I can’t give a detailed explanation because in creating a “digital painting,” I will generally start with exposure and composition adjustments but beyond that, will proceed instinctively with multiple filters applied incrementally at varying opacities. It would be both tedious and a deterrent to spontaneity to stop and record each step, some of which consist of multiple adjustments.
Always start with exposure and composition, then experiment.
Arvo..oh I had no idea about that...the shells play a large part up PNG way, but far as I know not a great deal in our Koori culture..
I don't recall hearing anything about them here...for trade etc the Kooris went for woomeras, spears, boomerangs and furs..
I have collected hundreds over the years and so disappointed I can no longer go out to a beach to look for them. It's to far and have to go down cliffs which I can no longer do.
Red and I are currently in Savannah, Georgia a historic city with a great food scene. As a bit of a history buff we came across this monument of four soldiers in the midst of battle, a fifth one mortally wounded, and a drummer boy. As we walked up to the monument it became evident that all of the soldiers were black which struck my history cord. The Battle of Savannah was one of the biggest and deadliest of the Revolutionary War. And here was a monument of five black soldiers and a drummer boy. To say my interest peaked was an understatement.
I began reading the plaques that gave the history of this monument. In 2007 it was dedicated without much fanfare the soldiers are ''Les Chasseurs Volontaires de Saint Domingue'' They left their homes in what is Haiti to fight for the US under French Commander Charles Henri d'Estaing at the battle of Savannah. The mission was to capture Savannah from the English and their Native American allies. The headlong charge into British lines was a disaster in which the Americans, French, and Haitian suffered a huge defeat. In the retreat, the Haiti troops provided a rear guard that held off the British and NA allies allowing many of the French and American troops to escape.
The monument is a depiction of the Les Chasseurs Volontaires in combat holding off the British. The Drummer Boy is non-other than a young Henri Christophe , who later was instrumental in defeating the French and driving them from Haiti and later to become ''King of Haiti''.
The kid that used to house/dog sit is now married and has his own kid. Recently we were talking and he said his daughter really like the visit to our local aquarium and he wanted to get back into keeping fish himself. I had this 10g tank & lid sitting in the corner of the basement that I had no plans for so I pulled it out and set it up. Once it's cycled I'll throw some shrimp in it and bring it to him.
It's just sand substrate, wood I found on the local beach and dragon stone. I have a small sponge filter running on a nano air pump for filtration with a small preset (75 degrees F) heater. I'll swap that out with a one that can be set later. I stopped in at the local PetSmart last week and they were flush with new plants so I grabbed several various Anubius plants and a 3 pack of Bucephalanda Brownie. I also pulled some other Anubius and the Bolbitus (on the left). All these plants are epiphytes meaning they have a rhizome that doesn't go into the sand. I have them wedged in between the rocks and wood or just sitting on top with a plant weight.
Good for you EG! There is a joy and satisfaction in giving that, sadly, many individuals fail to experience. Proud to have you as a Group member, participant and decent human being.
Thanks Mac. I don't truly know if karma is a thing, but I was talking to an online vendor for some driftwood on a new project and he created a whole new 10% discount for all veterans and is shipping the wood for free. It's not often that an online seller makes you feel special. I'll spread the love where I can.
Yours always look so clean.....(cussing at myself...)
I have to go to the next town for a pet store. The petsmart here is terrible. At first they had something wrong with their filtration system. Come to find out they basically have one system that runs all the tanks, so it is basically one huge tank for most of the fish, even though they are separated.
They had emptied out all the tanks and stopped getting fish for a while. Now they still don't have it under control. I was there a couple of weeks ago and they were back in business yet some woman was cleaning the tanks. They all looked covered in algae and half the fish looked dead or dying.
So now I drive to Gulfport. They don't seem to have these problems.
Thanks! I spend a couple of hours every week scraping glass, trimming plants and doing water changes. It's one of the reasons I cut my tanks down to 4 last year. I'm back up to 6 right now, but the one above won't be around very long and the little 6g (I'll post on next week) is going in my office. I'm finding the bigger 40s to be a lot easier to get balanced than any of the other small tanks. Tomorrow is canister cleaning day so it will take a little bit longer for maintenance on those bigger tanks.
I don't usually get fish locally. I will do some cheaper more common fish locally if I need them, but I travel 2 to 2.5 hours normally to get fish.
A double rainbow at the end of a rainy day. The setting sun got under the clouds in the west and created this in the east. It used to happen fairly often, but this is the first one I've seen in a while.
