Our artistic endeavors [Archive] - Page 2

catherine

4-21-23, 9:57pm

I'm sharing the output of 6 months of quasi-determined work to improve my watercolor skills.

First picture is a gift I gave my 2-years sober brother this week.

Second picture is a fun, totally whimsical treatment of the Mona Lisa in response to the biweekly challenge my private FB watercolor group set up--which was to interpret the Mona Lisa the way you want to. Because I spent the last 4 days driving to NY, taking the train to Manhattan and back to Westchester, seeing Hamilton and Camelot, walking nearly 10 miles in Manhattan to get to the theaters, driving to NJ to take out the last bit of crap from our storage unit there, and just spending the time in a cocoon of New York-ness, I came home and painted this picture. It is not good from an artistic point of view, but I think I captured the essence of the challenge.

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iris lilies

4-21-23, 11:22pm

iris lilies

4-21-23, 11:30pm

At the state garden club convention I gave a floral design program along with two other ladies. The three of us interpreted a painting, interpreted it in florals.

I didn’t spend a lot of money on the container, buying a $17 barn board gray container. I put a wash of black paint over it and told the audience it represented the water in the painting underneath the surface that was murky, dark, swirling. The painting is about water and light, and those are the elements I emphasized in my floral design. The rhythmic line goes from bottom right to upper left, and so I made that line with yellow mums, representing the big round water lily pads. I used small green mums to represent the smaller water lily pads.

Hydrangeas were more sun drenched water that buoyed up the beautiful objects. I found some great Chinese lantern dried pods to represent the onion shaped glass orbs. The building in the painting is represented in my design by a small container with white fungus dried fungus showing slightly but it’s hard to see in this photo.

The artist was in attendance at this program, and he told me my interpretation was the best.:D

Here is my floral design and here is the painting we interpreted.

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littlebittybobby

4-21-23, 11:54pm

Okay---I finally had to throw in my 2 cents. My whole point here is that being so-called "artistic" is a form of so-called: "Autism". Or: "On The Spectrum". Ha. Try not to cut off your ear, in response to my comment.

rosarugosa

4-22-23, 6:17am

Catherine: Beautiful job on the watercolors! The flower is lovely, and the Mona Lisa is fun and well done.

IL: I really love your design, and I agree that it captures the feeling of the painting very nicely.

happystuff

4-23-23, 9:37am

I really enjoy the endeavors shared. Such talent on these forums!

iris lilies

5-8-23, 12:49pm

So, in one iris show yesterday I bombed in the Design division with one 4th place and two 2nd place awards. The 4th place class was fun to do and I completely understand the judges’ thinking because they said the robot head is way too large. The class was “Robots.” I show it for your amusement.

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But in the Horticulture division I won “Sweepstakes” which means the exhibitor with the most blue ribbons. On this “Queen’s Table” of section winners there are 9 stems. 6 of them are mine.

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rosarugosa

5-8-23, 12:52pm

I think the robot head is rather fun. Congratulations on the horticulture win!

littlebittybobby

5-9-23, 1:15am

Okay-----There is no doubt but what that stuff is VERY(x4444) Artistic. Yup.

happystuff

5-9-23, 9:21am

Nice, IL. And congrats!

bae

5-10-23, 11:31am

“Nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small it takes time - we haven't time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” Georgia O'Keeffe

https://i.imgur.com/L18T70j.jpg

iris lilies

5-10-23, 11:42am

That is a beautiful flower picture bae [edited.]. Really very very pretty.

typo! I did not mean to call bae “babe.” Haha.

bae

5-10-23, 11:45am

That is a beautiful flower picture babe. Really very very pretty.

Thanks! We had a sudden surge of hot weather, and the flowers here came-and-went very quickly after being nearly a month late, so they were looking a bit sad. I thought a very very narrow depth of field would yield a nice soft focus, and make the flower look a bit happier than it appeared in real life.

