Rocks I collected on the beach

When you were young, did you collect flowers or shells or bits of polished glass from your walks to be used in some crafty piece when home (or carefully placed on a shelf for ‘later use’)? 

Nowadays I rarely colelct things for crafty use or display.  But I do collect photos that I intend to use for creative play, rather than to record a memory.

One my walk last week I was on the lookout for a good dark shape that I could then play with using textures and pixel magic –  I found these rocks

I liked the shape of those rocks and knew the contrast with the sand would provide a good canvas for textures and after some satisfying playing on PSE, I had a selection of colour ways which I put together.

I like how it looks like a partial handprint in some of them. 

What crafty inspiration do you collect on your walks?

Zoom Out to see the artist

out walking last week I noticed some fabulous abstract art in a rather unexpected place

the 'accidental artist' was a combination of layers of paint applied and removed plus the actions of the sea the the bottom fin of the boat (which I am sure has a name - keel?).  Having spotted one I walked around all the other boats - most of them are up on the land rather than in the sea, I assume because of recent very high tides and storms.  People were working on some of the boats but undeterred I photographed some more of these wonderful abstracts - I can imagine them on the walls of a gallery in the posh part of town

I'm really enjoying all the different subject matters being shared in zoom in zoom out photos and how some start with the wide shot and some with the close shot.  Thank you.

I'm linking this post to Nature Footstep's Wednesday abstract this week too.

Abstract bounty

When in Leith taking my up and down photos I was drawn to the fabulous colours and abstract shapes as the buildings were reflected on the water that was being lightly rippled by a breeze and some ducks.

I was inspired by Sandie’s 5 in 5 meme to stand for 5 minutes and take lots of shots of the patterns and then choose 5 of them to share.  I’ve missed her October link up but really enjoyed the exercise and will do it again.

I’m sharing these on the Nature Footstep abstract meme too

I love all the abstract effects appearing naturally rather than creating them with pixel magic. 

and I love how the colours are stronger in the reflections than they appear on the buildings

I can imagine these printed up really big on a canvas on the wall.  Do you have a favourite?