A Lot Of New Necklaces Are On The Way

In A Scrape

Awhile back I asked if anyone was interested in some texture lovin', and many of you answered "yes", so here it is.
This month, the challenge over on Michelle Wards' Street Team was to create a scraped paint background. Here is that scraped page straight from my journal.

DOWNLOAD Texture Here

 Next, I decide to play with it in Photoshop. I wanted to layer it on top of a photo of an orchid. Here is the before picture of the orchid.

The two images were then layered on top of each other, and I fiddled around with the blending mode and the opacity a little bit. Here is the after...

I'm not sure that one is better than the other, but the "after" definitely seems a bit more romantic.
So, there you have it. If you have any questions, just ask. Please feel free to click the link above to download the scraped background so you can play too. I would love to see what you come up with, if you'd like to share.

Meatless Monday - Grits & "Eggs"

I grew-up eating grits and eggs. My Grandma Boss loved to make them, and I loved to eat them. When I stopped eating eggs it was a sad day in the grits department. And then, one day, I figured out the trick. It requires a bit of shopping in the area of odd foods, but once you have the secret ingredient, score! The grits are cooked in the standard way. Cut some tofu into cubes and saute until crispy and golden brown. The secret is the seasoning on the tofu. While the tofu is cooking sprinkle on some Kala Namuk (also know as Black Salt). Kala Namuk, which is commonly called Black Salt, is not actually black at all, it's kind of a pinkish-grey color, and has kind of a smokey sulphurous mineral taste that gives the tofu an egg like flavor. It really works, and it's delicious. Kala Namuk is often used in Indian cooking. When shopping for it be aware that there is another black salt, that is actually black in color due to the addition of charcoal (also tasty and good for you digestion), but that's not what you want for creating faux eggs.
So, there you have it, you know the secret. Happy shopping and cooking.

Bubbles at the Beach

I was driving home the other night, going over the bridge at Big River Beach, and saw these amazing, huge bubbles. Happily, I had been taking some Flowers On A Friday pictures, so I had my camera with me. I drove straight down to the beach, hoping to capture these beauties. The bubbles were spectacular! In one of the shots you can see the man creating the bubbles, and get an idea of their size. Sadly, he had to leave right before sunset, but can you imagine...

I Wanna Be A Renegade!

I sent off my application for the Renegade Craft Show in San Francisco. I hope I make it in. I'll let you know if I do, and hopefully you can come and visit me.

Flowers On A Friday - Bee's and Modern Art

Happy Friday Everybody! I was playing again with mixing nature photos and close-ups of my abstract paintings. Question - How many of you, that are following along, would be interested if I share some of the textures I use?
I think all of you are the bee's knee's. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Worth Mentioning

I thought it might be worth mentioning, if you ever see one of my photos here in a post that you would like to have for your very own please let me know. I have many of the photos for sale over that my Etsy store, but if the one you want isn't there, please let me know and I'll be happy to have one made for you just the way you'd like it. You could get a small print, a large print, a poster, or one printed on a canvas, it's up too you, just say the word.
Now that the business part is taken care of, let's see some pretty pictures, OK? (Do I need to mention you could be the proud owner of any of these? No, I didn't think so. hehe) I took these the other day, and I'm going to be using the images to create some new products really soon. The sea gull was a crack up, he/she kept boldly coming over and trying to steal my sea shells. A photo stylist he was not! Maybe I've watched The Birds too many times, but I was a little intimidated by his aggressiveness. However, because he was right there with me, I was able to get some great shots of him. I think Hitchcock would be excited.

Meatless Monday - Nori Roll

How about something nice, light, and fresh tasting? Sometimes I'll cook up some Rice Noodles, chill them, and have them in the frig ready to go at any time. Then I'll toast up some Nori Seaweed, chop up some fresh veggies, and roll it all up. Serve with some soy sauce, or peanut sauce,  for dipping. Good stuff! 

Miss Match - Sorrow

Today, you can find me over on Miss Match. I recently joined fPOE (Female Photographers of Etsy),and what a wonderful, inspiring, sharing group of ladies it is. There is so much support offered in that group, I love it. Anyway, one of their projects is the Miss Match Diptych Project. Two photographers are matched up, given a word prompt, and they each take a photo with the prompt, the photos are then matched up and shown on the blog. I was matched up with the very talented Laura Evans, and our word was Sorrow. She really helped me through all my new-kid jitters, thanks Laura. So, this is what we created (mine is on the top, hers is on the bottom).

Layering

I felt like playing a bit today. I recently took some pictures of my paintings close up and I wanted to experiment with layering these abstract views of painterly brushstrokes, polka dots, interesting  textures, etc.  with photos of pretty little bits of nature. This is my first try and I really like the result. Here is the blackberry photo, that I started with. Rather uninspired, don't you think?

I'm going to play around with this concept some more, and see what I come up with. I think this one would look great enlarged and hanging in my kitchen. For me, anytime I can combine a country/vintage/modern art vibe I'm all in. It's kind of an odd aesthetic, with some pretty disparate elements, but it totally works for me. What do you think?