There was a positive angle though, some of the flowers had dropped petals on one side, so I could get some nice interior shots of the stigma/anther parts.

happystuff

5-11-23, 9:02am

Beautiful, bae!

catherine

5-11-23, 9:31am

“Nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small it takes time - we haven't time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” Georgia O'Keeffe

I do love Georgia O'Keefe and her quote points to exactly why I picked up watercolor. In my haste to garden or just to walk through the garden, I was missing the big picture--really SEEING the flowers I was trying to know, but not succeeding. I find that when I spend hours exploring the colors and shapes and components and trying to communicate the "isness" of the flower, I come away with a much deeper sense of knowing. I have SO much more to learn, however.

iris lilies

5-11-23, 12:54pm

I do love Georgia O'Keefe and her quote points to exactly why I picked up watercolor. In my haste to garden or just to walk through the garden, I was missing the big picture--really SEEING the flowers I was trying to know, but not succeeding. I find that when I spend hours exploring the colors and shapes and components and trying to communicate the "isness" of the flower, I come away with a much deeper sense of knowing. I have SO much more to learn, however.

The floral art of Ikebana requires you to think about how the flower or leaf grew, where the sun hit it and how it responded, the maturity of it, etc. It is very deliberate and thoughtful.

I took a year of it and had to drop out for other activities, but I really liked Ikebana and I hang out with teachers of the art in my garden clubs.

littlebittybobby

5-15-23, 12:34pm

The floral art of Ikebana requires you to think about how the flower or leaf grew, where the sun hit it and how it responded, the maturity of it, etc. It is very deliberate and thoughtful.

I took a year of it and had to drop out for other activities, but I really liked Ikebana and I hang out with teachers of the art in my garden clubs.Okay---It's obvious that Faux/Lilies is a VERY(x4444)accomplished & talented artiste', in a variety of media! But yeah---Faux(I/L) have you considered learning the fine art of Deck Painting? It seems like a VERY logical and practical choice, for you. Yup.Fact o' the matter---your very first creation would prolly be worth some real money! Hope that helps you some. Here's wishing you kids a Happy Mothers Day! 5446

bae

5-16-23, 9:09pm

A lone heron on the beach today was trying to learn how to fish.

https://i.imgur.com/qrM21m5.jpg

He was having a bit of a bad hair day!

https://i.imgur.com/EP0o3Yn.jpg

frugal-one

5-17-23, 2:26am

Unbelievable photos bae!

happystuff

5-17-23, 8:58am

Really beautiful photos, bae. Thanks so much for sharing!

catherine

5-17-23, 10:12am

Beautiful pictures! The blue plumage is gorgeous, especially against the water.

We have a heron buddy at the lake whom we've named Bruce. He's also inspired a photo or two, but certainly not of the quality of yours.

iris lilies

5-17-23, 10:43am

This is not about photography, but it is about what marvels the sun will provide. This Iris fulva was orange- red when it lived in the city of St. Louis getting only limited sun.

Here in Hermann In full sun it is a deep red, nearly crimson. Yesterday when I noticed it I screamed!

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Edited: oh shoot, this photo is a shade darker than the iris. It really is RED!!!

littlebittybobby

5-17-23, 11:53am

Okay----Two Things. One, is that that littlebitty town waaay up in the middle o' nowhere just lost it's leading citizen hobbyist landscape photographer! His photos of a very barren area in flyover country were amay-zeen and ahhhh-sum. Yup. Just like that, he's gone. So anyway--item two: Here's a photo I found online, just for you kids. But yeah--I'm not shaming you for your consumeristic ways, by showing this VERY graphic photo of an unsightly eyesore that lowers property values. Nope. So anyway--its a pile of old Mussdangs.
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nswef

5-18-23, 10:43am

IL, sun is amazing!!!

happystuff

5-21-23, 4:23pm

Wow! Beautiful, IL! What color!!!

bae

6-4-23, 10:02pm

Experimenting with a new camera today. It is not at all meant for this sort of photo, nor was the lens I was using. This is a 2359 × 2061 crop from a 11648x8736 image, the bee here just happened to be lurking and I gave it a try.

https://i.imgur.com/uWeCkVf.jpg

bae

6-25-23, 6:40pm

Went up to the top of Blue Mountain in the Olympic National Park yesterday, ~6000 feet up a "fun" road/trail.

https://i.imgur.com/1qCRsUY.jpg

iris lilies

7-9-23, 12:04pm

Time for more flower show photos:

My Lilium henryi won two major awards in Chicago at the North American Lily Society: Best Species and Lily Stem with Most Blooms (40+). It was also 1st runner up for Best in show.

