So I got in the groove and made three new pieces of art that I really like and I hope that you will too. I was digging through some of my older photographs on my computer and thought I'd see what they look like through the new filters I've been using on BeFunky. All three images are ready for you in the shop.

     The first one I did was the birds. I love how it really turned out kind of foggy looking. I knew immediately that this was going to be a fun one to play with and see what I could mold it into. I'm really liking the black and white with this image too.
Available printed on Red River Paper's Aurora 300 Matte or on premium canvas.

      For the next image, "Besties", I was digging through some photos I had taken at a nearby Clydesdale Horse ranch. I had been shooting from the fence next to the road, so no really staged shots. They were mainly just shots of a couple of horses in a holding pen but I managed to get this one of the two seemingly best friends looking out over the rail into the field beyond.
Available printed on Red River Paper's Palo Duro Soft Gloss Rag or on premium canvas.

      My last piece of the day comes from a photo I shot while hiking in the Olympic National Park. This is one of the many trails that wind through the park at the lower elevations. I had actually entered the park unknowingly on a trail from the south near Lake Cushman. This is such a beautiful and lush part of the country. I love how the light was being filtered through the trees. Leave me a comment and  tell me your favorite place to hike through the forest.
Available printed on Red River Paper's Aurora 300 Matte or on premium canvas.

     Hey everyone! For those of you that may be unfamiliar with my artwork, all of it comes from my photography. I take a photo and then edit it to a completely new style. I use a couple of different programs to get there, Adobe Lightroom and BeFunky. With BeFunky, I use filters to get the desired effect and then go into Lightroom and work on my colors. Well, BeFunky just introduce a whole new series of GFX filters. These are truly remarkable. The watercolor one especially looks like a watercolor painting. In fact, after I printed one of my new pieces on Red River Paper's Aurora Art 250 White paper, I got real watercolor paints and added some of my own painted strokes directly on the print. Once it dried, you could not tell the areas that I painted from the printed artwork. Truly amazing! I am now introducing my Watercolor Collection available in the shop. Currently they are available as a 7"x9" print on an 8"x10" sheet of Red River Paper's Aurora Art White 300. Made in the USA using 100% cotton, Aurora Art White 300 is an acid-free paper made from cotton linters. These linters are considered "recovered fibers" by the EPA. By using linters, Aurora production is putting to use what would have become waste. I love this paper! (I am not affiliated with Red River Paper and I do not get anything from them for saying these things, I just really love their papers)

      The image below is of a tree located not far from my house. This was shot during a thunderstorm that had just passed us and there was constant cloud to cloud lightning going on behind the tree. There was a blanket of fog covering the ground too. It was quite the show. 

     Back in May of 2007, I had been living in the Seattle area and was a total rookie, wanna-be photographer. I would frequently go on exploration hikes. I would get in the Jeep and drive to some general idea of a location. This was usually as defined as, I'm going west today and see what I find. I was always looking for someplace pretty to explore. It was a time before I considered myself a photographer or had even really thought about what that meant. I was on the look out for an afternoon get-a-way. I had a camera and a tripod although I really didn't know how to use either very well. On these explorations, I would drive until I found something that looked interesting, stop and check it out. On this day in May, it was a beautiful spring day. I had stopped earlier at Lake Cushman. After spending maybe an hour here, I decided to move on. Hopped in the Jeep and headed into the Olympic National Forest. This is a lovely drive. Everything was green and lush. Eventually I ended up at a sign for Mount Ellinor. The peak is only 5944' I thought. It's a beautiful day and early enough let's do this. If it gets hairy or looks like I am going to get lost, I can always turn around and walk back down this trail. Easy day hike!

     I jumped out of the Jeep, grabbed my light corduroy jacket, backpack with camera gear and strapped on my tripod with a bungee cord and headed up the path. This is nice I thought. There is no one out here. I can hear wild birds chatting with each other. As expected, there was a slight uphill climb on this trail. About 15 minutes into my relaxing hike, I saw a small patch of snow in the shade of a fallen log. Cool, snow! As I continued along, more snow. And more snow. And more snow. It was getting thick but I was on a well defined path.