Distractions

When stuck inside on a crummy day what on earth do you do?

I could do something worth while, but I've already cleaned the house, made supper, did the chores, and...now it is quiet time so someone can rest.

So I got out a some things and decided to do a Christmas themed Still Life. Who knows, perhaps these will become next year's Christmas Cards.
Note the ornament that was hand carved!
It came from Far Side of Fifty!

Isn't it cool?

So after doing several different shots on this particular day, I decided to have some fun too.

Dinosaurs like Kisses....

Tough Guys like Kisses Too!

Uh Oh...little soldiers...look behind you!

Some more lay Flat Still Life:

This has potential as a card for next year!

And then some messing around....

I'll have to practice with the paper more or figure out how to use another backround.

Then we had some awkward moments on the Christmas Chair.

Nor and Rune meet up with the Dinosaur Garden Statue and there is a moment of disbelief.

The Elf on the Shelf finds himself sitting awkwardly between a Zombie Doll and a Zombie Santa Doll. [This fun for those who love Halloween and Krampus]

And of course, there is Charlie. Not awkward at all, but he decides that he needs to be in on all of the action.

I think I like him just fine as a part of the decorations.

Today I hope to go for a hike.
If Rich is having a better day than yesterday, I will go.

Goofy distractions are things I do while stuck inside the house ... especially when I am trying to be quiet while someone rests.

This evening, my younger son and his family will arrive. It could be chaos, but I have some outdoor activities planned to wear the little ones out.

Have a good day.

Still Life on the Cheap

This is the spare bedroom. In the upper left corner is a fold up futon type bed. There is my basket of odd toys and other items.
The window is west facing and it lets in diffused light on cloudy days. I have black curtains on it for when the light is harsh, or I want to do some shots with a black backround.
On the floor is Charlie who is playing with an antler shed I found a few years ago.
I decided it was easier to have him underfoot than to having him upset at being in his crate while Rich was napping.
I collect old recycled things like the green bottle. In the summer I use old bottles and jars to put flowers in. They are my vases.

I put some Christmas lights in the bottle.

I played around with the two branches of fake pine.

It wasn't coming out exactly how I imagined it.

So I kept messing with it and decided to work some editing magic.

That was closer to what I wanted, but not anything that was super stellar

I gave things a rest and decided to go back later.
Note, the room is sort of a mess with things tossed all over.
Rich was awake and he and Charlie were watching Netflix, so I decided to try out some other ideas.

Colored pencils. Well, there you go. I just held them up in my hand and took a shot.
I worked with some ideas after the fact.

Still not anything I'd 'write' home about.

So back to the drawing board.

My favorite cracked cup.

Ahhhh....nope.

I liked this, a straight 'down' shot. The cup, the saucer and the little pitcher were all purchased for about a dollar at the flea market. The pages are from my pencil coloring book.
Nice...but...
I really wanted a different look and feel.

Edited with a preset for Vintage colors and a slightly white vignette.

This one I could live with.

~~ These are things I do when I can't get out to go hiking. I was waiting on more phone calls and watching the snow fall.

Wicked Wicked Weather

And it is not letting up!

The winds are howling and roaring above the house in the trees making hollow resounding noises above me. I can see a birch tree across the way in the meadow swaying hard. I imagine if the trees had been full of leaves many of them would be losing branches.

Yesterday it started with thunderstorms, lightening, and 3 rounds of hail.

The mules headed for the woods after the hail started...

Before 10 am yesterday, about 2 inches of hard rain fell. There was too much lightening to walk down to the creek and watch the water rage down the bottoms.

I could see the water rushing down the side of the driveway.

It let up in the middle of the day. There was enough time to get Charlie out for a quick walk in the sodden grass before the winds and more thunderstorms came marching across the land.

All night the winds howled and rain/sleet sliced sideways in the east winds.

I woke up periodically to listen to the roaring noises above us and wondered what it would be like to listen to it on the ridges. Or for that matter, to be in it on the ridges.
Wind gusts are being recorded at 37 to 51 mph. Sustained winds at 22.

It wasn't quite so bad when I did chores this morning. No one looked cold, all the animals had plenty of hay to eat and could get out of the worst of the weather. Some of the Dexter cattle were laying in the fodder bale pile chewing their cud as if they didn't have a worry in the world.

I decided to do some Still Life photography. The light coming in through the south windows was very subdued yet it would work if I used a white sheet to shoot against.

