In The Garden from watercolor to digital painting

 Years ago, I painted a little mini series of watercolor paintings, each about a place, and each 10 x 7 on Arches paper.  I then blew some of them up and printed them larger.  I liked this one, so I did an illustrator version continuing the "In The Garden" theme.  I thought I could turn it into some loud fabric design, but now realize I'll have to work a bit more to have the pattern repeat successfully.  

Trees in an Artificial Sunset

Scanned Japanese washi paper and a B&W treatment of trees shot in Seattle make for a happy marriage. 

Evolution of an Bird Inspired Idea

I seem to flit from media to media, as evidenced by the evolution of the above bird art.
From the bottom to the top:
1.  A 100% digital painting done in 2005, with an old painter software program.
2.  An oil painting done in 2006, recreating (kind of) the digital painting but adding a Vincent van Gogh sky.
3.  Another oil painting, this time in 2006, with a different bird and a pink cloud in the sky.  Sold to a friend.
4.  Fabric applique of a crow drawing in 2016, on a T shirt.
5.  The same applique crow, under a pink cloud and starry night sky, now done by cutting up photos and adding various bits of ripped Mulberry papers, all glued onto 100% arches cotton watercolor paper - just finished yesterday.

The Past Becomes Present

1967 photo taken by the late, great E.A. Autrey in Santa Barbara, merges with a recent photo of a brick wall in San Anselmo's Robson Harrington House garden.  Nothing ever really dies, it is all just recycled.

Honorable Mention at the Marin County Fair

My five photos entered in the special category - "In Focus," judged by Jack Fulton, got an honorable mention.   #1 winner was Louise Williams, a Bay Area photographer, who composited zoo animals into rooms in a charming way.  Can't find a link on-line but here is her Saatchi page: http://www.saatchiart.com/louisekwilliams

Memories - Of The Way We Used To Be

Winter gives one plenty of time to reflect on the past.  I used to wish I could lay down in a field and have everyone I was ever friends with walk by and say hello.  Since that wasn't possible, in 2009 I made a "It's a Party" video to digitally gather folks together, including those already passed, to the extent I had photos of them.  The photos from that video make a great background collage!  This year I celebrated my 40th wedding anniversary, thanks to the fact Sam and I have been living separately for nearly half of the 40 years we've been married.  Going through my father's old negatives today, I came across this old 1976 photo of a much younger Sam and me.  It looked like it was just waiting for a background of memories.

Variations on a Blackbird theme

I believe I prefer my digital images to my monotypes, but both techniques are fun.