Thursday, October 31, 2013

Grounding



Please click on the photo to see larger version



This one is for Karen in Qatar - thoughts are electric, emotions are magnetic.

The trees and the metal rope are symbols for grounding, stability, balance - the colourful elements and swirl of energy are my reminder to be balanced in playfulness. I can look at life with some humour and allow ourselves to add some colours wherever an area seems to be too grey.

Remembering to set my grounding cords, to feel the energy and to see the light.....

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Motor-Music


Please click on photo to see larger size



Ah, here another one for Tim. (It's our 12th anniversary today, all those many years and years of great memories...)

I got such cool photos of the oily motor, and of course, the clutch above, that alone those would keep me busy for weeks.

The eye is from Cameron when he was maybe 5 or 6 years old :-)



Textures from http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenabem-anna - thank you very much!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Take Me Home


Please click on photo to see larger size




This was created for the 6th weekly challenge of the Photoshop Artistry workshop. I found joy in the simplicity of elements (even though we had to use three different textures) and was really happy when I managed to just get a little bit of colour showing up in all areas.

The bird's path can be looked at from top down... it lands high up and then flies down and further down to look for its home, which it finds on the lowest level.
Or the other way around.... the bird knows it is not at home on that particular tree, even though it got fed there... and now it's on its way up to find its real home...
or maybe all of that is wrong, and I just made it up!

It's a bit like life. Everything can be looked at from different point of view, and depending on from where I look, my interpretation of the situation can be very different.

Isn't it just miraculous!

Steadfast


Please click on photo to see larger size



I was pondering about stability and all the chaos that everywhere seems to happen and how to not only survive that, but also be happy and grateful.
The statue (Photo taken in Berlin/Germany) is very rigid and seems to try to hold things away from itself... and even though 'steadfast' while in the midst of the storm, it shows some little cracks everywhere, and it can be expected that one day it'll break.

We will need to become like bamboo in the wind - flexible and strong.....

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Spiky


Please click on photo to see larger version



Weekend Challenge 6... I worked all Saturday on this... just to find out that I couldn't apply the last one of the rules, bummer... :-)

But I liked what I got anyway, and that's it.
Back to trying the challenge again now...


This is for Barbara .... the spiky plant photo was taken in her house a few years ago, do you remember? I have been thinking of you sooo much during the last few days... looking forward to your visit soon!!!

Thursday, October 24, 2013

The Many Faces of Beauty


Please click on the photo to see a larger version



Every day I see so many beautiful things... it is completely impossible to get them all onto one canvas.... so I selected just a few.
Faces, young and old, animals from beloved pets to insects, flowers, beautiful hand writing, the feet of Spirit (the cat :-) ), fractals, snow, water, shells ... ah so many beautiful things in this world.

Wouldn't you think that everybody can be happy?


Here the text of the poem that I used as handwriting background:



Eyes tell, tell me, what you tell me,
Telling something all too sweet,
Making music out of beauty,
With a question hidden deep.

Still I think I know your meaning,
There behind your pupils’ brightness,
Love and truth are your heart’s lightness,
That, instead of its own gleaming,

Would so truly like to greet,
In a world of dullness, blindness,
One true look of human kindness,
Where two kindred spirits meet.

And since I’m lost, in what entrances,
Studying those mysteries,
Eyes, may you be drawn to see,
The intention in my glances!

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Tim's Beddy


Please click on photo to see larger version



Ah, what can I say. Tim's Bedford got taken apart at the weekend, and I have tons of photos to use....

But... this is also the 11th photo of the previous weekly challenge.
I had the composition very much done (I am talking about the inner picture only, not about the larger one).... when suddenly some corruption occurred and I wasn't able to modify the layers anymore, couldn't add any... spent a few hours to repair it, but no luck. Then I spent a few hours to recreate it, but somehow I just couldn't get it looking as I wanted it to.
So I gave up and went back to version 10, which eventually became the result for late week's weekend challenge (a real challenge in many ways, hahaha), I already had posted it here...

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

WAIT BEHIND THIS LINE


Please click on photo to see larger version



Whenever I go to town with the train, I have to go over a little bridge and a white fence that stops me from falling into the little river ... while at the same time, somehow it is inviting to just jump in, not sure why. Then I arrive at the railway station and walk on the line where it says in bold letters - WAIT BEHIND THIS LINE.
More and more often I am wondering if I might be listening to instructions like that where they don't make sense..... where do I keep holding myself back, where do I stop myself from enjoying life to the fullest, allowing my grand potential to come out and show off... ? :-)

Those two scenes (the fence of the bridge and the train-station command) became the starting point of this composition.

The background certainly is another fractal...

There is so much 'out there', potentials, possibilities, challenges, unbelievables... a very different world. And what is it that keeps us waiting behind the line? It's just one more step :-)




And funny enough - when I was feeling completed with this, I went back to cleanup the photoshop image from unused layers, and by just switching on one single black layer under maybe 40 other layers.... I got a very different result, which I now like as well... it just proves that even in the night, all those possibilities are available :-) :-) :-)




Sunday, October 13, 2013

Terracotta


Please click on photo to see larger size




It's all about three days of agony over a piece of terracotta pipe... actually - over the photo of a piece of terracotta pipe that's sitting in our garden in front of a flax bush. I played with it in photoshop and decided that I wanted to do 'something' with it. Something for the weekly challenge of the Photoshop Art workshop.

I started 11 times altogether. (Well, the last one didn't contain the terracotta piece, and I really liked it.... but that's a story for another day.). I dreamt about it. I thought about it while doing my chores and while painting my garage/office walls. Obsession?



It's very obvious that this composition doesn't contain any terracotta pipe... but looking at the layers separately... haaaaaa.... THEN there is a terracotta piece somewhere in the middle, and when taking that out, all of the composition is just so different that it is unbelievable.

This shows once more that sometimes the little invisible things can make such a big difference :-)



This is the culprit...


Sunday, October 6, 2013

Forkingeristic


Please click on photo to see larger version



Funny how life goes sometimes - I keep looking at 'simple' objects and 'see' them in many different versions... kind of wondering why they look like thy look. For example, why is a pencil just straight, and exactly as long as it is, and how about making some changes and what would happen if.....

And while this has been going on in my head for a few days..... our weekend challenge was - to take a photo of a simple kitchen utensil and make art.
And that's how it came to 'forkingeristic' all objects on this composition, including the spirals, are parts of the fork that were somehow distorted - detailed explanations  are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heideho/10130684295/in/pool-fineartphotoshop/

And I had SUCH a lot of fun!!! :-)



And as it goes, again I wasn't sure about which version to use, as I liked another one as much... here it is:


Wednesday, October 2, 2013

We Made It!


Please click on photo to see larger version



Today I am winning :-)

The portal that the rowers row through is actually a gate at Te Papa in Wellington, I like it so much with its colourfulness and crazy shapes and forms.

Cloudy Surprises


PLease click on photo for larger view



Yesterday I felt as if a steam train had rolled over me.
It took me quite a while to see the sun, the birds and the flowers coming out of the clouds... to hear the music and find playfulness - just to discover that they all were there - patiently waiting for me to be noticed, appreciated, thanked for their existence...