Autumn Leaves
Autumn leaves. Vector piece done with Inkscape in October 2011, Ulla Hennig
I love the colours of Autumn, and I wanted to create them with Inkscape. I try to practise with that software as often as I can (which means almost daily after work), but I still sometimes have the feeling of walking over very unsure grounds…
Mushrooms on Wood
Mushrooms on Wood. Photo: Ulla Hennig, September 2011
Two weeks ago our University staff went on a trip to Potsdam, the capital of the federal state of Brandenburg. We visited a very famous building, the Belvedere on the “Pfingstberg”. Of course I took photographs of the building (you will see them later on this blog), but I was also interested in the small things of nature and found this stump with two mushrooms on it.
I like the structure of the cracks in the wood, and how the mushrooms seem to sit on them – they remind me of two white eyes in a brown face. Maybe we should call it the face of fall?
Autumn Day – A Poem
This is one of my favorite poems by Rainer Maria Rilke, one of the most important poets who wrote in German. I found the translation of the first two verses on the web:
“Lord, it is time.
The summer was very big.
Lay thy shadow on the sundials, and on the meadows let the winds go loose.
Command the last fruits that they shall be full; give them another two more southerly days,
press them on to fulfillment and drive the last sweetness into the heavenly wine.”
- Rainer Maria Rilke
The German version doesn’t stop here. I am not a professional translator, but I will try to add the third verse in English:
“Who is without home will not build one now
Who lives alone will stay alone
will be awake, will read and write long letters
and will anxiously walk the alleys
and watch the leaves being driven by the storm.
In the German original the language has a wonderful sound, and anybody who can understand and read German should read the German version. In addition to that I feel deeply touched by the poem. Just now here in Germany we are having days of summer and then, one day later, days of autumn. Temperatures go down, it is getting dark early because the sky is grey, and it rains. We had years when September meant late days of summer, and October was the month to get used to autumn. This year I’ve got the feeling that autumn is already knocking at the door, And so Rilke’s poem came into my mind, and it stays there, in an irritating way.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you, my dear reader and follower of this blog!
May you spend a wonderful time with your dear ones! I will be back on Monday. Until then – take care!
Guardian Angel
Sketch of an angel, pencil and ink
This is really only a doodle, done in a short time on a torn out piece of paper. A few hours ago I had visited DeviantArt and read and looked at a tutorial about the differences between the male and the female body. I found it very helpful, because I am having difficulties drawing a female body.
I was listening to some tv advertisements and decided to put my learnings into practice. And why not draw an angel? Not one of those we know from the Bible, but a guardian angel who is kind of cross with his/her guardee (I don’t know if that word “guardee” exists in the English language, but I like it, and I think you know what I mean…). I can imagine telling her guardee off for not properly looking after herself (working too much? getting too little sleep?). But I digress…
Painting with Photoshop
Red Colors, painted with photoshop brushes by Ulla Hennig
“Painting” this was absolute fun. First I selected a square brush, defined the size of it and then decided about the color. A slight click – and the first colored spot is done. And then – another color, a bigger brush.
And there is this “liquidify” filter – you can clic kon one of the edges, hold the mouse and draw.
I had the wild red colors of fall in mind when I sat down. Fall is like the last battle of nature, showing all its beautiful colors. I made this also with the dark days and long nights of winter in mind, as a picture to come back to and get energy from.
By the way: I will be gone the whole next week. I’ll spend a whole week in the northern east of Germany, at the Baltic Sea. I will take my camera with me, so there will be some stories to read and some photos to look at when I am back. For the first time I’ll give myself permission to have a break in my blogging activities. But I will definitely be back again on 4th of October! Have a great time until then!
Autumn is colorful!
Fall leaves. Collage done with photoshop
I am still on my discovery journey through the world of photoshop. The image above has been created with another photoshop tool – the brush.
When I first heard of this tool and then used it I used it to draw and paint. The leaves above were not drawn or painted, they were created by one click. First I did the background, then I added one layer for each leaf, choosing different colors. Finally I added some layer style.
You can download hundreds of free brushes, and there are many brushes with an autumnal theme. I did not have anything special in mind when I began doing this–I just wanted to try out the potentials of the brush tool!
Autumn Colors
Autumn leaves, done with Photoshop shapes by Ulla Hennig
At the moment it is raining in Berlin, and the weather is more like autumn at its worst than like summer. Autumn can be a glorious season – with the leaves changing from green to yellowish and reddish colors, with crisp air in the morning and sunshine and warmth later on the day.
And autumn is the season of harvesting – big red apples, green pears, green and dark red grapes.
So I decided to create an autmnal atmosphere on photoshop. There is this fantastic tool called “shapes”. Photoshop offers a lot of shapes, and leaves of all kind are included. I hope looking at the picture will lift your spirits – in case they are down because of some nasty weather outside!
Observing and Absorbing
It is the first day of my vacation. After doing some work on the internet in the morning (I began to work on a cute little devil for my Halloween products – not finished yet!) I went around the corner to the Italian restaurant in order to have some aglio and olio (garlic and oil pasta).
They have a nice patio and while I am waiting for the waiter to come I have a look around and I am taking in my surroundings. How many different shades of green there are, depending from where the sun comes. There’s a light breeze, and the leaves are dancing in it.
I look up to the sky, and I wonder how intensive the color of blue can be. It is the blue of a typical summer day, and here and there you can see some fluffy white clouds.
Then I try to focus on the various noises: the restaurant is near to a busy street, and I hear the cars rushing by. Whamm, whamm, whamm – a big truck, but empty truck is passing by. Some doves are goo-gooing near by, and there’s the sound of plates clattering when the waiter fetches the empty plates and carries them to the kitchen.
The scent of pizzas is in the air, combined with that of garlic.
I observe and I absorbe and take in.
Keep cool, man!
After many months of low temperatures and grey skies Berlin is now being attacked by desert heat – 35 degrees Celsius in the shadow. The weather forecast for next week announces a pleasant 24 degree on Tuesday, but don’t worry – the temperatures will raise again from Wednesday on.
So there’s no problem watching the football match Germany vs Spain in the open air: The match will be shown in the evening (no need to put on sunscreen at that time) and it will still be pleasantly warm, but not too hot.
However one still has to work – inside. I work on the 5th floor under a flat roof. It took me some time to find out how I could create some tolerable working conditions (no air-conditioning at that place, mind you):
- open window in the very early morning.
- close window after one hour, open door of office room.
- put heavy object on doorstep in order to prevent door from shutting with heavy bang.
- tell colleagues in the room next to me that having a window openened at 11.30 in the morning has no cooling effect at all…
- Leave office to fetch something to drink.
I think about adding item no 6: Look at the mousepad below in order to keep cool:
