First Plumeria bloom & the Ventura County Fair

Good morning to everyone! I finally have my very first Plumeria bloom I have posted this morning. The plant was started two years ago so it took a while. It is the most wonderful smelling flower...I just love it!

We made a trip to the County Fair on Thursday & I picked up a couple more exotic plants. They're all planted now & the wait is on. Hopefully it won't take two years for these to bloom. I just hope I don't kill them!

I also posted some other pics from the fair...mostly flowers. I did manage to get some Speed Racer in there as well as Howdy Doody. My son loves Speed Racer & I date back to Howdy Doody...UGH:>)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I am looking forward to next weekend when I have a paintover class with none other than......Lisa Bebi!

I CAN'T wait!

Back to Photoshop Elements

Good Tuesday morning everyone! What a gorgeous morning...so nice & cool!

I love that marine layer! Hope you are all having a good week so far.

I have a couple of PSE creations from a while back that I am posting today.

The technique is what I've learned thus far in my Down & Dirty the Digital Way class. I never actually finished that class so it is my intent to get that done this week, I hope. The top photo was a freebie of a bicycle in Prague. The 2nd is a dahlia from the dahlia festival last year in Canby Oregon.

I want to thank you all for your very kind thoughts regarding my loss of Dexter. I LOVE my blogging friends!!!

Getting back into blog posting

Good Friday morning to all! It's been a while since my last post & I won't lie by saying I am so ready to jump back in.....I am forcing myself to take a plunge! Have to get back to some sort of normalcy!

I am starting with a beautiful picture of Dexter that I took a few months ago. A friend of ours, John Miller, who is a fabulous photographer, took my pic & printed it on a 16x20 gallery wrapped canvas. It is drop dead gorgeous & I absolutely LOVE it! I can see my boy's beautiful face all the time now as he hangs on the wall in my den. Miss my angel terribly!

The next photos are a male carousel lion that was carved by one of my hubby's school friends (with my hubby's help.) We've had the male & female lion for some 20 years or so. I sold the male earlier this year & the gentleman that bought it had it painted.  I am showing the before & after pics as we were simply amazed at the beautiful work done by a local artist. Fortunately the man that purchased it lives only about 20 minutes from me & he was nice enough to call me when it was completed. Check this baby out!!!

Hope you all have a beautiful weekend!

Rest in peace my sweet Dexter

Well...I am a bit behind on posting because I have just lacked motivation. My sweet Bengal boy, Dexter crossed over the rainbow bridge on July 4th & our hearts are trying to heal. He got very sick very fast. He spent 4days in the emergency hospital on oxygen but it was all too much for my little angel to overcome. He was not even 5 years old yet & I can't even begin to tell you how much we miss him! He had heart disease as well as severe anemia. They also believe he had lymphoma or leukemia once they did a spleen aspiration.  I want to share some of my favorite pics of my sweet boy....he was indeed the most beautiful boy I have ever had. I should have named him REGAL because that's what he was. 

2ND Piece for Washington Art Show & Sale

Boy, did this week fly by!At least I got a lot accomplished so I guess that's why it went so fast. This morning I have my 2ND piece that's going to Washington next week for the art show & sale I mentioned in my last post. This is a 10x10 canvas that is done with layers & layers of paper, gel medium, glaze, & a little rubber stamping. The image in the center was done with a sheer heaven transfer to tissue paper. I was very pleased with this one, particularly the colors. I didn't shoot pics of the sides of the canvas (unfortunately) but it is a wide gallery wrapped canvas & the sides turned out very nice too. Next week I will mail both of these off.
Wishing you all a wonderful & creative weekend!

New Fabric Collage for Upcoming Art Show & Sale

This is the first piece of two that I did for an upcoming Art show & sale in Everett. Wa. This is being hosted by the 3231 Creatives Gallery. The show runs between July 15th & August 17th.  All pieces are done in a 10x10 format. If any of you are in the Everett area, the address is: 3231 Broadway Ave.  Everett, Wa.  The Facebook link is: http://www.facebook.com/blackdoorstudio#!/event.php?eid=152986018105121.

 Wishing you all a very happy summer!

Mixed Media Collage

Good Morning! I am featuring a mixed media collage this morning done on a 12x12 canvas. It is done with multiple layers of paper, gel medium & a bit of rubber stamping.
The image is a transfer to tissue paper using Sheer Heaven.
I am currently working on a couple of pieces for an upcoming show in Everett, Wa.  next month. I'll share those pieces soon.
I did visit the automotive museum on the weekend & it was AMAZING! I have included a link to my Facebook pics in the event you'd like to take a peek.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2128617131887.2127748.1139713603
Happy hump day!

Some PSE boat variations & flowers

Good Saturday morning everyone. I hope you all have a great weekend planned. I am off to the Mullin Automotive Museum  http://www.mullinautomotivemuseum.com/ this morning & I can't wait!
This morning I have a boat picture that I found at http://morguefile.com/ that I did a couple of PSE variations on. I do like the top one the best. The 3rd photo is a flower in my yard & the rose is also from http://morguefile.com/. The backgrounds & masks are from http://shadowhousecreations.blogspot.com/. Now....I would walk through my process with you but I go so many places with these pics that sometimes I forget how I even got there. I just keep playing & adding more layers, adjusting the hue, saturation & opacity. For some reason I tend to be drawn to boats in spite of the fact that I really have no desire to be on one nor in the water!
Happy Saturday to you all! 

Do you ever stumble across belongings you forgot??

Good morning! Another damp day on tap, I see. I am loving it as it is damp but still very comfortable temperatures! I have been digging through years of items recently to determine what I can part with & what I can't. It's pretty bad when you have soooo much stuff that you forget some of the stuff you have.......like this LOVELY soap box I stumbled upon that I totally forgot we even had! It's been tucked away in a corner for probably the last 35 years. It dates back to 1897 or 1898 & it's in really nice condition for the age. It measures around 17" x16" x8". I cleaned it all up & that is where I will store my Grandmother's old crocheted pieces. I think they look so nice in there.
I also found a 1905 water heater tucked in a corner of my garage which was another thrill. I forgot we even had it! Once I get around to photographing that I will share that one with you too. I can't even find another one of those. I have only found brochures for them on sale on Ebay. I have more researching in my future!
Happy Monday to you all!

Compilation of Statues & Photoshop Elements

Good morning everyone! June is upon us & not without a little gloom this morning. The good news is...the gloom has vanished & the sun is out now.
I've been very busy preparing for a garage sale this weekend & still haven't quite made it through my Photoshop class. Knowing that I can work on it at my leisure is simply wonderful! I am going to wrap it up shortly. The problem is I am so excited about what I have already learned that I just keep experimenting. This morning I have some more statues (LOVE THEM!) that I have altered with various layers. My problem is...I go through so many steps that I forget exactly how I got there sometimes. I do know that my layers were set on "overlay" for both of these creations. The images are from my favorite site for free images  http://morguefile.com/ & the backgrounds I use are from
http://shadowhousecreations.blogspot.com/ & http://www.flickr.com/groups/734017@N25/pool/
Happy Wednesday!

New Photoshop Creations

Good morning! I hope you're all ready for a great Memorial Day weekend.
It's been a very busy week between getting things done & still finding time to
work on my Photoshop Class with Gail Schmidt. It is a fabulous class & I am
learning a lot of new things. I am posting two new creations & also the original photos.
The originals came from  http://morguefile.com/  & the masks/backgrounds came from http://shadowhousecreations.blogspot.com/.  I will probably finish up the class next week. I already warned Gail that she will probably see me in ALL her PS classes to come!
Gail is a part of the http://creativeworkshops.ning.com/. Drop by & check it out.

Two new photos & a new Photoshop class

Good morning everyone! Looks like a lovely morning in Ventura County  but....they say there's a bit more rain this weekend. It's really kind of nice that we're still getting rain here...it keeps everything green & beautiful.
I have a couple of PSE compilations this morning. The boat image was overlayed on another picture of a gorgeous body of water. I always adjust the hue & saturation as well as the opacity. The 2ND photo is a striking "plain Jane" that turned out quite nice. Her photo was overlayed on a slate background. Again...I have adjusted the hue, saturation & opacity. She has such a serene look.
Now, I just enrolled in another Photoshop class with Gail Schmidt called
Down & Dirty the Digital Way through Creative workshops. I am loving it already because she does videos. You are not trying to follow directions from a piece of paper.
You can see exactly what she's doing. Also....the workshop doesn't close it's door on you after a certain amount of time. The videos are available for an unlimited amount of time. Now that's a workshop!
Happy Friday!

Stormy morning & Angel in the garden

Good Tuesday morning everyone! I woke up to rain this morning & it's suppose to continue through most of the day. Probably our last soaking for a while!
This morning I am sharing a digital piece I put together with PSE. I used a cloud formation as the background (tweaking the colors on that) & I used the angel image over the top of that. I adjusted the color, contrast & opacity on the two together & there you have....Angel in the garden! I am quite happy with her.
Hope you all have a creative day!

Lady with the lovely hat

Saturday is here already...Where did the week go?? I hope you're all ready for a grand weekend! I am posting a digital picture this morning done through PSE. I really love working on the digital things as there is no mess! I love collaging, paper & gel medium but that does add up to a mess at the end. I do art like I cook.......I make a big mess when doing it. The weather is looking gloomy today so I think I may find some little art project to work on. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

Flowers & Paso Robles

Good Saturday morning everyone! I have found myself in a bit of a funk lately. I haven't done any artwork! Just too many other things going on sometimes & it's hard to find some spare time. First off, I want to wish all my friends a very happy mother's day! I hope you all have a wonderful day with your families.
I am posting a few flowers this morning from my yard at home. The fourth pic down is  from our property in Paso Robles. The trees along the driveway were totally bare this winter but they came back so nicely. I just love this drive to the top of the property.
The last photo is from a neighboring ranch. Lots of horses, cows & goats in the area....and let's not forget rattle snakes too!