More information on digital magic post.

Last August, my Sweet Hubby and I went to Craggy Gardens.

I took these two photos (and if you know me, a whole lot more).

When I got home and looked at them on the computer, they seemed to suggest the butterfly was taking off.

So, I started to play.

Craggy Gardens Butterfly one 

Craggy Gardens Butterfly two 

This is the first step.

I used the computer to desaturate the drawing.

Then I opened it with Corel Painter Essentials and used a wacom tablet and pen to draw the butterfly's details back in. Once I was happy with the butterfly, I started working on the background.

I went back and forth between Corel and Photoshop Elements to get the effects I wanted. I saved variations as I worked. There is quite a bit of hand work in this set.

A Blue Ridge Mountain Road.

Craggy Gardens is located on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

The Carolinas are calling.

Cheers,

Kat

Digital magic for spring.

I have been playing with my photoshop again.

A little bit of Correl Painter Essentials too.

 

 

 

 

 

So, what do you think?

Kat

Why my voice is still squeaky.

 

 

 

 

 

Allergies or not, would you stay inside?

(It is so worth it)

Cheers,

Kat

The Carolina's are calling.

Wordless Wednesday

Join me for a walk in our Carolina woods.

I am taking a break from school! A much needed break. 

We went for a long walk in the woods the other day to celebrate. 

These little purple wildflowers are all over.

Does anyone know what they are? 

These are Carolina Jessamine.

They are a climbing vine and they are usually quite high up in the tree.

These were lower so I took the opportunity to get a few shots.

They smell good too. 

This patch was a little higher up. My sweet Hubby held the camera high to get this one.

They are so pretty. The individual blossoms are a little more than an inch long.

They are similar to Jasmin, but not the same. Our Jasmin is not out yet.

I invited you to join me for a walk.

Here is the head of our trail.

The woods are lovely today.

The temperature is mild, in the 70's (about 21 Celsius) the sun is shining, and there is a light breeze. 

(I think this trail needs a little clearing, oh well, it is fine for walking)

This is an unusual tree. I have seen them like this before.

I don't know why they grow this way, but this one seems happy enough.  

This area reminds me of New Mexico, yet it is a short walk from our house.

This area was probably part of the original plantation. We own the five acres around the house and the rest is in forest now. Our house was built up on brick pillars. Originally you would have been able to see under the house between the pillars but at some point in the past, an owner filled the spaces between pillars with more bricks. If you look close you can tell which is which. The clay for the original pillars and the chimneys probably came from the property. When we had the chimneys rebuilt we found some bricks that have partial hand prints in them. We had a few of those reset so you can see them in the library.

The clay limits what will grow, and how it grows.

This is an interesting specimen. I wonder what made it grow curly like that.

 Interesting, but let's head back into the woods.

 Oh dear! Now this would make a good story.

How and why?

It is an old Chevy truck and you can see it has been here a long time.

It is a long way from any road.

We think it was a flatbed, maybe a logging truck?

Sad.

 Creek bed.

Not quite big enough for fishing.

This is one of our neighbors.

It is the nearest structure to our place that is still standing.

We have no idea what it was for or how old it is.

It is slowly falling apart. 

Here we come back out onto the road home.

Wasn't that a lovely walk?

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

Cheers,

Kat

Speechless, but feeling lucky, after the storm.

It has been a busy week.

I was off Monday and we spent the day goofing off. 

Monday night, a storm came in and it was a doozy.

We woke up Tuesday morning to find one of our old oaks, down across the driveway.

Good thing we were not planning on going anywhere in a hurry. 

 What a mess.

We were very lucky though.

If the wind had been blowing the other way, this tree would have taken out all three vehicles that were parked out front.

 See what I mean, we were not going anywhere in a hurry.

I told you we were lucky.

The tree guys were able to come out right away.

It took them quite a while to clear the way.

 Fallen giant.

This was such a lovely old tree.

We were much luckier than this guy.

I believe he is a former resident.  

After.  

We lost a ceder too.

Once again, we were lucky, it did not hit anything. 

The house lost a little trim too, but we were able to find all the pieces and it is already fixed. 

Just down the road where we walk,

two trees came down together.

I can't tell which one started it but they made quite a mess.

Our power went out during the storm and stayed out till late Tuesday evening. 

This interesting fellow was supposed to be my Wordless Wednesday post.

Check out that tail.  

Another interesting visitor.

I wonder what he will look like when he grows up. 

The dogwood is blooming! 

Flowers in the rock garden.

As for speechless, I lost my voice because of allergies.

My family who reads this will think this is quite funny as my Father always insisted the "Chatty Cathy" doll was named after me.    :)

Lucky for me, I have the next three days off and my Sweet Hubby says he will take care of me.

Cheers,

Kat