Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: artistic

(+6 insets!) (Another picture that looks nice at full size!) (Please scroll down to "Today's Pictures" for details about the insets) Frosty Mornings are so COLD! Holy Frostbite, Batman, it's COLD OUT THERE!!! :D As I sit here at my computer, I have our the space heater in front of my seat, my sock-covered feeties tingling before it and trying to get warm again. It's not that horribly cold outside compared to many places but 28.5°F / -1.94°C is still WAY TOO COLD for my liking! You would think my tromping up and down my driveway would compensate, but it's just not enough. Even with the excellent, heat-generating slope all the way up from the main road to the base of our steep hillside. Add to that the fact that my washed hair makes my head and entire body struggle to get warm, even bundled up with a hat, scarf, gloves and heavy sweaters. But I'm slowly warming up and as always, the experience out there was easily worth what discomfort I might feel for a while after returning to the warmth of the house. Sharing a Breathtaking Sunrise with Pumpkin The beautiful day began the moment I got up. Together with Pumpkin, we peeked out the window after she climbed out of her fleecy-soft tent onto my finger and stretched her wingies, accenting each side with a satisfied "Urrrrrk." We admired the breathtaking pastel pinks, oranges and blues of the sunrise, contrails from the high-flying airplanes penciling soft white lines in the sky which slowly spread out into lovely, dissipating ripples. I couldn't help uttering my amazement of this view, complete with the beautiful Upper Table Rock stretching out in the distance before us. "Wowwwwwww, isn't that just gorgeous…" I considered running down to get my phone for a picture but decided against it. I didn't want to ruin this special moment with my little girl, nor did I want to wreck the serenity and peace that we were experiencing. Morning Routines and a Food-Flinging Parrot! Tiptoeing downstairs after a shower and getting dressed--I didn't want to disturb Steve, who was still sleeping at this early hour of just after 7am--Pumpkin and I shared the morning routine of preparing her food and getting my daily vitamins and pair of drinks together. Steve and I live a ketogenic lifestyle and part of this requires us to have extra potassium, salt and other electrolytes in our diet, which we get from an apple cider vinegar drink blend. It's so important, in fact, that if we don't have this drink every day, our bodies will respond eventually with fatigue and flu-like symptoms. The other drink was, of course, coffee, in the form of an Americano espresso (espresso and water). I save my cherished espresso and cream for a decadent afternoon treat. And yet, I totally enjoy my watered-down burst of caffeine I drink after downing my vitamins and cider brew. The crema and bouquet of espresso are so delicious! By the time I finish, Pumpkin's decided that violently flinging the contents of her food cup are the order of the day. I cannot help but smirk as I watch in amusement while chunks of bread and various seeds and pepper flakes are scattered over her perch and bounce into the sink. She is delighted at the mess she's made and I snicker at the maniacal, satisfied expression on her lovely face. Red eyes surrounding black pupils in her glowing yellow and orange face could look demonic if she were a nasty bird but she's an absolute doll and her mood right now is feisty and hungry. She was ready for a proper breakfast and I wasn't moving fast enough--this show was letting me know how she felt! "Well then!" Stepping boldly onto my offered finger, I continue, "Let's get you upstairs for your breakfast my dear!" Gripping my finger tightly with her large, scaly feet (we like to call them "her big, fat, chicken feet!"), we go upstairs together along with her prepared food bowl of veggies, fruit, and lots of other goodies. Pumpkin eagerly stepped onto her cage's upper perch while I put her breakfast in place. Before leaving, I turn on her music (80's and other fun songs that she loves) and tell her I love her with wishes for a happy breakfast before quietly closing the door. When I step inside after my frigid walk, Steve is bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and coming downstairs for his breakfast after having a wonderful shower with Pumpkin too! :) Our day has begun and it will be a beauty! :) Today's Pictures I'm sharing another selection from our evening walk along the water at Surfside RV Resort! My main picture today shows a perfectly synchronous pair of ladies enjoying their kayaks on the bay. I took some liberties with some creative filters and the result turned this otherwise "meh!" picture into an image I really like! Lots of insets today as well! There are three panoramas--a super wide one which made the view look like a bowl of land surrounded by water; a fading sunset view of a fingerling jetty which joined the place I stood at a 90 degree angle, and a wide view of the lovely, peaceful lagoon next to Surfside's resort. Also included is an image of interesting kelp that washed up on the shore. I have never seen anything like it and thought the resulting picture showed the fascinating shapes quite well. There are also two artistic renditions of an oystercatcher that I photographed. In the fading light, my camera's ISO shot up to a ridiculous number and the resulting grain rendered the pictures totally useless. Or so I thought. I'd never gotten a picture of this species before and I really wanted to do something with them if I could, grainy or not. Then I realized that I could break out my artistic filters and give that a try. How nice to have the excuse to play with my pictures in a purely artistic sense. I am delighted at the outcome, as these pictures were not savable otherwise. The results, in my opinion, are colorful and fun! :) I hope you like them too! (but I won't blame you if you hate them! :D) Pam, I looked to see if you have any pictures of shore birds, but I didn't see any. While I worked on my two Oystercatcher pictures, I couldn't help but think of you. I deeply admire your skill and dedication to the countless artistic images and collages that you've created over the years. I don't usually go that route but with my travel photography I am presented with the opportunity much more often. It's pretty common to find pictures that aren't up to par in one way or another, but when I switch on my creative eye, it's usually very easy to see the potential of an otherwise "garbage" shot. It's fun. I don't spend hours on them as you have with your gazillions of layers, filters, additional elements and so forth but I do allow myself the freedom to have a good time. It's really nice to do this and makes me feel as if I'm stretching other artistic muscles. Great stuff! Anyway, I hope this is a nice day for you!! *BIG HUGS* from southern Oregon! :) Explored on 2/13/20; highest placement #4.

