Texture Tuesday 2.0

Oh my, it's been a while...! I've often thought about what to do with this poorly neglected blog, but with Texture Tuesday coming back, I decided I'd give it another go here! 

So many good memories and wonderful contacts were made over at Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday, so when I got the message of it returning, I simply couldn't resist! 

Playing with textures was such a fun part of my photography all these years ago and I discovered I've actually forgotten quite a lot of the how-to's... one more reason to jump in again!

Here is my first attempt, using one of Kim's former textures, "kk_minted" on my tulips:

Now off to check out all the other texture creations, to be seen here!

Sharing Some Love

I know, I'm one day early for Valentine's Day, but I just wanted to share THIS, so that you have a chance to take a look and sign up in time, as Jamie Ridler is going to launch the yearbook tomorrow.

I've been invited by Jamie to test the yearbook, use it daily, see how it works, how I like it, and what can I say - I've been instantly hooked!

You'll see an introduction to the yearbook over at Jamie's. but what I can tell from my experience is that the yearbook is a wonderful journal meets scrapbook meets art journal meets photo album. It is whatever I want it to be! This is, where I can put my daily photo (yes, I finally get to print my photos!), the quotes I love to gather, some little notes about my day, any snippet I want to keep.

Why don't you hop over and have a look!

Have a Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow and feel loved!

2018?!

Oh, hello 2018! Your arrival somehow took me by surprise...!

Yes, I know, that sounds weird... I saw the fireworks and I can read the calendar, but actually I wasn't ready for you yet.

A bronchitis sneaked up on me and put a stop to my saying good-bye to 2017 and making plans for 2018 and I feel like I'm stuck somewhere in between the years.

As it is already the second week into the "new year", I guess I'd better get going... And while I'm looking back at 2017, here are my "best nine of 2017" on Instagram, where I was rather sporadically, but at least more frequently than here:

Best Nine of 2017

And 2018, could you slow down, just a little bit, so that I can catch up on you...

Liberate Your Art 2017

March came and went so fast, it didn't really register and just like that, the first half of April is over, too.

The tulips will have to wait, because it's blog hop time today! Just as last year, I decided to participate in Kat's Postcard Swap and today it's time to present the postcards to the public.

So without further ado, here they are in the order of their arrival:

The top left card with the lovely river scene is from Marianne Soufax and was the first card to arrive!

Unfortunately, I don't know who created the beautiful card on the top right. I only know that the sender is from Oregon - there was no name, only an email address that got covered up by mail stamps. If anyone knows any details about him/her, please let me know, as I'd love to also thank the sender personally by email.

The card on the bottom left is from Fast Eyes, Mailart out of the Box - such a stunning collage, isn't it?

The amazing card on the bottom right is from Lynn Radford, and I do hope, I have the orientation as it was intended! Lynn has a beautiful etsy shop - go have a look! Lynn also mentioned her blog site on the card, which unfortunately got covered by one of the mail stamps.

The left card with the stunning butterfly is from Sharon Hunt. I'm amazed by the light and details of this photograph!

As always, Kat sent out one of her own art works, too, which this year is this beautiful digital painting with its fantastic, vibrant colours.

Thank you everyone for these beautiful postcards, and Kat for once again organizing this swap with this year's wonderful motto "Experiment, Play, Create & Liberate!" It was fun to be a part of it again.

Now do hop over to Kat's blog to watch the slideshow with all of the amazing pieces of art and read some more about the artists.

Who Knew...

... well, actually I knew... I just had forgotten, or maybe I was in blissful denial...

The light in my apartment is already bad enough, but for indoor photography this time of the year it is simply frustrating. And once I'm frustrated, nothing works...

There are really only two spots,where I can take a decent shot with a little bit of light, which of course is boring. Every picture looks just the same as always, not one angle I haven't tried before. I could show you a photo from 4 years ago and you couldn't tell the difference to one of today (except maybe that today I'm out of practice with my camera and that might show, too).

I've never been very skilled with setting up photos - I guess, I'm not patient enough for still life photography, and then I don't have lovely props to rescue a boring set-up..., taking walks with my camera seems so much easier...

All this to tell you, that I did indeed buy flowers as I mentioned last time... however, I don't have photos of flowers to show.

So, as I didn't want to put up a photo of the dreary, muddy landscape around me, here is - totally unrelated - a photo of a fruit salad I made myself the other day, just because the colours make me happy:

Next time, I might have some tulips for you - no promises, though ;-)

Have a wonderful week everyone!

February

Can you believe, it's February already? Well, I can't! January whizzed by and I must admit I'm slightly panicking. One month of the new year already over and I haven't managed to start anything from my "want-to-do" list, not even diving into Lightroom again.

I feel also quite uninspired as to my photography and the short days with insufficient light don't help either.

Rain, that started on Monday afternoon, has put an end to the beautiful winter scenery; everything has turned brown and muddy and the roads are icy, as the ground was still frozen, making walking quite an endeavour.

This photo is from last weekend,

but I guess I'll have to invest in some flowers to show you something nice here next time, if the weather doesn't cooperate...

Have a wonderful week!

Winter Wonderland

If you've known me for a while, you know that I'm a summer girl. I can take heat, any heat, just fine; cold... not so much.

This winter, we've had some freezingly cold, but often sunny days and I must admit, I've loved to bundle myself up and take walks in this winter wonderland. I enjoyed this particular walk, when it snowed and I was almost alone out there.

Passing this tree, I hoped the residents in No. 28 were warm and cosy...

 and I hope, you are, too - have a wonderful week!