T T Time . . . .

This week the theme for Texture Tuesday is the colour orange so I decided to use a photo of some apricots I had taken previously . . . .and this is the result.

For anyone who wants to see the steps, here they are :-

1st layer, Ivy 2 texture, blend mode linear burn, opacity 31%, mask layer added and using the black brush I revealed various areas.

2nd layer, I duplicated layer 1, blend mode linear burn, opacity 62%.

3rd layer, I duplicated layer 2, blend mode normal, opacity 80% but used ctrl I to invert the texture and I used the black brush to reveal various areas.

4th layer, I duplicated the previous layer but didn't invert this layer, blend mode normal, opacity 78% and once again I used the black brush to do a final reveal.

Finally, I flattened the image and did a levels adjustment.

I've had to type this I one handed as I've pulled a muscle in my arm which is really painful if I move it. It was totally my own fault.  I was waiting for the washing machine door to open a couple of days ago and decided to do some pressups using the machine. Nothing so radical as getting onto the floor, these were much more genteely done stood up with my hands on the machine. I only did about 6 and felt fine but yesterday the muscle at the top of my left arm began to hurt and last night it was really painful. tis morning it hurts even more  . . . .I think it's stiffened up overnight . . . .so one handed typing and no more exercise for me for a while  :-))

Hope you are all well,  I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with.

Love Teresa xx     :-)

Texture Tuesday "back to school"

Todays theme over at the cafe is "back to school" . . . Not having any children and being a few years :-) away from my own schooldays I felt a little out of touch with this one, nothing sprang readily to mind.

I thought of taking a pic of a group of books . . . then I thought about "an apple for the teacher" . . . . but nothing was really firing me up . . .

I had more or less decided to go with the apple theme when, as I was out early yesterday morning wandering around with my camera ( it was a rare windless start to the day), I had this idea . . . .

Back to school isn't just an action, it's a time of year and the time of year is the end of summer.

For the children it's the end of the long, hot, days on the beach and in the sea . . . . and the start of early mornings, restrictive clothing and meeting with any friends they haven't seen for the duration of the holidays.

And for me it's these vines leaves beginning to look autumnal and fall from the vines . . . .

The first texture I used was "warmly cracked".
layer 1, normal blend mode, opacity 48%
layer 2, I duplicated the layer, linear burn blend mode, opacity 28%
On both layers I applied layer masks to reveal certain areas.

The second texture was "grunge"
Overlay blend mode, opacity 16%

I then flattened the image, duplicated it and used multiply blend mode at 22%

Hope you all found it easier than me to come up with a pic. . . . . . .I'm looking forward to seeing what you've all been doing . . .
Love Teresa x :-))

Down by the sea

Twilight time at the harbour.

In the summer, as the sun begins to sink, there is a lovely pink glow down by the harbour. It deepens little by little as the night time approaches until it finally gives way to the darkness.

Because it' so warm in the evening, lots of people are about and it's quite a busy time with fishing, strolling and sitting . . . .

So this is "twilight at the harbour"

Textures were by Kim Klassen.

Enjoy your weekend, Teresa xx :-))

Friday Fiesta . . .

Hope you all feel in a "Friday" mood today and have good things planned for the weekend.

Here's my shot for today . . . . "Friday Fiesta"

This zinnia was just so vibrant under the hot morning sun, I didn't want to dampen it's colour in any way.  The textures I used are by  by Leslie Nicole . . .who incidentally has a competition running at her site to choose the photo with the best use of her "Purple pros" texture. Anyone can vote so this is the link if you want to pop over.

http://frenchkisstextures.com/featured-art/your-work/challenges/purple-prose-texture-challenge-with-prizes/

Love to all, Teresa xx :-))

Geraniums . . . . .if you look closely

I've been doing a lot of work with textures lately and these are two of my more recent ones.

Both started life as photos as geraniums. The first was pink in colour and the second that lovely bright reddy/orange.

Hope you enjoy them :-))


"Floating"

"Impressions of summer"

The textures used were by Kim Klassen and Leslie Nicole . . . . . .see sidebar for links.

