Texture Tuesday

mouse over to see before image
Texture "Let Go" by Kim Klassen

I'm so happy to be joining Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday today. It's been a little while since I participated. For lots of great photos and texture eye candy, click here.
Thank you for visiting and have a wonderful day!

Nourishment

touching

smelling, tasting

hearing

seeing, feeling

"As artists, we must learn to be self-nourishing. We must become alert enough to consciously replenish our creative resources as we draw on them...filling the well. The artist's brain is the sensory brain: sight and sound, smell and taste, touch. In filling the well, think magic. Think delight. Think fun."

Julia Cameron

Beauty and Truth

When we hold beauty and truth together, truth will always have a sense of compassion and gentleness. Only in the light of beauty can we come to see what is really present.

John O'Donohue

First Rose of Spring

Textures by Kim Klassen and Shadowhouse Creations

"Each of us is emerging in every moment. 

When we discover our creativity, we begin to attend to this constant emergence of who we are. 

The deeper we attend to the soul, the more we realize what a treasure-house we have inherited."

John O'Donohue

A Touch Of Nature

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."
William Shakespeare

Signs of Spring

"Beauty is not caused. It is."

~Emily Dickinson

There are signs of the coming spring all around now. Pink and white blossoms have begun to pop out and the daffodils are beginning to bloom. Spring is lovely with it's burst of new life after a cold, sleepy winter. The flowers and blossoms ready and willing to show their IS-ness. No fuss, no angst, no strife...just Being. Beautiful.

Ordinary Things::Colorful Crystals

"Study a lifetime and you see different colors of the same jewel."

~Richard Bach

Here's today's Ordinary Things. I used my Storm Clouds texture on this image after tweaking the levels a bit. These happy, colorful, little stones brighten my spirits on any day but especially gray days like yesterday and today. Their colors and shapes are all so interesting, not one like another. I have them sitting on a small shelf with a few other ordinary things I especially enjoy that brighten my spirit and help me remember that "it's the little things"...literally!

Have a beautiful, colorful day,

Ordinary Things

"Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior's world."

~Pema Chödrön

A Bridge in the Forest and Cannery Row

Mouse over to see before image

I took this picture a while ago during one of our hikes. I like the ethereal quality of it. I used my new texture Cannery Row inspired by my recent hiking trip to Big Sur and the fact that I am in the middle of reading Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Thanks to Twitter, I learned that it is also the birthday of Cannery Row today. So, without further adieu...may I present...Cannery Row.

Click here to download a free high res copy. Make sure you post in the comments section so we can see what you do with it!

Beautiful Home

I know the holidays are officially over and we are into the new year, but I couldn't help naming my new texture, Holiday Spirit, because it just looks like it. In looking for a winter-y, nature-y image to try Holiday out on, I ran across this one that I took last year in Washington state. The trees are just gorgeous in the Pacific Northwest and Holiday brings out their truest and most beautiful colors, showing off all the subtle nuances of the colors.

You can download a high res copy of Holiday Spirit here.
Enjoy!

Paradise Beach

Mouse over to see the before image

This is Paradise Beach, a cafe at Capitola Beach. I used three textures in my new Painted Stucco series and another texture called Warm Ginger. I'm very happy with the results. It seems to express just what I felt that day. Here are the textures from my Painted Stucco series. Click on the links to download a free high res copy.

Painted Stucco 4
A go-to texture. The gray softens the image but there's still texture. You can use this one on just about any image and it plays well with others.

Painted Stucco 6
My favorite out of my series so far. I love the depth and the colors. There are hints of plum, olive, brown and cream. Looks great on multiply if you bring the opacity down and contributes an edgy, grungy look to an image. You can also use it on soft light and it will bring the brown and red tones out of an image.

Painted Stucco Magic
I love magic textures and I've got to say, I'm really happy with this one. In my opinion, magic textures look best on screen mode. Try this one and see what you think!

Warm Ginger
One of the first textures I made and it remains one that I use most often. I love how it warms up the image and contributes a soft textured look. It looks especially good on soft light blend mode.

Have fun with these and if you use them, I'd love to see what you did with them. Be sure to leave a link in the comments section. Thanks!

Old Steel Bridge

Mouse over to see before image

This bridge reminds me of growing up in Portland and the old steel bridges across the Willamette River. I used my new texture Orange Stucco (below) along with my texture Storm Clouds from this post. I've used Storm Clouds on a number of images and it always looks good. Brightens up the image and gives just the right amount of texture. On top of the whole thing, I placed Chaos by Jerry of Shadowhouse Creations. If you haven't seen his textures, you must check them out, Jerry does awesome work! Chaos seemed to pull the whole things together. Isn't that the way with art...and life...a little chaos seems to bring out the best.

