Happy, Happy, Happy New Year!
Well, we made it! It’s officially 2012. Unbelievable, isn’t it?
I’m looking forward to this brand new year. I don’t know what’s coming, but it’s going to be good. It’s going to be a great year!
There are some things I don’t like about a new year. I don’t enjoy doing taxes, not even when I get money back. I just don’t like doing it! And the holiday bills. The indulgences and over-spending always comes back to haunt me and I end up hating life for a couple of days. And, the resolution I hope to keep but never do….. The D. I. E. T. Oy. It’s the one resolution we all make, I suppose. I always make it, then break it, then make it again the first time I put on a pair of jeans that should fit but don’t and are so tight they barely move past my knees. This year, as every year, I gained cookie, cake and brownie pounds because my face went into every party plate which was more like a cow-trough than anything.
That was then, this is now, one more year to get the diet dilemma right!
Anyway, the first day of 2012 went by so fast! 2012 will probably go by just as fast as 2011 did, if we’re lucky, I guess. The older I get the faster times flies. Growing older makes time go faster and end shorter in equal measure. Well, that’s life, isn’t it?
I sure hope everyone is enjoying this holiday weekend! Here’s a little gift from me. I’m enclosing a few of my mixed-media experiments that I hope will bring you cheer! If you’d care to give me feedback on these images – good or bad – I would appreciate it so much.
Mixed Media Creations:
This first one is a photograph that I added a little shimmer to:
Captured on a river in Winter Park Florida
This second one is a lovely gazebo that I’ve changed to look like a painting using dots of paint, kind of like the style of the artist Georges Seurat.
Sort of like the style of Georges Seurat
This is a photo I took on a river in Winter Park, Florida. At the end of the river bend, a white boat house waits:
On the river in Winter Park, Florida
Here’s another version of the gazebo I’ve made to appear blue:
The gazebo on the river in Winter Park, Florida
Another version of the gazebo – I wanted to make it feel as if it shimmered:
- Another version of the gazebo on the river in Winter Park, Florida
I played with the colors of a Hummingbird. This is the same photo I posted earlier this week for the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge:
New colors for a Broad-tailed Hummingbird
:nd finally, here is a photo of birds sitting in a cypress tree in the middle of the river. I guess I’m into the color blue today because I washed this image in blue:
A look at birds in a cypress tree in the middle of a river
I would really love your feedback on these photos – good or BAD feedback is welcomed and appreciated!
I’ve uploaded all these images here: http://andrea-oconnell.artistwebsites.com/
only dreamin' 
Andrea. I’m soo glad you are focusing on your amazing ability to capture nature In such a stunning and mystifying way. Keep them coming. Do you do these Tweens with your camera?
Hi Weezie! Yes, I took the photos with my Canon Rebel, and manipulated and altered then on the computer. It’s a lot of fun! happy New year!
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You’re so talented. I like the 2nd and 3rd gazebo pictures better than the 1st one. The boat house is really cool. All of them were interesting!
Happy New Year!
Diane!! thanks for stopping by! Thank you for your kind words, and I agree with you – I like the second two gazebo photos better, too.
Happy New Year to you, too! 🙂
Very nice photos and very creative! They are all great! Happy New Year!
Hey Gracie, Thank you very much for your feedback! i hope you have a wonderful and Happy New year, too! I hope we keep our weekly photo challenge going,….. I enjoy it so much…. I know you do too. 🙂
Very creative and cool! 🙂
Happy New year to you too. 🙂
Hey Nandini! Thanks a bunch…. I appreciate your stopping by. 🙂 Hope you have a very happy healthy new year, too!
I like all of them! Are you working with a particular program? I like playing around with Picasa and Gimp (both of them are free!) I love doing portraits, mostly of my daughters and my grandsons, and have found some cool features in Picasa. The girls love it that I can do touch-ups and remove blemishes! I did a portrait of my youngest daughter in an orchard. I’m usually pretty good at paying attention to background, but when I downloaded all the pix from that day’s shoot, I had a really good portrait, but there was a sucker branch that looked like it was growing out of her head. I thought ‘hhmmm..maybe I can remove that.’ Much to my surprise, I was able to remove it and you can’t even tell it had been there. I was pretty tickled!
Ahhh, yes, the D.I.E.T. thingy! I’m in the same boat. I’ve joined an on-line support group (haven’t made many friends yet, tho!) But it’s a good tool to help me track my meals and activities. I’m stoked about it, and hope my enthusiasm has staying-power!
I’m looking at 2012 as my “Year to Make A Difference.”
Hey Kitt! I didn’t know about Picasa or Gimp but will absolutely check them out! Thank you so much! I love PowerPoint and there’s a feature in it to alter image colors, hues, saturation, and it allows you to apply all kinds of cool styles in various degrees. I have never been very good at PhotoShop because I get frustrated that it’s more complicated than it should be.
That’s wonderful that you can do all that with your photos! I guess I never had to patience – now that I’m not working, i should spend more time learning it…. I have no excuse because I have all the software… Now that I know all the cool things that are possible, I will be doing more. I really enjoy making photos look like paintings….
I want my 2012 to be the year I Make a Difference, too! We’ll support each other, okay?!
Happy New Year, my friend. Thanks for sticking with me. I appreciate you so much, Kitt. 🙂
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