I was down by the Normanskill Creek (some would call it a river) one day in early fall when I discovered these old barns. The area down here was once a little village and there are the remains of quite a few older buildings, many still in use. This image was used as the basis for a digital painting using Corel Painter. I combine several different layers, each with a different effect for the final painting. I often just start with a clone using a painting technique that seems appropriate to the image. Then I will manually paint over certain areas of the image to get a more painterly effect or to enhance a portion of the composition. I will bring the painting into Color Efx 4 or Photoshop for some final touches.

With it unlikely I will get to a zoo in the very near future, I came across this lovely cat –  Leopardus pardalis – otherwise known as an ocelet, in my collection. These lovely animals are native to the southern part of the US (mainly the southwest) as well as through South America.

This animal was one of many of the big cats saved by an organization called The Panther Ridge Conservation Center located in Loxahatchie, Florida. The organization gives guided tours with lots of opportunity to take photos. I have been their twice and it is quite interesting. Other residents include the cheetah, jaguar, leopard, clouded leopard, and panther.

Obviously, these are wild animals and kept in enclosures but these are not cages as such but habitats that are as natural as possible. Taking good photos through wire enclosures can be daunting at first but with a little knowledge you can get some great images. The best tip is to use a telephoto lens and get close to the barrier. Focusing on the animals relatively far away from the wires puts those pesky impediments out of focus.

The original photo of a garden arch was used as the basis for a digital painting. The photo was taken into Corel Painter. Using the painting techniques available in this fab program, I created an original work of art.

This image was taken along side a lake here in Florida some time ago.

Recently, I cropped it closely and corrected for color, contrast and exposure using both Adobe Lightroom CC and Color Efex Pro 4.

Then I experimented with my new best friend, ON1 Photo RAW 2020. The result suggestive of a Fall-ish scene.

I recently was the featured artist for the Bellaggio community. Here are some images from that show.

This image was taken at Grassy Waters Wildlife Preserve in West Palm Beach. At this time many of the entrances and trails are closed but a few are still open. Check their website.

The bird at the center of the photo looks to be a snail-eating Limpkin. They are tropical wetland birds and apple snails are their food of choice. The male makes a terrible noise at night (to humans) but music to ears of a lady limpkin.

This image began life as a photograph taken of a nice house on the edge of a lake. I then pulled it into Corel Painter and created a etherial looking digital painting.

I often use a form of layers with my digital paintings. In one layer I can paint in the background using a digital technique. In the second layer, I can bring back the central subject using another painting technique.

McKee Botanical Gardens is known for it beautiful displays of water lilies. But it has other charms as well including this wonderful little bridge. A fine landscape image given the right light and a great reflection in the water. You can see the waterlilies, too.

OK, welcome back is not for you – but for ME. I have been away for a while so I thought I would begin writing again. The image above is a”big splash”. Taken somewhere I can’t remember but with a slowish shutter speed to get all the wonderful splashing things going. This was one of the images in a recent Featured Artist submission to my community’s artist-in-residence program. Hope you taken with my Olympus OMD EM-5 Mark III which I love. Too bad that Olympus has just sold its photo division. Who knows what will become of this wonderful 4/3 format camera line.