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 . . .

Do the Hokey-Pokey

You put your right foot in,
You put your right foot out;
You put your right foot in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

FYI . . . clicking on the photo will take you to a Picasa album containing several mitten kitten photos taken 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 . . .

National Aviation Day

I dug Bennie's flying memorabilia out, looking for something to photograph for National Aviation Day (which is today) . . . not having a clue that there was a date-appropriate entry in his pilot logbook . . . and that on this date . . . the 19th day of August . . . in the year 1984 . . . Bennie flew his 1948 Beechcraft Bonanza from the airport in Cameron, Texas to the Red Bird Airport near Dallas, Texas . . . he only flew the Bonanza six more times before selling it the following year . . . I can visualize Bennie in the following verse . . . although the vehicle varies . . . sometimes it's an airplane . . . sometimes it's a racecar . . . or sometimes he's riding a horse around the meadows of Heaven . . .

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee, Jr

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 . . .

Then and Now

This is my 1st attempt at a Then and Now photo . . . I obviously have a lot of work to do to figure out this method . . . I was not going to use this, but then decided to go ahead and journal about my journey thru figuring out this process . . . I tried this with my Canon Rebel T1i . . . did not like the results . . . looks like I need a wide-angle lens (which I do not yet have) . . . and need to take the camera off the auto setting . . . this was one of two photos taken with my little pocket digital camera . . . it has a wide angle setting . . . and it automatically compensates for the depth of field . . . I just did not want to stay outside very long in that 112° heat . . . so did not mess with the whole project more than a few minutes . . . the photo of my Bennie riding Yuma was taken probably 10-15 years ago (need to find the date) . . .

The photo collages (created in Picasa) above and below show the same photo of Bennie riding Yuma . . . and a photo from February of 2010 showing the same pasture across the street from my house . . . in an apparent attempt to help us think cool thoughts, the news guys keep showing video from the Super Bowl Snow Storm of February 2011 . . . so I drug out my snow photos from the year before . . . think snow!

One thing is for sure . . . creating a Then and Now photo in Picasa is a lot easier (and cooler!) than actually doing the photo outside . . . if anyone has any hints on doing these Then and Now photos, I would like to hear them . . . and FYI . . . the weatherman just said that it is still 103° in Dallas as of 9:41 p.m.!

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 . . .

Happy Birthday, Aunt Susie

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 . . .