My husband loves these Italian Cookies. I get them every week from the Publix bakery. They are delicious. But they are also very photogenic. The shapes and colors lend themselves perfectly to photos.
So Many Cookies
A pile of Italian cookies
I’ve said before that you can get my images as unique gift items other than prints. Here’s a quick gallery of items that would work well with this image.
Something Simple
I did a small series featuring Italian Jam Cookies.
And here are some great gift ideas featuring these beauties. If you are interested in any of these items just click on the image and the link will take you to the product.
In the before times (before pandemic), I used to go to thrift stores on Saturday mornings in search of weird things to photograph. Of course, that was not an option for several years. You know why. Anyway, I have not taken up the habit again. But I needed some new inspiration. So, I took to Etsy to find something interesting. Also, I have an Etsy shop myself, visit it – Purple Rosemary.
One of my recent purchases from Etsy was a perpetual calendar or nautical calendar pendant. On one side the pendant has the calendar. The other has a outline of a ship. I combined my current book obsession with my new toy.
Nautical or Perpetual Calendar PendantPendant backPendant on book about how the calendar was worked out.Back of Pendant on an illustration of different types of ships.
Looking for prints or other cool stuff? Visit my gallery on Pixels.
In my post about being obsessed with books, there were some images of beer with book art superimposed. The beer images are part of my beer series. You can find more about that process here. While working on the beer series, I found myself with these cool glass tea cups. Yes, I randomly buy things at thrift stores and from Etsy for the sole purpose of photographing them.
On Black Background
I shot these the first time on a black background. All that detail in the glass picks up the light nicely and the black gives it good contrast. I did start with the glasses empty. But decided to change it up and create a pour series. The secret is that it’s cold coffee and with the magic of Photoshop, I added steam and a reddish color to make it look more like tea. But I love that black background.
Tea in the Rain
It’s been raining. A lot. I’ve been trying to incorporate that into my images lately but my timing has been lousy. It seems every time I have the time for a photo shoot, it’s not raining. But pouring rain the rest of the time. I really wanted to do a tea in the rain shot. I finally found my moment. It was raining buckets, I made some watered down coffee, grabbed the tea pot, and my glass cups. Rain stopped. Just like that. Stopped. Argh! The porch was still wet and had a nice pool of water for great reflections. So, I did some photos for the nice reflections. I did shoot a full pour, but they were so boring since there was no rain. I decided to make my own rain. I used my extra large watering can. Bam! Perfect rain.
Thanks for visiting! Want to see more or interested in purchasing prints or other items with these images? Go here.
Wondering what other types of items? They are available as pillows, puzzles, coffee mugs, and lots of other great gift ideas!
I’ve previously done blog posts about my book art. But lately, I’ve been obsessed with it. I have been creating composites with several books that I’ve had for years. I just can’t stop myself. Everyday, I come up with a new idea for an image. Here are some of my composite images.
It’s about the spoon
I found this unique spoon in my silverware drawer and knew I wanted to do something unusual with it. The sun was setting so I held it up so the sun would hit it in just the right spot. That made for its own cool image. But I wanted something a little different. The book is called Green Magic: Flowers Plants & Herbs in Lore & Legend by Lesley Gordon. It was originally published in 1977. I found it at a thrift store (I think).
Flower Girls
This illustration from the same book as above is one of my favorite. I wracked my brain trying to find something cool to use for a composite. I decided that since they were flowery, I should use flowers. So, beautiful pink azaleas make the perfect background.
It’s About Time
This is a composite featuring a clock I found in a thrift store and information about the phases of the moon. The book is called Early Steps in Science by Webb & Didcoct, original copyright 1924. The book is a treasure trove of ideas for image composites.
It’s Magic
I love this book. I find myself making excuses to use it in my composites. The illustrations are all amazing and I’m a little obsessed with the concept of witchcraft and magic. The book is The Encyclopedia of Magic & Witchcraft by Susan Greenwood, original copyright 2001. I found it in the discount bin at a bookstore years ago.
