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!

Starting Over

Yes, again... I'm starting over... Not that I didn't try last year, or the year before... It's hard, harder than I actually thought, as I've completely lost my workflow for choosing and editing photos. I've forgotten the little I had know about Lightroom or even PSE13 and I hardly even touched my DSLR.

All I did was take daily photos with my iPhone to document my days and when there was a photo I thought I could share I did so on Instagram, as it was a fast way for me to do. But although I've managed to stay in contact with some of my blogging friends on Instagram, I do miss my blog, as neglected as it has become.

So my decision is to blow the dust off here, get back into a rhythm, find a workflow I can handle even in hectic times, which realistically will happen more often than not. I guess I will publish photos I'm not completely happy with once in a while, just to keep me going.

I'm looking forward to connecting with you again, to taking up my camera, dipping my toes into Lightroom again and to exploring the world with fresh eyes and a rekindled motivation.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year my friends - here's to a wonderful 2017!

Blog Hopping

This weekend Kat is hosting a blog hop for this year's Liberate Your Art swap. I don't remember the last time I participated in a blog hop - I almost feel nostalgic!

I do remember, though, participating in the first ever art swap, which you can read about here. After having missed the last 4 years for various reasons, I'm happy to have managed to be a part of the art swap again this year.

So far, I received 4 of the 6 postcards, and here they are:

The top left card is from Jacque Hodgen. It's a photograph of a reflection in the Japanese Garden ponds at the University of Washington Arboretum. I love how it looks like an impressionist painting - so beautiful! Jacque wrote that this picture is part of a series - I'd really love to see the other pictures.

The top right card is from Kitty Mitchell. For this gorgeous piece of art, Kitty printed on hand tinted rice paper and then hand coloured the black and white photo! I love the amazing texture of the rice paper and also the beautiful picture, which reminds me of happy days at the beach.

The bottom left card is from Mary Ann Hurt. I just love the collage of the ladies in their bathing suits. The colours are so vibrant and the vintage look with the pictures layered on top of the handwriting topped off with the mermaid is just amazing! There is also a beautiful picture of a mermaid on the back of the card.

The bottom right card is from Jacqui (Jacqui Photography). The photo of this wonderful hood ornament was taken at the National Auto Museum in Reno, Nevada. I love the details of the ornament and also the colours of the hood. I can somehow feel an energy radiating from the pose of the ornament.

Thank you all for sharing your beautiful art - I'm so happy to have received these wonderful postcards! And thank you especially, Kat, for taking all the time and effort to organize this swap once again!

Now over to the main page of the blog hop, where you'll find all the details, a beautiful video showing all the wonderful pieces of art and further links to all the other blogs participating in the blog hop - enjoy!

Springtime

A bronchitis, followed by a stomach flu, topped off with a sinus infection is so no fun!

My head is still throbbing and it feels like the cough is here to stay... BUT the sun has come out today and there are tulips in the house - I'll take this as a good sign.

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone and a beautiful start into spring for everyone living in the northern hemisphere.

Cranky

These past days or even almost two weeks, people have been cranky - unfriendly at best and sometimes even downright impolite. I've no idea why, maybe it's the crazy weather we've been having lately, whatever...

I noticed that the grumpiness started to rub off on me, which called for a little something to pamper myself... There's nothing like a lovely bunch of tulips to fight off a bad mood, isn't there? Except maybe some chocolate...

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Starting Over

Coming back here after such a long (unplanned) absence feels immensely awkward!

After obsessing for days about finding the perfect title for this post and the perfect photo to put up here, I decided to just take a photo shot with my iPhone and start all over again here on this deserted little corner of my online world...

In case someone is still reading - I missed you and I'm so happy to be back!

Texture Tuesday

Tuesday again already?!

I'm in a bit of a hurry today, but motivated by your encouraging words last week, I want to keep up that newly started routine of playing along again with Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday.

So - short and sweet - here I have another shot of fading hydrangeas, edited with one of my all-time favourite texture "edith" from Kim's Downton set:

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Here I Go Again…

After last week's experience, I decided to try and set up a routine for "doing something" with my photos. Not that I would need another item on my daily "routine list"… but I guess, I need to find some sort of regularity to get back at least a few of the skills I have forgotten.

So playing with textures it is again today for Texture Tuesday on a photo of one of my favourite subjects - and aren't hydrangeas just beautiful in every state?

processed with Kim Klassen's texture lightpaper 4

I'm really grateful for this weekly link-up, as it helps me setting up a routine - not only for playing with textures, but also for showing up more regularly here again.

If you have any tricks how you stay in practice with your photo processing (and posting...) - I'd love to hear!

Have a wonderful week everyone! 

Texture Time

It's been ages since I last played with textures! In fact, it's been ages since I did anything at all with my photos other than uploading them from memory card to my computer.

I can tell you, it was not easy to choose a photo, and trying out textures after such a long time felt really, really awkward, but here it is...

textured with Kim Klassen's texture "sweettreat" for Texture Tuesday

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Wordless on Friday

I've started over this post more often than I'd like to admit, for some reason not knowing what to write or rather how to put my thoughts into words.

So maybe it's best to let flowers speak today…

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Seasons...

Today I received a flyer for Christmas cookies in the mail… what?! Alright, I've given up hope on summer by now and I've accepted that we are in for an early autumn this year, but I'm definitely not in the mood for anything Christmas right now…

It's a bit sad to see how flowers and trees have suffered from the wet and cold these past months (yes, I'm reluctant to call them "summer months"…), so I don't count on beautiful autumn colours. But who knows…

Here a photo of probably the last roses of this year, a bit battered, but beautiful nevertheless (at least to my eyes).

Things have become a bit hectic here again, so it may take some time to come by your blogs - have a wonderful time until then everyone!

August Break

Considering the number of posts I've written so far this year, I obviously don't need a break from blogging… I'd love to take a break from my (involuntary) absence here, though, as I do miss connecting with everyone.

I've already managed to show up on Instagram, where I've been uploading my photos for August Break as regularly as possible.

So, without further ado - it's good to be back again and I can't wait to catch up with what you're all up to!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Life...

© Life is good -  www.lifeisgood.com  [no ad, but I don't want to infringe any copyright laws ;-)]

Well, that's what they say, isn't it? 

Sometimes it's hard to remember (or maybe believe?) though… 

But I guess, as long as I still find beauty around me, even when it's wet and cold, not all hope is lost…

I hope life is being good to you - have a wonderful week everyone!