52Frames Photo Trending

I have been participating in the 52 Frames photo challenge for about three years? A friend of ours from the Midwest suggested it and both my husband and I have looked forward to finding suitable images for the subject matter. And I have learned a lot since I never was a photographer - just someone who always loved to take photos. There are several ways to be noticed once the entries are submitted. I have never been selected in the top three and don’t ever expect to be. But I have been selected five times in the top 52 out of around 2500 to over 3000 entries. 52Frames also has an instagram site where they select three images every day of the week. I’ve had two photos noted there! A couple of weeks ago one of the “followers” on my 52Frames website told me that my photo was “trending”. On the main website they always show the top three, as well as the instagram selections. Then on the right hand side there are three “trending” photos that change at least every day, but I don’t know how or why they get selected. Last week my photo was trending, and now again today my photo is trending. It’s a great way to get showcased and draws the attention of the other framers. I never paid attention to the main page of the website, but now I check it at least daily and was pleasantly surprised to see the little boy and his tractor in the trending section. It’s been a fun hobby and has served us well. And I get to meet people from all over the world. 

Constitution Gardens, Birds and Carp

My husband really likes taking a morning walk around Constitution Gardens. It’s a great place because the tourists don’t know where it is. We always park at the Tidal Basin, then walk past the WWII Memorial and then turn in to the park. There was a beautiful Chinese fringe tree in full bloom. The we stumbled upon a “common grackle” with the luminescent head feathers. Of course there were geese sailing by as well as a pair of ducks. There were also a lot of ducklings. The view of the Washington monument is always nice from the signers of the declaration section that you reach after crossing a foot bridge. Then we made our way toward the Lincoln memorial that is under renovation - like everything else is in the city. When we got back to the car we walked up a bit around the Tidal Basin and saw for the first time some very large fish - it almost looked like a dolphin! When we got a close look they were slapping about against the wall in a frenzied state. When we sent the photos to an expert fisherman we know he said they were carp. They almost looked like cat fish. When we drove home we passed through our old neighborhood on Capitol Hill and saw the house/basement apartment where our grandson will be living for six weeks this summer while he does his internship. It’s almost across the street from our old condo and the house where he grew up for ten years. We always like to visit and oftentimes wish we never moved. But then reality strikes and we realize it was good while it lasted, but glad we made the change. 

Smithsonian Gardens and Ducks

It’s always a treat to walk through the gardens around the National Mall. We were visiting the Smithsonian Castle last week and things were starting to look very summery. I was surprised to see so many poppies. We planted poppies in our tiny Capitol Hill patio garden one year and they looked so pretty. It seems the predominant colors of the flowers now were orange, yellow and gold. On the way back to the car we walked around the Capitol reflecting pool. Now is the time to see all of the baby ducks that sometimes use the ramps that are put out by the grounds staff. We found several ducklings huddling together on the perimeter as their parents were swimming nearby. As we walked through the US Botanic garden there were remnants of the beautiful wisteria vine overhead. A bunch of school kids were visiting and taking a break on the lawn. It was a beautiful day for a morning walk. We like to head in to town at least once a month. There is always something to see. 

52Frames Wide Aperture Weekly Photo Challenge

The subject this week for the 52Frames photo challenge was “wide aperture.” So we got a lot of images of flowers and arachnoids, and bees, ducks and other usual suspects. Then we took a morning walk on the national mall and stumbled upon the agricultural farm exhibit that was filled with all sorts of tractors and combines. I couldn’t imagine how they got these monstrous machines through the streets and on to the mall. It was a cloudy day and there weren’t very many people there for a Monday morning. The police dog was intrigued by the fake plastic cow. There were a lot of tents and vendors telling stories about the latest in ag developments. Then as we were almost near to a huge green tractor I saw a little boy in green rubber boots walking alongside it, his mom nearby with a stroller. The difference in the size of the tractor and this tyke was overwhelming. Even though this photo looked like a composite - it wasn’t. In the distance you can see the vendors and tents and the Washington Momument. Now that was an interesting counterpoint. Some of the other photos were technically better, but my husband liked the little boy and the tractor. 

Happy Mother’s Day

Cooking for Two Taste Buds

My husband has a medical condition that is dictating what he can and can not eat. He can’t eat chocolate, spicy food, coffee, tea, tomatoes, wine - just about anything he likes. As a result of that, we no longer can cook things that are good for us both if they contain any of those ingredients. We have found that pesto pasta actually tastes pretty good compared to the regular tomato based sauces. And we have found that the vegetarian Greek pizza is good too. But when it comes to preparing shrimp in the air fryer, I used to add paprika along with garlic powder. Now he can’t have paprika. At least I can split the shrimp in half and prepare some of it with garlic and onion powder and the other with added paprika.  The same with salmon. Yesterday I didn’t split it out with the chicken breasts - not sure why. I think I just forgot since we always do things together and always shared our food. It just feels different after all of these years. And it doesn’t work when you make soup. And since we don’t go out to eat as much as we used to that would be the opportunity to order something he can’t have. But that doesn’t feel right either. We went for lunch this week for a change of pace. I ordered lentil soup - but when it arrived it was tomato based and he couldn’t have any. I guess I need to remember to ask before I order something that might be a problem. It could be a lot worse. It’s just a big inconvenience. He can’t have the things he loves and that is a bit upsetting. 

52Frames Trending Photo

I belong to the 52Frames weekly photo challenge. It’s a great way to plan morning walks around specific subject matter, and has kept me occupied for three years. I always like to post the images on X, Instagram and my Facebook business page. Every once in a while my photos have been selected as one of 52 that are chosen out of 2500-3000 plus entries that meet whatever criteria that is used. 52Frames is also a social media website where you like and comment on other entries, and many comment back - from all over the world. Last week someone from England mentioned that my photo was “trending” which is why she looked at it. I asked her what she meant by that. Apparently on the official website not only are the photos that are selected by Instagram are highlighted, three images that for whatever reason are noted as “trending” - based on number of likes or comments? You aren’t notified if your photo is trending, but now I need to keep the main page  open to look at it at least once a day. I saw someone I know and mentioned it to them. It’s another way to stay in touch but it’s also nice to be recognized for your work - for whatever the reason. So that makes two weeks in a row - last week and then again this week. I hope the streak continues! 

Closing My LITDigitalPaintings Etsy Shop

I started my Etsy shop back in 2012. I rediscovered my love for watercolors and pastels on my iPad. I started to paint pet portraits and thought I would give it a go on Etsy. I spent a lot of time and energy on this website. I literally self taught my way on two art apps - most recently Procreate. I had 341 sales over the years and still get requests from returning customers. Digital art has changed a lot in the last twelve years. And with AI anything is the limit. But each portrait takes a lot of time first sketching and then hand painting every speck of the canvas. There are also fees for every image and over time the revenues just didn’t match the expenses. So yesterday I decided to close my Etsy Shop. It was rather an easy process. I didn’t take the final step of actually deleting it - yet, but probably will once I feel more up to it. I still have my website and other sites that showcase all of my work - Redbubble, TeePublic, Amazon Merch, Zazzle, and Fine Art America/Pixels. On top of that Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram are also maintained. I want to thank all of my Etsy customers for the enjoyable experiences I have had painting beloved pet portraits. My Etsy shop was a small business venture and I learned a lot. Now I’ve moved on to taking photos for the 52Frames weekly challenges and create composite images as projects. Some of those images are being used as uploads to my other websites. It’s an evolving process just like everything else. It’s sort of sad to say good bye, but the pressure of turning around portraits isn’t worth the effort like it used to be. I still love painting portraits - I’ll just do on my own schedule.