Liberate Your Art 2014

Liberate Your Art 2014 has come to a close.

This is the second year for me to participate and I had a great time again.

It's always fun to see what surprises might be in the mail box.

Kat Sloma puts this swap together each year and it is because of her that it is such a big success and so much fun.

Last year, I made five different postcards to swap.

I only heard from two of the folks who received my cards and I was disappointed.

So, this year I picked one image and had Moo make the postcards for me.

They did a great job.

This is the image on the cards I sent to Kat for swap.

Two of my favorite things: the baby Buddha and Iris.

The first card I received was from Lynne Foerster of a lighthouse near Cape May.

She used the pallet effect on photoshop.

*

The cute little shore bird is a photo by Annie Kelleher of Crimson Cove Photography.

I love shore birds. They are very entertaining. So much fun to watch.

The second photo is by Eric Muhr. 

He was in the right place at the right time to capture the morning sun along the crest of the young fir trees.

Both of these cards speak to the beauty of nature, contemplation, quiet. 

**

The watercolor circles are by Carlyn Clark.

I love watercolor and the colors on this card are so bright. Cheerful!

The mixed media LOVE postcard is by Tina.

Clicking on Tina will take you to her Flickr page.

Unfortunately, I have not received Kat's postcard.

I'll keep looking and hoping that it is just slow or that the mail people

are enjoying it before they deliver!

I'm already looking forward to Liberate Your Art 2015.

I hope Kat will be able to put together a video of all the postcards like she did in previous years. This year she was unable to do so. 

See you next year!

Wishing YOU well and much joy!

Namaste

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday Muse

Thank you to Nancy for the Tuesday Muse.

I also used one of Nancy's textures (laundry skies) on this photo.

Wishing YOU well and much joy!

This and That

You probably heard me yell a very big

YEEHAW

over the weekend when I found gerbera daisies at Home Depot!

I have a lovely orange gerbera, but I wanted some other colors.

Jackpot!

Now I just have to keep them happy with a freeze coming this weekend.

*

I love taking photos.

I am a definite photoholic.

But what to do with all of them.

I had a lovely book made of my favorite garden photos.

What else could I do other than just printing out my favorites?

I decided to try having one printed on canvas.

It was an experiment to see if the color was true.

What about size?

Thin or thick wrap?

I picked a photo I'd recently taken of the Shoebill Stork at the Houston Zoo.
I was very pleased with the color.
Next time I'll get the thick wrap and have the photo printed larger than 11 x 14.

He looks like he's going to walk right off the wall!

**

I had a surprise in the garden this morning.

Can you see him?

When I first saw this bird several years ago, 

at first glance I thought it was hummingbird.

So small and so quick.

It is a Ruby Crowned Kinglet and how lucky to see his ruby crown.

He must have been in the bath first and was drying off here -- showing off his crown.

He didn't stay long.

Zip!

***

Friday means Postcard Friendship Friday

and I have a special one for those of you still in the midst of winter.

My sista went to Kauai recently and sent me this reproduction vintage postcard.

The original was titled Isle O' Dreams and was first published around 1939.

Thank you to the lovely Beth for hosting Postcard Friendship Friday each week.

*****

I'm still coughing.

I'm really tired of it.

Calgon take me away (and take the allergies, too).

Wishing YOU well and much joy!

This and That

I have rediscovered root beer -- A&W diet root beer.

No caffeine.
Maybe it's a return to my youth!

Yum!

***

Did I tell you that I have a pen pal?

We met each other through Susan Branch. 

What fun it is getting to know someone the old-fashioned way -- through snail mail!

I really look forward to her letters.

She lives in Wisconsin and sent me this lovely postcard.

She and her DH celebrated their 25th anniversary by visiting her favorite place,

the Village of Ephraim in Door County, Wisconsin.

"Splendid views, shopping"

Looks like a wonderful spot.

***

I do love mail call!

My buddy Janet at Random Acts of Art sent me a mail art mixed media postcard.

Isn't it great?!!!

Thanks, Janet!

***

I haven't had much time, but I did sit down 

and played with some iPhoto effects on a few of my photos.

I think this one is my favorite so far.

Black and white with some edge burr.

I think I like it because of the doily!

***

A cold front has arrived and I just finished MY Jack-O-Lantern lapghan.

The other lapghans have found happy homes for Halloween.

Don't worry.  

There's plenty of room for my toes underneath the lapghan.

I thought I could use this photo someday as a self-portrait of sorts! 

A cold front means soup time.