Framing the front yard and the garden. This is as wide as my camera can go, but I still couldn't get it all. I tried a few panorama shots, but the camera was hand-held and the rainbow turned out choppy at every seam, so this single shot is as good as I could get.
Cloudy day color on the south side of the yard.
A soaring turkey vulture.
Cloudy day color in the northwest corner of the back yard.
Golden oak leaves against a clear sky.
Even the fungus on this standing dead wood is autumn colored.
Thanks, EG. The bluebirds love that little bird fountain I made this summer. Several of them visit it every morning, even when it's cold out. It's a great attractant for picture taking. I didn't realize birds would still take baths in the cold, but apparently they do. That thing is every bit as busy as it was in the summer heat, especially in the mornings.
That's awesome! I'll be putting in a little pond in the yard in the spring. I have new neighbors on the south side that tell me they are really into gardening so that should be very fun.
That's not so odd. A huge part of the eastern half of the country looks pretty similar, with hardwood deciduous forests running in a big swath all the way from eastern Kansas to the Mid-Atlantic states and up through New England. The flora changes somewhat as you go, with slightly different tree species here and there, especially farther north, and many places have mountainous terrain, but overall the countryside doesn't look all that different. The biggest difference is temperature, with winters getting quite a bit colder as you go north, like up around the Canadian border.
If anyone ever has a chance to visit Wells Cathedral, Bishop's House and Gardens, they should. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Wells is a small town, but it is officially a "city" because it has a cathedral. The cathedral is very interesting. Wells is located in the County of Somerset, about 22 miles southwest of Bath.
Red and I spent the last four days in Savannah, Georgia, a wonderful historical city. During the Civil War Savannah was saved from destruction when it surrendered to General Sherman on his march to the sea.
Thankfully it did and Sherman accepted it and did not destroy Savannah saving it for future generations. The city is loaded with historical buildings, from Cathedrals to homes, and hotels. There are so many that were built in the late 1700 hundreds to the late 1800 hundreds.
River St is blocks and blocks of these buildings still actively being used as everything from apartments to restaurants to businesses of all kinds.
The following two photos were taken from the paddle wheeler on the Savannah River of River St where historical buildings run on for blocks. We ate in three separate ones during our stay and they were first class, the city is a foodie's delight.
Although I've driven through Georgia more than once on my way to Florida, I guess it was a mistake not to spend some time exploring that State and its cities.
I've been to a few cities in Georgia and no desire to go back. In 1959 three of us went to the USO club in Columbus GA and were refused entry since we were the wrong color and told to go to our own USO club. BTW, Columbus is where the Master's golf Tournament is held.
Savannah is quite different and it is a majority-black city and I will go back again.
LOL. Good one. In Toronto I used to live in a great community within the city, and the best thing on Hallowe'en was that a neighbour made a haunted house inside their home that would have rivalled what Disney World might do, and it scared the heck out of the kids.
First-Things-First … check the article at the link.
Mac, I just love all of your new work. That first one is just gorgeous!
It's that time again.
Those are great photographic artworks, but can we have an explanation about what was done to create their final form?
I can’t give a detailed explanation because in creating a “digital painting,” I will generally start with exposure and composition adjustments but beyond that, will proceed instinctively with multiple filters applied incrementally at varying opacities. It would be both tedious and a deterrent to spontaneity to stop and record each step, some of which consist of multiple adjustments.
Always start with exposure and composition, then experiment.
Nice. I love the swans.
Both are truly beautiful photos, Mac. Your creative artwork talents never cease to amaze me, and I never cease to enjoy them.
I always felt they were a natural thing of great beauty.
I complimented shona of the scallop shell images but it disappeared … so … nice shot, shona.
Morning..thank you Mac..I was actually looking for cowrie shells (my favourite) but also like scallop shells..
Had some rather rough weather here feels like Winter not Spring...the huge seas have chucked all sorts of stuff up on to the beach.
Mostly a lot of kelp and seaweed and pleased to say no rubbish which mainly comes from passing ships..
Cowrie shells, those are of great importance to the Ojibwe, the ''Miigis'' shell plays an important part in our culture.
Arvo..oh I had no idea about that...the shells play a large part up PNG way, but far as I know not a great deal in our Koori culture..
I don't recall hearing anything about them here...for trade etc the Kooris went for woomeras, spears, boomerangs and furs..
I have collected hundreds over the years and so disappointed I can no longer go out to a beach to look for them. It's to far and have to go down cliffs which I can no longer do.