(+10 insets!) (please view large) :D I woke up to a very wet day but happily it wasn't raining when I went out on my walk. It's such fun to be outside in the springtime because the birds are so busy! It seems like every tree is a-twitter with birdies, and though I cannot see any nests, I'm sure they are there, hidden in the branches. I was delighted to discover exactly where a pair of nuthatches have theirs--it's in a hollowed spot of trunk near the top of an oak tree just off the road. I saw them leave as a pair and could see where they came from! What fun! By the way, if you've been keeping up with my bird sightings at the feeders, we've got new species showing up! Finally the lovely Lesser Goldfinches have found the feeders and we're seeing groups of up to 6 visiting! Yesterday I saw a mourning dove moving around under the feeders and when I turned away, Steve laughed out loud and said, "Another mourning dove flew in and crash-landed on the first one…RUDE!" :D I'll show these new bird species as insets below my main presentation. Today is SATURDAY SELF CHALLENGE!! YES!! *pumps fist in the air* The theme seems to be made exactly for me: "Close Up In Color". OK, I think I can do that! :D Happily, Wednesday was the first day of spring and I went on a photo safari around our property looking for all of the flowers which were in bloom. I managed to find several few new ones and I got some pictures of saxifrage too. (This is a flower I've mentioned but haven't shown any pictures until now.) It's a fairly plain flower but I'm delighted to say that I got some very nice images to share. I also got a much better picture of a flower I'd photographed in the past called Hairy Bittercress. My main image is a tiny hoverfly (.3"/8.46mm) sitting in a sea of bokeh with just its face in sharp focus. It landed on a stem right next to me as I was photographing a buttercup and wasn't bothered by me at all. This allowed me to take many dozen pictures in various apertures and different angles. In fact, I was the one that left, not him! The thing that sets this little guy apart are those incredible iridescent wings! Aren't they amazing?! This picture is magical to me because the bokeh turned the colors of its wings into fairy dust! You will find two more angles of this hoverfly as insets but I'm also presenting most of the subjects I photographed on the first day of spring. What fun it was to process them all. It was extremely satisfying to add some better pictures of species I've photographed before. I am not much of a fan of either Saxifrage or Hairy Bittercress but I actually got some attractive images of them--not easy to do, let me tell you! :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy the show! (I actually had to trim down the number of pictures…far too many so I'll post another set in a few days along with pictures of new flowers I've found since!) :) Pam, it was easy to know what to search for and I went in figuring there would be plenty of choices--hoverflies are pretty brave little guys and make fantastic subjects because they often just sit there, asking, "Do I look more beautiful from the left, or perhaps from the right? Oh? You'd like an image of me hovering? Why of course, here you go!" :D I picked your beautiful Hoverfly on Bradford Pear Blossom image… what a stunner. The blossoms are right out of Cinderella and that hoverfly is the perfect model! :) I hope you have had a good day my dear!! *BIG HUGS TO YOU*!!!! Explored on 3/24/19, highest placement, #1.

