More backyard activity

It is summer, the time of ripening fruit and lots of fruit eaters.  A couple of nights ago our dog was spending quite some time out the back.
Here's why.

After the depredations of the lorikeets, the possums don't seem such bad visitors. Even Penny wasn't bothered by them.  She usually barks at them but took no notice of this one.

This is the first time we have had sunflowers.  The bees have been loving them.

Is it finished?

I recently met with some people who are textile artists and we had a lovely chat and show and tell.  We are thinking of meeting regularly in an attempt to encourage each other in our practice.
One of the things that came up in our discussion was knowing when your work is finished.

I feel a bit that way about my blackwork, I have finished the pattern parts but can't decide whether to put outlines around the shapes.

I think it would work better but I can't seem to sew lines that don't look wobbly and stick up further than the rest of the work, so I am thinking I might leave it without the outlines.

The design is based on a stained glass window from my neighbourhood (I have done some other work using this design).

Without the lead lines that are in the window, I think it looks a bit like a Christmas bauble.  Maybe I can use it as a Christmas decoration!  Perhaps I could do a similar one with red and green (which are the colours in the actual window) - SO not going to happen.

Tawny Frogmouth

There hasn't been the racket from the Rainbow Lorikeets in the backyard lately.  Perhaps it is because all the apples are gone - and the plums.  We actually got quite a few of the ripened plums.
But there have been some ruckuses out the back the last few nights that have mightily interested our dog.

Today (happy Australia Day) a visitor wondered why we had put one of those pretend owls so high up in our tree.  What was she talking about?  Our pretend owls are on the ground near the strawberries and fruit trees (there are still nectarines ripening).

Turns out there was a REAL owl in the tree.  A tawny frogmouth.  (Later correction, apparently it isn't an owl, it's a nightjar and is not raptorial.)

My camera took fairly ordinary photos, I haven't mastered (mistressed?) the zoom yet.  But we all got our cameras out and these are this is the product of a camera with an attachable zoom lens (below).

This is all fairly exciting to have in a suburban backyard. It might be a worry for the ringtail possums though. We haven't seen any of the brushtail possums for quite a while.

Face on a Seat

While out walking at Yarra Bend recently, I saw this seat.  It made me think of Faces in Places, a very amusing site of photos.

As we got closer, it looked less like a face but still not too bad. It actually reminded me of a dog, very appropriate as it is a dog friendly park.

I seem to have run out of oomph lately, hence this rather random post. 

I can't blame it on the weather, we are having the occasional hot day followed by lovely cool days and, more importantly, nights.

I am trying to finish the blackwork but it is an uphill battle at the moment, probably because I am not totally pleased with the design. Oh well, soldier on and see what eventuates.

Still interested in blackwork

I have been trying to design my own blackwork piece for an upcoming Emboriderers' Guild exhibition.  I might not get anything finished for it but at least it gives me something to focus on for the moment.

As I was browsing the internet, I came across a Pintangle site (Friday Freebies, I'll have to read more of that). It had a further link to yet another site (String-or-Nothing) where the owner has made up some designs and provided them free.  What a wonderful resource.

I am sticking to simple designs at present.  This is partly because I am just a beginner with blackwork and don't want to make it too hard for myself.  It is also because I am working on a fairly small design and can't afford to have any intricate designs because I don't think they will fit properly in the space.

I am continuing on with an earlier idea but in a different format.  My idea is to produce a stained glass window design in blackwork.  It may come to nothing but it is something to be thinking about.

I spent quite a while on one part yesterday and then noticed that I had miscounted by one thread and had to pull out half of it.  Luckily, I have learnt patience through my tapestry weaving, where you pull work out all the time, so I wasn't too annoyed with myself. Mind you, I haven't touched it since.

I am not sure if I should have sewn in the outline of the design or not, so decided to do the patterns first, then decide.  Taking photos of your work also lets you see mistakes rather more clearly (not necessarily what I was hoping for!). I will keep plugging along and see what develops.

Playing with Photoshop

I had heard that Adobe is allowing people to download their CS2 suite of programs free!! It is old software but does everything that I can think of needing.
Here is a link about it. However, there is a link on this page to an article that says Adobe is NOT offering it free.  So see if it works for you, if you are interested.
Here is a link to Adobe.
Lucky me, I got Photoshop when I was a student and it was cheaper. Photoshop is an amazing program that has all sorts of applications that I could never use, or even think of discovering (if you know what I mean).

Here is a simple example of some of the amazing things you can end up with, with very little effort.

Original photo

Cropped from top of original

Playing with Hue and Saturation

Hue and Saturation, then Posterise

Then I went back to the original cropped image and played with the gradient map tool. The colours are dictated by the program, not chosen by me.

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I can't remember if I posterised this one or not, it certainly looks like it.

One thing I find very interesting about these images is how the dark and light centre seems to be receding or protruding, depending on the tone and colour.
I could spend hours playing around with the effects. I just need to think how I might use the images and with what technique.

The hollyhocks keep on flowering

I have continued to pick up discarded flowers from the hollyhock and now have quite a collection.  I am going to have to use them soon, they are taking up too much room in our freezer.  So far, I have only collected and frozen them.  I need to get inspired to dye again.

The flowers change colour as they dry up, I am wondering if that will affect the dyeing, if I can try for some contact prints, or variegated dying. I'll have to do some research, and re-reading, before I get going again.

It is the season of insects and flowers, so I am having some fun practising with my new camera.

Neither of these have been manipulated with photo programs, it was just the flower and the time of day. The bee was so busy fertilising the hollyhocks that I could get up quite close and it wasn't bothered.