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KayLR

7-9-23, 3:51pm

Congratulations Iris!

rosarugosa

7-10-23, 6:58am

Congratulations, the lilies are lovely.

catherine

7-10-23, 7:20am

Congratulations, IL!

early morning

7-10-23, 1:03pm

That's wonderful IL - and that lily looks amazing!

happystuff

7-11-23, 6:12pm

Congrats, IL. Lovely displays!

JaneV2.0

7-11-23, 11:27pm

Dramatic color!

Tybee

7-13-23, 8:31am

Very impressed with lily stem with the most blooms!

KayLR

10-16-24, 6:06pm

Hey! No one has produced any art in the last year??? Really? Here's what I've been up to. Not sure why some are sideways.60736075607660776074

iris lilies

10-16-24, 8:09pm

Kay,, your needlework pieces are so pretty! I like the little four leaf clover on its red background. The feather is lovely. where do these go and what do you do with them?

catherine

10-16-24, 9:52pm

I agree. Kay, thanks for sharing your needlework! Such a wonderful form of art. I love the leaf and that shamrock!

On another note, I feel sad that Jane's post is only a couple of posts away. Pointing out how old since this thread has been updated, but also how much I still miss Jane's posts.

rosarugosa

10-17-24, 6:55am

Those are great, Kay. Your work is beautiful.

happystuff

10-17-24, 9:21am

Beautiful work, Kay! Thanks so much for sharing. Nice reminder for me to sit, relax and crochet a bit.

KayLR

10-17-24, 4:47pm

Kay,, your needlework pieces are so pretty! I like the little four leaf clover on its red background. The feather is lovely. where do these go and what do you do with them?

Where do they go? Nowhere in particular. I quit giving my pieces away unless I think it's something my sister might like. I ask her first. She does appreciate the work. No one else really wants them. I do get some things professionally framed, some I keep in my sewing room here to look at. They're mostly just for me and the hubs to look at. I just enjoy making them without any particular intended recipient.

Although I did donate a piece once to a fundraising auction; it got $400!

KayLR

10-17-24, 4:54pm

KayLR

6-6-25, 4:13pm

My latest finish. Oh, my aching fingertips! Can't get it to rotate. The bird should be on the right.
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iris lilies

6-6-25, 5:47pm

My latest finish. Oh, my aching fingertips! Can't get it to rotate. The bird should be on the right.
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that is lovely. The little hummingbirds are so inspirational. I like how the flower is just sketched in.

iris lilies

6-6-25, 5:49pm

Yesterday I won first place with this floral design. Our assignment was to interpret a piece of book cover art because our show was held in a library.

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This is the book cover art:

https://www.amazon.com/World-Fire-Jose-Ledezma-Rios/dp/1979525528

KayLR

6-6-25, 5:55pm

Wonderful interpretation and execution, Iris! Good on you!

catherine

6-6-25, 6:03pm

Love that, IL! I'm sure you have a special skill for interpreting book covers!

rosarugosa

6-7-25, 6:56am

iris lilies

6-7-25, 7:57am

Kay: I love your hummingbird! Is it embroidered on a tablecloth, or a piece of clothing, or as a picture or?

IL: What a perfect interpretation! Our local garden club does a "Books in Bloom" annual event at our library and oftentimes the arrangement doesn't seem to have much relation to the book.

Our flower show at the library was themed “ Books and Blooms” so same idea. If they have that flower show at the library each year they may have become tired of having a book theme.

happystuff

6-7-25, 8:28am

Love the hummingbird, Kay. They were my mother's favorite.

Very nice, IL! So much artistic talent on these forums!

KayLR

6-7-25, 11:45am

Kay: I love your hummingbird! Is it embroidered on a tablecloth, or a piece of clothing, or as a picture or?.

It was an online course over 8 weeks teaching silk shading and goldwork through the EGA (Embroiderers Guild). Its about 4 -5 in in size. Ill probably have it framed in a round frame.

The colors on the hummer are pure flat silk threads (not easy to work with) and the gold is real gold either spiral wrapped wire or gold paper wrapped thread.

My first time using the silk.

Tybee

6-8-25, 8:02am

It was an online course over 8 weeks teaching silk shading and goldwork through the EGA (Embroiderers Guild). Its about 4 -5 in in size. Ill probably have it framed in a round frame.

