Hydrangea Melody

It seems I've taken a lot of photos of Hydrangea over the years.  So I put them together and threw in some old family photos and oil painted butterflies to create a little fantasy.  Original music included.

Collaborative Painting

Top to Bottom

1.  Finished still life "Brayer with a Jar of Paintbrushes" oil on stretched canvas 16" x 20" x 3/4"

2.  Sketch of Cole Taylor June of 2016 which Wilson painted

3.  Sketch of Wilson Taylor June of 2016 which Wilson painted

4.  Sketch of wall with outlet and window July 2016 which Wilson scribbled on

5.  Sketch of Cole and Wilson July of 2014 where Wilson added the bodies and did the coloring

The bottom four pictures were the inspiration for the top oil painting.  I loved doing art with my grandsons where I would get to a point and they would take over.  Often the results made the pictures much better!  So, without the benefit of having my grandsons around, I pretended my Brayer had a life of its own, and it got into the action after I finished my still life painting, by smearing blue paint on the finished canvas.  

Messing Around with Twin Photographs and Photo Effects

While playing with various alternative Photography techniques, I discovered a Effects dial on my Nikon D750 that takes pictures one would think are worthless.  That didn't stop me from using them in the two digital composites revealed above.  Top three:  Cole (with a cold on the couch), then a combination of that original photo with an effects shot of Cole and Wilson.  Bottom three:  Matt Taylor with his twin sons, combined with another effects shot of the threesome plus the dog.  I think I like the bottom result the best, but can no longer remember how I did it. 

Having Fun with Seattle Art and Photography

My trips to Seattle generally result in at least one attempt at a portrait of grandson Wilson.  Unlike his twin Cole, he is more amenable to posing.  However, like any normal 8 year old, posing doesn't last very long (which I can blame for the my inability to capture his likeness).  The result this time is "Wilson and his Toys," a 10 x 14 pen and ink and watercolor painting.  To try to improve on the original, I tweaked the resulting watercolor by doing a bit of over painting in Photoshop, then added a background that was a blurred version of a Home Depot product shot.  All of the elements are shown above, including a refreshingly more appealing photo of Wilson, walking the dog Riley, while wearing a T shirt in 30+ degree weather.