Beautiful

I like the lyrics to these India Arie songs.
b. 3 Oct 1975 in Denver, Colorado
Not my usual genre (R&B) so she is unfamiliar to me.



A Beautiful Day
Lyrics
...Early in the morning
It's the dawn of a new day
New hopes new dreams new ways
I open up my eyes and
I open up my mind and
I wonder how life will surprise me today...



Beautiful
Make me want to take a road trip.
Lyrics
The time is right
I'm gonna pack my bags
And take that journey down the road
Cause over the mountain I see the bright sun shinning
And I want to live inside the glow
Yeah...

myspace
grooveshark

Image1 creation notes: Gradient from scratch, VM Natural Lightsplash, Glow on Heart Preset Shape
Image2 creation notes: Gradient, Feedback, Layer Blends

Everlong And Nature Sounds

Some interesting versions of this song:
piano cover
slow it down
acoustic

Via
reddit

There's also:
naturesoundsfor.me in that above reddit link.
Here's a screenshot of the one I made and exported to OGG:


music reddits

Everlong image creation notes: Gradients, VM Shoutin' w VM Origami, Layer Blends

New Story

Image creation notes: Gradient and radial blur.

Follow Through


Image creation notes: Gradient and radial blur, text drop shadow.

Consistent

Deep Thoughts

rainymood
solopianoradio

Via reddit

Image creation notes: Gradients and warp brush clouds preset.

Burn Notice

I haven't kept up with the show Burn Notice.
But I saw Season 4 DVD in the store and bought it on impulse because the Jesse character (Coby Bell) sounded like an interesting addition.
I liked it.

Image creation notes: Text and background are gradients I created from scratch. The bumpy water was made with Displacement Maps. I manually cut the bottom of the letter t and then added a drop shadow to the text.
Inspiration was this Burn Notice logo.

Dealt Cards

Image creation notes: PSP pattern fill, MuRa's Meister Copies Cards Preset.

Darkest Hour

Heather Nova song lyrics.
previously

Image creation notes: PSP pattern fill and touchup, multiply layer blends.

Purple Tranquility

google it

Image creation notes: Gradients and warp brush clouds preset.

Wild And Precious Life

This poem captures what I feel when I'm in nature looking thru my telephoto lens and taking pictures.


The Summer Day
Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

writersalmanac
(3:18 into the mp3)
youtube
wiki

Image Creation Notes: A gradient and radial blur.

The Sun

The Sun
Mary Oliver

Have you ever seen anything
in your life more wonderful

than the way the sun, every evening,
relaxed and easy, floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills, or the rumpled sea,
and is gone--and how it slides again
out of the blackness, every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance--
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love--
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure that fills you,
as the sun reaches out,
as it warms you

as you stand there, empty-handed--
or have you too turned from this world--
or have you too gone crazy for power, for things?

wiki
google it
goodreads

Image Creation Notes: A simple gradient.

Piano Music

Ludovico Einaudi
Love that name.
wiki
b. 23 Nov 1955.
Born in Turin (city) Piedmont (region), Italy.
Italian contemporary music composer and pianist.

grooveshark
imdb
google

Not Over You

I like this song.
It's that background beat stuff that's so catchy.

Grooveshark
Gavin DeGraw
(Nope, that's the only song I like.)
Not Over You

YouTube

wiki
Gavin Shane DeGraw (b. 4 Feb 1977)
Grew up in New York.
He was recently (Aug) hospitalized after being assaulted and then hit by a taxi.
Whoa.
Not Over You released in May.
First time I've heard it.

songfacts
a "collaboration with One Republic's lead singer and songwriter for hire Ryan Tedder"

Nickelback

Nickelback has a new album out.
Here & Now
21 Nov 11

I like:
When We Stand Together
Lullaby

grooveshark

Listening To...

Holding A Heart
By Girl Named Toby (Toby Lightman)
bandcamp
"Once upon a time a girl named Toby met a boy named Todd. Together they wrote strange and beautiful pop songs, recorded them and now they belong to you..."
released 17 Oct 2010
Toby Lightman: Vocals, Guitar, Strings
Todd Wright: The Other Stuff

Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall

Hey, I like the new Coldplay song, Every Teardrop is a Waterfall.

YouTube
(Dated 2 Jun 11)

Image creation note:
Obviously using the song cover art for inspiration.
VM Instant Art - Colorfield Generator, Texture, VM Distortion - Brightness By Brightness
Bauhaus 93 font with white outline and blurry shadow
Raindrop Tube

Neon Trees - Music

Hey, I like these guys (drummer is female).
New discovery.

Neon Trees at YouTube:
1983
Animal (Viral Version)
Calling My Name (Not on Habits album.)

They only have one album out, but there are more songs at YouTube if you search for:
Neon Trees.

What Are Neon Trees?

Name Origin

Wiki
"Although a well known band in Provo, the band didn't receive nationwide exposure until late 2008 when they were chosen as openers for several of The Killers' North American tour dates."
"Although they had several prior independent releases, the band released its debut album...Habits, on March 16, 2010 with 'Animal' as its lead single."
"...the band will be touring opening for 30 Seconds To Mars and Mutemath throughout the Spring of 2010."

Amazon Vinyl version has two bonus tracks.



Wiki on Vinyl
"The vinyl record regained popularity by 2008, with nearly 2.9 million units shipped that year, the most in any year since 1998."

Image Creation Notes:
"Neon Trees" was just begging for some art, no.
Text and tree are both black fonts on black background with a green drop shadow plus and minus offsets then duplicate the layer to increase effect. Pretty simple and basic in Paint Shop Pro 9.

The vinyl image was a single at Amazon and edited by me. I changed the background to black and added a pic of the band from last.fm.

Morgue File

I was visiting the morguefile.com free stock photography place.
There are some nice "naturey" pics there.

Links, examples, follow.

DSCN1214_g.JPG
I edited the bottom part of the photo using Clone Brush and Lighten/Darken Brush in Paint Shop Pro 9.


DSCN1210.JPG
I cloned out the stuff in the bottom right side of the photo.


DSC04076.JPG
I added a Hard Light Layer is all.


100_2128.JPG
No editing, just resized and added the text.


IMG_3376_m.JPG
No editing, just resized and added text.


John Muir Quotes
The mountains are calling and I must go.
The power of imagination makes us infinite.
But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease.
How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!
In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.
John Muir at Wiki.

More
Nature Quotes

UPDATE:
Sources/References for quotes here.

Dew

I thought this pic needed a quote or poem.
Googled on the subject of dew and found one I liked by Rabindranath Tagore.