Category: Impressionist

Day 55 – Tree Abstract

Trees2

The Presence of Trees

I have always felt the living presence
of trees

the forest that calls to me as deeply
as I breathe,

as though the woods were marrow of my bone
as though

I myself were tree, a breathing, reaching
arc of the larger canopy

beside a brook bubbling to foam
like the one

deep in these woods,
that calls

that whispers home

-Michael S. Glaser

Not feeling quite up to par today so I decided to create art from the files. This started as an intentional blur shot in Lithia Park where there is a grove of trees all planted in neat rows. I layered on some textures to give it a little more interest and depth.

Day 37 – Yellow Woods

YellowWood2

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost
I managed a walk in Lithia Park this morning before the rain set in. I have to say the colors were amazing and the reflections in the lower duck pond took my breath away. I went with a painterly treatment and texture effect on this one and it immediately put me in mind of one of my all time favorite poems… probably because it was introduced to me by one of my favorite teachers, ’round about 4th or 5th grade.

Day 36 – Books and Bakery

BooksandBakeryw

There is no Frigate Like a Book

There is no Frigate like a Book 
To take us Lands away 
Nor any Coursers like a Page 
Of prancing Poetry – 
This Traverse may the poorest take 
Without oppress of Toll – 
How frugal is the Chariot 
That bears the Human Soul –
– Emily Dickinson
I was feeling more painterly today and came across this image taken in Vermont. It had a lot of power lines in the original so I gave it the full Photoshop treatment. And what better combination than books and a bakery, and a poem by Emily Dickinson.

Day 29 – Maple Leaf

Maple_Leaf2w

Autumn Movement

I cried over beautiful things knowing no beautiful thing lasts.

The field of cornflower yellow is a scarf at the neck of the copper sunburned woman,
the mother of the year, the taker of seeds.

The northwest wind comes and the yellow is torn full of holes, new beautiful things
come in the first spit of snow on the northwest wind, and the old things go,
not one lasts.

-Carl Sandburg

I have officially reached the point in the project where I just want to quit. I have better things to do, I’m still trying to get caught up from my vacation, there are too many demands on my time, etc. etc. Today I almost spaced it out my resistance was so high. But don’t worry, I’ll get over it. Many places I still want to go and photograph. I just have to carve out some time in my schedule. Maybe next week. This image by the way is from the archives of New England. I did the processing today and that counts. Just can’t get into the habit of doing it every day.

Day 17 – Lobster Boats

Lobster_Boats_Cezannew

from The Old Lobsterman

He makes for the floats that mark the spots, 
And rises and falls on the sweeping swells, 
Ships oars, and pulls his lobster-pots, 
And tumbles the tangled claws and shells 
In the leaky bottom; and bails his skiff; 
While the slow waves thunder along the cliff, 
And foam far away where sun and mist 
Edge all the region with amethyst. 

-John Townsend Trowbridge

Leaving Maine today we stopped and spent some time in Portland (the other Portland). I really liked these lobster boats but thought they might look better with a painterly treatment.

Rooflines

Rooflines

I have been dragging my feet on posting an image of the week because I didn’t have anything new I really liked. I kept going back to so barn photos I captured this week and trying different processing and finally came up with this one of a barn I love with lots of crazy intersecting rooflines treated in Topaz impressions with a Van Gough preset with opacity reduced a little to let more detail through.

Paddleboats

Paddleboats

I was working on a web gallery of my Cuba images yesterday and came across this one that I hadn’t done anything with. I loved the colors of the paddle boats and the water but they were a little dirty and grungy so I decided to try a painterly treatment in Topaz Impression which I love. I also cropped in quite a bit to get rid of distractions in the background and make it all about the bands of color.

Dreaming of Spring

DreamingofSpring

I’ve been suffering from a bad case of the winter blues mixed with serious cabin fever. I though since I went to Cuba in December I didn’t need to plan a warm winter trip for January. I was wrong. Won’t make that mistake again.

Anyway, I’m plugging away at Photoshop artistry and started playing with these orchard blossom pictures and came up with this composition I call Dreaming of Spring. It went through a lot of steps of blending and filter gallery and Topaz Impression and the addition of an artistic border but I’m pretty happy with the final result.

Grizzly Peak Spring

GrizzlyI haven’t done much with Topaz Impression lately so I thought it was time. This image of Grizzly Peak was done in the style of Georgia O’Keefe. Hmmm, what if Georgia had come to Southern Oregon instead of New Mexico? Anyway, this was shot last week when things were more springlike. I know for a fact that there is more snow on the mountain today and I’m not sure how the trees fared in the recent winds. But, I now know a good spot to go and capture the changing moods and seasons of Ashland’s own special mountain.