Digital Photo Art – St. Paul de Vence

I warn you up front.  This will be a long post, as there are quite a few new digital photo art pieces to share with you!  The images were taken in my favorite port of call on our recent Mediterranean/Transatlantic cruise – a small medieval French village, turned artist community, St. Paul de Vence.  Let’s take a look at some art from this artful place –

Charm

I’m not certain if this was a bed & breakfast or a café, but whatever it is, it certainly reeks with charm!  This piece, used some background paper I created and specialty branches to highlight the photo image.

France Welcomes You

Specialty brushes that consist of coffee rings, wine splashes, and some special background paper I created and France-related collage background set off this image of a small square in the village with a drinking fountain in the front of it and inns in the back.  A warm and inviting welcome.

Home

After a long trip, with postcards sent, it’s so good to see your own front door welcoming you home.  That’s what this image conveyed to me, and the piece is meant to reflect that feeling.

Missing You

This piece is made up of several layers – my own abstract background paper, some ledger paper, a vintage love letter, and an intimate scene in the village.  Specialty brushes finish off the piece.

Open for Business

There were many shops in this charming village, and this was one.  I think the shop was on the first floor – perhaps the owner’s living quarters above? The abstract background, vintage lettering and some spots of color to accent the red in the bushes of the image finish off this piece with a gentle feel.

Open your Mind

I loved this simple image of the pot of red geraniums sitting on the outside window sill.  I contrasted the simplicity of the image with a rather complex background.  Music and lettering complement the abstract CitraSolv background paper.  Lettering and the specialty brushes round out the piece.

Postcard from France

This tapas café just begged to be the type of place that one would certainly write a postcard about!  Therefore, I had to include one in this piece.  I also included some vintage sheet music because one can just feel the soft music emitting from the inside of this café.  Red brush splotches serve to accent the red bushes and seat covers.

Wander

There were so many picturesque areas of this village, I couldn’t begin to select a favorite.  This image sums up the wonder of just wandering around. I decided to go with similar backgrounds to emphasize the warmth of the village.  The text “wander” speaks to what one has to do to truly appreciate all the charms of this village.

Enjoy!

 



Digital Photo Art – Winter

This series of digital photo art has “winter” as its theme.  Some people are surprised that we really have the season of winter here in the southwest.  However, we live in what is sort of a combo area – high desert and mountain foothills.  Altho this winter has not been usual so far, generally we get a “taste” of winter.  Take a look at some digital photo art of winter.

Bare Tree

This bare (and probably dead) evergreen tree is in the immediate area where we live.  It looked so lonely, I had to capture it.  For the digital photo art piece, I added vintage sheet music and some specialty brushes to create the final piece.

Trees in Alaska

The postcard in the background is a vintage one sent from Alaska, but the tree image is of some trees taken on my friend’s land, right at the entrance to her property.  Specialty brushes of trees and the birds finished off the piece nicely.

Winter Tree

This tree is also found on my friend’s property (she has one of the most picturesque areas in the immediate area where we live).  For this piece, I simply added some bird and coffee ring specialty brushes and called this one good!

Winter

This piece is my favorite of the 4.  It’s an image of some evergreen trees with our local mountain in the background.  For the background of the piece, I used a scanned image of some background paper I created with some National Geographic magazine pages and some Citra Solv.  I love the whisper of the fence that was in front of the trees.  I added the birds specialty brush.  It’s a soft piece that leaves one with a frosty feeling.

Enjoy! 



Digital Photo Art – Flowers

For this series of digital photo art, the theme is flowers.  I made these as part of an art swap.  These are a bit different from the pieces I’ve been making, in that they include the use of some artist papers that I purchased instead of the background papers I’ve made and other vintage papers.  Take a look at these previews of spring…..

Birds & Bloom

These blooms were taken when the flowers were in full bloom in a garden plot in Washington State.  The wind was blowing and I love the feel of the breeze that you can pick up from the tossing look of the flowers.

Blowing’ in the Wind

Again, an image of gently tossed blooms converted to a bit of a painting effect to emphasize the gentleness of the flowers.  The artist papers complement the softness of the flowers, too.

How Your Garden Grows

The word “garden” sparked the theme for this piece.  The papers seem to show garden flowers and the daisies are the vibrant example. 

Wildflowers on the Bluff

This image was shot while I looked over a bluff in Alaska.  These delicate blooms were growing out of the side of the bluff wall, with all sorts of forest and water type insects and bugs buzzing about.  For that reason, I used some dragonfly collage paper as the background.

Enjoy!



Digital Photo Art – Trees & Leaves

A few months ago, I mentioned that I was playing around with a new technique I called digital photo art that combined my photos with digital collage.  I shared a few pieces with you then, but with travels and all, I neglected to keep up with the sharing.  This set of pieces all have trees and/or leaves in them, making up a nice grouping.

Fallen Leaf

One rainy morning, as I walked from our home to my studio (a major hike of about 30 feet!), I noticed a leaf that had fallen off a nearby bush.  I was first drawn to the rain drops that beaded up so perfectly on the leaf, and secondly, to the color of the leaf, not brilliantly colored, but not completely brown yet.  I decided it would make the perfect image for a photo art piece, including birds migrating for the winter and trees stripped bare of their leaves.

