A Beautiful Day In Sunny Florida

Here we are again for our annual venture to sunny Florida.  I've been remiss in posting, but I have been keeping up with the class at Digital art Academy--this being the last week.  I've put together a couple of paintings, one of which I posted to the class.  However, I will be working on another, more comprehensive painting hopefully incorporating everything we've learned so far in class.  Hats off to Karen Bonaker another wonderful Open Studio.

The second painting is for a Mini Challenge at Retouch Pro.

I hope everyone is having an awesome day.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I haven't posted in a little bit, although I've been painting.  I recently got a commission to paint from 6 different photos and I'm in the proof stages.  I also spent yesterday training at the new store I have my prints in.  Although it's owned by one person, it will be operated by 60+ local artists.  The store is in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood and is called "Something New In The Park".  The address is 2301 Como Ave. Suite 101, St. Paul, Minnesota 55112.  The hours are  Monday - Saturday 10:00 - 2:00, Sunday 12:00 - 4:00.  I would love for those who live locally to stop by.  We have some exceptional artwork available.

Still trying to perfect those watercolors.

Love being able to reuse photos!  I hope everyone had an awesome week.

New Prints

I've added a few more paintings to my Etsy Shop.  I'm also putting together another presentation to have my art prints added to a new shop opening up in St. Anthony Park.  I'm pretty excited about this.  Some will be framed and some will be mounted and stored in a canvas rack.

This was from a photograph I took while down in Louisiana last summer.  There were a lot of these sweet little pathways with trees overhanging. 

This painting is also from this past fall.

My feet are so cold today and I can't seem to get them to warm up.  My sister who lives in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, sent me a video of her walking on the beach.  I'm not happy with her at all!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful (and warm) day.

In The Deep Freeze

In my last post I was boasting about the 50 degree weather.  Now, however, we are now officially in the deep freeze. Hopefully the lakes will get good and frozen because the hubs is on his way up north to go ice fishing this weekend.

I'm just posting the one this time.  I will be traveling to Northfield, MN this weekend to take some of my prints to a shop there to test them out. I'm hoping there will be a desire for them.  Let's keep our fingers crossed.

I hope everyone has an awesome weekend.

It's Spring In Minnesota

Believe it or not, we are having temps in the 40's and 50's...it feels positively balmy.  We actually had a golf tournament in the area today.  Last year at this time we were smothered in the white stuff.

I've prepared a few more to print.

I wish these images were indicative of what it's like outside now.  It's always such a drought for picture taking this time of year--despite the warm temps.

Here's hoping that those who stop by today are having a blessed day.

Watercolors

I have to admit that watercolors have always scared me, especially trying to achieve them digitally. I happen to belong to a forum that is sharing information on how to achieve such, and so I've been experimenting a little.  I've come to the conclusion that not all images lend themselves to watercolor treatments, so I'll need to do a lot more research.

Off to watch the grandchildren at soccer this morning and then off to Cabela's so the hubs can spend his gift certificates.  He needs a new fish finder!

I hope everyone has an awesome weekend.

First Post of the New Year 2012

I'm hoping that those who visit today had a happy and safe New Year's.  The hubs and I are quiet people and not much for the parties.  As a matter of fact, I think we were in bed asleep by 9pm New Year's Eve! However, we are morning people and are usually up and moving about between 5 and 6.  I've always been able to get a lot more done in the morning, and have spent many blissful hours already printing away on my new Epson and packaging with matting and backing boards.  I'll soon be contacting area independent shops in the hopes that they might like to carry my work as well as researching upcoming arts and crafts fairs.  Exciting time ahead.  I hope!

Anyway, here's a painting that I just finished printing and I'm so happy with the way it came out.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

This and That

We are now moving toward "past peak" and most of our leaves are on the ground, but I wanted to post some images now from several moments over the past few months.  It won't be long before I'll be trudging through the snow in an attempt to chronicle our winter months and will hopefully find something worth painting.

It's rather amazing that I now look at things differently with my eyes.  I can see color, light and shadows that might not have been obvious a few months ago.  The hubs has noticed this about me as well.  I seem to be taking more quality images and less of those that I end up sending to the recycle bin.

Being able to manipulate these images with the various programs I now have has really made my art all the more fun~at least for me.

What is it about this time of year that makes me want to pull out my knitting and crochet needles and get to work making afghans?

I hope everyone is having a beautiful weekend. 

Fall in Taylor's Falls

This past weekend, the hubs and I took an over night trip up to one of the most beautiful places in Minnesota during the fall.

We began our journey on the Minnesota side in Taylor's Falls, on the St. Croix River by climbing the cliffs and watching the cliff climbers on both the Minnesota side and the Wisconsin side.

I made the mistake of wearing my tennis shoes instead of hiking boots, so I did a fair amount of slipping and sliding.  I'll wear them for sure next year.

This was just one of the many trails.

The view from the river trail.

A covered bridge.

I got pretty tired, so Mark suggested we take the river tour on the paddle boat.

Couldn't believe the beautiful colors.  We've been so dry here despite the very wet spring.

Look at that color!!!!!

There were lot's of people kayaking and fishing.  Mark thinks we should definitely considering putting our boat in next year.

I think I agree with him 100 per cent.

I h

Supposed to be great fishing in addition to awesome scenery!

I hope you are enjoying my fall image gallery.

This is a few steps away from where we were staying on the Wisconsin side in St. Croix Falls.

If you enjoyed my little tour, I'd love to hear from you.  I hope everyone is having a glorious Monday.

Topaz is Soooo Much Fun

I wanted to post some more treated images from my playing around with programs projects.  Here's one:

I actually had a trial copy of Nik Pro Efex 3 that I did some experimenting with.  The trial has run out, but I still haven't decided if I want to purchase this set of filters.

I thought this was a fun little boat tooling around the lake on a beautiful day.

A sweet little rock garden leading up to a gargantuan mansion on the lake.

A guy fishing under a bridge.

No explanation  necessary.  Just took this image from the side of the road. 

And a little gazebo on the lake.  I used DAP on this one.  As always, I love getting comments.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Playing with Programs

I've been doing a lot of playing lately with other digital painting programs, even combining some of them.  I'll be posting some here. Love the color on this one.

All the images were taken by me over the past year. 

For those of you not familiar with Dynamic Auto Painter, it's a sweet little auto painting program that really produces some exciting effects--especially when coupled with other programs and plug-ins--PSCS5, Topaz, Corel Painter, and DAP.  So cool!

Another thing about DAP is that you can go to their forums and download additional painting styles.  Yea!

I thought I'd put the word out that I'm still looking for animals to paint.  So, if you'd like to see your pet painted, be sure to send me a photo.  janewoodenhorse@msn.com

  I hope everyone is having an awesome day.

Waterscapes

I wanted to post some images that were considered more photography and paintings, although, lets face it, I can't completely stay away from Photoshop.  I was able to create an Action in Photoshop that included a BuzSim, Topaz adjustment and I used it on several images which I will be posting here on my blog and some on FineArtAmerica.

This image is from a tranquil scene on a lake and I hope that's what it makes people feel when viewing it.  This image is also posted on FineArtAmerica

And lastly, at least for today, this is another tranquil scene from our boat.  Also available for purchase here.

I hope you all have a wonderful day.  As always, any and all comments are welcome.  Take care.