this is the last in this series of works which I started in 2010.  I ended up with bead fatigue about the end of 2011/beginning of 2012 with 3 pieces to complete.  I restarted this project late last year.  This is not a good photo of this piece and it is an issue that has frustrated me for a while. My photography skills are not that good but the one thing that really was really frustrating me were the reds in this piece. To get the red not to be too bright, the blue has become to bright. Its something I really need to work at. At the moment I am using my husband’s  Olympus stylus sh-1 

Anyway, yesterday I decided to go down to the local camera camera shop, rather than just relying on the reviews on Amazon or the paltry selection available at the local Best Buy, Target or Frys.  It seems red/orange is a very difficult colour to capture but the guy did give me a couple of useful tips about using a reflector shade and grey card to set the white balance.  I looked up the camera recommended – Panasonic lumix zs-45 However, looking it up on Amazon – (1) it was about $100 cheaper than the shop price and the reviews were not good. Admittedly, I did say to the guy I was mainly a hobbyist who posted pictures to FB, instagram and this blog, so he probably thought I didn’t want to spend too much on a camera.He did suggest going back with the image I was trying to photo with an sd card so I could try out a couple of cameras . So hopefully the weather will brighten up tomorrow and I will try them out. I am going to charge up my husband’s Nikon D500 camera and see what I can do with that. I will check the prices on Amazon before I buy though as a $100 difference is quite a lot on what appears to be a basic digital camera. I am prepared to pay more for the opportunity of trying out the cameras but not that much.

I  was pleased with see all the pictures up on my upstairs room (its meant to be a games room but no-one play any games there)  I decided to mount all the works on a 20 x 16 artist canvas (cheap ones from Hobby lobby) and paint an acrylic background dependent on the piece of work. Eventually I will add a simple black fame and glass to protect them from dust.

Now I need to think about what I will do next. I have a mountain of fabric, a ton of beads and plenty of thread but inspiration has not hit me yet. I have thought of using my sketches and paintings from the past year but I will need to get them together and think about it.

Until then I have a plein air outing on Saturday assuming the rain has gone by then. Fortunately nothing was planned today.