Lost Aussie on the loose

Flight

Hurricane Earl is barreling up the coast at a somewhat lesser pace than yesterday, thank goodness.  It seems that a nice westerly cold front is puffing it away from the coast and it's run out of a bit of steam.

Although we have battened down the hatches and pulled in all the things that can go "bump" when it's windy I won't be sorry to have prepared for nothing.

At this point I worry about the beaches the most.  They might not hold a candle to the ones that I love to frequent at "home" but still, when the weather is bad here, they get hammered and seem to lose so much ground that there is almost nothing left to walk on afterward.

"Flight" is created from a photo of a feather that I picked up on a recent beach walk at Robert Moses and I am crossing my fingers that after Earl has passed we will still get to enjoy some sand time before the chilly weather sets in!
(P.S. In this image, I'm using some new textures and overlays that will soon be available to purchase...so stay tuned on that score!

May Ends and June Arrives

The end of May heralds a Long Weekend in the US.  Supposedly the start of Summer for many, but for others, a time to remember Fallen Heros and a time to pay tribute to those who Serve.

I come from a long family line of Soldiers, Sailors and Global Warriors.  My Gt. Grandfather was an Artilleryman in charge of horse drawn guns in World War 1. My Grandfather,Father, Uncles and even cousins today have served and still do, in the British Military Forces and my Husband can tell a similar tale from his side of the Family here in the US.

Our Eldest son Ryan, is currently on active duty in Afghanistan, deployed with an Explosives and Ordinance team, spending his days suited up in body armour, trekking down dusty roads and defusing bombs more often than I care to know about!

It's a scary business.... and while we have enjoyed a balmy weekend, barbecuing and enjoying the advent of warmer days, I do spare a thought (and thanks) for all those men and women who so selflessly serve, in one country or another, to preserve the peace and freedom that makes our sunshiny days so wonderful!

And as I contemplate the thought of young men going off to serve.......  my eldest turns 18 today!

I've decided not to embarrass him on the blog with baby pictures and comparisons of zero to 18 in a heartbeat.  He is currently a Senior in High School in Australia, supposedly studying hard and trying to make grades good enough to get him into college in a few month's time.   I guess what touches me most this weekend,  is that it could be him, drafted and off to war!

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY James..... since I can't be there today, I decided to get them to write you a note across the Brooklyn Bridge (hehe)

I love you and will see you soon!

xoxoxoox

Mom & Rick

Graphic, Graffiti & Grunge - an Online Class

Finally I can announce an online class for all the Digital Divas out there - we will be covering layers,masks, text,processing in Camera RAW , where supported as well as techniques for mixed media printing and getting your image out there with your unique footprint.

The class will be Jam packed with instructional details and based on both Photoshop and Elements platforms with accompanying videos and PDF's so that you can follow along at your own pace.

Class will start June 14th, 2010 and run for six weeks. 
You will have access to a private group to CHAT and talk about what you are doing, with show and tell on a weekly basis.

I look forward to having you come "Play" and see what we can do with your images!

The ONLINE WEBSITE for the Class will be launched this weekend - with all the juicy details you need to know - so stay tuned!

What you do while Waiting!

3:08am
#2 son has landed in Perth, according to Flightstats.com  He's been flying around the Volcano traffic for the last three days and both he and I will be pleased when he is cleared Customs, has his luggage and is on his way to a shower and horizontal bed.

In the mean time, while waiting I twiddled with the Jean bag pics and well, one thing led to the next...

Seems they are quite good fodder for abstract digital art too!

Who knew recycled Jeans had so much potential??

Stolen - from my Husband's blog

....."On a separate note, our oldest – now on his 5th major deployment – reports he is rapidly closing in on his 100th bomb demolition mission in Afghanistan, which I try not to think about too much.  Yet I find him on my mind quite often when he is “down range”.

The picture was taken yesterday as he and the team he leads detonated yet another IED somewhere over there."

I don't think I really need to add much to that, other than Godspeed and stay safe Ryan!

Credit http://rickotero.us/blog/

Two and A Half - Family

For those of you who don't know, I have a very far flung Family.  My sons are in school in Australia, I have two brothers who live in Vietnam and my sister lives in the woolly wilds of WA, my parents in Aus' too and the rest of my Family live in the UK.

