dj pettitt - gentle whispering hues

Beautiful Orvieto Italy!

I'm so excited that I'll be teaching another painted photo and journal workshop in Orvieto, Italy in just a few months! I'm still sighing and thinking about my trip to Australia (I still have more to share about my amazing time there!) but with September approaching, my thoughts and my heart turn toward beautiful Orvieto, 
and memories of last year's dreamy adventure fill my mind. I fell head over heals in love with the beautiful Italian people;   

rolling terraced vineyards, and narrow, one-way cobblestone streets winding through  ancient villages clinging to cliff walls;      
the golden afternoon light;  
   
the many family run boutiques, markets, and restaurants blending food, art, and community;        
and the ancient history, breathtaking architecture, and heart-stirring sculpture.    
               I also fell in love with Giovanni, the head nun running San Lodovico, the 400 year old convent/B&B where we stay and create art. Honestly, I wanted to adopt her and bring her home. She reminded me so much of my sweet grandmother. I can't wait to give Giovanni another great big hug!

Below are a few shots of last year's students and the fun we had together. There are spots left in the September workshop, so if you're interested, or have questions, email Kristi, Bill  or myself, and any of us will be more than happy to answer your questions.

 cooking class

 
 

Bill and Kristi, our amazing host and hostess!

 
                     
  

     painted photo of an angel from the cemetery near Orvieto

Dearest Orvieto, I look forward to meeting again soon, so I can once again wrap my heart around you while closing my eyes and breathing deep of your magnificent beauty and charm.

painted photo of an Italian House Crow

And we're off! --australian photo adventure continued

When Bevlea and I boarded the plane and headed north to Queensland, we both had jackets on as it was a bit chilly in Melbourne. When we stepped out of the airport in Cairns, we were hit with super high humidity and about 90 degrees- and it was only about 9:30 in the morning!

 Mossman Gorge -a section of Daintree National Park

We picked up our adorable lime green rental car and headed north, filled with excitement and anticipation. I was so looking forward to seeing and photographing the bird life,

Pied Heron

and the gorgeous, tropical scenery,  Josephine Falls

as well as just being there and soaking it all in.

Bevlea on Thala Beach

The plan was to drive north on Captain Cook Highway to Port Douglas for the night,
then Breakfast with the Birds the following morning, and continue up to the Daintree River area.

Cattle Egret

We would spend the night there, go on a guided 6:30 AM cruise the next morning in hopes of seeing some crocs, and then continue exploring the area for another day (unfortunately, we didn't see any crocs on the cruise, but I was able to shoot one at the Wildlife Habitat in Port Douglas a couple days later).

We would then spend the remainder of our holiday driving back down to Cairns, stopping at a few planned locations, as well as wherever our artistic mood took us, and then fly back to Melbourne at the end of 6 days.

the route we traveled

The trip far exceeded anything I had hoped for. Every inch of Queensland is relaxing, tranquil, out-of-this-world gorgeous, and filled with energetic fun and adventure all at the same time. The excitement of photo ops at every turn, the fun of traveling with a girlfriend who loved the birds and hearing the shutter click as much as I did,

The great zipper pull heist- and yes, he ripped it completely off of Bevlea's backpack!

and the beauty- there are just no words to describe the hypnotic non-stop beauty. It was almost overwhelming with its enchanting dazzle and spellbinding loveliness. There was so much to see and all of it a potential photo op, but how can you stop at every beautiful scene when it's ALL so beautiful? Well, you can't, but we did make a valiant effort, and managed to cover over 550 miles in our 6 days! 

We spent the first night at Thala Beach Resort in Port Douglas.
What a fabulous way to begin our holiday! The resort is situated on a private beach, with immaculate bungalows amidst lush, tropical landscape,

and a delicious restaurant perched above the treetops overlooking the Coral Sea. We were greeted with a yummy fruit drink to enjoy while our bags were delivered to the bungalow.

It was all so dreamy...and such a magically wonderful time! The following morning we were up at dawn to greet the sunrise down on the beach,

then off to have Breakfast With The Birds, and continue our trip north to the Daintree River. Bush Stone Curlew

Tawny Frogmouth -aren't these just the coolest birds ever?

  Rainbow Lorikeet 

  Blue and Yellow Macaw

 Yellow Indian Ringneck Parakeet

  Peaceful Dove

  Mandarin Duck

White Faced Egret

 Green Parrot

    Pacific Heron

         Noisy Miner Bird

 

   Lesser Sooty Owl with lunch

 Cassowary

Cattle Egret 

I still have another installment or two to share, so stay tuned!

Finished the book... it's ready to journal in.

Here's the finished journal (sold) that I made as a sample for my workshop this weekend. The covers are 6X9 canvas panels. The front cover includes a painted and collaged photograph:Spine with vintage buttons:
Back cover is a painted canvas panel:
I added faux crazy quilting and hand stitching on the lining of the front cover (faux because of the raw edges). On the right is a signature-wrap:
More faux crazy quilting and hand stitching on the inside back cover:
6 Signatures:
Painted and embellished pages:

