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I drew this piece this last Summer. At the end of Summer. The Balloon Fiesta here in Albuquerque lasts from October 1st to the 9th however. The shapes here in my image are balloon shaped, and the b…

Source: Astonished Buoyancy (version 1)

I started doing photography a few years ago. Initially I just assumed my art skills would transfer over and all would be fine and I’d be a great photographer. 

Well, that was foolish. Photography is a whole art unto itself

I have decided to explore photography on my iPhone. It has a fairly good camera. There are apps you can get for it that let you take macro shots and make any other adjustments you want to. 

Then, there are literally hundreds of apps to use in processing your photos. 

Being the color freak I am, I usually can’t just leave my photos alone. 

I’ve included two examples of what I’m doing with my photos. 

  
This painting is a different one for me. It’s a different style than what I usually do. 

I started it off in Rebelle with watercolors and inks as usual. But I didn’t do a lot of drips like I usually do. 

So, when I brought this into Painter, there were some different things to play with to make a painting. 

I used Dynamic Speckle brushes. These brushes are driving me nuts. They seem to cause Painter to lag. When I switch from one brush to the other, there is a very long pause before the new brush will start to paint. 

I have talked to Corel, the manufacturer of Painter about this. I got their typical response. First, they try to blame me or my computer. When they can find no fault there, they disappear and stop all communication. That company sucks. I would never buy from them. Except there is no choice. 

However, they sell other software. I advise you to look elsewhere. I do. 

Corel is a company that doesn’t give a damn about their customers. 

  
I decided that I wanted more texture in my paintings. So I started exploring impasto brushes in Painter. 

This is my first effort in trying out Painter’s impasto brushes. 

I started this painting in Rebelle and finished it in Painter. 

I have had an amazing thing happen. For over ten years it was thought by me and my physicians that I have fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Oh yeah, and a case of Lyme disease.

I have had a very serious case of Lyme that went undiagnosed for 15 years while I laid flat on my back in bed.

Lyme is not just a single infection, but several that require multiple antibiotics.

Four years ago, I started treatment for Lyme.

Finally, last September, my Lyme doctor prescribed a new antibiotic he had not previously mused.

I started feeling way better in November and December. Right now, I’m feeling better than I have in almost 20 years.

I still have pain attacks every so often. No one will probably ever know what those are from. But other than that, I appear to be doing very well.

My body is terribly deconditioned. It’s hard to tell exactly what my status is physically. But neurologically, things have really improved. I’m able to read a book now. Another first in almost 20 years.

This is where the squirrel comes in. My husband and I went to a park last week for the first time in nearly 20 years.

As we walked along a deserted path, I looked up and here was this squirrel just posing for me. Wow!  It was amazing!

We walked into a swampy area onto a bridge. I was looking through my iPhone camera. All of a sudden, from under the bridge quietly swam eight ducks to feed.

I got some wonderful shots of them feeding. It was like a surreal dream, to be back amongst Mother Nature and her children.

I’m incredibly grateful to have my health back. I’m almost afraid to say this. As I don’t know if it’s true. It kind of feels that way except for the pain.

  
Hi Everyone,

You are used to seeing my digital paintings here. But I’m going to start blogging my photography. 

I took up photography a couple of years ago. I was using a digital camera. But now, I have switched to only using my iPhone camera. 

It has its limitations, but I enjoy it very much. 

The photo above I took on my iPhone 6 Plus last Wednesday. 

I used an app called Camera+ to get a macro shot. 

I am entering it in a feature called Tuesdays of Texture. You can check that out here Tuesdays of Texture .