I'm sorry to hear that you can no longer look for the Cowrie shells, shona.
It's ok, sometimes you just have to gracefully accept something's you can no longer do and appreciate the ones you can...
Occasionally they wash up on the beach that I walk along... it's quite rare, but when it happens it really makes my day. 🦘
I've been doing that for a couple of years now, shona. Reality can bite but you just make the best of it.
I
Indeed...Mother Nature always manages to excel in ways that manages to impress and amaze.
Thanks for sharing this beautiful shell photo with us.
Red and I are currently in Savannah, Georgia a historic city with a great food scene. As a bit of a history buff we came across this monument of four soldiers in the midst of battle, a fifth one mortally wounded, and a drummer boy. As we walked up to the monument it became evident that all of the soldiers were black which struck my history cord. The Battle of Savannah was one of the biggest and deadliest of the Revolutionary War. And here was a monument of five black soldiers and a drummer boy. To say my interest peaked was an understatement.
I began reading the plaques that gave the history of this monument. In 2007 it was dedicated without much fanfare the soldiers are ''Les Chasseurs Volontaires de Saint Domingue'' They left their homes in what is Haiti to fight for the US under French Commander Charles Henri d'Estaing at the battle of Savannah. The mission was to capture Savannah from the English and their Native American allies. The headlong charge into British lines was a disaster in which the Americans, French, and Haitian suffered a huge defeat. In the retreat, the Haiti troops provided a rear guard that held off the British and NA allies allowing many of the French and American troops to escape.
The monument is a depiction of the Les Chasseurs Volontaires in combat holding off the British. The Drummer Boy is non-other than a young Henri Christophe , who later was instrumental in defeating the French and driving them from Haiti and later to become ''King of Haiti''.
Fascinating - thanks for the image and the history lesson.
Ditto!
Great statue, and its' amazing background.
Thank you so much for sharing the photo and its' history.
Some of my favourite photos from China - Part 1
You have probably seen these before, but I'm not getting around much any more to take photos.
1. Koi in a large pond in a park in Sichuan Province.
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2. Taken while I was in a boat on the Yellow River near Luoyang, Henan Province.
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3. The garden behind the museum in Nanning, Guanxi Province - used as an example of self-framing in a treatise on the Creative Arts 'Pages'.
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4. "Are you talkin' to me?" Springtime in the Chongqing Normal University campus, Chongqing.
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5. At the base of the Radio and TV Tower, Chengdu, Sichuan Province.
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6. An art student doing a sketch on the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute campus, Chongqing in the Spring.
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7. A monk taking a break from meditating at White Horse Temple, Luoyang, Henan Province. The photo's title is "Primary Colours".
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8. My nephew's wife Huali with her nephew at her sister's wedding, Zhengzhou, Henan Province.
Great photo essay, Buzz.
Thanks Kavika.
Love #s 3 & 4.
Nice photos, Buzz. The one of the koi fish almost looks like an underwater shot.
I love Koi fish. Lovely photo!
A lovely essay of photos. Buzz. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks to all - Part 2 will be posted next weekend.
The kid that used to house/dog sit is now married and has his own kid. Recently we were talking and he said his daughter really like the visit to our local aquarium and he wanted to get back into keeping fish himself. I had this 10g tank & lid sitting in the corner of the basement that I had no plans for so I pulled it out and set it up. Once it's cycled I'll throw some shrimp in it and bring it to him.
It's just sand substrate, wood I found on the local beach and dragon stone. I have a small sponge filter running on a nano air pump for filtration with a small preset (75 degrees F) heater. I'll swap that out with a one that can be set later. I stopped in at the local PetSmart last week and they were flush with new plants so I grabbed several various Anubius plants and a 3 pack of Bucephalanda Brownie. I also pulled some other Anubius and the Bolbitus (on the left). All these plants are epiphytes meaning they have a rhizome that doesn't go into the sand. I have them wedged in between the rocks and wood or just sitting on top with a plant weight.
That gift will surely get him back into fish and tanks, EG.
Woooo. That's really generous of you.
Good for you EG! There is a joy and satisfaction in giving that, sadly, many individuals fail to experience. Proud to have you as a Group member, participant and decent human being.
Thanks Mac. I don't truly know if karma is a thing, but I was talking to an online vendor for some driftwood on a new project and he created a whole new 10% discount for all veterans and is shipping the wood for free. It's not often that an online seller makes you feel special. I'll spread the love where I can.
Yours always look so clean.....(cussing at myself...)
