Scavenger Hunt Sunday...

First, I must tell those who are familiar with or who visit my blog that I made a huge mistake while fine tuning the template design yesterday!!  I accidentally removed most or all of my  blog photos!  I thought I was simply moving them from my profile page only ;- (  -  I have of course sent my request for help but it may not arrive quickly or I may have to start all over re- loading them to the previous 60 or so posts...grrr. I  will hope they can be retrieved more easily than going to all that work again.  Or, I will just begin again!  


And so today I found myself scavenging through past and present photos for something to submit for my first entry to this popular websites' challenge.  These will have to suffice as I am indeed needing to replenish my stash. The objective is to choose photos that show our interpretations of the 5 word prompts given this week:
                                                                                           

1.  Waiting


Obviously this antique clown doorstop is waiting for a little boy or girl to buy one of his balloons...why do they have sad faces?  This photo is not original but is from an eBay seller's page.

2.  Foliage


I am ignorant of this tree's name and unfamiliar with it's fall blooms which I captured last week.  It does remind one of cotton, though.
   
















3.  Candid

My daughter did not know her picture was being taken at the time while with friends in Las Vegas.... 

                          

4.  Knife, fork, or spoons

I chose this pretty Mozelle grape patterned silver plate ladle which is a favorite of mine.                                                                                                               

5.  Rule of the Thirds

A common choice perhaps, but the ocean is always a good example  because of the layers of land, sea, and sky..plus

it is a favorite place of mine.

http://thebook-readersblog.blogspot.com/

This week's Haiku...Ponder...

Rodin's The Thinker

ponders all the world's problems

per-pet-u-al-ly 

                                

http://youknowthatblog.com/silly-haiku-wednesday/wednesday/

Happy Thanksgiving...Over the River and...same tune, different words...

 by  klr

Across the harbor and through the trees

in soft pink glints of the sun,

 angels are your guide, chariots your ride
last red ochre leaves of autumn

Sweet scented smoke of apple wood fire

snow dusted boughs of blue spruce

the wink of any eye, some pumpkin pie

Fill your heart with warm gratitude 

I took these pictures from a small park in Steilacoom, WA while the small ferry was heading for Vashon Island in the late afternoon.  The apple and maple trees stand starkly bare and there are benches engraved with local people's names. Early settlers' names are on the older renovated homes and on benches for sitting. In the distance one can see the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and a small strip of a beach and picnic area....plus there is an old fashioned wooden swing for two.  A nice place to watch the sun go down.

Color bursts...

Photo Art Friday ~

For today my best intention was to read a tutorial on texture in photos.  However, I went back to picnik, and played with a few effects with this photo I took SOOC of a pink dahlia (right).

First I added a simple soft border.....then 'puddled' or 'rippled' it for this artsy result:

Then I made a 'waterfall' of pixels and a hypnotic setting for this original  kaleidoscope effect. (Below) For the last one I used black, white and sepia tones and the cross process with color focus at the center for a vintage look:

With the upcoming holiday there will be little time,  but I will have something else to share for that occasion. In the meantime, please visit the other outstanding photos submitted to Pixel Dust Studio this weekend:

                     http://www.pixeldustphotoart.com/

My first Haiku submission: MEDITATE

MEDITATE

BODY IN REPOSE
I AM MY OWN CATHEDRAL
LITTLE GIRL INSIDE

by klr

http://youknowthatblog.com/silly-haiku-wednesday/

Chambers Bay Golf Course...

Until I take a tutorial on textures, picnik color focal point, sepia, and black and white vignette matte effects are my tools.
Local links modeled after St. Andrews in Scotland...which do you prefer....SOOC (straight out of the camera)or textured a bit.

Silver spoons vignette...

Shiny silver spoons

Hints of golden times to be?

Share some light today

For more photos by talented people please visit Lisa Gordon Photography here at:

Thank you for stopping by - Kathy

A color pallet to ponder...

This grouping has been on my back burner for some time.  Needless to say these are not photos I've taken, but rather ones of other artists' work that I came across and didn't always have the source for or neglected to make note of.  To me, the colors would be wonderful for a fall or winter wedding or a Christmas party or a summer lawn party....the deep purple, the shades of teal and  red, and lighter blues and lavender come together with a touch of mustard in places and have the effect of causing me to dream and my heart to flutter a bit.

