma-fraught from fields, remote and sweet;
If then some fragment of your earthly form
Should drift atop the mound that marked your place,
And view afar a sand-filled, spiral storm,
It would discover in that cloud my face.
Your dust, Beloved, would rise and dance with glee,
Another whirlwind, cognizant of me.


Nancy Richey Ranson

 

The textured whirlwind image was created from the really boring photo of tonight's Full Buck Moon . . . using features in the free programs, Picasa and IrfanView . . . please do share with me if you use this for something . . . I would like to see what ideas you come up with . . . 

Bricolage :: Beribboned

No photo ideas again today . . .
so here's another texturized photo for use as a background for a digital collage . . .

Bricolage :: Tattered Toy

This is Riley's favorite toy . . . and it is in need of mending (and washing!) . . . the inset photo on the following contact sheet is an out-of-focus shot of Riley doing what I call his death shake with this poor little lamb . . . during this activity the lamb usually winds up half-way across the room . . . because Riley thinks it's fun to let it go flying . . . and then wait for me to retrieve it for him . . .

Using features from both Picasa and IrfanView (free programs), I created multiple background textures from a cropped area of that out-of-focus photo . . . clicking on the contact sheet will take you to a Picasa album containing each of the background textures shown on this collage . . . please do let me know if you use one of these textures for a project . . . I like to see what ideas others come up with . . .

Bricolage :: Scherenschnitte Angel

This rusty tin angel stands guard in my living room / computer room . . .

I took this close-up of one of her wings . . . and opened it in IrfanView . . . and flipped it and saved it . . . horizontally and vertically . . . to create four copies that were actually mirror images of each other . . . then back in Picasa, I created a 5x7 grid collage using those four copies . . . and then created a double-exposure collage using one of the textures from playingwithbrushes and the collage I just created . . . then played with the saturation and sharpness . . . and came up with the following scherenschnitte image, suitable for use in a vintage family history collage . . .

I will be loading a 1600x1143 version on my facebook page . . . or send me a note if you would like a larger copy . . .