Day Trip Down To Winona

The Hubs and I decided to take a day trip last Friday to take in some more fall color and just enjoy the day.  We ran across a curious thing.  It was like a little community of floating houses on the Mississippi River at Winona, called Latch Island.  You can tell that there's been a drought.  Many of the little houses had rain barrels, but they appeared to be empty.  We aren't sure if these are just weekend cabins, or if people stay year round~if so I think it could be really cold.  Anyway, I thought it was strange enough to take some images.

More Photos Opportunities from Upper Peninsula

Before we actually made it to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan last week, we made our first stop in Duluth, MN.  For those not familiar with Duluth, it's a mining port town on Lake Superior.  Hugh ships frequent the port taking out taconite.  Although there were no large ships in port the day we were there, I did take a few picks of the lighthouses.

Lighthouses guarding the canal.

The ships coming through are very foreboding. But, the canal also serves all the smaller crafts, sail boats and even kayakers. 

This was, I believe, an old fish processing building that has seen better days.  It's now used by adventurous swimmers who like to dive off.

Traveling onto Bayfield, Wisconsin, we stopped at a State Park where kayaks, boaters reach the Apostle Islands.  This is an old fish processing house as well.  It's now set up as a museum.

Bayfield is a quaint town with small shops and restaurants.  There is a ferry that takes cars over to Madeleine Island, kind of like the Hamptons, only in Wisconsin.

A 55 foot sailboat in the marina.  Good grief.

Lot's of old boats sitting around.  Not sure what the plan is for them.  Maybe restoration?  Don't know.

Have a great day.

Commissioned Painting of a Lake Home

I'm feeling fortunate.  My third commissioned piece in two weeks. Client wanted me to paint her parents lake home--the before--as it has now been renovated.  She asked for some color, but not too much (which is hard for me as I love to add the color.)  Anyway, here's the before and after.

Have a great day!

More Watercolors and a Question

I received an email about migrating my blogs to a Legacy Blogger Account.  Don't know about anyone else, but it won't let me sign in.  I've tried everything.  Any suggestions?

Still trying to perfect the watercolor look.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Still Learning

Wanted to make sure that you knew of a couple classes coming up...some you may be interested in these.  Karen Bonaker at The Digital Art Academy is having an Open Studio Session coming up in March on Painting Street Scenes.  You can get information HERE.  Also, Scott Deardorff has a new teaching DVD out, his second in a series, "Portrait Painting Techniques in Photoshop".  This artist creates the most beautiful portraits and he does it exclusively in Photoshop.  You can read about both of his DVD's HERE.

Here's a few pieces I've been working on.  Still working on watercolor techniques using Photoshop, Topaz Adjust and Simplify.

This is what I love about digital art.  You can reuse your photographs over and over and over and over.......Have a great day!

More Watercolors

I wanted to post some of the watercolors I've been working on.  I think I'm starting to understand the concepts much better, while not losing my style of saturating with color. I'll will be test printing some to see how they work out.  Hope you enjoy!

I do love doors and windows and fences and trees!

And stairs and bushes!

And awnings!  Have a wonderful day!

Thanksgiving in D.C.

We are winding down now, relaxing on our last day here in D.C., returning to Minnesota tomorrow morning.  We had a lovely time here with family, ate way too much but did get out and about quite a bit as well.  For those who have visited D.C., you know that you walk, walk, walk.  I'm not sure I walked enough to counteract all that I ate, but I sure tried.  I'm posting a few images that I took while walk, walk, walking.  My son and his wife were kind enough to get me around so that I could take lots of images.  Here's the first one of my nieces home where we had our feast.

In addition to the usual Thanksgiving fare, we also ate several Filipino dishes as my sister's husband is from the Philippines.  I'd share with you what they were, but I don't know how to spell them.  Maybe next time.

I absolutely love walking the streets of D.C.  There are such wonderful row houses throughout the entire city.  Our weather here was stellar.  The sun was out each and every day.  Just gorgeous here.

  This is all I've been able to put together so far, but I've got plenty of material to work with when I get back to the Cities.

We have so much to be thankful for.  I hope everyone had a beautiful Thanksgiving.  I know I did.

Pushing The Envelope

I've spent the last few weeks attempting to take my art to another level~~pushing the envelope, so to speak.

I've been utilizing the many digital programs available. Sometimes using 4 or five programs and plugins on each image until I find something I really like.

My favorite programs are Corel Painter 11/12, and Photoshop CS5.  And I'm using other programs as well: Topaz Adjust/Clean/Simplify, Tintii, Fractilius, DAP, Postworkshop and FotoSketcher.

Boosting those colors is a most favorite thing to do.

I can't seem to help myself.  Tintii is very helpful in isolating certain colors and saturating them.

Topaz is coming out with an updated version of Adjust in just a few more days.  It's an incredible program.

Be sure to check out the wonderful talent over at Artists in Blogland for Show and Tell Saturday. There you will see some incredible stuff.  Find then Here. 
Anyway, I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend.

Houses and Homes and other stuff

I've been working at pushing the envelope on some of my paintings.  I have to admit that I'm having a good time.  But, are they good enough to have printed?  How about framed?  Would anyone but me appreciate them? 

I'm so  glad I took lots of photos when I was down in Louisiana last spring.  This is another plantation house.

This is the gatehouse at the entrance of a plantation that has been given over to gardens.  Right behind it is a gully of sorts that runs parallel to the street for miles.  We found out that this was actually where the horse and buggy's used to drive up and down to get to town.

The front of yet another plantation.  The way they are able to keep these wonderful buildings in repair is that they had tours on a daily basis.  Some even converted to bed and breakfasts. 

The Stairway to nowhere.  Whatever it went to is no longer there.

An outbuilding.  Probably a cookhouse.

The gazebo in the middle of the most beautiful gardens.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.  Take care.