But maybe it is more the images themselves that push my imagination further.  The muses are forever a favorite subject, their sprightly selves dancing together, though the colors are muted for the period effect, however here I count 10 instead of nine  I see delphiniums or hollyhocks in the impressionist garden painting.  The model holding the pink flowers could be a bridesmaid at a lovely outdoor wedding.  The princess and the pea, a girls' fairy tale, and what girl would not want to bounce up on that bed with so many mattresses!!  Now maybe someone can help me with the last photo taken of some one's painting....I hope so, as I can't find anything online myself.  I adore it!  At first I thought a string quartet in Mozart garb, a fun gig someone had at this particular venue?.  Or, is this something Amadeus might have actually done in his flamboyant lifetime?  Is is a true depiction?   Is it a fine art piece that I cannot locate - or is it some person's version of a vision of theirs of a scene they would like to see played out?  

I fall into the last category as I would love to be there in person,  to hear the sound of the mini orchestra that includes the sea.  I'm imagining a long dining table on the beach as well with many guests and delicious fare and delightful cakes being served....perhaps people are dancing in their bare feet in the sand into the late evening hours, drinking champagne as the sun goes down.  So, I thought I would share this and possibly find out what other ideas it might prompt or what it might suggest to others, as I would love to hear them.

Kathy

Grass by water's edge...

Submitted to http://anasofiaeugenio.blogspot.com/  for the Earth Wonders challenge theme:

                                                       
                                                                   ~ BROWN ~

                     
I am taken by the various browns of this grass -  almost like wheat.  I should have made a Macro of one stem for a really good study of the hues.  In this view of Puget Sound from Day Island, a small community,  the top photo is SOOC and the one below it is enhanced by picnik.com effects to give it a more vintage look...almost sepia but with the center focus on color.  I'm adding the other two because they were in the same location.  And I love the door with the porthole window....and they all seem to go together.

Bird in wreath...

Depth in wreath is more apparent with sepia and other tones cross highlighted - the texture is really the wreath itself...for me...a step closer to the more complicated texture formats ;-)   Entry for ----

Button , button...

A half full old bottle of buttons...with and without a splash effect...

My Blue Heron...

Since I've lived here on this creek which originates from an underground spring, I've watched  many inhabitants (raccoons, squirrels, many breeds of birds, ducks and geese) with or without binoculars.  Each summer when it is hot with no rain, I am most apt to see the heron arrive for some hunting. I don't notice him until he moves because he blends in so well with the trees, water and rocks.  I love to watch him as he wades cautiously with his daddy-long-leg, skinny legs.  Last summer, however, I saw him fly overhead and heard him call (his voice is more like a bark than a quack of any kind).  I sat in the back yard and studied him for more than an hour.  The binoculars brought him much closer to me.  The sketch I did of him was better than the painting...I tend to over paint...this is too dark, but this is what I observed:

                                                       

by klr

On the high fir bough

spreading wings to the warm sun

stretching his torso,

blue pewter feathers undone

Twisting his long neck

forming letters S, C, Q

Profile of valor

 basking for this rare debut

A soldier at ease
cloaks himself in his own arms

grooming in the breeze,
routine for the avatar

Spying his next meal

he crouches down readying

Legs lift lubberly
casting a slender shadow

Wingspan to envy
he descends with slow drama

 camouflaged by reeds,

he lands knee deep in water 
Hushed statue on guard 

in a split second he snaps
His prey not clever
swam right into his beak trap

A change in weather,
and with a loud thunder clap
ends the private show,
A privilege to behold,
 as he looks my way
he glides into the nether

Downward dahlia!

                                  Entered at http://pixeldustphotoart.blogspot.com/

She was in a large dahlia garden belonging to the owner of a house on a corner when I drove by.  I stopped and got out of the car; the woman was wearing an apron and was down on her knees pulling weeds with very long roots.  I told her how pretty her yard looked and asked if I could take a picture.  She said many had stopped in late summer to take pictures.  She pulled her gloves off, smiled, brushed her mussed white hair to the side and went inside.

Many of the flowers, all dahlias, of all shades and different shapes had seen their best days but it was still a sight to behold with the mix planted in several straight rows, each about 40 feet long.   This one stood out and was closest to me.  I have done nothing to alter this photo....she's a-naturale.  I could have changed the exposure, made it sharper, or embellished the color and the background....or, I could have used a textured template...this I have yet to do! So that is my goal for next Friday...to try something I've not tried before with a photo.  I imagine a kind of "vintage seed packet look...I hope!

Please, feedback is welcome...as are tips, criticism, or comments on any of my posts. I am still a fledgling blogger, trying to find the right combination of creativity, art, and writing that will attract a fair amount of people who share the various interests I do and might return here from time to time.  downtheeyrieroad.blogspot.com contains a little bit of everything....and I've only just begun.  It's a far cry from what I imagined it to be (about my dream of having a cottage by the sea) with a page that welcomes, but it will evolve.  And it's not for my eyes only...then there would be no point in doing it..  I already keep records, a journal or day book for having some order of  thoughts,  plans, ideas, happenings, and all kinds of notes and lists.   But this isn't meant to be about me...it's an offering to you, from me.
Kathy

Fun with depression glass color...

