Over the Ridge again

This photo, originally posted here, has just won a finalist award at Betterphoto.com. (YAY!) 

30-minute painting challenge failure 2, rose

I tried again to do a painting in 30 minutes and again, I failed. This is as far as I got. Watch this spot for more attempts. See here for more info.

I forgot to mention that I did both of these (the still life and the rose) in the car driving down the freeway in the rain. Riding, that is. The car was bumping and jerking and swaying, which in creased the difficulty. 

An Invitation to the 30-minute Painting Challenge (failure 1, still life)

On LDahl's site, I saw the 30-minute paininting challenge. The rules are 30 minutes and not one minute more, one layer only, etc. (See Jumbled Drawer.) I thought a still life would be relatively easy, but I was wrong. Note that I am not a real artist. I am a poet and a naturalist. Art is something I am just learning--slowly.

Of these, the first took 30 minutes, the second 50, the third 80 and the 4th 110. (Jumbled Drawer does some incredible stuff in 30 minutes.)

I am having an aspect ratio challenge with my tablet, and these apples etc are narrower than they appear on screen. Does anyone know how to fix that? I tried to fix the aspect ratio problem (last image). But I would prefer them to come out right to begin with.

Rachel at Christmas

May all your Holiday Dreams come true. Rachel at Christmas, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. (This is from 2 years ago. I did some work on it). 

Consider Peace, Consider the Alternative

I did this for Peter who is organizing a world wide 2 minutes of Peace on Saturday, December 30, at 8 PM. Please join us. It will jump from time Zone to time Zone. It will remind us to consider.

I did it for Monday Artday's peace theme and now I am submitting it for Illustration Friday's Peace Theme.

May Peace be with you, and in your hearts.

Happy Holidays. Mary

Another peace piece. 

Fox Squirrel

Fox Squirrel, Jackson, MI, photo by Mary Stebbins Taitt. 

HELP Mask

Here is one of the masks I made for Illustration Friday's mask topic. I never got to post it for Mask, so I am posting it for HELP. ("Help, I am totally overwhlemed by Christmas!" "Help, I've fallen [behind] and I can't {keep} up!")

I did this in the car driving back from Gail's and in the car driving back and forth to Neil and Laura's. Riding in the car has been the only time I have to play at art.

Yesterday we came extremely close to being in an accident. Someone drove in front of us and with a great squealing of brakes and removal of rubber from my tires, I'm sure, Keith, who was driving, managed to avoid hitting the people who drove in front of us. At least we were all alive. Besides being scared, I also was so upset I deleted all the work I was doing on my latest art piece and lost it.

So this help mask is saying, "Help, I've lost my art friend."

Blinds

Blinds, by Mary Stebbins Taitt.

I was interested in the lines and understated hues.

Gail's Squirrel

Gail's Squirrel, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. Another from our visit today to Jackson MI. 

Good King Windowglass

Good King Windowglass, by Mary Stebbins Taitt, from the play, the Ballad of Good King Windowglass, at the First Presbyterian on Michigan Street in Jackson, MI. 

Frosty Morning

Frosty Morning, by Mary Stebbins Taitt 

Abstract with Ball Chains in Fuchsia and Violet

Abstract with Ball Chains in Fuchsia and Violet, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. See another piece in this series.

Pixel Art (& failures)

Bearuh is publishing pixel art but the demo I downloaded to try would not post to blogger so I tried it on Photoshop. That didn't work all that well either, but I can't play with it any more tonight. I made more but blogger won't upload them. Go see hers, they are much better than mine! LOL!

Pattern in Autumn Garden

Pattern in Autumn Garden, by Mary Stebbins Taitt

See another version.

Zen Flowering Crab (Bonsai)

Zen Flowering Crab (Bonsai), by Mary Stebbins Taitt. 

The You-tube Nature Channel

I hate television! So I imagine myself in an old abandoned television in the forest. I did this for the Art Blog Challenge November theme which was TV shows (ugh!).

I did this with my new tablet pc (Toshiba Tecra). I haven't gotten it down to a science yet, so bear with me. 

Ljubljana in Rain--PCA award

I was nominated for several PCA* awards at 101 for my photos, and finally won one. To see it larger, visit the original post here or at BP.

*PCA = People's Choice Award

Birches along Lakeshore, Autumn

Birches along Lakeshore, Autumn, by Mary Stebbins Taitt 

The Lane in Fog

The Lane in Fog, by Mary Stebbins Taitt 

Fading in Fog

Fading in Fog, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. 

The Grove at Elmwood

The Grove at Elmwood, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. 

Waterlilies at Cranbrook, Variations on a theme

I was fascinated by the reflections helf in the ponds of the leaves, and their autumnal coloring.

Photos by Mary Stebbins Taitt.