Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Summer Heat

It's been hot in Chicago recently. We've escaped into movie theaters to see Red 2 and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. (I liked Red2 but felt uncomfortable about liking it--there's lots of gratuitous violence; I really enjoyed Percy Jackson, no second thoughts.) We also went to the nearby Indiana Welcome Center to see this photography exhibit.
Some of it was really wonderful, some interesting, some thought provoking. There were a couple of times when I thought that some people shouldn't be allowed to use Photoshop. It's not our taste. It was obvious that most of the exhibit photos were photoshopped...some to "enhance" with only some being successful. Some used manipulation to create an interesting and new image and they were pretty cool. Some used it deftly--some of the final images were printed on canvas paper and with the adjustments looked more like paintings than photos--but it suited the image and was very nice. 

All in all it was a very interesting show and worth a visit if you're in the area (just south of 80-94 at the Kennedy Ave. exit). It's free and the center has some interesting brochures for activities, sites and events all over Indiana.
I haven't been talking about embroidery, mostly because I'm working on two guild challenges that I really can't show until next month. I'm nearly done with one and am pleased with how it's coming along so decided to show some snippets of the project.

We were given a piece of lugana and a selection of threads. The challenge was to design something with the fabric and threads, using at least a little of each provided fiber. I've really enjoyed this challenge.

1 comment:

Aurelia Eglantine said...

Wow! You tease you :P LOL! Both pieces look very intriguing, I'm seeing some lovely sparkles there. What an interesting challenge! I can wait to see them in full :)

Re: Movies - I haven't been to one in ages, but I had heard that the 1st Red was good, it's too bad the 2nd was a let down. And I understand what you mean about Photoshop. Some amazing things can be done with it, but this over-saturation of every single photo - and the Instagram filter trend - is really tiring and unnecessary!