Remember when I said the craziest-looking textures can sometimes work with your photos? I created the image above with a free texture from darkwood67’s collection on Flickr. (There are tons of free textures on Flickr, by the way.)

The texture looked like this:

 Basically a peeling piece of concrete. I thought it was kind of a nutty idea to try this on a harmless lisianthus, but I’m kind of surprised and pleased at the same time. I had so much fun doing this. Reminds me of my old days back in art class. I removed the texture from the center of the flower with a “magic eraser” tool in Elements. What’s great is that you can zoom in really close and see exactly what you’re doing. That would have been nice in art class.

It’s probably a good thing I’m new to textures, or I wouldn’t try crazy stuff like this. Kind of like men in the kitchen. They haven’t been following recipes for years and are more likely to experiment and do well. My youngest son is a fantastic cook who’s not afraid to try anything. I learned to cook late in life and need to follow a recipe. Every. Single. Time. But hey, if it tastes good, that’s all that matters, right?

Here’s an unadulterated shot of a variegated petunia….

We’re having such a spell of great weather here on the East Coast. I was actually able to eat breakfast outside this morning, just like in Europe. One of my fondest memories is waking up in Geneva and walking across the border to France every morning to get gruyère cheese for breakfast. The air was sparkling clean and fresh; everything was in sharp focus and I felt lucky to be alive. Still do.

All for now, folks.  Tomorrow I’ll be talking about one of my favorite books. Thanks for stopping….