And now for something completely different....

Lighthouse at Fort Point, San Francisco --
Processed with Kim Klassen's "Felicity" and a texture I created from a photo I took at the fort,
 using the tutorial Kim shared in our "Beyond Layers" class
(linking with Texture Tuesday)

I'm taking a break from showing images from my trip to Thailand ..... Instead, my husband and I decided to take a quick trip out to California last week to visit family.  The weather was wonderful, and we were outside as much as possible.  One day we explored the parks around the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  

Although I've been to San Francisco many times (I even lived here for a few years when I was a child), I had never visited Fort Point before.  Fort Point was the main naval defense for the city of San Francisco until the civil war.  It is tucked away under the base of the bridge, and probably isn't high on tourists' must-see lists.  Despite my fear of heights, I had a marvelous time -- there were so many interesting angles to capture:

This was the walk back from the fort towards Crissy Field:

Crissy Field was originally an early aviation strip, and is now a well-used park along the beach.  It certainly is a magnet for dogs!  We met my husband's sister and her boys there with their Golden, Brooklyn.  As you can see from the first photo, he was so happy in the water (it would take an awful lot of treats to get our Golden, Jackson, to venture anywhere near it)!  I was surprised to see how many professional dog-walkers were out, too.  I am still a little nervous about taking pictures of strangers, so I only got a few shots of them, but they were legion that day:

And now, on a completely different subject......

My creativity seems to run in cycles, and lately all I want to do is work in fabric.  In the last few weeks I have completed three quilt tops.  I will send two of them out to be finished by machine, but I plan on quilting this one by hand.  Since it might be awhile (a long while) before I am finished, I'll show it now:

It's really big, so wish me luck!

On the road to Mandalay

My grandfather was a great fan of Rudyard Kipling, and one of his favorite poems was The Road to Mandalay (although it was mandatory in our family to substitute "Wild Bill Robie" for "British soldier" in the 4th line).  My son had a Kipling fixation when he was six or seven, and memorized every word of "Mandalay"-- you might say that it has been an undercurrent in our family's collective memory for many years.

So when we visited Thailand recently, Kipling's words couldn't help but run through my head at every point along the way.

......from the "tinkly temple bells":



.....to the hathis "piling teak":

" .....If you've 'eard the East a-callin', you won't never 'eed naught else.

                                                          No! you won't 'eed nothin' else  
                                                          But them spicy garlic smells....."

"...For the temple-bells are callin', an' it's there that I would be —

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, looking lazy at the sea."

(all photos processed with The Coffeeshop Blog's "Butterscotch Vintage" action)

Simplicity

Here are some more in my series of photos from Thailand.  These were taken at Wat Phao, in Suphan Buri province north of Bangkok, notable for the forest of fruit bats surrounding the temple.  I enjoyed its simple lines and gorgeous, warm colors.

All of these were processed with one or more layers of Kim Klassen's "Simplicity" texture --

 linking up with Texture Tuesday

I never did find out why some of the trees were wrapped in monks' robes

Time Traveller

Our family spent a wonderful two weeks in Thailand over the Christmas holidays.  Between preparing for the trip, enjoying the trip, and then recovering from the trip, I've been away from the blog world for awhile.  I have barely begun to look at my photos, let alone play with them, but I will share one now just in time to link up with Texture Tuesday over at Kim Klassen's cafe.  It was processed with three layers of her "Embrace" texture (two in color burn @100% and one in soft light @100%):

Reclining Buddha at Doi Suthep Temple, near Chiang Mai

We had a wonderful time exploring Thailand, and discovered that the Thai people are some of the most heart-centered in the world... there was a palpable sense of kindness and compassion that can only come from their strong Buddhist faith.  The food was incredibly delicious, too:  imagine, Thai food three times a day!!!  I especially enjoyed my holiday from Western breakfasts, and ate nothing but soup, noodles and rice in the morning instead of cereal, eggs or toast.  

On another note, I did have a shopping mission, too: I was constantly on the lookout for interesting fabric to use for quilting.  Here is some of what I found:

cotton

cotton 

hand-dyed hemp

hand-dyed and printed indigo on cotton

a rainbow of silks -- the fun part was that the solid colors only cost about $10-$13 per yard

hand woven silk in a traditional pattern 

ikat pattern in silk

Jet lag from Thailand is miserable, though.  There is a 12 hour time difference between Connecticut and Bangkok -- that's about as much as you can get!  We've been home almost a week now, and I think we are just about back to our usual sleep schedule; I tell you, it's no fun waking up at 3 am, raring to go, and falling asleep over dinner at 6....

Here is one of the first pieces I made for my new online class with Jane Davies on "Exploring the Self-Portrait." Jet lag does a number on you, alright -- I never noticed that I gave myself a beard, until I loaded this photo onto the class blog.

I hope to be back to normal next week!

Gratitude

What amazing weather we've been having here in Connecticut this week!  People were outside in shorts and t-shirts in November!  It feels like time is on some kind of a weird fast track:  it's spring right now, following our 8 inches of snowy weather last month... now I'm ready for summer!  Well, that's just a fantasy, I know, but I am grateful for this short respite from the cold.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday here at home, so "gratitude" is the perfect theme for Texture Tuesday.  Make sure you visit Kim's site to see some really amazing work!

Textured with Kim Klassen's "Chamomile" (color burn @100% and soft light @100%)

I know I've said this before, but my family does NOT appreciate textures.  My husband says this looks like the serving knife has rust all over it.... The pie was delicious, in any case.