I have to go to the next town for a pet store. The petsmart here is terrible. At first they had something wrong with their filtration system. Come to find out they basically have one system that runs all the tanks, so it is basically one huge tank for most of the fish, even though they are separated.
They had emptied out all the tanks and stopped getting fish for a while. Now they still don't have it under control. I was there a couple of weeks ago and they were back in business yet some woman was cleaning the tanks. They all looked covered in algae and half the fish looked dead or dying.
So now I drive to Gulfport. They don't seem to have these problems.
Thanks! I spend a couple of hours every week scraping glass, trimming plants and doing water changes. It's one of the reasons I cut my tanks down to 4 last year. I'm back up to 6 right now, but the one above won't be around very long and the little 6g (I'll post on next week) is going in my office. I'm finding the bigger 40s to be a lot easier to get balanced than any of the other small tanks. Tomorrow is canister cleaning day so it will take a little bit longer for maintenance on those bigger tanks.
I don't usually get fish locally. I will do some cheaper more common fish locally if I need them, but I travel 2 to 2.5 hours normally to get fish.
Nice tank, nice gesture.
A beautiful present to impress your Friend, and hopefully it will encourage him to engage in keeping his own beautiful fish species.
Thank you for sharing the photo and background story.
A double rainbow at the end of a rainy day. The setting sun got under the clouds in the west and created this in the east. It used to happen fairly often, but this is the first one I've seen in a while.
Framing the front yard and the garden. This is as wide as my camera can go, but I still couldn't get it all. I tried a few panorama shots, but the camera was hand-held and the rainbow turned out choppy at every seam, so this single shot is as good as I could get.
Cloudy day color on the south side of the yard.
A soaring turkey vulture.
Cloudy day color in the northwest corner of the back yard.
Golden oak leaves against a clear sky.
Even the fungus on this standing dead wood is autumn colored.
A bluebird in the tree above the bird fountain.
Branches over part of the driveway.
An acorn and oak leaves.
A common grackle eyeing an acorn.
Got it!
Great set, Dig! The bluebird is a nice catch. I don't see them in town here.
Thanks, EG. The bluebirds love that little bird fountain I made this summer. Several of them visit it every morning, even when it's cold out. It's a great attractant for picture taking. I didn't realize birds would still take baths in the cold, but apparently they do. That thing is every bit as busy as it was in the summer heat, especially in the mornings.
That's awesome! I'll be putting in a little pond in the yard in the spring. I have new neighbors on the south side that tell me they are really into gardening so that should be very fun.
Your little yard pond should attract lots of birds, especially if you put one of those little floating solar powered fountains in it.
Heck, birds and gardening? Two of my favorite things, lol.
Morning...wow what a stunning set of photos Dig...
You really do live in a wonderful part of the World in Mother Nature's backyard....
Thanks, Shona.
If you don't mind me asking what State do you live in?
I'm in the Missouri Ozarks.
Wiki link - Ozarks
Thank you...geez just as well you aren't relying on me as a guide..I pictured it being near the Canadian border on the east coast area...oppss..
That's not so odd. A huge part of the eastern half of the country looks pretty similar, with hardwood deciduous forests running in a big swath all the way from eastern Kansas to the Mid-Atlantic states and up through New England. The flora changes somewhat as you go, with slightly different tree species here and there, especially farther north, and many places have mountainous terrain, but overall the countryside doesn't look all that different. The biggest difference is temperature, with winters getting quite a bit colder as you go north, like up around the Canadian border.
Autumn-colored fungus, how cool is that.
I know, right? Seasonal fungus, lol.
I look forward to the fabulous photo essays you post, and I'm never disappointed.
Thanks, Buzz. Glad you enjoy them.
Great photos as always, Dig. You have such a nice property.
A few recent "digital paintings"
© G. Gam
Rockport Harbor, MA
I just love the first one, G. It's so painterly!
Thank you, Perrie
I love number two, bike an all.
Thanks, Kavika. That is a photo I took in China. I think it was in Shanghai.
Me too, I think the second is my favorite.
Cool.
Of course they're all great, but IMO the 4th one, the monochrome, is a masterpiece. It should be hung in an art gallery.
Thanks!
Great job, G. Really neat stuff there.
Thanks, Dig.
Great photos and their history, G. Thank you for sharing them with us.
Thank you, Raven Wing
I thought this might be a good one for Halloween. Oooh scary!!!!
On the Grounds of the Bishop's Palace, Wells Cathedral, England
© G. Gam
That is one creepy looking statue.
Nice, isn't it? Haha.