Beer and Women
The witch images are from the above book. The type in the background is a history of women in beer (not from this book).
Eggs
I buy fresh eggs from a guy I work with. They are always different colors, so I thought they might make some nice photos. Then, I remembered I have the cookbook of all cookbooks – Fanny Farmer’s Cookbook. The only illustrations are advertisements in the back of the book (watch for some art featuring those gems soon!). But there is a whole chapter on eggs!
That light though
The lighting is natural shadows from the sun shining through the windows of my house. Different times of day create different patterns through blinds and open windows. I find the light adds as much to these as the subject matter.
After seeing a story on CBS Sunday Morning about the Smithsonian’s Futures Exhibit, I knew I had to go see it. But it closes in July 2022, so I had to go ASAP. If you want to hear / read about the trip, you can visit Tourist in Your Town Podcast. If you want to see cool pics, keep scrolling!
Tastee Diner in Silver Spring, MarylandInside the Metro Center Station in Washington, DC.The Washington MonumentThe Smithsonian InstituteA cool passageway with light streaming in.Capitol Building
Want to see more photos from the DC trip? Click here.
I turned 50 in September 2021. My gift to myself was a trip to Chicago. I took the train from Cincinnati and spent a week in the Windy City. I thought I’d share my pics with you. You can also visit my podcast, Tourist in Your Town, to hear more about the food and the fun.
Navy Pier
I spent some time at Navy Pier. It was during the day and out of season, so there weren’t very many people. Also, lots of stuff was closed.
Flags at Navy PierTea Cup ride at Navy Pier
Architecture
I took the architecture tour by boat. I made sure to take the last tour of the day so I would catch the sunset and some after dark images. If you have the opportunity, do it! It was completely worth it. They give you a great history on many of the buildings.
Cloud Gate
Yes, of course, I visited Cloud Gate (The Bean).
To see more pics from my Chicago trip, visit the gallery. To see more of my other travel pics and art, click here.
Wow! Another year went by. I have been terrible about blogging this year. It’s the end of 2021 and I always do a year end blog post. If you missed it, check out last year’s post!
2021 has been a decent year for me. Some life changing, some personal insights, and surprising lots of art happened this year. In February, I tested positive for Covid. I did not have a very sever case but it was not fun. It felt like a very bad sinus infection. And while it did not seem too bad, I definitely have some lasting effects. Extreme exhaustion often overtakes me without warning. I’ll be feeling fine and ready to rock, when, WHAM! out of nowhere, I get hit with a wave of tiredness and I instantly become a puddle of goo. These bouts are getting fewer and fewer, so I hope that eventually they will stop entirely.
Travel
I did not do much traveling this year. But what I did do was good and well earned. As I mentioned, I had Covid in February, so I decided that, since I had some antibodies, I could do a little travel, so I booked a weekend trip to Orlando to visit Universal Studios and see Harry Potter Wizarding World. Listen to the podcast episodes to find out more about this trip.
In September, I turned 50 and wanted to do something special. I was not very interested in flying anywhere, so I decided to take the train from Cincinnati to Chicago. You can hear about this week long trip to Chicago here.
Health
Did I say that I turned 50 this year? Well, it seems that the day I turned 49, my metabolism said, “Peace, I’m out.”, and I started to slowly gain weight. I am not a vain person, so I was not really worried about some weight gain. But when I went to Orlando, my weight made me feel uncomfortable and I could not enjoy it as much. So, when I got home, I decided to change a few things and lost 35lbs. Now, I feel great, with the exception of those exhaustion bouts.
If you’ve been reading previous posts, you’ll know that I have been participating in a lot of image challenges lately. The most recent challenge was a 30 day challenge for images featuring the color red. I have been trying to use the same subject for each challenge, for consistency. It also pushing my creativity to have to come up with different ways to present a certain subject. I didn’t have anything that really excited me. So I started digging in my props box. I found some beads. But they were green. So, I took a note from the green challenge and decided to just change the color. Let me just say 30 days is too many for that. But I did manage to do it and I got some great ideas for future art! I chose to use selective color so the red would really stand out. Enjoy!
