Tulip Tea on canvas

I received my photo on canvas from Hughe Parker and I think it looks fabulous!  The image began as a digital image, which I played with for a very long time in Photoshop.  I started by trying to manipulate the image the way I used to manipulate Polaroids.  I ended up doing much more to it by highlighting the edges and using my Wacom tablet to paint the tulips.  

The canvas was gallery wrapped, and ZaZa Gallery did a great job.  Thank you, Hughe!

Grandma's Hands

My 83-year-old mother has been crocheting afghans for at least 40 years.  She has made one for nearly every baby born into our immense family.  (We're Irish - hence, the immenseness!)   Last year, my mother experienced a mild stroke.  She is almost 100% recovered, and she has started to crochet again.  It isn't easy for her, because she has the usual problems associated with age - her eyes are weak, circulation is poor, and she doesn't always remember things.  But, she remembers how to crochet, and it is good to see her doing it again.

It occurred to me that I have never documented her work through photographs - except for photos of babies laying on her handiwork.  Yesterday, I took several shots of her flying fingers, trying to get a shot that wasn't too blurry.  At ISO 100, f3.5, with light from the window behind her, most of the shots were still blurred.  But I like this one.

I wonder who will be the next lucky baby to receive one of my mom's treasures?

Irish Blessings

I have added some items to my Etsy shop, including the five Irish Blessings greeting cards.  These are actually fine art cards that can either be shared or framed.  Each card has a line from the traditional Irish blessing, "May the Road Rise to Meet You."  You can see them here.

All of the photographs for these cards were taken by me in Ireland.  I can't wait to go back!

New art: "Homage"

I was inspired by last week's visit to the Garfield Park Conservatory, where their Spring flower show was in full bloom.  I was not, however, inspired by the photographs I took, which looked very much like touristy snapshots.  So I decided to make some art.

I began with a photo of the sky, which I took some time ago, and added some leaves from the Conservatory shoot.  I decided to make the whole thing look somewhat vintage, so I also played with the colors and tried to "age" the leaves a little bit.  I added some digital art, a black border, and overall toning with some filters.

I don't know if the reeds are paying homage to the leaves, or if the leaves are bowing down to the reeds, but I love the fantasy-like feeling of this image.  You will find it in my Etsy shop!

An iPhone photo

After reading Marcella Kligman's blog page regarding the app ColorSplash, I was inspired to have a go at a similar app, ColorCanvas Basic (which is a free app).  ColorCanvas Basic works a little differently than ColorSplash.  You begin with a black and white picture, and paint the color back in.  You can zoom in on the part you want to paint - which is a good thing, because the human finger is just not tiny enough to do this without zooming.  As you paint, the color returns to that spot.  

This is a photo of my adorable sleeping grandson.  (I was holding him and I actually allowed my husband to touch my iPhone so he could take this picture!)  

Now I have to get ColorSplash and try that!  Anything to do with photography is fun, and everything is worth trying!  (Yes, even HDR.)  Why limit yourself?  Thank you, Marcella, for your on-going inspiration!

Don't Laugh

Today is very gloomy, lots of clouds, and rain threatening but never quite reaching the ground. The view out the window changes every few minutes, and when I saw some big, puffy clouds, I grabbed my camera and took several bracketed shots. I started at -2EV and ended with +3EV. This was going to be my first try at composing an HDR photograph.

Here is the "normal" auto-exposed photo, which I tweaked in Photoshop using curves and levels. Nothing special.

When I merged six images into the HDR program, and then tweaked them using Topaz, I came up with this:

Yikes! Not what I was expecting, not at all realistic, but it is very dramatic and "artsy," which I do like. The clouds ended up with some pink highlights - I have no idea how that happened. Later, however, when I looked out the window again, I did notice some pink in the clouds and the sky. It was just a lot more real looking than the HDR photo, which seemed to harden that pink color.

I can tell I will be having a lot of fun learning how to do this properly!

Last Chance

Photo:  Ballyvaughan Flowers

copyright Mary Lanigan Russo

This is the final week of the exhibit, "In the Deep Heart's Core: Ireland by Chicago Artists."  There is some great art work on the walls of the Beverly Arts Center, at 111th and Western Ave.  Don't miss it!