An Artful Journey registration opening, artsee bloggers, and journal prize

Greetings! I hope you're all enjoying beautiful July weather, fun summer and family activities, and of course... lots of art projects! I wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow at  noon, An Artful Journey registration opens! I love teaching at Cindy's retreat, and I'm very excited about the class that I'll be offering next February at AAJ. Even though we've already listed techniques included in the class, I'm still coming up with new ideas and love the direction that my photo paintings are going. I'll continue to post new samples as I finish them. After my workshop this weekend in Jacksonville, I'll be creating with those new ideas in mind and can't wait to see where they take me. Speaking of new ideas and visions, Geri Centonze has created a great place to be inspired and to explore the work of other blogging artists. Her artsee bloggers site premiered today, and after checking it out, I'm happy to recommend the site to you. Rather than blog hopping, you can find links to many different artists directly from her site. Different categories at the top of the page make it a simple click to explore areas you're most interested in. Geri has plans to add links to many more artists, as well as include interviews and tutorials (I'll be adding one as time permits), so be sure and check it out and bookmark it! You can also contact Geri if you would like your blog to be included on the site. Yesterday, I had my first Monthly Caption Drawing on my Facebook page, and Marla McCafferty won this single signature journal that I made for the prize: If we aren't FB friends, and you would like to play, send me a friendship request so you can get in on the fun.I've been posting a photo once a week and anyone who leaves a comment with a caption for the photo will be in the next Monthly Caption Drawing.The journal pages are painted, lightly stamped, and hinged with fabric.
 

Springtime!

I thought it would be a fun challenge to try writing some haiku this morning. I'm not gifted at writing but I really enjoyed my first attempt at haiku. It's pretty easy since it's short and isn't supposed to rhyme. Not sure if it's supposed to be more than just thoughts and feelings,  but I decided to add Tulla in one anyway :-)

Hope you're all having a wonderful day!

 

 
 

painted crow photo

Before painting, this was a photo of a bunch of crows on the beach that I snapped last year.
Today was the first warm day we've had this year! And to make it extra special, there wasn't any wind. It was so incredibly nice to go outside without a coat, scarf, or boots, and feel the warmth of the sun soaking through me. This afternoon I enjoyed photographing the few flowers we have blooming as well as some happy birds. And the topper... it stayed light out until 8 PM.

Tulla and I had such a wonderful day.
Below are a few photos from the past few days, beginning with the winning Mr S of course :-) Such a busy boy he is. I laugh at how smart I thought I was when we had an arborist out to trim the trees, and I worked with him to preserve certain branches so I would have the perfect props when photographing birds.  Ha, Mr S sees things a bit differently.  He'll do anything for Mrs S, and constantly looks for the perfect twig or piece of bark to make the nursery more comfy for her. He makes many trips up the Maple and over to the Pine tree with the perfect token of his affection.

   

Santa Journal

I love the deep rich colors and all the velvet on this journal!

The right side of the cover includes beaded, burn-out velvet. I dyed the velvet with Lorri Scott while teaching a collaborative with her a while back.

fused signature wrap (painted tissue and fabric 'cooked' with gel medium in my heat press)




free motion stitched pages


another fused signature wrap
fused piece close up

painting with light

Last night, I took photos of our Christmas tree lights and played with slow shutter speeds to create light trails. For years, I've enjoyed setting a long shutter speed and moving the camera around, producing images similar to the ones below. This morning while in photoshop changing colors on the images I took last night, I started wondering if there were more advanced ways to paint with light than simply time exposing moving lights such as cars, or moving the camera around like I do. I did a quick search and found this incredible tutorial. I'm going to  go get a mini flashlight today and try this type of light painting. I wonder if Tulla will hold still long enough for me to paint her with light :-)

To create the images below, I tested to find an exposure that would show the light trails, then simply moved the camera around while the shutter was open. I used a 100 mm lens and these settings:

ISO 100

Shutter Speed 4 seconds

F-Stop f/14

In Photoshop, I inverted them, duplicated the layers a couple times, and applied different blending modes to each layer.

this one reminds me of cave paintings

tornado

prayer

dance

cupid's arrows

arrow close-up

infrastructure

infrastructure close-up

 

 

 

 

photoshop mini tutorial

Beauty sat bathing by a spring
Where fairest shades did hide her;
The winds blew calm, the birds did sing,
The cool streams ran beside her.
Anthony Munday

 

It's been a while since I posted a mini tutorial so I thought I'd show you what I've been up to today.  This is a fast and easy way to add a fun frame and texture to your images. You will need a graphics program that has blending modes and uses layers. If you are familiar with this technique already, hopefully you will find some inspiration to spark your creativity!

Here's the photo before adding the texture:

 

 

And after:

 

Begin with a textured background. You can find really nice ones on Flickr that people generously share, or you can create your own. I've added the one below to my flickr site here. It's free to grab and use.

To create your own, use grunge brushes to erase or paint white around the edges of a photo. Save it so you can reuse it later. Here are a few more that I created and have been using today:

You can also use them inverted:

Next, choose an image that you would like to add your textured background to:

Layer the image on top of the textured background:

 

Your layers palette will look similar to this:

Next, change the blending mode on the top layer (the bird) to Overlay. The blending modes are in a drop-down at the top of the layers palette here:

And that's it! The result looks like this:

Pretty neat huh? Below are a few I played with today. I've tweaked some of them, and added masking and minimal adjustments, but not much. I'll also post the before shots so you can see the difference.

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

This is an old tintype that I photographed while at a yard sale. It was such a fun time with the owner helping and encouraging as I took photos of a couple tintypes and the purple bottles below. The tintype is amazing enough, but the extra textures make it look even more old and wonderful.

 

 

  

 

update

I've had some setbacks with my health (nothing big, I'm just battling thyroid and adrenal fatigue, making me tired and unable to think clearly) and have decided that it's best to postpone online classes for a few months so I can get well. I feel badly, and know that so many were looking forward to it, but I just can't get it together right now. It will happen, I just need to get well first. In the mean time, I'll be opening my etsy site again, and will be offering books, prints, simple tutorials with kits, and other goodies as I'm able.

Below are some shots of a book I'm working on and will be offering for sale in the next few days. I haven't painted a face in about a year, and it felt good to begin again. It's not finished yet, but I thought I'd show you the progress so far. She'll be the cover of the book.