Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Happy Spring!!!

Playing with the Collage App

When we lived in State College, we had a lot of shade gardens, perfect for early spring plants. Here is a combination of some of the lovely Spring flowers we enjoyed for our 6 years there. The current Collage App that I'm using is free from the app store but there is an upgrade available, which I think I'll invest in. Click on an image to see an enlargement of the photos.

Here are some collages that I made a few years ago using Picassa - which is no longer available. I liked being able to change the colors of the borders to match the photographs.

And a winter version!

Back to Spring...

This is Millbrook Marsh in the fog. In this one, and some from above, you can see the difference in the shapes allowed by Picassa that are not easy to find elsewhere. But I'm checking out more software and apps to see if I can go back to creatively collaging my photos.

And this one goes back to our trip to Ireland and Scotland in 2007. All of these photos were taken in Scotland near where some of my ancestors lived.

This one is the Arizona desert in bloom.

Suggestions for alternate Collage apps or photo programs are most welcome!

Back to Spring and Art!

Spring has finally arrived for more than a couple of hours and all is well at long last! While out and about, I've caught a few springtime photos to share with you. After this rather long, drawn out winter, spring is especially welcome everywhere!

The Chipping Sparrows and Bluebirds come by daily to my feeders and our lovely, little weeping cherry tree has bloomed in between the cold snaps.

The farmlands are greening up and the young animals are starting to appear. I wish my resident baby bunny didn't eat the tops off all the crocus and other spring bulbs, however, I wish him/her well!

And I'm painting again - my PT for the shoulder replacement has been completed. I still have some strength training to do to regain the abilities of heavier lifting and higher reaching, but all is well.

Today it was time to get to working on a portrait promised to The Memory Project that must be completed and mailed back in a week or two. The Memory Project is, to quote their website: "The Memory Project is a charitable nonprofit organization that invites art teachers and their students to create and donate portraits to youth around the world who have faced substantial challenges, such as violence, disasters, extreme poverty, neglect, and loss of parents."

So I have the photo of a delightful young Polish orphan boy, who I've been praying for ever since the packet arrived. We will never meet or correspond, but somehow I feel connected to this little boy. He will become a wonderful man, despite his sad early life, of that I am sure. Here are a couple of photos of the process. I cannot share his photo - for privacy reasons. But I can share the process!

If you are a teacher or a member of an art group, you might consider offering to paint a portrait of a child so that he or she might better see how he/she can be seen by others - full of hope and promise. Just click on the link about to learn more about The Memory Project.