Along the Road

The central subject of this piece is my favorite deserted cabin.  This image was shot before it began its final collapse.  I added some moody background paper and some vintage handwriting.  Whenever I see deserted cabins or other buildings, I can’t help but think of the history thru which they existed, and the handwriting is meant to capture that.

Prelude

Ah, in this image, my cabin has begun its decline.  I also included some distressed looking background, a vintage birth certificate and sheet music.  The title comes, obviously, from the sheet music, but I selected that specific music because I thought it sort of reflected the different preludes we have in our lives.  The birth certificate represents the most obvious prelude – to life.  And, the cabin is in a sort of prelude to final destruction.  I added some paint daubs, coffee rings, bare trees and other digital paint brushes to complement the overall feeling of the piece.  Its complexity makes this one of my favorites.

Silent Song

When we were camping this past summer, we happened to get caught in a very low fog one morning.  The tree in the center of the piece looked so lonely and forlorn against the fog that surrounded it and us.  I added to that an image of some stormy clouds I took a while ago, and then complemented them with a vintage postcard, some specialty brushes, and some butterflies to sort of lighten the mood.  The butterflies also serve to remind us that the darkest days will end, and there is a brighter day ahead.

Time Passes

The background for this piece are two different images of tree leaves in the fall.  The photo in the image was one I took this past summer, of a deserted ranch house on a mesa in northern New Mexico.  Once upon a time, there was quite a settlement on the mesa, but over time, the ranchers left, so that only memories remain.  It just sort of reminded me of how time passes, and one way or the other, we, and life, just end up going with the flow.

Enjoy!



Winter in Stanley

Our last stop on this wintry morning, was at some deserted buildings in the small town of Stanley, New Mexico.  Unfortunately, the snow was deep enough and drifting enough that we really couldn’t stop and I certainly couldn’t get out and wander among the buildings.  So, Jeff just pulled into the center of the road on a sort of median space, and I quickly got out of the Jeep and shot these images before too many other vehicles came along that road.

Adobe Winter

I’ve shot this abandoned adobe before with snow clinging to its walls, but not with the snow swirling around it like it was this morning.  I really wished I could have walked closer to it, but oh, well!

Winter Storm

This cabin looks like it’s still in the midst of the storm!  It really does give you the feeling of what it felt like when the storm was really blowing a few days earlier!

Rough Winter

Here’s a new deserted cabin.  Well, it’s not really new – it’s just that I generally don’t photograph it because it’s kind of close to an inhabited building (that frankly doesn’t look all that much better!), and I don’t think that person likes anyone to photograph this building.  But, with all the snow blowing around, I don’t think he/she could see me!  And, I do like the angle of this shot.  Again, it creates a feeling of winter solitude and perhaps loneliness.

Days Gone By

This windmill is actually just a bit down the road from the other buildings.  I had to stop and photograph it on our return trip, tho, because I loved the feeling I got from this scene - of what winters may have been like many years ago.

Enjoy!  



Falling Down

My favorite falling down deserted cabin was along the road we drove down that morning, so, of course, I had to stop to capture a few images of it.  It’s got such character, it’s a great shoot even tho it’s mostly down.

Cold

Can’t you just feel the chill when you look at this image?  It’s a natural black and white image, with the white snow offset by the black road leading off to who knows where?  It also feels lonely which I think accentuates the coldness of the feel of it.

Deserted

This image really speaks to the desolation of the cabin.  It’s truly just left to the elements, and the elements are winning.  The lines of the fence and the road remind me of how times just keeps going on, no matter what obstacles or challenges we happen to be facing.

Frozen

Brrrrr!  That’s what I think of when I look at this image!  You can see the ice covering the fence, and then the frost that’s hanging on the tree branches.  The final lovely touch of cold are the icicles that are hanging off the edge of the roof of the cabin.  They are just so imperfectly perfect!

Enjoy!



Winter Fields

One of the things that struck me on our photo op explorations was how wonderfully different the fields that we drove by looked…..

All Alone

I don’t know that I ever noticed this building before.  I don’t think it’s a deserted cabin or anything, but it sure does look like it’s all alone in the middle of nowhere, doesn’t it?

Along the Fence line

I love the look of the dead blooms encrusted in frosty whiteness.  The barbed wire fence held up by what seem to be old wooden posts add the perfect counter point to  the sort of lacy, delicate feel of the blooms.

Winter Shrubs

Here’s another view of some frosty shrubs along a fence line.  This image has more texture to it.  If you look very closely, way off in the background, you can see just a hint of the mountain range there.

Winter Perch

This raven was just sitting there, looking a bit like a sentinel, looking out over the snow covered fields.  He sat there for quite a while, so I was lucky enough to be able to capture him – and then, when I was finished shooting him, he gracefully took off.

Winter Field

This image really seems to reflect what it felt like to be outside on this wintry morning.  When the wind would come up, the snow would whirl around and make me feel like I was in a fog bank.  It also made the scene look very cold and lonely.

Enjoy!