Flying Along With One World One Heart!!!

A wonderful journey of bloggers.....click here for more

Welcome, welcome! I'm Anne M. Huskey-Lockard, and I am hopping on this delightful bird and taking wing to be part of One World One Heart, sponsored by the sweet Lisa at A Whimsical Bohemian. 
I have managed to miss every other year of this wonderful event and am slipping in on birdie tailfeathers this year! WHEW! So first, a little picture of the mixed media piece I will be giving away~~just leave a comment on this post and that means you're in the draw!(plus I can visit YOU TOO!)  Remember, should you win, I'll need a way to get in touch.....

This is a 4" x 8" mixed media panel "Love Flowers Abundantly" and it would like very much to find a good home with one of YOU!
Well, I have to talk about *me* and my blog. I'd like to say I'm like the photo below all the time:

But in reality, when I am busy with art and photography, I am much more like this pic of DH and I taken at Halloween......yes, you've guessed I have a quirky sense of humor. (it's okay, laugh! p.s.......I'm the one in red....)

I am a mixed media artist, love photography and occasionally fill the blog with photos.......

  
But in between, I get art made, and that is when I am happiest.......

I do occasionally have to COOK for DH too, and sometimes photos of the kitchen experiments show up here....

Basically I am just a country girl at heart, with a warped Southern sense of humor, stuck in the hinterlands of northern Indiana and find joy in life and my studio, all the while pretending I am visiting New Orleans....

Just remember, the good brushes are always in the BioHazard container.....LOL!
 

WAIT! How did this slip in???? Oh well, it's what women really want.......ya know!
So.....enough about El Milagro and it's crazy blog mistress. Visit again, comment, laugh; for the most part, I try and keep it pretty light, even when we're learning something. Yes, I do occasionally put up tutorials; working on one at the moment, and yes, I forget I have pages that need construction....*Sigh* ........so much for a girl to remember!
Looking forward to new blogs and faces to meet!


Pax....

Three Photos For Those Of The Quercus Persuasion.....

Yes, I said I was on a blog break and I still am, with my head up in the clouds but I found these lovely leaves yesterday and could not wait to put them out there into blogland! 

This is my pin oak, in the north part of the yard, and even in bad years it  puts on a color show all it’s own. Words can’t describe the colors that this tree produces, and frequently all on one leaf. With the sun bright, it glows in ways other trees don’t.

Greens, yellows , rusts and reds all combine into an amazing and slightly surrealistic combination. It generally is a tough choice on what to post……

But sometimes, you get something almost perfect, and it is obvious it needs to be seen by more than my eyes.

Enjoy this taste of Quercus Autumn!

 

Pax….

Afternoon Glow

Yesterday was the perfect Fall day all around; modest temps, bright sun, light breeze.

I was busy working in the studio all day with the shades down to now get distracted, but around 6 p.m. allowed myself a few moments to wander through the far end of the lot.

The sun was at a perfect level for capturing a few great shots~~I was under the large maple shooting back toward the unharvested corn.

These are from one of my few Paper Birches to survive our wicked winters. (I started with 10.......I think there are two healthy ones left)

The play of shadow and light, color and neutrals, is what drew me to the corner; a little doorway to this intensely bright field. As if someone had left a little passageway for the sun and colors to pour in through......

Today I awoke to rain.....alas, my fear....we will lose the leaves before they have a chance to put on one last show.

Pax....

Sunrise......

(click for larger view)

I had planned to quietly slip into the day of work ahead without a blog-post, and then I stepped onto the porch and was greeted by this wonderful sunrise.....everything golden and magical with a hint of red tinge.
How could I pass it up?
How could I not share?
May you day be bright, glowing and worthy to remember.....

Pax....

I Am Late.......

.....and with but one photo to offer. Blogger is again tinkering with the upload feature; I'm too busy and tired to rant or I would. (trust me, I'll save it for another day....! LOL!)
Instead, I think I will leave the photo to do the speaking for me.
Click for a much larger file......I cannot get the next size up squeezed in between my cluttered blog-junk!
Have a wonderful weekend!
And big blue skies......

Pax....

More Colors, More Colors.......

(click on photos for larger versions)

Fall Aster, happily donning the bright purples of the season....

A spider in cloak so rich, it must be preparing for Halloween!

The gold of Goldenrod, back lit by the setting sun....

And Maples touch by faerie paint brushes!

The color so rich, my patience so little.

Hurry Autumn!

Pax....

Queen of the Setting Sun

Yesterday evening I grabbed a few minutes to waddle about the yard a bit and see what I could be creative with in my presently *confined quarters*. I have a large area at the back of the lot I have chosen not to mow; some due to fuel prices but mostly because I live in the country and enjoy seeing what comes up.
The Queen Anne's Lace was exceptional this year, and even now, dried, in seedheads, the plant is a delight.
This is another of my captured on the fly with fingers crossed, shooting into the sun, photos!
I love it.
I am guessing that maybe this is becoming my signature style; break the rules, shoot with abandon, hold your breath and hope one turns out!
I should have waited to share this with some of the other shots of the evening, but I think it deserves a post of it's own.......click gently, it should enlarge. ;-)

Pax....