So this week it was a rare treat to have #2 son and one of my brothers in the same space.  It will have been nearly 3 years since I saw my brother Alistair, again in New York, and not long after we moved here (my how time has flown!)

It turns out that David might just be staying a tad longer than he had planned (secret Mom Happy Dance!).  He's here with 21 other boys from his school for a NYC Art Tour and they were supposed to head back to Australia tomorrow....but thanks to the smokey Volcano in Iceland, all flights to Europe and connecting destinations have been canceled and they are stuck here for the time being!!!  Of course it could also mean that we have 22 boys for sleep-over soon if the planes are not back on track!

Life.............never easy!

Oh and if you felt in need of a little art to accompany the post............I found my way to Photoshop tonight - in order to soothe my "soul" and concocted this new little ditty!...

So, that's all for now.  I have a suspicion that the weekend will be busy, fraught with travel aggravation and who knows what else!

Oh How I Love Sunshine!

After days and days of dreary wet rain, flooding, erosion and a dullness outside that just makes you just want to hunker down under a quilt and watch TV re-runs or SLEEP..............

the SUN has finally come out!  

I haven't felt this ALIVE in a long time!!

So what to do when it's so sunny (and relatively warm)? ........Why get out into the garden of course!!  I've spent a productive 4 or 5 hours pulling, pruning, digging, transplanting and generally getting happy and dirty!
Max decided it was PURRR..FECT weather for a little sunbathing session!


and in between raking and pruning, I found enough enough lovely light to satisfy the camera!
(The daffs are store bought, but the sunshine is straight from God!)

Oh yes........... I do LOVE sunshine!

The Armory Art Show, NY

53F + Sunny = Roadtrip!!!!! Yay!

We headed off the the NY Armory Art Show today to enjoy some 1000 differing view points on what might be considered "ART" and what might be perceived as something else entirely!  The show is always an 'eye opener' and the $30 admission per person ensures that DH and I have something to talk about for at least a few days!

This year the 'noir' clad crowd was no less thin, the sotto voce conversation abundant as everyone meandered around thousands of square feet of artistic expression that varied in genre from the traditional to the revolting (depending on your own taste) to those that were simply 'perplexing' - which I suppose MUST be the point - "dahling"

The most astonishing conclusions of this year's excursion to the Armory would have to be that Color Theory is obviously no longer taught, that messy gray is very much in vogue, that Art Dealers must have some other source of income and that there really is a LOT of very pleasing eye candy out there on the Internet!

Don't get me wrong, its a fabulous experience to see all these 'avant garde"? creations and realising that there are NO boundaries in the Art world, which is, I think, a good thing....
however if you go to shop for a visually appealing  little doodad to put on your living room wall, you are probably better off going to Pier 1!

Here's a small sampling!   What do you think about the COW sculpture?  And the Pink Bunny?????

Happy Australia Day

Bright blue skies and a balmy breeze have made for the perfect Australia Day Holdiay and having our apartment right in the heart of the City meant I had easy access to all the great events on the Foreshore this afternoon - and the people watching was awesome too!

There will be more fun and games later on tonight when the City hosts it's spectacular Skyworks - so I need to figure out the night settings on the camera, in the hopes of capturing some great sparkly shots!

And for lighthearted beach entertainment, Perth can proudly say that they won the great Aussie Thong Challenge!  on this auspicious day - And no - it's not quite what you might be thinking :-)

Hot, Hotter, Hottest

I've been off and away, cruising down from Perth to Manjimup, then further south to Albany and then back up to Perth again.
For a gal who barely drives 50miles a week in New York, I managed to clock up nearly 1000kms between here and there which was quite a strain on the driving brain!  At least I was on the 'right' (er left) side of the road!

Still it was a great weekend and I got to attend my nephew's engagement party which was nice, as I usually miss out on most of the "family" events conducted on this side of the world!

Since being back in Perth the thermometer has steadily crept upwards, with the last two days cracking nearly 43C - which in northern lingo is about 109F - toasty to say the least.  There has been little relief at night as the sea breeze has been notably absent and as I type it's still 81F!

I'm looking forward to a cooler day tomorrow (ahem) - just 37C (99F)  HA!

The blessing is of course, that we have shelter, food and cool water to drink - our thoughts and prayers go out to all those souls in Haiti who are not so fortunate.