WaterLouge: A Watercolor Fantasy

Happy very late Thursday evening everyone! I was afraid I wouldn't get to post anything at all today, but it turned out to be possible after all. 

Some time ago my sister got an iPad to use at work. She found an application that changes photographs into virtual watercolor paintings. I sent her some photos I took while on a water color adventure, myself. I didn't turn up with too much that was ready to post, but this little app turned photos from a lovely little spot into a dreamy painting pastiche. I thought I might share them with you.

Starting place

Style 1

This one shows a slight rainbow lens flair.

Style 3

The Original photograph

The application is called Waterlouge and it takes the above photo, for example, and gives you the options below, and some more as well.

It was good for me to watch, as it shows you the graphite, the lightest colors going down first and the darker colors being added eventually. Hopefully I'll remember some of those principles as I sit down with my watercolor set next time.

great little place 

Thanks for checking out this short little post. I've got lots more photos from my Oregon trip, but am not having the best of luck putting those things together quite yet. More from me soon, hopefully!

Thanks for reading! Happy (now) Friday! Haha!

P.S. I thought I might share with you a little song song that I feel goes with the view. :)

Glassworks: memories of creativity

Hi everyone! Happy Saturday night!

It's been a cool minute since I wrote anything here, and I suppose that stepping away from a hobby or even an avocation can remind us precisely why we chose that outlet in the first place. (More on that later.)

When I was in Oregon, visiting my parents, my sister, mom and I came across an art gallery. There were all kinds of interesting mediums, including watercolour and ceramic works. But what really caught my eye and got me dreaming again was the glasswork. I've never seen some of the styles before, and it was fun to conjecture on how they were made. Here are some of them that I really liked.  

A curved glass plate next to a ceramic work

deep blue

Amber light

This one was really fascinating to me. It seems it's a plate of clear class and a white one as well, with slender chunks of glass in brown, streamers of black and yellow, green, blue and a little red frit (glass that has been ground down to sand). They all work together to create the image of trees. What a fun way to paint!

I shared a little of my glasswork in the past, here on blogger in my Unity post. I have also done a little non-fusion work. I made a stain glass panel with lead, and a few other fusion pieces that I haven't posted as of yet. Seeing the other artists' pieces gave me the itch to work with my hands to create something fun and colourful. I have to look around and see if there are glass studios in my area, or at least glass kilns.

Is there something you haven't done in a long time that you'd like to start up again?

;) If so, get to dreamin', friend! I encourage you to go for it!


Happy Saturday night, everyone! Hope you have a good night and a great tomorrow!

Fountians in Portland (A Travel Blog Continued)

Hello everyone and happy Thursday!

On my (part of) two-day(s) walking tour with some buddies in Portland, we saw fountains in every direction! My resident friend mentioned in an ironic way that he wondered if Portland lost a lot of water that way.

Nevertheless, I loved seeing all the fountains and water displays. I tried to catch as many photos of them as I could, and even dipped my toes in a few of them. Some were simple, some grandiose, and as I post these pictures of them, I'll try and tell you the names of the ones I remember!

My first glimpse of the Lovejoy

The Lovejoy Fountain on Lovejoy Street. 

Ira's Fountain

"Strength and Beauty come from us, not tyranny." 

There's a place you can stand behind a waterfall!

Looking in

Our tour guide

A park in honor of mothers

A water feature outside of a Subway

The drinking fountains are always bubbling, there. 

This very last one is the one and only natural water feature. It's outside of Portland, on Interstate 84, near the Dalles.

Doing what I like to do best... 

I'm such a water-lover myself, that it was a lot of fun to see all these fountains and water features around. I hope you all liked them, as well!

Thanks for reading, and Happy Thursday!

Architecture in Portlandia

Hello everyone, and happy Tuesday! I have been in Oregon for a week and half now, and would like to share some of my photos from my travels. My sister and I flew to Portland and on our first and second day there, we were led on a walking tour by one of our friends from college. I was able to snap a few pictures as I tried to keep up with the pace. Quite a few people like to walk places in Portland, and it makes sense if you see how many one-way streets there are!

My sun-flared picture of the Portlandia Statue.

A better one from Wikipedia (Thanks anonymous photographer!)

Did you know this is the 2nd largest bronze statue in the United States besides the Statue of Liberty?

A rooftop view

A Starbucks in a great little building!

The view from Starbucks

window sill detail

a beautiful, clean, glass building

inside a library

outside of the curved library building

three beautiful fellow observers

This was how my sister and knew we arrived.

One of the parks of Park Avenue.

more of Park ave.

My friend says this looks like raindrops from afar. 

A witty sidewalk sign...

really tiny rooftop plants

The Wells Fargo building-- the tallest in Portland. 

Thanks for checking these out! I have so many more pictures for my viewers. Check back on Thursday as I show all of the cool fountains I came across in downtown Portland!

A little preview for Thursday!