The colors on the hummer are pure flat silk threads (not easy to work with) and the gold is real gold either spiral wrapped wire or gold paper wrapped thread.

My first time using the silk.

Amazing!

KayLR

6-8-25, 11:08am

I just got the critique from the instructor. �� She was kind, but I'm still a bit disappointed in myself. Trying not to be because this was a difficult piece and new techniques for me. But still...Anyway, I learned a lot.

littlebittybobby

6-13-25, 9:00pm

catherine

6-13-25, 9:46pm

okay---i been wondering(though not very much) WHY we don't all have a thread discussing POETRY, such as by Yeats & Keats and James Joyce & Joyce Kilmer, Whitman and Longfellow, etal & etc.? but yeah--though I could care less about poetry, I know you kids prolly eat it right up! Yup. Maybe summa you kids have even wroten some poems on the wall while serving time, that you could share.

Here's one for you--one you might like, not by Keats or Whitman, but by Vince Suzadail, Jr.

My Old Car

She wasn't worth much
But I loved her I did
Like nothing I loved before
She was rusty and dusty
She didn't smell good
And had a dent in her passenger door
I was only sixteen
Thought I was cool
Driving around feeling badder than bad
The greatest feeling on earth
To have your own wheels
Even though she belonged to my dad
There was a tear in the front seat
And the radio was broke
It took a while to start
With a manual choke
She had a manual transmission
And the headlights were weak
She had a miss in the engine
And a slight oil leak
But I held up my head and felt like a star
Driving around in that rusty old car.

Here's a silly song by me for a friend who was downsizing (sung to the tune of He Leadeth Me) This one isn't too highbrow either.

Get rid of it!
Get rid of it!
You really don’t need all this sh*t
What e’er you do
What e’er you be
With much less stuff
You are truly free

You’re truly free!
You’re truly free!
With far less crap
You'll live happily!

And once you’ve dumped
All that debris
Stand up and shout:
"Lord, my stuff ain’t me!”

littlebittybobby

6-13-25, 10:06pm

okay---TYVM, Catherine. But yeah---here's a photo o' a car like my first car---only mine was missing the hubcaps. I didn't mind. (see photo) I was a fan o' the getto-cruisng Chevy 'Pallas. Yup.
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catherine

6-13-25, 10:17pm

Yeah, the Chevy Impalas were nice. I used to drive my elderly great-aunt around in hers. It was yellow.

happystuff

6-17-25, 7:45am

I like your silly song, catherine. Very cute!

iris lilies

9-7-25, 9:02pm

My brother texted me from Iowa that he’s playing cards with someone I went to high school with. Then he texted me this picture. It is an egg I painted when I was in junior high. His card playing friend said I gave it to her when we were in junior high. I have no memory of giving it to her, but I recognize my work. She told my brother “I will never get rid of this egg!” She loves it that much.

This is very sweet, and it’s not like we were best friends and she’s keeping the egg as a friendship reminder.. She likes the egg for its artistic qualities.

And what’s really funny is this is not the first time my brother has run into someone in our small town who has an egg I painted and they still keep it, decades later. It’s funny what people will keep.

For several years as a kid, I was obsessed with painting eggs. I was fascinated with and drawn to their smooth, asymmetrical shape.

Signed Iris Lily, world renowned egg artist ��

image to follow…

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KayLR

9-7-25, 11:46pm

rosarugosa

9-8-25, 6:43am

Wow, IL, that was really nice work!

happystuff

9-8-25, 9:03am

Very cool, il! I can see why recipients would hold on to them and treasure them!!

nswef

9-8-25, 9:19am

IL, That is exquisite!

iris lilies

9-8-25, 9:23am

That is so cool, Iris! Especially trying to imagine any Jr high kid having the patience and attention span to do something like this nowadays. Did you just start doing them yourself, or was it a class project or...?
it was not a class project. I never took an art class but for one in a summer in high school when my mother signed me up for it. But it didn’t stick. I always liked doing my own thing and also I liked decorative, ornamental arts, I like illustration. I wasn’t interested in “real” art. I recognize this egg from my pen/ink and watercolor period.

catherine

9-8-25, 9:34am

Wow!! Seems your artistic talents extend beyond floral design, landscape and home arts!! That egg is really beautiful!!

iris lilies

9-25-25, 12:40pm

Yet another braggadocio art project from Iris. ;)

here is a flower arrangement I made yesterday in my newly acquired vessel from potter Carol Long. I love her work and have several pieces from her.