Having started out collecting the green depression glass, liking my mother's taste,  it wasn't long before I fell in love with the pink and the yellow.  I am not fond of the blue or dark green.  What I am am really on the lookout for is a combination (watermelon glass) green and pink pitcher to use for iced tea on a summer occasion.  I should have bought the one I saw in Oregon several years ago for $65.  Then there are the watermelon glass goblets and glasses.  I have a full set of the pink with the green stem that you see in the picture below but I'm hoping to find more of the rarer reversed glasses in the same pattern....but with a green bowl and a pink stem/foot. 

Anyway, I thought about the colors in the hand made needlepoint cover of the old stool that my grandmother Eva made many years ago.  I put the above set of glass item on top of it and aimed straight down to get the results you see below:

None of the other attempts at fading or what not turned out better than these two photos.  So, while pretty, one cannot see the flowers from that perspective. 

I love the hand me down items inherited from my mother and grandmothers.  Needless to say, I have simply added to the 
collections from time to time....like spoons.....how I love the spoons and spooners!  That is for another post sometime.

Vintage suitcases & trunk...pin cushion..

The shadows are played up in the first photo....hidden are the dirty marks of the olde suitcases and trunk. There are a million different ways to "touch up" this single photograph.  Next, the natural light of day with only a flash...pretty plain...        

           

In the first of the bottom two photos, the emphasis is on the play of the light rather than the texture of the tablecloth.  The vintage pincushion at the macro setting and the sepia tone of the second photo causes one to notice more of the detail of the tablcloth.  The shine of the silver is contrasted more against the background but not necessarily brighter.  I don't know which I like better?!

More experimenting to come.....pics of some things around the house....and another poem...later this week...hope you come back for a look.  

Kathy ~

Mary's running shoes...1st Marathon Portland, Ore. 26 miles

We finished the course,

well worn before we started

Discarded at last,

a new pair will carry on

Welcome morning mist,

ribbons of asphalt ahead

Rising with the dawn,

she'll run another marathon

Fleet like Pegasus,

race time cut by one hour

New sneakers propel her

 be they blue, brown or neon,

by klr

           This was easy to assemble...some sepia and inverted colors from picnik.com.  The carpet provided the texture.  Mary provided the subject matter.

Mellow Yellow Monday

Painting of the nails...mother and daughter...

Posted to http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/

Mellow Yellow Monday

http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/

Promises of Rain...

by klr

 Seasonal plants sink into

the steamy background

Gold splinters of light bounce off

the estuary

                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                           

Drops fall from a mercury lined cloud

Fairy like mushrooms push out

 leafy banks of green

Leaves catch in a wee puddle

Dribbles of rain descending

sounding of spring times 

yet to be

Budding beauties get their bath

The haze in my head is passing,

Time to bake a cake and

have another cup of tea

http://www.lgordonphotography.com/p/creative-exchange.html

The Toast...

 The Toast


by klr

                                                                  painting by Richard Jack

                                              

Whilst they gather by the fire

beneath the glass chandelier

  smoke slips around them

 a gramophone tune rings dear

Wallpaper defines the room

  champagne toasts given 
recalling past holidays

 when stardust fell from heaven

Where once a Parisian
blue scarf waved against her cheek
rests a violet net shawl
and an irised parakeet

On the shelf sits a padlocked gold box

where old tales are kept
   Where once hung a man's corduroy hat
 the black cloak in which she wept

No more anguish from within
she smiles blissfully
and with a slight flair of bravura
  waltzes away audaciously

by John Sargent

Literature & History Vignette...

     Perhaps my point and shoot camera does not do as much justice to the subjects as would a Canon SLR. And maybe the composition does not follow the 1/3 rule.  But I couldn't resist taking a picture with the idea of an older world:  an old camel ink well, a 1940's heavy elephant bookend - and a few books that many of us may have had to read years ago,  or wanted to read,  and were captivated by.  This Arabian Nights volume does not have the splendid full page color illustrations that a bigger one does, but I loved Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and it pertains to a culture we currently read in the news everyday.  The Last of the Mohican's was a dull read for me and I cannot get James Fenimore Cooper's image out of my mind since I played the card game "Authors"! (and Nathanial Hawthorn)  Great Expectations was a delight as are all of Dickens's stories, I think.  This is an 18 book collection from The Book League of America in New York with no copy write date.  Other books include Lorna Doone, Kim by Kipling, and The Cloister and the Hearth.  I think I will take the last one to bed with me tonight.  And I love my globe mapped bookends.  I wonder if I would get an A for effort with this if I were in a class? 
Thank you for stopping by the Eyrie Road.