4th of July Fireworks
Tonight, I tried my hand for the first time at photographing fireworks. It was a last minute decision and the place was not ideal, too far away and too many trees in the way, but the fireworks themselves were beautiful.
Despite having read previously about settings and techniques, the first photos were bad, too much brightness and no details. I realized I was waiting too long to release the remote shutter trying to put too much in the same picture.
At the end, I was able to get a few good shots. Now I'll have to wait until next year to try again.
Fireworks at Indian Hills Country Club, Cobb County, Georgia
Shades of pink and gold
Blue, red and gold
The meaning of colors… Yellow
Yellow is the color of the sun - the life support for our planet. As such it has come to represent life, energy, happiness, hope and wisdom.
From Artyfactory
Yellow Daffodils
2010 Canton Festival of the Arts
Their annual fine arts festival took place this past Saturday and Sunday in the historic Brown Park in downtown Canton. Its centerpiece was the Artist's Market with more than sixty exhibitors. The attendance was great, the food was fantastic and the organizers, volunteers and fellow artists are a really great group of people.
The forecast called for some rains, but the weather held out just until past closing hour on Sunday giving enough time for everybody to pack up and find cover. It was a hot and humid weekend but at least our tent was under a beautiful large tree which gave some protection from the sun the few times it decided to show up.
We showed for the first time two of our prints on canvas, Periwinkle Iris and Brook Reflection. Both, but in particular the Iris canvas, drew everybody's attention, with people pointing to it and in many, many cases getting very close and touching it. We also answered questions from a lot of people wanting to know how it was done.
In general, maybe as a result of these hard economic times, people bought smaller and less expensive items like our new desk calendars, which were a success.
Saturday afternoon, my older son and his family came for a visit. My grandson and future artist asked me for a piece of paper because "with so much art around" he was feeling inspired and wanted to do some drawings while my granddaughter, who is very much interested in creating her own jewelry, asked for tips and bead sources from some of the vendors.
Despite the weather it was a very nice weekend which was well spent with some very nice people.
Our booth
General view
Pointing...
Looking at the Periwinkle Iris canvas
Gallery wrap canvas
I just printed my first PixelGraphs photomontage on a new smooth matte canvas. I finished with a top-coat of Glamour 2 Varnish and mounted it using the gallery wrap method. It looks really good. The colors have more vibrancy, the details more definition. I'm very pleased with the results and I will probably start offering my prints also on canvas.
Periwinkle Iris
A Chickadee Family Event
I’m sure you remember the female chickadee from a few weeks back that set out to build a nest, even if a little lopsided, in our bird house.
After she finished her work, she laid four eggs and at their proper time, all of them hatched. She is now the proud mother of four, just in time for Mother’s Day. They all look healthy and one of them is especially audacious.
It was hard to see them inside the bird house, and even harder to photograph them, because the plastic panel which is supposed to allow us to see inside was very dirty. We need to find a better way for next time.
Here is a picture of three of the chicks at the bottom of the nest.
And here is the fourth one, climbing the ramp and looking at the world outside.
The mother feeding the climber chick waiting for her at the door. The other three were not that happy and had to wait their turn until the mother was able to get inside.
By yesterday morning, three of the chicks had already gone. This is the last chick leaving the nest. I was its first flight and it flew directly into my blind. Maybe it got confused with the autumn leaves camouflage.
Celebrate Clayton 2010
This past weekend, April 24th-25th, was Celebrate Clayton 2010.
The weather was a mixed event. Saturday morning started cloudy but dry. That changed around 2:00 PM with intermittent showers and some lightning in the distance and then just plain rain. Around 4:00 it was time to break camp for the day and take shelter.
After a rainy night, Sunday started semi cloudy and windy but otherwise the temperature was nice and the air was clean and crisp. That brought out a lot of people who enjoyed the different arts and crafts on display.
Our booth had a lot of visitors and we got many compliments on our photomontages but everyone seemed to be attracted to our new desk calendars, 2011 Flower Portraits and 2011 Bluebird Country, especially the latter. Everybody seems to love bluebirds!
Also nice was the camaraderie between the artists, ready to give a hand by helping the newcomers and running to assist each other when the strong gusts threatened to fly a tent away. In many cases, by the time the show closed, people who had met for the first time ended up feeling like they have known each other much longer. Add to this the friendliness and helpfulness of the volunteers, easy identifiable by their blue event shirts and their smiles, and you have a winning combination.
A good experience and the promise of more and better for next year.
 Wet Saturday afternoon, with all the tents battened down |
 On Sunday, locals and tourists strolling around the festival |
 Putting the last touch |
 Open for business |
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