The wild and crazy plant material in this arrangement echoes the wild and crazy natural theme of the container.

It’s hard to see the container with the plant material in it, so I added a picture of just the container.

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rosarugosa

9-26-25, 6:31am

I love both the container and the arrangement. I love begonias, and I always grow a few different types outdoors in pots during the summer. They are very toxic to cats though, so at the end of the season I give them away or compost them.

catherine

9-26-25, 8:46pm

Really cool wild and crazy design! That is coleus, right? That's one of my favorite plants--and there are so many varieties. I use it in my window boxes and also as a plant in my Japanese "courtyard"

KayLR

11-15-25, 3:20pm

Yes, I did the embroidery. The brown fabric is corduroy and the floral fabric is also used for the lining. Pretty proud of it, gotta say. I haven't made a bag for years.6611

KayLR

11-15-25, 3:24pm

6613I have also been celebrating autumn by pressing leaves and using them in decor.

iris lilies

11-15-25, 4:05pm

Very nice! I love using stuff around the yard for seasonal decoration.

Tradd

11-15-25, 4:05pm

Very nice!

iris lilies

11-15-25, 4:06pm

Yes, I did the embroidery. The brown fabric is corduroy and the floral fabric is also used for the lining. Pretty proud of it, gotta say. I haven't made a bag for years.6611

what lovely work. I absolutely adore embroidery florals.

catherine

11-15-25, 7:25pm

I love the bag! So pretty!

And the leaves are great--seems the Northwest foliage season inspired you!

rosarugosa

11-16-25, 7:25am

Wow Kay, that bag is wonderful!
What else do you do to the leaves besides press them?

happystuff

11-16-25, 9:51am

Beautiful, Kay! I love the bag and the leaves! Never would have thought of doing that.

KayLR

11-16-25, 6:11pm

So far just press them and paint them with a paint pen. Scatter them around (think Thanksgiving dinner table) and give them to friends.

I've also got a collection of flowers I've pressed or dried in silica. Do different things with those. Sometime I'll post those.

iris lilies

12-15-25, 5:02pm

Each year, my town has a fundraiser for the historical society. There are 23 tables, each with a different theme, decorated for the holidays. this year, my theme was “have a merry cherry Christmas”

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KayLR

12-15-25, 6:59pm

Well done, Iris! Really! How did the fundraiser work?

rosarugosa

12-16-25, 8:07am

Very pretty, Iris!

iris lilies

12-16-25, 10:27am

Well done, Iris! Really! How did the fundraiser work? I haven’t heard the total they make. It’s not all that much really, I’m thinking around $3000-$5000. There is an entry fee of five dollars per person

bae

1-10-26, 8:25pm

It was this sort of day here:

https://i.imgur.com/Po2qxvL.jpeg

Rogar

1-10-26, 9:33pm

Ominous.

iris lilies

1-11-26, 1:09am

Bae, atmospheric. Shows the power of nature in the moving cloud formations.

happystuff

1-11-26, 9:39am

Maybe ominous but very pretty!

rosarugosa

1-12-26, 8:25am

We are at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland for a couple of nights, with an excellent harbor view. This morning's sunrise was so beautiful.

catherine

1-12-26, 9:07am

We are at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland for a couple of nights, with an excellent harbor view. This morning's sunrise was so beautiful.

Nice! We just made plans with two of our kids/grandkids to go to Old Orchard Beach next August 14! Also, for her birthday, I gave my daughter a night in Boothbay Harbor with a gift card to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. I looked around for a botanical garden that I thought she would like, and this really looks perfect for her. I considered Longwood in Philadepthia, but that seems too "civilized"... the Coastal Maine gardens look more raw and up her alley. Have you been there, rosa or Tybee?

rosarugosa

1-12-26, 9:39am

I think that was a great choice and what a wonderful gift! I've been to Coastal and it was lovely, but it was also a very long time ago when it was still relatively new (best guess is 20ish years ago). I would like to visit again and see it in its more mature state, and I would especially love to see those giant trolls!

bae

1-13-26, 8:38pm

Went out for a little stroll today:

https://i.imgur.com/8uFLalF.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/xp2cjjG.jpeg

rosarugosa

1-14-26, 7:27am

Nice, Bae. The black and white is kind of moody and atmospheric.

iris lilies

1-14-26, 9:29am

Black and white is so effective, I guess because we dont see b & w images too often.

