Longer and longer, the winter sings -

"Measures of Ice and Snow Across Finland"
digital collage by Mick Mather

"...winter is nature's way of saying, 'up yours' ..."
- Robert Byrne

Off roading!

"Susu's Drive in the Country"
digital collage by Mick Mather
- click image to view full size -

"... I had to stop driving my car for a while, the tires got dizzy ..."
- Stephen Wright

Please, dress me -

"A Fabulous Pair of Shoes"
digital collage by Mick Mather
- submission to SusuPetal's Top Fashion Design Project -

"... remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but she did it backwards and in high heels ..." - Faith Whittlesey

Dude, get a room!

"Reluctant Witness to a Tryst"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Sometimes an image comes with a story already written. Today's post is one example even if all of the details are not quite set upon the page. By the way, Susu, his name is Joe! :D

Fever, headache, body ache and sinus -

"Study for an Unnamed Monument"
manipulated fractal flame by Mick Mather

Okay, okay! I'm still in fever mode and Susupetal just explained that I am NOT to be working at all while sick. So, from the overheated banks of synapse and gap, here's today's post. Back to bed!

Wallpaper? Shower curtain? Kimono pattern? -

"West to East"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

It was something that one of The Finnish Sisters said, Susupetal to be exact, that got me to thinking about things with a taste of the orient in the recipe. As I pressed the original photograph into and through the super secret array at the Secret Visual Laboratory, things began to take on the proper flavor and so, here you have it.

Rain, rain, go away -

"Leighlund's Cairn - Another View"
stacked stone sculpture by Mick Mather

The introduction, "rain, rain, go away", is for Susupetal ... most of us who have the privilege to know her understand that she dislikes the coming of the Finnish Autumn, fraught with fog and gloom and rain. But I digress. We've had an extraordinarily wet, cool summer in this part of the world too. Lately, that fact has included a lot more rain - pushed north and east by the hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico - that filled this little creek next to Leighlund's house. I took my camera over there yesterday to document the possible destruction of the piece but was rewarded with a perfectly brilliant, sunny day with our little cairn proudly standing its ground and diverting the stream. Next step will be to document the winds of autumn and the falling leaves that might just bury this little stand of stone.

NEW from The Mister Existence Series -

"Sister Existence at War With the Moon"
digital collage by Mick Mather

After a 10-hour day at work plus a few more with colleagues at an Irish Bar, I was pretty well done in by the time I arrived at the secret visual laboratory. Fortunately for me, tonight's image fell right together. Just as fortunate is the fact that it was inspired by Susupetal and her well-documented distaste for the long, cold, gray winters of Finland. Here, then, our Warrior Queen stands victorious over the Moon and not a few of the stars, paving the way for the Sun.

Only the name -

"The Spanish Man"
digital collage & digital painting by Mick Mather

This post began as a digital collage that I was more than happy with now that I think about it. I took it into another set of filters just for fun and to see what would happen. After that, another editor was pressed into service with the smudge tool that I'm learning to like more and more and finally to a third for the final result. Somewhere along the line I began tweaking, dozens of them, to get the rough hew of his features just so. In the end, this b & w version trumped all of the more colorful versions. Oh yes, I almost forgot, I couldn't help but think about Susupetal's recent vacation to Spain. So, this one's for you, Susu! :)

Moody Monday: Naked -

"Naked"
$50 Unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

For Moody Monday this week I chose a photograph of a group of café tables to address the theme - naked. As luck would have it, one of the definitions offered for this actually reads like a poem while describing one possible point of view if, that is, furniture could talk. In a way, given words such as these, they can...and, too bad SusuPetal didn't discover them first! She could've claimed them for our collaboration and growing collection of postmodern poems. Here it is:

"... defenseless.
unprotected,
exposed,
naked to invaders..."

Barbed wire string thing -

"Cowboy Guitar"
digitally manipulated torn paper collage by Mick Mather

Gee wizzikers! Even the weekend is throwing me curves and giving me fits with time obligations that are keeping me from the important things - your double shot is sitting on the mahogany, Susu ... pick up! Anyway, here's another post from the COLLAGE-A-DAY Series. I gotta saddle the horse and ride! :D

A house for HPY -

"Chez HPY"
tempera-on-paper by Mick Mather

I've been thinking a lot about the request that HPY made at her blog last week. The original post begot two lovely drawings, the first by Isopeikko and the other by Susupetal. Above is small painting I did a few years ago that seems to fit the bill here. As I recall, there's been some mention and a little conversation about keeping things affordable. So, here you go HPY! It's what we call a fixer-upper over here. :D

Voyager, Dr. Carl Sagan and SNL -

"Send More Chuck Berry"

digital collage by Mick Mather
- images generated by typoGenerator -

First, let's talk about widgets. There are lots of amazing little software programs being created by some very clever open source code writers and developers. What you see in tonight's post is the result of one of my new favorites (thanks Susupetal - I found typoGenerator at your place initially). There are dozens of others that I'm sure many of you will find appealing and I may have to add a category to my sidebar for those I know about and like best. Warning, some of these cool doodads are in beta states that may cause your computer to crash so be forewarned - I don't plan to recommend any that have made mine crash however. So, what to do with these shiny, new toys? Play with them of course. What happens at typoGenerator is that you get a little box where you put in a word or a phrase. Press the generate button and soon you have a nifty poster made up of random text, your specific text and random images ... as should be obvious by now, "Send More Chuck Berry" is the phrase that I chose after a bit of thinking that included Voyager, Dr. Sagan and a skit from the original cast of Saturday Night Live. There's a terrific blog post about it by Connie Sunday if you want more info. Another visual example of what one might do? Ron Huxley has altered some business cards that look terrific! While it's unclear that he's used typoGenerator, the appearance is decidedly similar. See them at his flickr site, here. As I discover more fun widgets, I'll keep you posted.

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...and, here's another little fun something that the Way Fabulous Susupetal uncovered. While I'm not looking for a date, their little quiz is a hoot:

57%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Dating Site