1 picture in a note above ! :) Steve and I went to Medford today to do our weekly shopping, but we had so much to do that I decided not to bring my camera, and instead waited until I got home to go out and find my Picture of the Day. It's been such a dry autumn that our seasonal pond has only a tiny bit of water in it, but there was plenty for a pretty image, so I took Zoe and Moosie with me (not a chance, Molly the Muck Monster!) and since it was almost dark, I made a beeline for our miniscule pond. It's been warming up and most of the snow has melted. The frozen pond is largely thawed out, but still has a rind of ice a layer of snow and a coating of frost. Just what I was hoping for! On the surface were lots of leaves, and with the combination of melting snow and sparkly frost, it was lots of fun getting a nice selection of images. However, when I got back to the house and looked them over, my very favorite one is this one, which was the very first image I captured! :) Pierre Bonnard (3 October 1867 – 23 January 1947) was a French painter and printmaker, as well as a founding member of Les Nabis. Wikipedia: Pierre Bonnard

1 picture and a note above ! :) Holy cow, it was over 30 degrees outside today! Finally, the snow is melting and the icicles are dripping away. The sound of snow and ice falling from the roof sometimes has us all horrified by the violent crashing! This afternoon I went out with my camera, totally unimpressed by the messy landscape. Slushy snow, sloppy mud, dead grass...what ever could I find for a picture? So I told myself, "You know, there are a million amazing pictures right here in front of you. All you have to do is take the time to see them." Sighing deeply and very uninspired by the dismal scene, I had to admit that this advice was solid. After all, so many of you pros would find an amazing picture instantly! I stopped and looked around me, trying to find something interesting. Ah ha! Some cool lichen encrusting a rock! And then more! But I didn't know if those pictures would be good enough to please a wide audience. But now that I'd found some success, the world opened up once again and the air twinkled with magic. I saw a flash of color and looked down as I passed a leaf laying in a puddle of melted snow, one edge lit up by the sun's rays. I nearly kept walking, but then I remembered that there was a huge potential for a lovely bokeh image if I could find it. I studied the leaf and loved the texture of the veins, glowing warmly like panes of stained glass, and took a couple of pictures. Reviewing the images, I changed my angle and got lower, and lower still. THERE...the light hitting the water and snow, with the green moss in bokeh behind... that was exactly what I knew was there, and I just needed to look for it! :) Idaho artist Scott Christensen is one of the most well-respected landscape painters in the country, and his understanding of light, ability to achieve pure color, and reverence for nature also make him a highly sought-after instructor. www.artistdaily.com/blogs/pleinair/archive/2009/04/09/en-plein-air-a-conversation-with-scott-christensen.aspx

2 more images above in notes! :D Not long after I joined ipernity, I met a very talented lady who loves to create collages of images, using Photoshop and her fabulous imagination to create incredible artwork! I have long-admired people who can do this well, and I let her know what I thought! Barbara (Plumnuts) wrote back and told me that she is involved in groups devoted to this kind of artwork and wondered if I would be interested in trying one for fun. When I said, "BRING IT!" she supplied me with a texture she made with cicada wings, and told me to go have some fun! This is my first attempt at such a thing, and although it's only a blend of two subjects, there were many layers involved and a lot of manipulation and fooling around to get to this result. I didn't want to try adding too many elements for my first project, but the next one I try will have at least three elements! (I hope to use this same texture with some other images...I have something in mind, we'll see if it works out! I'm still buried in work so I won't be working on it for another week probably) By the way, Barbara posted two amazing collages using her cicada wings textures, take a look! Things that Lurk at Night in the Jungle in 3D Waking Leaf Fairy If this kind of challenge sounds like fun and you'd like to try your own version, here's a link to the cicada wings texture over on Flickr: Cicada Wings: Free Texture Let one of us know that you've created your own image so we can appreciate what you've made!! :)

The outer wall of the De Young Museum was covered with a variety of extremely cool textures! I could have spent hours fooling around here taking pictures of just the walls! This image was taken during my trip to San Francisco during September 12-15, 2011. The entrance to the De Young Museum leads you through a corridor which is lined with glass-covered, textured walls that were really interesting with beautiful colors and reflections.