"And then some" (soft light @100%, multiply @100%) and "Thursday" (soft light @100%)

Our centerpiece was beautiful, too.  I love how the textures really saturate the blooms here:

"Phoebe" (overlay @100% and color burn @100%) and "And then some" (multiply @100%)

I've been trying to get more intense colors from my photographs, and have been playing with creating high dynamic range images by combining several different exposures of one shot.  This one isn't a great composition by any stretch, but I love how the colors came out, even without adding any textures:

hdr image -- four different shots, blended on soft light mode

original images:  over- and under-exposed

I am grateful for all the wonderful aspects of the day:  the food, the flowers, the weather.... but in the end, the most important thing of all is having family to celebrate with.

My parents

Shooting on "blur" at Grand Central

Sunday was such a glorious day!  The weather was unseasonably warm and sunny -- perfect for photography.  My husband and I spent the day in New York, taking a class from the Digital Photo Academy, entitled "Composition in the Field:  Grand Central Station." Our instructor, Morgan, combined technical information on using the camera in low light situations with practical tips on composition and style. It was the perfect level class for us, giving us hands on experience of techniques that we had only read about, but never worked with before.  Both of us were feeling energized and excited about using our newfound knowledge, and were getting lots of great captures.

Except.... that in the hustle and bustle and noise of the city, I kind of forgot to listen for the "chirp" of my autofocus.  I must have accidentally moved the setting on my camera to manual, and the result was that I lost most of my images to blur.  [Sigh.]  And there I was, thinking all day that I really needed to visit the eye doctor!

Here are a few shots that escaped the blur... I'll salvage some more for next week.

This one is great for using the heavier textures; there is a lot of empty space just begging for layers of meaning (see my post earlier today, on why I love layers)

Processed with Kim Klassen's "Warm Grunge" (soft light @100%) and two layers of
"Scripted Autumn (soft light @100% and multiply @100%)

A beam of light illuminated the ticket window just for a moment, and I was there to catch it!

One layer of "Phoebe" (soft light @100%)

Outside, a taxi driver was walking down the line of waiting cabs:

Three layers of "Phoebe" (soft light @100%, overlay @28%, and color burn @14%)

Linking up to Texture Tuesday -- be sure to check out all the wonderful submissions over at Kim's site!

Sunrise with Jackson

I get up early every morning to let Jackson out, and sometimes my breath is caught by the beauty of the sky.... So, my submission for Texture Tuesday this week is a photo I took of the sunrise this morning.  (I posted a similar photo here).  Hard to improve on the original, I must say! Hold your mouse over the image to see the version without textures.  Hannah of Honi-Soit was kind enough to guide me through the process.  I couldn't get it to work at all week, but it seems to be working fine this time.  Thanks again, Hannah, for taking the time to give me a hand with this!

Processed with Kim Klassen's "Serendipity" (color burn @50%) and "Yesteryear" (color burn @40%)

I started playing around with the blending modes, and I really like how this version reminds me of a nighttime seascape:

"Serendipity" (color burn @50%) and "Yesteryear" (difference @100%)

Gratuitous Jackson pic

I am looking forward to some photo ops later this fall -- and I'm especially thrilled because my husband has decided he wants to get back into photography, too.  We are taking a class from Digital Photo Academy at Grand Central Station next month, among other things.

But for now I've been immersed in my quilting, and it is wonderful to be back at the sewing machine.  I also attended a wonderful workshop in NYC on art journaling techniques with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and Nathalie Kalbach, and started another online course on text and collage with Jane Davies....not to mention that I am heading off to Houston for Quilt Festival in a week or so!  I will have to remember to take a few breaths here and there.

It's all relative, you know

I was going through my photos from the World Wide Photo walk again (...yes, I know I've used them a lot lately), and I decided to use this one for my Texture Tuesday submission.  

It struck me that I am older than this car, but the state of Connecticut has classified it as an "antique."  Hmmmm..... what does that make me?

I used Kim Klassen's "Scratches" (soft light @100%, and again @39%, plus one inverted layer on soft light @44%), "Thursday" (overlay @100% and color burn @25%), and "Yesteryear" (color burn @38%)

A workman who was here the other day told me that my house is "older than electricity!"

First I converted the photo to sepia in PSE, then added "Mayzee" (overlay @74% and color burn @33%), "Scratches" (color burn @38%, soft light @40% and multiply @70%), and "Canvas Back" (soft light @49%)

SOOC (I cannot get the mouseover code to work, much as I try!)

Yet for all that, I feel like a spring chicken...I guess it's all relative.

Red

OK, one last shot from the World Wide Photo Walk, and I promise I am finished.

processed with Kim Klassen's "Golden" (overlay @50%) and "Warm Grunge" (soft light @100%)

It just fit so nicely in today's Texture Tuesday theme:  Red!  

And because one just isn't enough (textures are kind of like potato chips....), I looked back at my shots from this summer and found these.  

Think of it as a last hurrah before the cold really sets in:

Kim Klassen's "Ugg Love" (soft light @100% and color burn @100%), "Scripted Autumn" (screen @100%, brushed off raspberry and leaves, and multiply @100, brushed off center only), plus various vintage graphic elements from the Graphics Fairy

"Word" (soft light @100%, screen @100% brushed off rose, and multiply @100%) plus "Warm Grunge" (multiply @55%) 

This was done for my texture averse family: Only one layer of "Ugg Love B&W" (screen @100%) with a layer of the original photo on top set to multiply @100%

Don't forget to check out Kim's cafe and see what everyone else has to say about "Red!"

Lines and patterns

I've enjoyed Kat Sloma's introductory Finding your Eye class because it has started me thinking about why I take photographs.   Last Sunday's photo walk in Kent (part of the 2011 Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk) was perfectly timed; without consciously thinking about it, the images that I captured that day illustrate the motivations I identified in Kat's class.

Today I'm showing you the "lines and patterns" theme.  You can see the other shots I took that day here.