Nearly Six Months

Well, it’s been a crazy nearly 6 months since my last visit here.  I won’t go into excuses and explanations (yet again), except to say that all is well.  I haven’t even been that busy (I’ve actually been feeling what we used to call “punk” … no energy, odd sleeping episodes, no stamina, a year-long mild but annoying headache).  I am feeling better now.  Getting back to my usual self and improving all the time.  But in chatting around with other like-minded artsy types, I realize that creativity, with or without oddball health stuff, can ebb and flow with all of us.  There’s a bit of ebbing and flowing going on with the sweet wild mustangs below … loosely based on a photo I took at Corova, OBX North Carolina, waaaay back in 2003.

Mother and Child © Lois Bryan Photography and Digital Art

What I’ve been creating and putting out there since my last post is, as usual, all over the place in subject matter and technique.  Funny thing, all these years I’ve been dabbling in visual arts, I’ve bemoaned not having a style.  But in looking back, even with lots of zigs and zags, I’m sort of realizing that the experimentations have all led to where I am now.  Seems like every day I make use of all the things I’ve figured out and learned.  Heaven knows what I’ll be taking a swing at 6 months from now!

One new thing I’ve been experimenting with is “thick paint” in digital art.  Created in Corel Painter, the goal is for the images to have the look of thick, rich oil painting brush strokes.  You want the viewer to see all the bumps and ridges that you’d see in natural, traditional media images, so that visitors wish they could reach out and feel the textures.  This technique is from a class from Dmitry Marin of MoDo Digital Art.  

Here was my first example …

“September Sunflower” © Lois Bryan Photography And Digital Art

And another …

“Orange Mum” © Lois Bryan Photography and Digital Art

I like the way the technique works on florals, but it’s great on other subjects, too.

I’ve also been playing with freehand painting from my imagination.  I seem to have a thing for trees when I start doodling … so here’s another one.  This guy is a bit more impressionistic and even abstract than my usual.

The Dreaming Tree © Lois Bryan Photography and Digital Art

I’ve been working with a program that puts my pics into a room setting:

The Dreaming Tree In Spring … © Lois Bryan Photography and Digital Art

(I’m still experimenting with this … always something new to figure out!)

As I’ve said before, please don’t be alarmed at the watermarks you see on my work.  Not here in the blog, and not on the products at my websites.  It’s my feeble attempt at dissuading the pirates out there who’ll steal ANYthing. They open a shop and promise to sell you wall art or a decorator pillow with my images .. then either never send you anything at all, or you’ll wind up with junk … with little me none the wiser and certainly none the richer.  But watermarks don’t appear on anything you’ll purchase from any of my own shops.  If you run across something of mine and aren’t sure if it’s by me, legitimately, just let me know either through here or through my website.  You know what, I should probably list them:

This is my main website … my site on Fine Art America … and my RedBubble site.

I’m on a few other POD sites (POD = Print On Demand) … Zazzle and Society6 and Greeting Card Universe, but, bad Lois, I haven’t updated them in a while.  You may also find my framed or canvas print art at legitimate retailers online and in stores.

As I’ve said before, a quick click into each of my pictures will whisk you to my main site where you can view the pics up close and personal and also see the products they’re available on.  If you’re looking for wall art, I recommend my main website, and strongly recommend the paper choice of what’s called “Picture Rag.”  It is awesome!!

Well, I think that’s it from me for now.  Enjoy your weekend … and … maybe the next 6 months, too?  😁. Hopefully I’ll be back before then!!

14 Comments on “Nearly Six Months

  1. Lois, it looks like you are back in full force after your hiatus. This is a very cool “returning to form” article. I, of course, love the wild mustangs on the Outer Banks – because around here we have the wild ponies on Assateague Island. Your think paint digital art technique is intriguing, I’ll have to follow that more closely. Cheerio and carry on…

    • Hey Bill!!! Super to see you!!! Oh I’m so glad you enjoyed the post … and especially the mustangs. I am actually from Maryland and went over to the Eastern Shore to see the ponies many (many-many) years ago. It wasn’t during the round up, so what we saw was just luck of the draw, but how magical it was!!! Glad you enjoyed the thick paint bit. It’s very time consuming and very detail-y … but very satisfying and loads of fun to put together. I love getting “lost” in that kind of work. Thanks again so much for dropping by and enjoy your weekend!!

  2. Like it! Was warned TODAY by FAA folks to stay away from WP, so there. Great work as usual and nice writing….I’m looking to start my own blog today or tomorrow…..
    Rich

    • Rich, so funny you should say that. I saw your discussion on the FAA page but hadn’t yet gotten around to opening it. In fact, just the title was the tipping point to get me going here again, so thank you!!! But I will still take a look and see what everyone has to say.

      If you were warned away from WP, it may be with good reason, but I do think it’s the most popular and biggest? Could be wrong?

      Don’t scroll back here on the blog, but if you do, you’ll see I’ve had this poor old thing, or some iteration of it, for quite awhile now. And yep .. I’ve run into a couple of big problems over the years. From updates that just totally threw me for a loop to a major, major hack and hijack to another big problem that was more recent. (You know in all fairness, that last one probably wouldn’t have been such a mess for someone who actually knew what they were doing .)

