Roses, Red and Markers as Watercolors

If you've been following along the past few weeks you may be aware that I am taking Color Love with Joanne Sharpe. Now, I'm a photographer and a jewelry artisan who loves to doodle and sketch.

A friend asked me, in the kindest way, if I was playing with markers and taking non-photography e-courses as a diversion or avoidance. See, I am also working on creating my own e-course and focusing on taking more pictures. I thought about it, because it's a good question, and the answer is no. What most people don't know is that I've known for the past few months that I was going to be getting injections in my knees (an alternative to surgery) and I also knew that this would probably mean that my taking picture expeditions were going to be limited while I worked through physical therapy. And, I was right, PT has been more intense than expected and just my normal walk everywhere in NYC, assigned exercises and climbing the 3 flights of stairs to my apartment has been enough.

Color Love has given me a diversion in the evenings after my long 'day job' days to stay creative and to release stress. I cannot write after my day job, I am just too spent.  It is why I wake up every morning early to write before I go to my day job. So, this week I played with markers and painted.

So, Tombow Bloom was an assignment in Color Love and this month Louise Gale's Creative Color Challenge color and theme was red and roses. I didn't quite follow Louise's full color palette of inspiration because I added blue but there is red and I did create roses.

I used Tombow markers, blended and painted with water.  I'll be honest here... I had no idea that Tombow markers existed until I saw them on Joanne's supply list. I also didn't know that I could turn them into watercolors and paint when using them. So much fun!

For my first Tombow marker, water painted piece...I'm quite pleased.

So, I'm not only going to link up with Louise Gale and her Creative Color Challenge I am also going to be brave and link up Paint Party Friday for the first time. Which is totally inspired by the lovely Tracey Fletcher King. You have to be brave sometime, right? Ok, I'm pressing Publish now so I don't change my mind.

Sunday Color Snippets

This week I want to take you back

to my Mom's flower garden.

Her Clematis was such a

beautiful blue/purple that

I couldn't resist taking a few shots

when I was visiting recently.

 

 

 

 

I hope your Sunday is full of color.

Day 27 May Flower Challenge - Poppy

Welcome to day 27 of the May Flower Challenge.

I'm fascinated with flowers. They are all over my tiny apartment. I photograph them all the time. I draw, paint, doodle them, create them out of paper... I also see them all over the NYC. Each day I will post flowers and I hope that you will join in. The only rule is that your blog post or flickr photo that you link must contain flowers. Click above on the May Flower Challenge Page to learn more. 

My first morning in Wisconsin was beautiful 

but the weather called for high winds and rain later in the day. 

As a photographer, this meant that I needed 

to take advantage early before the flowers 

lost their petals or were damaged.

This lone Poppy was just waiting to be photographed. 

 It's petal edges were a little tattered 

but it's orange color just begged to be photographed.

I love how the morning light danced across it's face.

Trying to look through the petals. 

The wind would often twist the petals while I was photographing. 

I love the unexpected shot below.

 I am so glad that I chose to take a few shots of the wonderful orange poppy. 

A couple of hours later when I  went back 

to try to catch a couple more shots 

the wind had scattered the petals 

- no where to be found.

Do me a favor and remember to catch 

a few moments with your camera today.

Participate by linking your blog post to my blog post. Each day during May, starting on May 1st, on my blog post I will have a linkytool available so that you can link your specific blog post (not just your blog but the post itself) to my blog post. And, please remember to link back.

Participate by linking to the flickr group - May Flower Challenge- and adding a photo of your flower creation. Make sure you add your photo to the linky below each day that you post.

Day 17 May Flower Challenge - Daffodils

 Welcome to day 17 of the May Flower Challenge.

I'm fascinated with flowers. They are all over my tiny apartment. I photograph them all the time. I draw, paint, doodle them, create them out of paper... I also see them all over the NYC. Each day I will post flowers and I hope that you will join in. The only rules are that your blog post or flickr photo that you link must contain flowers. Click above on the May Flower Challenge Page to learn more.  

A few weeks ago the Daffodils were at their prime in Central Park. I remember that I was specifically in Shakespeare Garden early in the morning before the sun was high in the sky. So, in my opinion, great light but not bright white light.

Daffodils to me are sunny, happy flowers. 

They dance in the breeze on their long stems.

I love macro photography. I long to own a really great macro lens for my 35mm camera but until then I play using magnifying filters.

I remember that I had to hold the flower head so that it wouldn't move in the wind.

 I love how the background is black in the next photo. 

This is due to the light and the angle at which I held the flower. 

I love how the same kind of flower can look so different due to changing the angle.  

What have you created recently? What if you changed the angle?

Participate by linking your blog post to my blog post. Each day during May, starting on May 1st, on my blog post I will have a linkytool available so that you can link your specific blog post (not just your blog but the post itself) to my blog post. And, please remember to link back.

Participate by linking to the flickr group - May Flower Challenge- and adding a photo of your flower creation. Make sure you add your photo to the linky below each day that you post.

Day 4 May Flower Challenge

Welcome to day 4 of the May Flower Challenge. I'm fascinated with flowers. They are all over my tiny apartment. I photograph them all the time. I draw, paint, doodle them, create them out of paper... I also see them all over the NYC. Each day I will post flowers and I hope that you will join in. The only rules are that your blog post or flickr photo that you link must contain flowers. Click above on the May Flower Challenge Page to learn more. 


It is raining here in NYC and happily it is a beautiful Spring Thunderstorm. It is the first real rain of the season and I am loving it. So, today I thought I would share a little flower sunshine since I probably won't be seeing the sun today. 

I can spend hours taking pictures. And, I can spend what seems like a lifetime to get a shot that I want. The photo above was that shot for me a few weeks ago. I had to find the right flower, the lighting had to be just right (this was taken in early morning light before the sun was overhead), and then my goal was to get the red edge in focus. I believe that I took 50-60 photos of the same flower and this is my favorite (no filters, no textures added). 

In Central Park I have two favorite locations for taking flower pictures: Shakespeare Garden and the Conservatory Garden.

By the way, thank you for all your kind words yesterday about my kindness project and my paper flowers. I guarantee that you will probably see the paper flowers a few more times on the blog and I will definitely take photos of where I leave a few.


Thank you again for playing along. 

Participate by linking your blog post to my blog post. Each day during May, starting on May 1st, on my blog post I will have a linkytool available so that you can link your specific blog post (not just your blog but the post itself) to my blog post. And, please remember to link back.

Participate by linking to the flickr group - May Flower Challenge- and adding a photo of your flower creation. Make sure you add your photo to the linky below each day that you post.

Sunday Color Snippets - Pink

There are only a few more days left to enjoy the pink that nature shares at this time of year. So, embrace pink!

You can follow me on Instagram at #lorimoonstudio

I also hope that you are planning on linking up in my May Flower Challenge - see the link above to the page to learn more.