Autumn Arrives Gently~~Morning Until Evening

(I am still somewhat limited in my ability to walk and wander.....all was gathered from within a  dozen or so yards of the house and studio.

 Surprising....there is still a lot to see.....

and no words necessary.  Enjoy.)

(on all photos, click to enlarge)

Pax....

Big, Big Sky

By chance, as I was scurrying about on a house errand (escaping the studio for a second) I looked out the front windows and saw this massive, amazing sky.

Click the bottom photo to get a better look. These are Autumn skies slowly gracing our views---the days may heat, but the clouds say that the cool of the year is on the way.
I shot these with my little Canon Power Shot A1100IS, as it has the panoramic feature on it, and when it does panoramic.....Holy Cow! What a big file! I think I could print a mural from it......
It looked like a sweep of a giant paintbrush across the blue of the ether.
A rather lovely start for a Monday morning, I think.

Pax....

Photo Manipulation For Those Like Me.....

......who live in utter terror of Photo Shop, and run like a crazed hedgehog when the program boots up, I have an answer! While wandering on line the other day, somewhere, I came across a photo someone had manipulated in Photoscape and my interest was piqued. Because they mentioned that it was easy......and free! Two words that send my heart pitter-patter!

So after finding the site and downloading, I started playing, and it is easy---all tutorials are on a link to You Tube and you just watch! (of course I looked at the help section after manipulating the photos below.......*sigh*......I should read instructions.....)

Yes, that is me. Young, thin and full of sass. A fun modeling session and I always liked this picture, though there was one that had red-eye from the same session, but I just looked like a little devil! It did not need retouching.....hee, hee, hee!

I digress. I ran this through I don't know how may filters and effects and below is the result, which I like because I have been looking for something to grunge down images to use in collage, or as transfers. (I think if you click on the images, they should enlarge some)