Hope you have a wonderful day, Teresa XX :-))

Hot here today

It started off really calm and still which usually means the heat is going to rise . . . .and it did !

There's a strong wind now so it should cool down later.

Anyway that . . .

     leads me . . . . .

            to this . . . .
































I hope that, no matter what sort of weather you are having, or what sort of day, you are able to find some time to just  . . .  .relax . . .

Love Teresa xx :-))

I'm off over to . . . .

It's Texture Tuesday again at the cafe and this weeks theme was a photo inspired by a movie title . . . .so, with a bit of artistic licence . .  . . . .The 39 Steps. Yes I know only four are showing but there were more, honestly . . . .

This is a classic 1935 film ( yes a real oldie . . and no, I didn't see it until much, much later than 1935 :-))  a thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and it really is worth seeing if you can.

This is my photo. It was taken on the island of Nisyros and is in the partly uninhabited village of Emporios.

The texture I used was "warm sun" and I used soft light at 65% and then two further layers using linear burn at 30% and 32%. On the first linear burn layer I used the black brush to lessen the intensity in some areas.

This island is really worth a visit if you are in the group of Greek islands called the Dodecanese. It's small but the whole centre of the island is a volcano caldera which is still very "mushy" in places . . . .ancient geological term :-) . .   . . .  and has some yellow sulphur rising up, but according to everyone completely safe. This is the wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisyros

Can't wait to see what you've all been up to . .
Love Teresa xx :-)

Really late with this

I didn't get around to posting this until now but wanted to post a photo so That I continue with the August break.

This is one of my favourite plants, the agapanthus. This one was only partly opened but that's the joy, the fact that day by day they emerge just a little bit more . . . .

See you tomorrow for Texture Tuesday

Love Teresa xx :-)

The same . . .. . .but different

I did a close up of an hibiscus the other day and instead of keeping it the original lovely peachy orange colour, I decided to see what other colours would look like.

So here are four different variations, pink ,b/w, blue and mauve.

I think the pink version is my favourite and I would be very interested to hear which one you like best.

Thanks for stopping by . . . .xx  :-))              


I had a comment from August 2011 who asked if I could show the original, so here is the original shot plus a photo of the whole bloom taken last year.

xxx :-)

Did you say bzzzzzzzzz

I call this shot Happy Landings :-))

Hope you have a good day

Love Teresa xx :-))

Wildflowers

One of the joys of living here in Greece is that from the time of the first rain after the summer ( September or October) the land begins to green up. So by the time Autumn is established it's like Spring :-)

The wild flowers begin to start to appear around December and from then on it's just one variety after another culminating in a really full bodied burgeoning in April. It is really lovely and an absolute gift to anyone who enjoys photographing flowers . . .

Beautiful daisies, there are fields full of them, some white and yellow like this one others all yellow, some small some large , just delightful . .  . ..the texture is by Kim Klassen

I would love to be able to give a name to this plant but I don't know what it's called . . . .

The mauvy/blue flowers of this plant are tiny, I had to get down on the floor to get these. Actually getting down isn't the problem but getting up is.!! I could tell you the story of the day I toppled over backwards through gateposts and got stuck . .  . but to save my dignity . . . I won't  :-))

Texture again by Kim Klassen.

Hope you enjoy these  flowers. They really cheer me and honestly, I get nearly awestruck by their beauty. 

Please feel free to leave comments, I love to get them.

Love Teresa xx :-)

Kos windmills

If you see the title of this you will probably think of the pictures of the windmills on Mykonos you have seen and if you haven't seen them this link will show you what I mean.            

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mykonos_windmills

Here on Kos we have some windmills like this but almost all have fallen into disrepair except for one in the village of Antimacheia, which has been renovated and when I visited it some years ago, could still grind wheat.