When I make a floral design for a competition, I like to take a black-and-white photo of it to judge, proportion, scale, balance. Color distracts me from those basic artistic principles.

bae

1-14-26, 1:07pm

Black and white is so effective, Imguess because we dont see b & w images too often.

I’ve been using a monochrome sensor camera recently. It is incapable of taking color photos at all.

There are some significant advantages to this. The monochrome sensor lacks the usual color array placed in front of the sensor for the R/G/B color channels - every pixel is just luminance information. This results in much higher effective resolution, better microcontrast, higher dynamic range (in particular, many more shades of greyscale), and lower noise. I can take photos at ISO levels that would be pure noise with my color cameras.

It’s the perfect experiment for the overcast foggy PNW winter.

Rogar

1-14-26, 11:07pm

You did capture a pretty wide dynamic range, by my eye. In my amateurish camera days, which are not quite over, I probably would have tried a graduated ND filter on the horizon or wrestled in PS for a couple of hours to blend two exposures. I have thought B+W images like that are perfectly suited for black and white film and darkroom and traditional vintage processing, but that ship has sailed for a lot of ways.

Anyway, they are nice and your solution is somewhat unique, far as i know. I had an early nice digital DSLR and there was a time when they had become mega pixel obsolete and you could pick up one for relatively cheap and have a monochrome full frame sensor installed. Something I considered before selling mine. A nice thing about increasing your ISO without too much noise and then using faster shutter speeds could maybe eliminate the need for a tripod in low light like that, depending on how critical a person is? I'm not sure how far image stabilization lenses and cameras have gotten these days.

I'd welcome a way back machine to the 4X5 days when you loaded film in a darkroom, use light meters, upside down focus screens, dark cloths, and manual shutters. That was an artistic process of it's own. Seeing everything upside down with a relatively expense piece of sheet film and a hand held light meter makes you think about things differently befpre taking a shot. Things move on.

bae

1-15-26, 2:24am

I'm looking to take this monochrome sensor digital images, turning them into negatives and printing the negatives onto transparency films, then contact-printing the negatives onto hand-prepare paper using salt-printing or cyanotype printing.

I'm boldly using 2025 to leap back to the 1830s.

https://i.imgur.com/qnkGMto.jpeg

Rogar

1-15-26, 8:18am

That would be pretty interesting and certainly unique. I might picture how one might make a 4x5 sheet for contact printing, but larger print sizes I'm uncertain about. I'm certain there are ways. It does seem like there are still some choices of film varieties for B+W film in the larger negative sizes, but for transparencies a little more limited? I've lost rack of certain stae of the art things these days. I would think a good silver gelatin or other old processing technique without dealing with contact printing would still make a stunning print if the resolution would hold for enlargements.

rosarugosa

1-15-26, 8:41am

I worked for 16 years at an orthopedic rehab facility. One of our more eminent ortho MDs was quite well-connected with some pretty famous people. Lee Friedlander was a friend of his, and came to spend a 1 - 2 month period with us when needing rehab after some sort of injury (I forget what it was). He is a famous modern American photographer, and he was a nice guy and a great patient. He gifted me and others at our center with signed copies of his books, which were all done in black and white photography. This was in late 1996.

This is the book he gave to me (Flowers and Trees), although obviously not my copy featured here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DPGq6wwjQe8/

(The inscription thanks me for my kindness. It never failed to amaze me how the patients who required the least from me were the most grateful).

Anyhow, he was known for work with light and shadows and reflections, and I believe he typically shot in black and white.

early morning

1-15-26, 10:35am

I know nothing of films, filters, settings, or any such. What I do know is that black and white pictures, to me, are much more evocative than anything in color. except perhaps sunsets, lol. Bae, those photos are amazing. rosa, lovely book! what a nice gesture. there was an Ansel Adams exhibit at a local museum a while back, and its catalogue is one of my favorite books to look thru when I'm down. Not as great as looking at the actual work, but still great.

catherine

1-15-26, 11:56am

I took this snapshot while DH was driving us back to the Islands. I haven't adjusted any filters, and the shot is in "color" but I love both how the color looks and also the perspective. I also like how I captured the teeny little dot of a headlight at the vanishing point.