Our photography group is working on Lines and Shadows this week. I stood a vase of 'sea glass' that I'd collected with my Kenosha Gang folks on an old night stand. I tossed an old white sheet on it and used a chair to hold up the fabric behind the vase.

Of course that wasn't the only shot. If I set up for one shot, I generally do more.

Paint time:

I dug out the brushes two days ago with the intent of painting an old small vanity that we took out during remodeling two years ago. I desperately needed a piece of open backed furniture to put the WiFi and phone hook ups in. I took the old vanity and cleaned it up. 

When the weather breaks I will paint it and add something inside it for storage, but for now the ugly electronics are no longer sitting on the floor.

It is a bit tacky looking. But it will work for now until I can what I want for that corner to keep everything organized. I would paint it now, but Charlie is a bit too willing to help on these projects.

So until I can do it outside, I guess it will be in the corner hiding all those luscious looking cords from Charlie's teeth.

It actually helps organize a few things for right now until I get the trim on the wood in the eating area. It holds the phone, the calendar...and ... 

well here it is...

What I have in mind though is another thing entirely!

Something like ... this....

So I got out my old cracked cup and saucer and messed around some with the sea glass.

I took a few shots and tried a few things.

Oh ... How did this happen? Somehow I never feel like I've done justice to Still Life unless I put something odd into the photo.

Star Wars Figurine/Sugar/Coffee Cup/Spoon

Soldiers and Ponies

Okay, they really don't go together at all! But over the years, I've accumulated some odd things from the children I know.

Creepy Baby and Friends

I think I'm going to grab a few more things from my 'toy' basket and see what I can do to brighten this wicked dreary day.

And let the wicked weather do as it wishes outside.

ON1 10.5 and ONRAW2017

I'm always looking for ways to touch up a photo in a fast an easy sort of manner. I don't like wild over editing, although I will plead guilty to doing it when I feel extremely creative.

I discovered ON1 Effects Free a year or so ago and installed it. I enjoyed playing around with it and then tried the 90 day trial of ON1 10.5. I found I was able to take .RAW files and edit them in the 10.5 version and I really enjoyed the ease of use.
When my 90 days were up, I bought the program.

This was a photo I did in 10.5:

I am not a huge fan of photographing buildings, but each year when I go to the Range to practice for work and Qualify, I go past this church.
I happen to really love photographing this little building.
I thought a vintage look would be fun.
So yes, this would be 'over-edited' but for my creative juices only.

I also sometimes like to work in layers. Imagine how pleased I was that I could layer and mask easily in both ON1 programs.

I normally wouldn't be altering a photo like this and adding extra textures to it, but I thought it would be nice to show how easy it really is to do in ON1.

Here is the original shot.

And then the peeling paint texture added:

I used "Overlay" and lightened it a bit in a layer above the photo, then use a handy little Bug Tool to keep the cup and beads from having the texture.

It was an interesting experiment.
Seriously? I like the plain and straight forward photo myself.

However, this series of edits only took me a few minutes to do. Which is the beauty of this program.
I also didn't have to take hours of Photoshop courses in order to learn how to do it.
I did review how to use this program from a few "Short Clips" from ON1.

I have to admit, I do enjoy being able to be more 'creative' with ON1, at least I can do it all in once place and do it quickly.

I absolutely adore how I can edit my Still Life work.

Can't go out to play so...

So I thought I'd get out the bathroom mirror that I saved for whatever reason when the guys gutted the bathroom.

I thought it would be fun to use them this winter in some of my Still Life work.
Again, this was an easy set up. I put the mirror down on top of a plastic tote and then simply began to arrange things around.

The egg was a wild idea. Yes, it is a raw egg and no, there was nothing holding it in place. It looks like the egg-s are suspended.
Rich wasn't feeling good so instead of taking the hike at the Kickapoo Reserve to see the unfinished dam, I decided to stick around the house.

I got out some of my cups, rings, and baubles and arranged them in different manners. I didn't use any other light than that which came in from the window behind me.

I would love to do some light experiments soon though.

I used old necklaces and other items I have in my 'junk' box. I used a doily I found at the flea market as a backdrop along with an old white table cloth.
The silver rings and ribbon came from a wedding invitation that my daughter in law made. Yes I sometimes keep odd things.

And not all are keepers. The photos were okay, but didn't really have any zip or WOW factor.

And then I did this.
And it made it worth it.

I was happy that I stayed inside and didn't go out ... to play.