No, the windmills which are on plain view on the island now are the ones that generate electricity. I've got used to seeing them in the distance and use them daily to see the direction of the wind. It's interesting that the wind is a really good indicator of the likelihood of rain. In the summer it doesn't work because from the end of May until at least September there will be no rain irrespective of where the wind comes from, but during the other months when the wind is from the South, the chances of rain are very high, whereas when it's from the North it will be clear and invariably dry. I love the predictability of this.

So whilst I've come to accept the presence of the windmills I never saw them as being particularly attractive until one day . . . . .

I was driving into Kos town with a friend of mine and she had to stop at the local wood yard to pick up something for her husband , it was winter and although a good couple of hours after sunrise, the day still had that early morning feel about it. I was sat in the car and looked over to a set of newly erected windmills. The light and clouds had conspired to make the windmills look quite lovely in the morning light. I always keep a small camera in my handbag so was able to take some photos.

So this is my first photo today.

Since becoming enthralled by photography about 3 years ago, it never ceases to amaze me how intricate and beautiful flowers are up close, it's a whole new world. So this second photo is of a bottlebrush as the flowers were beginning to unfurl

The flowers remind me of the strips of red liquorice I could buy as a child !!

I'm up really early this morning, the dog heard something . . . . . . .as dogs do . . . .then they go back to sleep and I'm wide awake . . .. . so it's breakfast time for me now.

Thanks for visiting, hope to see you again soon.

Love, Teresa xx :-)

Texture Tuesday time

So today the theme was "it's the little things: at Texture Tuesday over at http://www.kimklassencafe.com/thecafe/

I wanted to get in really close to this aster to show the wonderful flower world up close. I used two of Kims textures, dusty rose and golden.

I'm looking forward to popping over to the cafe to see what everyone has been up to, later

Thanks for stopping by, Teresa xx  :-)

Things that fly

 

As part of the August Break I thought I'd show you a couple of the visitors we get in the garden. They're not rare or anything but still very beautiful.

This first is a swallowtail butterfly I captured when I was sat in a cafe run by a couple of friends of mine. If you are ever in Kefalos it's called T42 and the food is excellent and you get such a warm welcome.

I took my camera with me because Tony who is one of the owners had grown some really spectacular asters and I wanted to get some photos. As I sat there wondering what to shoot a swallowtail butterfly came along and quite happily posed for pics. This is quite fitting really when you think of where the shot was taken and don't you think the aster looks like a coconut madelaine cake ?? Maybe that's just me :-)

This is the result. I used a texture by Leslie Nicole (see button on right panel)

The second photo is of a dragonfly who was sat in the early morning sun drying himself out. I didn't realise they looked so cute up close !!

I'm looking forward to having a mooch around your blogs later on today . . . .I'm off to make the beds now.

Love Teresa XX :-)

No August Break......

 . . . . . .but I wanted to post something anyway.

I was down near the harbour on a really still summer evening and the patterns in the water were lovely. I only had my "point and shoot" with me but I snapped this and then worked on it a little.

Hope you enjoy it :-)

Just off for a cuppa, see you soon xx

Another day, another photo (or 2)

Competition entry using "purple prose" at http://frenchkisstextures.com/

I'm staying in my comfort zone today . . . . .flowers and I must get out with my camera at some point and do some more snapping otherwise I'm going to get get twitchy :-)

I know that if you're sat under grey skies this will seem difficult to understand but I'm really looking forward to the middle of September, the summer will almost be over. It's the autumn, winter and spring I enjoy most over here. It can be cold in the winter and rainy, but usually not for too long and I can get out and about whenever I want. In the summer unless it's early morning or evening, any trips outside have to be limited because of the fierce sun, even then I tend to hop from shade to shade. It's great if you want to spend the day at the beach which is lovely of course but for general living . . . . .roll on September !!

Ok so here we are for today.

This first shot is of Wisteria and treated with a texture by Leslie Nicole http://frenchkisstextures.com/
This is an entry in a competition at her site using the texture "purple prose"

and I thought I'd keep the purple theme going with this close up of a freesia.

I loved the way the sunlight was shining through the petals.