Before and After Images
Selective Color Red
For most of these, using selective color was fairly easy. I tried to purposely shoot them so it would be easy to just change the beads. I changed the color using the Hue / Sat adjustment in Adobe Photoshop. In most of them, it was easy to tell Photoshop to change the green to red. That being said, what was I thinking when I used greenery in those rose photos?
Here are just a few of the images, to see the full 30 days, visit my gallery.
I had the opportunity to take the train from Cincinnati to Chicago. When I arrived at the station, I was in awe of it! Built in 1931 with Art Deco Architecture, the station functioned as passenger station until 1972 when Amtrak built a smaller station nearby. The building was mostly empty from 1972 to 1980 when a shopping mall called “The Land of Oz” opened. The mall closed in 1985. Some time after that, two museums merged and opened the Cincinnati Museum Center in 1990. In 1991, Amtrak returned to the station. In 2018, the station was completely restored to its original Art Deco glory. The historic train station is not only a working Amtrak station, but also houses Duke Energy Children’s Museum, an Omnimax Theatre, the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, the Cincinnati History Library and Archives, a Museum of Natural History & Science, and several food services.
A view of the front in the morning.
A view of the station at night.
The interior is just as beautiful as the exterior
The station is completely restored inside and out.
If you are in the area, I recommend a visit to this beautiful, historic building. The interior is open most of the day for viewing, but the museums and other places are only open certain hours. To see more photos of this Art Deco masterpiece, visit my gallery. Also to hear about the actual train trip and my time in Chicago, visit Tourist in Your Town Podcast.
I participated in another challenge over at Fine Art America! This challenge was a 7 day challenge black and white images. The only requirement was that the image had to be a true black and white and created the day of posting. I chose to stick with a single subject as I had done with the blue and green challenges. This time I went a cut crystal bowl that I had. We received this item as a wedding gift 16 years ago. I figured all the detail work on it would make for some nice black and white images.
In the dirt
One thing I really wanted to do with this challenge was to play up light and texture. So, I put the bowl in my little raised garden bed, so the dirt would give a nice contrasting texture. These were shot in the morning with the sun behind the bowl. I added a vignette to give these images an old fashioned feel.
Day 1
Day 2
On Wood
One of my favorite places to shoot is on the wood stairs behind my house. The wood has a nice texture and grain. I knew that the etching details in the bowl and wood grain would play well together.
Day 3
Fruit Added
There are only so many ways to shoot an empty crystal bowl without it just getting boring. I decided to add fruit to the bowl. I had some fresh frozen cherries that had not been properly sealed before freezing, so they developed a frosty coating (I can be so lazy sometimes). But that frosty look really makes this image. It was totally worth it! The sun is coming through the slats of blinds on my window and hitting the wood floor. Another great spot that I use a lot for photos.
Day 4
This image was shot with my sacred blueberries (there’s a shortage right now). But sometimes we sacrifice for art. It was shot on my back porch when the sun was shining just right through the lattice work, creating the diamond pattern. The background is a patio cushion.
Day 5
It Rained!
By day 6 I was struggling with ideas. I knew I could different angles of the bowl, upside down or from below. But that just felt boring to me. And then it rained! I put the bowl in the rain with the fresh cherries. The ripples from the rain echo the shape of the bowl and the water beneath creates a nice reflection.
Day 6
Detail
This image is all about the details in the bowl. I shot this on the back porch with the sun behind and the patio cushion for the extra texture. I just love the detail work in the etching and the diamonds in the foot of the bowl.
Day 7
These challenges keep me creating even on days when I don’t feel so inspired. Especially when I can’t get out to shoot street scenes or historic locations. Thanks for visiting! See more of my black and white work here.
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