art design

The Arty Dahlia

I’m continuing to explore making digital art using GIMP photo editing software. I take one or two photos and morph them using various effects just to see what happens. While I’m working, I save the iterations I like. If I don’t like an iteration, I back up and try something new. Here is the series I created using a photo of a pink dahlia.  

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art inspiration observations

Woodpeckers & Thistles

As I’m out and about walking the dog or mowing the lawn or peering out a window or whatever, I’m keeping an eye on nature. I’m not sure if that makes me a naturalist or a phenologist or just curious about what’s going on around me, but I especially enjoy plants and birds. This year, a pair of woodpeckers built a nest in one of our oak trees. I had noticed that woodpeckers had made…

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art family history pragmatic historian writing

Becoming a Writer

Several of John Scalzi’s essays/blog posts in his book “Don’t Live for Your Obituary” are sticking with me such that I want to bounce off them with my own blog posts. One such post is called “Imposter Syndrome, or Not” (page 395-401 in the book, dated January 30, 2016 on his Whatever blog). Scalzi opens the post discussing how so many writers suffer from Imposter Syndrome, the feeling that they’re just not good enough at…

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