Looking forward to seeing what you are posting today .
Hope to see you soon. Love  Teresa xx :-)

Here's another one for the August Break called chimneys . . . . not one of my more creative titles :-)

It was taken on The island of Nisyros when I went there for the day this July

Have a good day,
Love Teresa xx :-)

The August Break

I'm joining in with this challenge, whereby we have to post a photo for each day in August.

Now as I'm delighted to have any excuse to post my flower pics I'm really looking forward to this :-)

One problem :-( I haven't any flowers left in my garden to photo, they've all hunkered on down for the summer but I do have lots in reserve I can share and there are some gardens around that are watered every day which are still producing blooms which I can snap away at and . . . . I could always think outside of the box and photograph other things!!!

I'm in Greece you see and our summers are fierce. We don't have rain between the end of May and September or October so everything gets very crispy!!

A lot of my photos have textures layers added and all of them have been worked on in Elements (can't afford the grown up version ) to get the look that I want and to make them be the photograph I would have taken in the first place if I was a better photographer!!

If I get the hang of that mouse over thingy I'll include that as well.

I'm really looking forward to this and to seeing lots of lovely stuff.

This is a dahlia with a texture by Leslie Nicole http://frenchkisstextures.com/

And this is a shot of campsis with a texture by Kim Klassen http://www.kimklassencafe.com/thecafe/

Thanks for looking and I hope you call again soon, Teresa xx :-)

It's Tuesday so it's Texture Tuesday

It's Tuesday so it's time for me to post my Texture Tuesday entry over at Kim's site http://www.kimklassencafe.com/thecafe/ and I know there will be lots of inspiring for me to see later.

Anyway here's my entry this week, Freesias which I photographed after a rain shower when the sun had reappeared.

For those of you who would like to know what I did to the photo, I've detailed the steps below.

After some editing to increase the detail I used the "subtly yours" texture and masked out (black brush) various parts of the photo at different opacities . I used the soft light blend mode.

I then duplicated the layer two more times using soft light and adjusted the mask layer to get the look I wanted.

I used a burn brush at a very low opacity around the corners and went over with the impressionist brush at a very low opacity to blur certain areas.

That was it. If anyone wants any more info just contact me

Thanks for popping by, I love visitors . . . . . .
See you soon, Teresa xx :-)

If I were God

I’ve always thought of myself as a fairly average sort of person and I don’t mean that in a disparaging way but my life experiences have conformed to most peoples, given that there is a wide degree of variance anyway.

Not for me unopened parachutes, lottery wins, being struck by lightning . . . I think you get the drift . . . and the reason I’m telling you all this? Well I‘ve concluded that in my Christian life the things that I feel, the problems I have and the doubts I experience will be common to the majority of Christians as we go about our daily lives. So if I tell you about myself and the insights I’ve had which have drawn me closer to God and pass them on, maybe you will be able to relate to them and if I’ve seen something that makes my walk with God, more joyous, more steadfast, more loving, then maybe you will benefit.

So, the title of this post“ If I were God” and the thoughts it produces are like a can of worms. These thoughts often sit just below our conscious thoughts, and we often suppress them because we tell ourselves that we know and believe that God’s ways are above ours, we just can’t understand everything yet. And I really, truly believe that, but . . . .I’ve found that whilst I don’t admit to myself that there are things which I would do differently “ If I were God” things that I would change, that I wouldn’t allow to happen,  then it’s like having a part of me that I hide away because it’s not acceptable to God, something I want to keep hidden because I’m frightened that if I admit it, then it will be starting on a slippery slope of doubt and I don’t know where it will end.

But over the last few years I’ve begun to see that God’s love for me is so great that I just can’t begin to appreciate it or experience it without total trust on my part that nothing I can think say or do can shock Him. In fact when I’ve got places in my heart that I keep closed off because I’m ashamed of them then, in fact,  that’s a place that I won’t let God enter and I need Him in every area of my life.

His love really is beyond measure, he loves us totally and we can trust Him completely.

Speak again soon,
Love Teresa xx :-)