You can download Orange Stucco for free here.

Many Paths

I've been busy, busy, busy working on photos and textures. Daysha and I went hiking recently and we got some great images before my battery ran out. It was an absolutely gorgeous, cool, fall day and a joy to be outside. These will all be included in my new Etsy listings. Click in the sidebar to go to my shop and order prints. If you want a different size other than 8X10, just send me an email. You can also download my newest texture, Storm Clouds, used on the image above for free as my gift to you. Just scroll all the way down to see the texture and click on the link to download. Enjoy!

I love John Keats. Have you seen this movie?  The photography is lovely, the acting is brilliant and the story...well, just have your tissues ready. It's a beautiful film. Keats says that beauty is truth and truth is beauty. We have also heard that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We rarely, if ever, hear that truth is in the heart of the individual. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and we all find different things beautiful even if we have similarities, then the beauty that we see and experience individually is what we truly connect with at a soul level. Perhaps Keats is saying that if we can see the beauty in and around ourselves, we can become aware of our truth. And perhaps when we become aware of our truth, it becomes the measuring stick by which we find beauty. The purpose of art is to help us see things differently. Have you ever wondered why art is important? Why is it important to see things differenty, from another perspective than what we might be used to? What if we can see the art and beauty all around us? How would life be different? How would we be different? I believe that this is a skill we can develop and practice. I call it Embracing Grace Everyday.

When I look, and I mean really look, I find beauty in the most surprising places and in the most surprising ways. I see things differently than if I simply pass by, trading surface glances. I see beauty that I almost missed! Subtle and striking. I see the essence of something beneath the surface. I see layer after layer. When I really stop to become aware of and know what's really true inside of myself, I find my truth in the most surprising ways and places too. The more I find beauty and truth, the more I practice embracing grace everyday, the more committed I become to living my true self and my true life; to living a life I love and am in love with.

"Fairy Bridge"...I imagine this bridge leading to an ethereal world full of wonder, beauty and surprise.

Click here to download Storm Clouds texture.

Peaceful Lake

mouse over to see before image

This was one of a number of beautiful sites on a recent trip. I think it looks lovely with Kim Klassen's Annabelle texture. Very subtle. I worked for quite a while on this one to get it just right. I tried a number of things and nothing was "floating my boat" until...on a whim I added a warm photo filter and...POP! There it was. Just what I was looking for. That's how it is many times with art. You just have to work play it out and trust that something is on it's way. I suppose that's how it is in life too.

Faded Orchid Beauty

mouse over to see before image

I took this image of an orchid at the LA Arboretum while visiting there a few weeks ago. I used Kim Klassen's texture, "Lilly" on it. She's currently hosting "12 days of Textures". Pop on over and see some other images and what those participating have done with their images and Kim's texture. Very inspiring and lots of beautiful winter-y images from all over the world!

Foggy Hillside

New in my Etsy shop (or click the link in my sidebar)! I'm so excited to offer this print and "Solvang" posted yesterday. I think they are both beautiful and my hope is that they bring you as much delight as they do me.
I saw this amazing foggy scene driving back to where I live from Solvang. I used my newest texture, Warm Ginger (yes, I've had holiday scents and baking on my mind!) to bring out the reds and browns in the image. I'm so happy with it. I actually let out a gasp when I first added the texture and blended it! It really affected the image and gave such a nice, warm affect and I love how it accents the flowers in the foreground. I've been using Warm Ginger on a variety of photos and it looks great on all of them. Really happy with it! I'll make it available as a download soon.

Happy baking!

Solvang and Golden Light

Mouse over to see the before image

I've been making textures, textures and more textures after taking Kim Klassen's fabulous Art of Texture class. So fun! After Thanksgiving and on the way home from visiting family, we stopped in Solvang. Such a cute Danish town and the ebelskivers were so tasty! I'll have to try to make some sometime...looking for a recipe. On this photo, I used my new texture, Golden Light (below).

I think it's lovely. You can download it here. I'd love to see what you do with it! Hope you are enjoying the holiday season!

Soar

"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write

if [she] is to be ultimately at peace with [herself]."
~Abraham Maslow

Sometimes The Way Is Clear

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Often, we can experience obstacles along the way on our journey. Sometimes the journey doesn't make sense and life can seem confusing. But then, sometimes, the way is clear.

The journey may require much waiting or much work; much care, attention and thoughtfulness. We go through wonderings and wanderings. We may feel lost, but we are not.

 

And then when all is said and done, and we enter into a new chapter, turn down a new road, we realize our soul knew all along even if it seemed it didn't.

*all photos above used textures by Kim Klassen