I decided to try some of the other effects and poor Sweet Pea was the guinea pig this time (in digital only!)--going from a simple vignette I had done in another program, to~~~~~

~~~a nice collage-look image that I would definitely put on a shirt or on a card. And again, quick and easy! And fun. There was no swearing involved in the altering on this image. *ahem*........

Finally the ultimate challenge, our photo from Halloween in New Orleans, the fabulous Fiend Night! I have loved/hated this photo due to areas of too much contrast and then lack there of, and if, if, if  I was adept at P.S. I could have changed that.

But I'm not, and the few times I have tried to tinker with the image I have had disastrous results with LOTS of swearing!!!!

So I just cut loose with all the different options and finally got the photo reduced to an atmospheric piece that has more of the feel of a haunting evening and less of a simple vacation photo. (which, don't get me wrong, I do LOVE the original for the sentiment and the fact that it was a good shot to work with!)

Oh yes, very skeletal......very Halloween, DeMeng-ish, quite Fiendish! Muh-ah-hahahahahaha!!!!  Very much New Orleans on Halloween night, too---walking streets lit by gaslamps and the echoes of older times.

Now, all of this seems to conflict with my previous post of missing the film era. And trust me, I do.

But I look at Photoscape as a simple tool to get me from point A to point B when I need something for collage. I don't look at it as an editing and enhancing program. I feel if I am not capable of framing up a decent photo by myself, maybe I shouldn't be shooting it. I have the simplest of photo editing programs (in fact, I don't think it is even made anymore) and basically it lets me crop and change pixel size and do very simple tweaks on exposure; all things I did in the darkroom. I know....I am archaic. I am stubborn. I am lost in another era.

Alas, I don't mind.

Thus, I give this two skeletal thumbs up for ease of use, over all fun, and instant gratification.

And at my age, those are all biggies. LOL!

Now go do something creative!

Pax....

With Camera In Hand.......

I would like to say I was cleaning house when I found this photo; I wasn't. I was moving *stuff* from point A to point B in an effort to find a clear space to deposit more *stuff* on. It is another from the days of real film and f-stops, pre-digital, 1994.

I know exactly where I was; a small cemetery that now is exposed to the elements thanks to "progress"--a trailer facility that built some of the heinous, dangerous FEMA trailers. Yes, I say that with both venom and disgust. The building location ruined a piece of farmland and surrounding woods. It is an oozing open wound upon the landscape.

The cemetery is still atop a high hill, but most of the lovely protective trees are gone; the soil there is sandy and with each year and each heavy rain, more erodes. Frankly, I would not be surprised if at some point the inhabitants of the cemetery are deposited upon the trailer-sales building below. (which is a strange and humorous form of justice in Anne-Land)

And what does this have to do with anything, you ask?

My forefathers rest there.

The Thomas and Armstrong plots are at the top of that hill. When they were laid to rest, one would assume they would always BE at rest.

I was out shooting Spring flowers with a friend (now passed), who took the photo of me. It is a favorite. Many people ask why, because my face doesn't show, my hair was a wreck--thrown into a ponytail and hidden under a bandanna, I was dressed in my worst clothing.

But I was doing what I still love most---recording the seasons as they change. Laying atop the graves of my kin, covered with blankets of wildflowers, more delightful than any premade arrangement, in the quiet of birds and the wind. All was good. Everything was right with the world.

My old Canon AE-1, before the numerous and expensive repairs, shooting black and white film that I would develop and print. A day recorded in focusing and framing and shutter clicks.

Don't get me wrong; I love the digital age of photography in that you can see what you have instantly. But still, there is the side of me that misses so the smell of developer and stop-bath, counting off seconds, the smothering darkness required to load the film into the developing canister.........

And above all else, the physical freedom to just GO and move and shoot what I wanted. A day spent in the woods with no thought to anything other than the next click of the camera.

Yes, I think this is still my favorite photo of me as it is me at work.

And all these years later, I still do the same thing, but with more groaning and less grace.

All said fondly, of course.

Pax....

August Haze

This is a typical Indiana August morning. The heat and humidity combine to produce colors that the camera cannot capture. Light is gold with a hint of pink, everything takes on a magical glow, even the weeds and far off treeline. It is magic to stand and watch; mesmerizing to the point of being motionless.

Lens flare captures the feel of the coming day better than walking though the heavy air; it seems to part like water while languidly strolling. The heat is upon us early, and the old saying of "Red sky at dawn, Sailor be warned" is exceptionally true. These are the conditions that produce super-cells and occasionally duratios; they pop up in the afternoon as tiny thunderstorms and suddenly become massive, roiling creatures with great speed and vengeance.

After storms of this nature pass, there is occasionally a glow that, though I have tried and tried, I cannot capture. When I stood taking the photo of the corn tassels, they were sparkling as if gilded. Color becomes unreal---you cannot trust your eyes. Something in the water and the light; the dense air and the sun dropping to the horizon......everything is rich with intense hues.

We are a land of big skies; clouds not to be contained within a viewfinder. Cumulus that goes on and on, and bears remnants of the earlier threats. Blues that border on black. Shades of grey that do not cooperate with the photographer.

Striking silhouettes of simple trees against the last remaining puffs and rumbles of the storm. Impressive visions from the common. The feeling of being enveloped at any moment by cloud or dark, should the creature turn and strike again.........

And then, as if a promise to behave better tomorrow, a hint of shell-pink blush and the sun says goodnight. Another setting, intensified by the wrath of mother nature, a moment to linger in the peace of birds singing, water droplets finding the ground and the scent of the world scrubbed clean.

How small and insignificant we really are!

Pax....

Black Leather Days......

Once upon a time.....what seems like forever ago, though it really is not, I used to do a variety of modeling. And I enjoyed it and in this case, the young photographers I had the opportunity to work with, getting them accustomed to live models. (and believe me, I was very lively then!)

This is a shoot I did with a group at a tech school (an adult evening class), thus the difference in color and saturation of photos. That blue bass is the one I let get away....*sigh*....it had a fast neck and the most wonderful pickups for harmonics! How I loved it......man, could it sing. I have a different one to take it's place, but this one was special. It was the perfectly balanced, perfectly constructed, most wonderful piece of Fender Jazz Bass history I have owned.

I will always be glad that I have the pics I do from this session, though after scanning and resizing, they do not have the quality of the originals.

What fun!

And how I loved those kid leather pants! YOWZA BABY!!! Like a skeleton slipping into it's skin! LOL!!!! (seriously, get out the cooking spray and the slide me into them....)

Some of the students really caught the essence of *me*...the photo above was one I was fond of though the lighting was a bit harsh. (where was gaussian blur then???LOL!!!) I like the highlights on the tuner keys......yeah, it's a bass player thing.

This is another that lost quite a bit in reducing the size to post so that it would not take up all my free storage.....try clicking and see if it is any better.

I was always fond of this, taken as an off-camera moment....photo floods are sooooo hot, especially when you are wrapped in a cow! HA! My expression seems to be one of *get the shot and let me move....*

This is by far my favorite; I think I had posted it on Face Book once, or maybe it was here...who knows, I can't remember...and Tristan said I looked like a Punk Madonna. (as in the religious one and NOT the singer...*ahem*) That was about the highest compliment I could get! :-) I always liked the fact that the cross I had worn that evening really showed; it was one Gary purchased for me when he was TDY in England.

Toward the end of the shoots, there was always wind down time, and I was sick of smiling and hot and needed to powder down. But sometimes a gem like this would come along.....however, usually.......I was like everyone else at the end of a hard days work.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   

LOL!!!!

As an aside, it took two men to help me up from this shot. The combination of nose-bleed stilettos and skin tight drawers made me much like a bug stuck on it's back. There I lay, saying "Get me up, please!!!!"

I cannot wait until Fall, when I can don my leather jacket and gloves, my Doc Martens or Harley boots and go out into the brisk air! I treasure the cool mornings and nippy evenings, the scent that is sweet in the air as the leaves begin to turn, and everything in the world is right again.

Thanks for coming along for a laugh.....this old school punk misses the days of late concerts and playing so loud I half deafened myself, of beating the hell out of my bass and the amazing calm the sound vibration sent through the whole of your body.

I miss my music much.

Alas, we move on.

Have a good one...some fun...some laughs...just don't get stuck!

Pax....