Just out of curiosity, I'm assuming to embed a bigger, better photo, you have to upload from a third party (like Photobucket)? I've always wondered--bae and Alan always post nice big pics!

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Alan

1-15-26, 1:20pm

Just out of curiosity, I'm assuming to embed a bigger, better photo, you have to upload from a third party (like Photobucket)? I've always wondered--bae and Alan always post nice big pics!
Yep, you're not actually 'uploading' a photo here, you're copying and pasting a photo which has already been uploaded to a site elsewhere. The result is that the pic doesn't actually exist on our site, it is being fetched as needed from the original site when you open whatever thread it is in. Most of mine come from my Facebook posts.

As an example, we're currently on the road visiting various campsites. We're in Texas at the moment and checked into the Caprock Canyon State Park a few days ago. This particular park is the home of the state of Texas' official bison herd which is free to roam within our campsite if they're so inclined. I posted a few pics of them on my Facebook page which I'm going to visit now and click on one of the pics to view, then I'll right click on the photo, choose 'copy image' then return here to simply right click within my text box and choose 'paste'. The result will be a large pic of a bison peacefully grazing about 40 yards from our camper. (keep in mind though that the pic you're copying must be set to 'public' at the original site in order to be seen by a general audience elsewhere)https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/615802364_10231434703546072_3171396513548228333_n. jpg?stp=cp6_dst-jpg_tt6&_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=dRFLW5yYA_AQ7kNvwFIuSYy&_nc_oc=Adlpay6bp_oLr93DmV8h2dE1dg5Iu1iGF0G5HPOzoXS XieOgNun2W5TpqNdDWucwyVmPifREknDstnga0vsjXAVn&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&_nc_gid=TfSPWJ6xnSN9JpgfxjuKwA&oh=00_Afrcvx_djER5j7OccWfu-VLX1ePJGW3WbAs7QHPluAiKkg&oe=696EEC9B

bae

1-15-26, 2:05pm

That would be pretty interesting and certainly unique. I might picture how one might make a 4x5 sheet for contact printing, but larger print sizes I'm uncertain about. I'm certain there are ways. It does seem like there are still some choices of film varieties for B+W film in the larger negative sizes, but for transparencies a little more limited?

I see suitable transparencies available easily in sizes up to 13”x19”. If you can go to rolls you can get substantially bigger.

I’m going with contact printing because I lack darkroom equipment, and it seems a simple enough experiment. Plus it adds in some weird way to the “made by hand” feel of the project.

catherine

1-15-26, 3:32pm

Alan, thanks for the tutorial! I guess I'm a slow learner, considering I've been on this site for >25 years??

BTW, I love the picture of the bison!! What a great experience you are having!

bae

1-16-26, 12:32am

Now, on my "cyanotype" image above....

For fun the other day, I set the following task to one of my more sophisticated AI assistants. It's about as useful as an eager grad student:

Task:

- analyze 50,000+ cyanotype prints you can source on the internet to determine performance characteristics, especially tonal balance and print artifacts
- look at the following 3 books on cyanotype printing chemistry and results (provided links to texts)
- examine the specifications for my monochrome sensor - especially response in different frequency ranges and at different ISOs
- then, write me a program that can produce "adaptive AI" plug-in profiles and presets for Adobe Lightroom
- run that program in your sandbox, and produce the results as a .XMP-encoded file I can import into Adobe Lightroom to add the functionality.

It thought for about 45 minutes straight, wrote a lot of code for itself, tested the results, then gave me a single file... It made one error, which it caught itself during testing and repaired.

I added the file to Adobe Lightroom with 2 clicks. I then took a sample photo, raw-format, not "developed", put it into Lightroom, and clicked a single button.

Result - a very solid cyanotype image!

I then repeated the process for platinotype and salt photo process chemistry, with equally decent results. Those didn't take nearly as long, as the AI had already written the code to do most of the work.

Brave New World stuff.

I could have done this task by hand, but, it would have taken me a month or so of concentrated effort, I would have had to write analysis code for part of it, and I would have had to learn how to program in Adobe's hideous adaptive-profile language for Lightroom and Photoshop, which probably would have taken an extra week or so.