Lens Flare Practice

The sun was brightly shining at 7:50 this morning! So it was my opportunity to practice taking photos with lens flare. I have been so interested in trying it out this week, but there hasn't been any sun until now. So, here are some of my first practice shots:

I will definitely have to keep practicing. I feel like the sun was a bit too bright. They may turn out better with softer lighting from a nice sunset or earlier sunrise. Any tips for me?? (maybe from you, miss Abby, since you've had more practice?)

Red and Green Home Decor

Sometimes food can be so inspiring! While cooking dinner tonight (teriyaki chicken, vegetables and white rice), I was excited to see such a beautiful color palette. The reds, oranges, greens, browns...next to bright white...beautiful! The contrast is so nice.

So, as my imagination began to wander, I envisioned what a home would look like decorated with these colors. I quickly searched for some online imagery and placed them together side by side. What a beautifully-colored home this would make. (The styles of rooms placed together don't quite match, but I love the color scheme.)

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eternallygreen design finished!

After spending some time brainstorming, making sketches, and taking pictures, I began designing the banner for eternallygreen -- again, it is an Esty shop soon to be up and running that consists of cute hand-crafted items by the artist, Priscilla Clendenning. It is way worth checking it out.

I will go through all of the designs which I have revised according to her wants. In the beginning we had not discussed how she wanted the design to look, which led to a few revisions. Overall, I thought it was a fun, yet challenging project, and I really liked how honest Priscilla was throughout the entire process. 

Although I was not liking the style of the final composition, I was able to create a banner based on Priscilla's style, which was more important and rewarding in the end, knowing that she is able to get her Etsy shop started.

Designs 1 & 2



 

my thoughts // I found a photograph that I had taken of a sunset glowing behind a bright red bush. I wanted a natural texture to be placed in the background of the design, so I did that here. The image gave off a beautiful, natural gradient (seen in design 2) from a melon pink to an orangy-green. I kept the colors just as they were. I chose a hand-written font to coordinate with her hand-made shop. Then I traced over some of the leaves and flowers in a cream color to match the text, which gave a simple yet attractive look. I drew in some thin brown lines along the edges to look like sewn thread. Afterwards, I create a duplicate and altered the colors to purple and green to give Priscilla a color option.

WELL...

her thoughts // Priscilla wasn't liking the purple at all! But she was liking the green on the far right of the first design. She wanted me to add in butterflies, color in the flowers dark orange, darken the thread, and make the font smaller.

 Designs 3, 4, 5 & 6

my thoughts // I drew four butterflies, and colored them in; I figured she wanted more color going on. As I was adding color to the flowers, they did not look like flowers anymore. The cream outlines looked terrible around the orange, so I started over and drew new flowers with dark brown outlines to coordinate with the thread. I left the background green, but then began experiementing with different textures. I really liked the look of the canvas. Then I drew in some dandelion seeds to add variety. In the last design, I decided to go with a lowercase font for a different look, and then left the background more natural-looking with a canvas fabric minus the green.

AND...

her thoughts // She said, "It still lacks pizazze..." She liked the last design best due to the yellow background and lowercase font. She did not liked the stamped look of the large butterfly, so she wanted me to take it out and replace the flowers with a bare branch. She was wanting a design that looked more realistic.

Design 7

my thoughts // For a little while, I was stuck. I wasn't sure how realistic she wanted the design to look. Was she thinking photographs? or vector images? So, for the first time, I created a vector image of a branch. I know she asked for a bare branch, but I added two leaves to give her an option.

SO...

her thoughts // She liked the branch! But she was wondering if I could take out the yellow butterfly, and add in a path with a girl and boy walking on it for a more cutsie feel.

Final Design

my thoughts // I took out the butterfly and drew a boy and girl walking on a path.

THEN...

her thoughts // Priscilla told me it was perfect the way it was! It had the cutsie, nature look she was wanting for her online shop.

Color

I enjoy photography, and I am always on the look for perfect natural lighting or just a beautiful spot for taking pictures. Tonight, I fell in love with a beautifully-lit area of my sister-in-law's bedroom and I noticed how soft, yet vivid the blue walls appeared. I just had to take pictures! I love how the red of Valerie's shirt and scarf contrasts with the robin's egg blue wall behind her. I take delight in such gorgeous color.

These two other photos have a completely different look. I wanted to be more creative with the compositions, and I wanted them to have warmer tones.

 

Christmas Wall Decoration

I live in an apartment, so I cannot paint the walls (very sad!). And they're very white...so I created a homemade Christmas wall decoration with the word JOY inside a large old frame to add color and visual interest to one of our bare walls. The letters consist of red yarn on top of a large piece of cardboard. I painted the cardboard brown with acrylic paint and added small circles. A plaid bow was added to the top of the frame as an extra touch. The best part is, I didn't have to spend a penny to create it!

It really adds a lot to the livingroom wall. Since it's about time to take the Christmas decorations down, I will flip the cardboard over and decorate the backside for a rest-of-the-year design to conserve my family's limited storage space and make use of materials I already have.





eternallygreen

I am finishing up a heading design for Priscilla Clendenning's online shop, called eternallygreen, on Etsy! She is a fabulous designer of handcrafted items, which greatly inspires me because of her wonderful desire to recycle materials and turn them into new creations. I'm in love with her cute, homemade style! Here is some of her work:

 // Tote Bag

// Giraffe Lamp

 // Burp Cloths that say: "SPIT UP" and "BURP"
   (sorry for displaying them wrinkled!)