Split pea soup is calling to me, but since I have lentils I'll make lentil soup today.

I did look through the freezer and found a package of chopped turkey.

Turkey vegetable will be later in the week.

It also means good walking weather.

Walk to my village for breakfast or lunch.

A trip to the zoo and the Japanese Garden will definitely be in order.

I wonder if I can get the visits in before the temperature goes back up or

has FALL finally arrived?!!!!

I'll let you know.

***

Last, because Halloween is just around the corner,

here is another reproduction vintage postcard

from the Halloween Postcard Book by Darling and Company, Seattle.

Happy Halloween! 

Wishing you well and a joy filled weekend.

Sending lots of love and light to the lovely Beth 

who hosts Postcard Friendship Friday each week.

A World of Imagination

Postcard titled Shell. Photographed by Edward Weston, 1927.

"To find a seashell is to discover a world of imagination."

Michelle Held



Thank you to Beth for hosting Postcard Friendship Friday.

Todays Flowers

Visiting Today's Flowers will take you to a virtual flower garden from around the world.

Last weekend, the zoo had a photography day. They opened the gates early for around 150 of us with our cameras and umbrellas. We had the zoo to ourselves until the regular admission time.

You can see the first animal photos we took in the Camera Critters post below. But it wasn't only animals we were looking at. This shrub stopped us dead in our tracks. It was quite impressive. In other words, the WOW factor was off the scale!




The shrub with its stunning blooms was over five feet in height. I just had to know what kind of plant it is and the zoo folks were happy to find out for me.



Megaskepasma erythrochlamys ‘Brazilian Red Cloak’, ‘Brazilian Plume’, ‘Red Justicia’
‘Brazilian Cloak’ is a herbaceous shrub that is very showy and fast growing.

A blazing mixture of flaming red and vivid pink flowers, is what Brazilian Red Cloak in full bloom looks like. In spite of its name, this splendid plant comes from Venezuela where it is found naturally in tropical woodland. An evergreen shrub with boldly veined, shiny green leaves, it bears from early autumn into winter spikes of very showy, 12 inch, crimson flower spikes. (Actually white or pink flowers in the cloak of the very conspicuous crimson bracts.) The showy ‘flower’ consists of red bracts surrounding the white true flower. The growth habit of the Brazilian red cloak is considered by horticulturalists to be a shrub. It does not grow compactly as many shrub's do but instead is tall and lanky (an average of approximately 10 feet) while yet full. Under ideal growing conditions the plant can hit fifteen feet (4.5 meters) in height.

Where flowers bloom, so does hope - Lady Bird Johnson

Camera Critters

It's Saturday and that means Critters Day!
Be sure to visit Camera Critters to see the other participants.

Last weekend there was a special photo day at the zoo.
The zoo opened early for about 150 folks with their cameras and
umbrellas in hand. It rained (lightly, thankfully) most of the morning.

Under the umbrella, the first animals we came across
were the cheetahs.
They seemed to love the light rain.

They have become real favorites at the zoo.

Just look at that face!
WOW!

My World Tuesday

It's Tuesday
and it's time for My World.
More information can be found for this meme here.

Let's go to downtown Houston and look at reflections on buildings.

Enjoy your day.

Batty Evening

Dick signed up for a "Photography at Night" class with Leisure Learning. The class met at the bat viewing platform at the Waugh Street Bridge. The what?!! We drove over several days before class and sure enough there was a platform overlooking the bayou and bridge. Near the platform is one of our favorite fountains.

Doesn't this fountain look like a dandelion?
We believe it's official name is the Wortham fountain.

Dick printed this picture out for his drawing class.
Two point perspective!

Downtown Houston

Dick said the most interesting part of the class was the talk about the bats! The bat colony numbers around 300,000. It is a matriarchy - only the moms and their youngsters live at the bridge. The males pack their bags and move out when they reach maturity. When the bats make their nightly flight to dine on mosquitoes, they fly down the bayou toward downtown Houston. Sometimes there's a heron or two waiting below the bridge just in case one of the bats gets too close to the ground. The peregrine falcons from downtown also think "bat" is a tasty treat.

Here come the bats -
just starting out on their dinner meal.

The view from under the bridge.
It's an older bridge and built in a way that makes
it an easy place for the bats to live.
You can just make out the parallel lines
under the bridge - bat condos!

The most famous bat colony in Texas is probably the one in Austin under the Congress Street Bridge. It is said millions of bats live there. Leisure Learning even has a class to go bat watching in Austin that includes dining in a restaurant on Town Lake before the bats make their nightly foray.