Great pic and the raven (?) is a nice touch !
Thanks, Pat
Perfect! That creepy image is just begging for some Halloween-themed manipulation.
I checked using Google Images and found out that the sculpture is titled "Pilgrim" and it is by a pre-eminent British sculptor named David Backhouse.
I also found an article that states they recently installed another sculpture by Backhouse in the same garden titled "Resurrection". https://wells.nub.news/news/local-news/sculptor-david-backhouse-discusses-his-latest-work-which-has-been-installed-in-the-grounds-of-wells-cathedral-133971
If anyone ever has a chance to visit Wells Cathedral, Bishop's House and Gardens, they should. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Wells is a small town, but it is officially a "city" because it has a cathedral. The cathedral is very interesting. Wells is located in the County of Somerset, about 22 miles southwest of Bath.
And here I was thinking it was really old and part of the original grounds. Still cool, though.
There have a few contemporary sculptures in their garden. It's a wonderful place.
Indeed it is a bit scary, but, also very beautiful.
The Cathedral, the Bishop's Palace and the gardens are absolutely beautiful. I think Ender got it right, though. The sculpture is creepy as heck.
More fun with mirroring. I grabbed a couple images from the internet and expanded upon them.
For a second I thought I was in a maze.
Very cool, Hal.
Compelling Hal!
Brilliant modern art.
Wow. Amazing.
Great stuff, Hal. They make my eyes hurt a little, lol.
Those are truly lovely photos, Hal. Combined together they present very interesting images.
Thanks a lot for sharing them with us.
Lighthouse, British Columbia Canada (Digital Art)
© A. Mac/A.G.
Beautiful
Stunning, Mac.
Really cool. Love it.
Red and I spent the last four days in Savannah, Georgia, a wonderful historical city. During the Civil War Savannah was saved from destruction when it surrendered to General Sherman on his march to the sea.
Thankfully it did and Sherman accepted it and did not destroy Savannah saving it for future generations. The city is loaded with historical buildings, from Cathedrals to homes, and hotels. There are so many that were built in the late 1700 hundreds to the late 1800 hundreds.
River St is blocks and blocks of these buildings still actively being used as everything from apartments to restaurants to businesses of all kinds.
The following two photos were taken from the paddle wheeler on the Savannah River of River St where historical buildings run on for blocks. We ate in three separate ones during our stay and they were first class, the city is a foodie's delight.
I always forget Georgia is not land locked.
Although I've driven through Georgia more than once on my way to Florida, I guess it was a mistake not to spend some time exploring that State and its cities.
I've been to a few cities in Georgia and no desire to go back. In 1959 three of us went to the USO club in Columbus GA and were refused entry since we were the wrong color and told to go to our own USO club. BTW, Columbus is where the Master's golf Tournament is held.
Savannah is quite different and it is a majority-black city and I will go back again.
Wonderful photos, and a very interesting story to go with them.
Digital Art … A Visual Metaphor of Sorts … A Space Ship.
© A. Mac/A.G.
Where'd everyone go?
I've been trying to re-learn how to use my editing software to make Halloween stuff.
Just posted one.
Made with PaintShop Pro 2022, using free-to-use images from Pixabay and Pexels.
A Professional looking presentation!
Wow!!!
Halloween from Stone Creek, Ocala, FL. the different areas (villages) in Stone Creek had their own Halloween characters.
Awesome. Someone put some effort into those figures, especially the top one doing the hand stand. Pretty cool.
There were a total of 12 difference ones and all of them were really good, Dig.
Halloween stuff is fun to make, lol.
LOL. Good one. In Toronto I used to live in a great community within the city, and the best thing on Hallowe'en was that a neighbour made a haunted house inside their home that would have rivalled what Disney World might do, and it scared the heck out of the kids.
Yeah, some people really get into it. Every now and then I drive by a house that has all kinds of decorations outside, like a graveyard with monsters.
A Visual Metaphor of sorts using elements of DIGITAL ART … LAYERS, COLOR GRADIENT, TEXT OVERPRINTING …
© A. Mac/A.G.
My vision is waning and it's hard for me to make out whether that's a fish (most likely), a dirigible (the tail) or a submarine.
It's a Goodyear Blimp, Buzz. I can just make out the name on the side.
Thanks Dig - it was my second possibility, a dirigible.
LOL. Another good one, but why are the skeletons dead?
Haha, I guess the Reaper did his work a little too well. He looks pretty self-satisfied.
Thanks to all … some really exceptionally good posts this week … see you Thursday night.