      One thing, if you do decide to go with WP, make sure you add on the Jetpack subscription. I can’t remember the yearly $$ … $40? $35? Somewhere in there. Whenever I get in trouble … well ordinary – every-day trouble … they come to my rescue and we get it figured out quickly. Well, except that last one … that took way longer … but I didn’t give up. Oddly, I just found another bug that I thought had been fixed months ago, so I’ll need to noodle around with that again. It’s never ending, but I tell myself it keeps my brains oiled .

      When you start your blog, give me a heads up so I can follow you!!!!!! And enjoy yourself with it … that’s really the best part!!!

  3. Such lovely artworks, Lois! It’s nice to see you back, and hopefully sooner again ~ have a splendid weekend!

    • Dear Phil … so great to see you!!! And thanks for the welcome back. I hope to get into the swing of frequent / regular posts again the way I used to do. Habit is a powerful force … and once I get into the habit of NOT doing something, that’s as hard to break as the habit of DOING something!! . Enjoy your weekend … we’re hot and sunny here … perfect summertime weather!!

  4. LOIS! It’s wonderful to hear from you again! Glad you’re OK. That year long head thing sounds crummy, tho. I understand “disappearing” – LOL – have done it myself, as you know. I hope you’re back now, tho. Your art is glorious! Love it!! ♥️

    • Thanks darlin’!!! The headache was more nuisance than anything. I went to the doc about it a couple of times. There was an ear thing happening in July and August which got treated and I thought would solve everything, but it didn’t. I don’t know if I had a case of silent Covid … and it turned into long Covid? But I never tested positive. I’m honestly feeling stronger and stronger have my stamina coming back now, thank heavens. I’m not at 100%, but at my age, I may never be … … but upward and onward!!! Super to hear from you!! Btw … I can’t respond to you on Instagram again!!! Sigh!!!

  5. Thanks for catching us up. Honestly, six months is nothing. I let mine sit idle for 5 years a while back. Busy with life. Busy with caring for a spouse with a horrible illness. Life happens.

    Of course I have a fondness for the wild horse image. They are one of my favorite subjects. I’m blessed to live in a coastal county that has three separate herds! (Cape Lookout National Sea Shore, Rachel Carson Estuarine Reserve and Cedar Island). Heck, we even have one location that also has a herd of feral cattle… the “Sea Cows!”

    All that said, I love that tree painting. How wonderful! As a teen and young adult I could do a fair job at painting and drawing. I gave it a try a couple years ago and my results were absolutely awful! I am so envious of those that have and are able to maintain that talent.

    Looking forward to future posts.

    • Hey Bob!! Such a treat for you to drop by!!! I hear ya on the 6 months / 5 years. Time does fly. But I enjoy writing, so I keep coming back to it. I used to have my own little “humor” column in the local paper; took oodles of creative writing classes; shopped my short stories around (back then there were paper magazines that accepted them); and began The Great American Novel (like, who hasn’t??). But my poor blog .. every time I get it the way I like it something happens and I have to start over from scratch. I got a wee bit frustrated this last time, plus I wasn’t feeling my most energetic for a long tie,m so I just got it to the good-enough stage and stepped back. Plus, it can be time consuming, can’t it? But I think writing is another fabulous way of exploring who-we-are that our photography and painting and drawing are so good at, too.

      Speaking of envious … how fabulous that you get to see the wild horses so close to home!!! There’s a back story to my images (I have more on my website and camped out in the computers). Those were all taken on a misty morning at the secluded Carova area, before the sun came out, in 2003. But we’d been going down to the outer banks for years … back when the mustangs still roamed free all up and down OBX. And there was an incident when I was standing away from the family group and a wild horsey decided to give my then 3 (4?) year old son the sniff test. I was so intent on seeing what would happen next … plus I was just plain ignorant … that it wasn’t until a guy from a neighboring family blanket area rushed over and scooped Richie up and got him away from potential danger that I realized how very wrong the whole incident could have gone. God must truly love fools, ’cause he sent us an angel that day!!!

      Happy you enjoyed the tree painting. It started out as a doodle and kept going. One thing a friend of mine and I talk about when painting / sketching is “the ugly stage.” Listen, the painting – sketching thing is sooo relaxing and so engaging. I lose hours when I’m in “the zone.” Give yourself a treat. Start sketching again. Keep at it. Every day. Start small … draw an apple. Then something more involved. And think of what I said about about the ugly stage. Keep working through that. I can’t tell you how many of my images I’ve wanted to walk away from when they were in the ugly place. But keep at it. And DO walk away from it for a couple of days … when you come back, you’ll be seeing it with new eyes. I honestly and truly go blind to my stuff after working on the same thing for too long. The time away really is beneficial. Give it a try … and don’t forget to let me see what you come up with!!!!!

  6. Oh Lois, I so miss seeing your artwork. I’ve always enjoyed seeing it. I wish you would blog more. That’s all I do know is blog. I pretty much dropped my Redbubble. I still have a small account open, but …..
    I hope you are well.

    • Oh Cee!!!! Forgive me forgive me!!! I haven’t been in here in so long … Bad Lois!! I just saw your note and will zip over and visit with you!!! So kind of you to pop by … I may actually be getting ready to revamp this site and bring its visuals back to close to the way it used to be. So many things have been going on, but I’ve continued with the art stuff over at Fine Art America and on RedBubble too. I’m considering a new site, too. And of course I’m still with TradeMark Global and sell retail with them. Anyway … I can’t believe I am just now seeing your lovely note. Hope you and yours are all well and happy!!!!!!!

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