art photo blend

Photo Blends 1: Collared Dove and Flowers

I’ve been continuing to play with GIMP, the open source photo editing software, to blend photos and create new digital art. Usually, I create 7-10 iterations out of 2 photos and see where I end up. In August 2020, I shared 14 iterations from 1 photo of a dahlia in a post called The Arty Dahlia. When I make these photo blends, which is my term for them, I never know where I will end…

Continue reading

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.  

Continue reading

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…

Continue reading

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…

Continue reading

art family projects

Fertility Bunnies

Have you heard of amigurumi? It is a crocheting technique wherein you use primarily single crochet to create these wee, cute creatures, which can include animals, fictional characters, or even human beings. An Albert Einstein amigurumi figure showed up in my Twitter feed not long ago. I’ve dabbled in amigurumi before, making an amigurumi frog years ago. I saw an amigurumi bunny pattern roll through my Twitter feed around Easter and it gave me an…

Continue reading