This is a reflection of the wall showing some of the corridor. I had a lot of fun playing around with angles here! This image was taken during my trip to San Francisco during September 12-15, 2011.

The entrance to the De Young Museum leads you through a corridor which is lined with glass-covered, textured walls that were really interesting with beautiful colors and reflections. This image was taken during my trip to San Francisco during September 12-15, 2011.

(for those of you who are interested in seeing my San Francisco trip images, I have uploaded 10 pictures in this batch [128 in the past couple of weeks]. Thanks everyone for your comments and your visits to my photostream! I hope you enjoy the show!) In the time that I'd moved away from San Francisco, the remodeling of the De Young Museum had been completed, and Laura told me that it was well worth the visit for its architectural beauty. She was right!! I took lots of pictures and was extremely impressed by this building's design! By the way, for those of you who may not know, there is a very fun, free Flickr competition site which you might like to take part in. It's called FlickrDuel and features dozens of ongoing competitions, or duels every day. You can enter your pictures into many different categories and vote on contests too. It's another way to enjoy your photography! This image was taken during my trip to San Francisco during September 12-15, 2011.

This image was taken during the Rogue Valley Photography hike to Mt. Ashland on August 7, 2011

This image was taken inside our car as we drove home through a storm that started after our hike to Hobart's Bluff and Soda Mountain.

This image was taken inside our car as we drove home through a storm that started after our hike to Hobart's Bluff and Soda Mountain.

This image was taken inside our car as we drove home through a storm that started after our hike to Hobart's Bluff and Soda Mountain.

I pulled this image down to fix it with a soft white vignette; previously the image appeared very muddy and the border emphasized it. I think this looks much nicer. This rose was growing outside of our house on our property in Southern Oregon, and this image was taken in June, 2011.

A few days ago I posted another picture of this beautiful mushroom, and I promised that a detail shot was coming! If you didn't read about this mushroom before, here you go! Steve and I drove out to Lost Creek Reservoir for a photography hike about two weeks ago and we were on the lookout for mushrooms! The wet conditions in the winter and spring are perfect for fungus, so we knew there would be lots of pictures to take. Needless to say, I was very excited when I found this one!! I got some great luck with the pictures I took because they came out very crisp and clear. On top of that, images taken with my Canon 5D Mark II are 21.1 megapixels in size, which means I can crop in as much as I like for most images. In this case, I was able to show the amazing detail on the edge and gills, something I couldn't even see with my naked eyes when I took the picture!! I hope you enjoy this detail shot, it was a very lucky day to find this wonderful little treasure!

[best appreciated at full size against black] Our photograpy group has a new theme every month, and this month was "The Moon." Since I'm so focused and excited about spring and using my macro lens, I wasn't as inspired as I should be. I ended up taking this picture and putting a colorful filter on it to make it look different. I hope you like it! :) This image was taken in February, 2012.

I popped out out of my bed this morning to catch a picture of frost before it melted away in the brilliant sunshine. This is an acorn top, laying on a board! I hope you like it! Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American business magnate, animator, cartoonist, producer, director, screenwriter, philanthropist and voice actor. A major figure within the American animation industry and throughout the world, he is regarded as an international icon, well known for his influence and contributions to the field of entertainment during the 20th century. As a Hollywood business mogul, he, along with his brother Roy O. Disney, co-founded Walt Disney Productions, which later became one of the best-known motion picture production companies in the world. The corporation is now known as The Walt Disney Company and had an annual revenue of approximately US$45 billion in the 2013 financial year. Wiki: Walt Disney

Another picture from yesterday, we made couscous to go with our meal last night and when I saw it cooking on the stove, I needed to take a picture! (The red droplets are from Tom Yum soup base to give it yummy flavoring!) I played with this in photoshop and added a texture from Thanks to Kirsten Frank Art . Thanks to Stephanie Calhoun for continued inspiration to texturize some of my photos! :)