Lost Aussie on the loose

And a Few More...

More Hot Air

A quick post of some more Hot Air goodness from the New Jersey Ballon Festival where there were literally dozens of hot air ballons going up one after the other.  It was actually hard to keep up and photograph them all!

Not quite as picturesque as the event we attended up in the Hudson Valley a couple of weeks ago and this time the crowds were enourmous and kept a fair way away from the launch site.  Made up for though by the sheer number of balloons that were there.

We'd hummed and hawwed about going as the weather has been very stormy lately but at 3:30am decided to take the chance and made the two hour drive in record time!  Our window of opportunity was perfect as not long after the launch, the clouds rolled in and the weather turned nasty!

What else can I say other than it was TOTALLY fab!!

 

Some Rasta Hairdo...

A little bit of a work in progress and I am not quite sure if I am done with this yet or not.

No particular cultural or ethnic bias intended, just a shot of some grafitti taken at 5Pointz with David while he was here and his own artful editing actually sparked the idea for this piece and it's further embellishment with brushes created from more grafitti photos that we took that day.

It's amazing how you can mull over one creative thought process and whilst trying to pin that down it ends up pin-ball machining through your mind and setting off all sorts of interesting ricochets!

Perfect Petals

 

Nothing like a lovely bunch of flowers to brighten a girl's day and yesterday 12 of these gorgeous blooms arrived at my front door. I wanted to wait until there was some better light and they had opened up a bit before taking their picture!  Definitely worth the wait.  The texture and shades in the petals are fantastic.

Thank you Honey!  They are awesome!

Creatures Great and Small

Today I joined up with one of my Long Island Meetup groups to go and take wildlife pictures at the Bailey Arboretum.  There they host a wildlife rescue operation that tends to a variety of birds, mammals and reptiles.  Many of their rescue animals are rehabilitated and set free back into the wild, but others, for one reason or another have been given a permanent home there.

It's a beautiful estate to walk on and it was a fantastic opportunity to be able to work with the volunteers and take some wonderful pictures of the animals they care for.

and then there was...

and last but not least....

Created From A Walk On The Beach

The temps have broken here the last few days.  It has actually been COLD!  And I am missing my opportunities to swim in the pool!

Instead a lovely long walk on the beach today.  No stellar pics but enought to make Photoshop Whoopee with, as for some reason I have abstract junk on the brain.

The image above is concocted from a picture of some sand ridges and then "messed about" with texture layers and various other tools.

I hope it's in focus for you to see as I am having nightmares with prescription glasses again.  I am up to the third re-do on two new pairs and seem to have better luck with the $10 ones procurred at the local pharmacy!  Go figure.

I should have been in bed ages ago as I'm off to a Wildlife shoot of "saved" animals in the morning!

Seems there's always one more pixel to tweak and sleep takes second best.... what's new?

Abstracting Glass

As I mentioned yesterday I have been busy reorganising my photo files.  Somewhat of a daunting task as you can imagine.
Whilst doing that though I have come across so many favoured old pictures and plenty of images have piqued my interest to work over.

One of them was a picture that I shot in the lobby of the Bellagio Hotel in Vegas.  The famous sculptured ceiling by Dale Chihuly, know as Fiori Di Como.

I've abstracted it out and apologise to the Artist in advance for my latitude with his work - but I kind of like the bright colors and the end result seems in keeping with the hot Summer days we have been having!

Hot Summer in the City

The heat here in New York has been relentless the past couple of weeks, numbers of days over 98F and the locals are as twitterpated as all heck.  The Aussie in me just shrugs, jumps in the pool and does a few laps and goes well, hey, it's summer!  What do you expect?

The only thing I am not keen on is the massive rolling thunderstorms that accompany the soupy summer heat.  I eye all the massive oak trees that tower around the house and hold my breath a lot these afternoons...

While we are guest free for a time I am busy with house chores and computer stuff - having decided to "refile" all my photos - which it turning into a much bigger process than I initially envisaged ... no big surprise there!!  And of course some messing about with the camera...

The image today is a hood ornament of some kind of vintage car or other, I forget which 'breed' - one of many that I snapped whilst upstate New York the other week, for not only did we Balloon Chase but we spent a good few hours wandering around a fabulous Vintage Car show and there was lots of good photo fodder there!

Hope you are not melting in the heat and staying cool somewhere.....

Ciao for now...

Making Other Things

Turning my hand from baby blankets to bookmarks tonight.  Chris wants to play bookmark swap and so I've rattled up a few to stick in in the post tomorrow.

Not sure how these 3D earthly things will translate for iPad users, but since I am a died in the wool, hard back, flip the pages kind of gal, I really don't care..... I suppose I could always do a digital version - how would that work I wonder????

Sew Blue

It was a tough day really.  Putting #2 son on the plane back to Aus' and feeling that empty space that he has keenly occupied for the last couple of weeks.

I consoled myself with immersion in house chores, some painting (of the outdoor siding variety), weeding of the garden and then took to the basement and sewed up a storm in the evening -  a bunch of baby quilts and blankets for various friends who have become grandparents of late.

Scarry thought as it seems like a heart beat ago that I was sewing these blankets for my own baby boys (and theirs still survive in the linen closet to this day!!!) and here I am doing it for the next generation!

Anyway, it's cathartic, feels purposeful and to my mind is heaps better than any gift you can buy at at store, given that it's made with love....