The stories for Round 6 went live late on Sunday evening. That means that by the next morning — when people woke up and frantically grabbed their phones to make sure they didn’t miss anything unimportant — the links to the story posts were likely buried among tons of other links.

Meaning, some readers might have missed the publication posts. This I say because we’ve not gotten many views. That, of course, could also be due to the world going down in flames, and reading stories might not seem important. This, then, is a brief reminder that, yes, it is important. If not these stories, then read something else, but read.

The voting for Round 6 of the Title Writing Prompt Challenge closes at Noon, Tuesday, September 6th. If you are interested in reading the stories and voting, or if you’ve read the stories and have yet to vote, there’s no time like the present.

You can find the poll and stories links in THIS post.

As a service, I’ll link the stories below.

I do so because Perry and Gary both have stories that deserve to be read. A nod to Gary for writing what will likely and easily be the winner this round. You can pass mine up as I’m sure many people won’t find it worth reading and, should they read it, won’t like it.

E. J. D’Alise submission<<link
Edwina never dreamed she’d have to defend her choice. Now, she’s doing just that in justifying her antinatalism view.

Perry Broxson submission<<link
Jack, recently divorced, starts his second act. He finds a great new lady, only to lose her…inexplicably, to suicide. He has to know why, why, why she took her life. But that information will cost him dearly.

R. G. Broxson submission<<link
What makes a family uproot and risk everything for a new life? Follow a boy from Honduras as he and his mother and unborn sister make the treacherous journey to the land of opportunity. It won’t be easy. Hot on their heels is Satan, a ruthless gang banger that can’t afford to let them testify against him. Will they survive? Read and see.

Now, then . . . . Paper Artist.

I’ve shared some of Photoshop Mix creations that have then been modified or further processed using Paper Artist. After you globally process a photo, Paper Artist has the option ‘erase’ portions of the current processing to reveal another processing under it. I generally show either the one or other processing in their entirety, but I can also ‘write’ on the top process to show parts of the underlying one.

It’s easier to show than to describe. The orange with black dots treatments is the top process . . . I then used a brush to ‘paint’ away some of the top layer and show the bottom processing.

Sure, I can draw faces, but I’m more likely to draw patterns.

Here’s an example . . .

NOTE: WordPress is messing with my embedded photos, as in not showing them or showing a broken link. They are looking into it, but I figured I would try to duplicate the last post in case the issue is specific to that post. HOWEVER …should the issue continue, my apologies. You can still see all the photos in the slideshow linked at the bottom of the post (I hope). Sorry for the inconvenience.

It turns out the fault was mine for not realizing photos in a private SmugMug gallery would retain their privacy setting even when moved to another gallery. All Photos should now show up both below and in the gallery.

So, now, this is a duplicate of the previous post. You can read it again or just ignore it.

Yes, more AI digital art . . . if not interested, you can perhaps read more of my early fiction (HERE).

I doubt anyone will actually go do that, but I at least offer readers an alternative to this post.

So, what are we looking at today? Well, it’s no secret I like hummingbirds. I’d briefly considered a hummingbird for my avatar (I might have called the blog Colibrí Flight). Had I gone ahead with that blog, what might that avatar look like? Perhaps something like this . . .

Hmm . . . not sure about that . . . a bit too stark, methinks. How about . . .

Not sure I like it off-center. Plus, a bit busy. Maybe something like this:

As a reminder, the voting for Round 5 of the Title Writing Prompt challenge closes at Noon, Tuesday, August 16th. That’s in 10 days. If you are interested in reading the stories and voting, or if you’ve read the stories and have yet to vote, there’s no time like the present.

You can find the poll and stories links in THIS post.

We had a small number of initial votes after publication, but we’ve since stalled. I suggest voting as early as possible before all the good votes are taken.

Now, then . . . . Photoshop Mix.

For this post, a new original Photoshop Mix offering based on one of my doodles, a photo of some palms (the plants, not the PDAs), and probably some flowers. The first offering is the ‘worn and washed’ look . . . it’s OK, but I’m not partial to faded treatments.

That said, this might look good hanging on the wall of a fabric store.

There are a few elements of the mix that I don’t recognize but rest assured, they’re all my photos.

Here’s another Paper Artist treatment . . .

As a reminder, Round 4 of the Title Writing Prompt challenge closes at Noon, Tuesday, July 19th. If interested in reading the stories and voting, tomorrow and Sunday are good days to do so . . . ’cause you know Monday will be busy, and there’s not enough time on Tuesday.

You can find the poll and stories links in THIS post if you have any inclination toward reading the stories and voting.

We had a small surge of votes after the last reminder, but we’ve once again stalled. Suffice it to say, the race for first is hotly contested . . . the race for third has already been decided.

Now, then . . . . Photoshop Mix.

For this post, a new original Photosho Mix offering, one that includes a starfish. . . a concrete one that sits on our patio . . .

Kind of neat, no?

As usual, this then gets the Paper Artist treatment . . .

As a reminder, Round 4 of the Title Writing Prompt challenge closes at Noon, Tuesday, July 19th. That’s a week from today, so if you’ve been procrastinating, this is a gentle nudge to let you know tempus fugit. You can find the poll and stories links in THIS post if you have any inclination toward reading the stories and voting.

As is, the voting has stalled and it’s waiting for the last-minute surge we seem to always experience as we near the deadline.

Now, then . . . . Photoshop Mix.

For this post, I’m continuing the series from the last reminder — the combination of three photos; my backyard, a shot of some winter Aspens, and a photo I now don’t recall — and adding a fourth photo of a lattice, giving it a ‘looking out through a window’ look . . .

Then, I once again sent the above to my Paper Artist app . . . another app that’s no longer available but that’s hanging on to life on my phone.

And I did it multiple times . . .

The Round 4 stories went live this past Tuesday. As a reminder, Round 4 of the Title Writing Prompt challenge closes at Noon, Tuesday, July 19th. You can find the poll and stories links in THIS post.

Now, then . . . . Photoshop Mix. As previously mentioned, the app was retired, but if you have on your phone, it will keep working. However, if Adobe takes their clues from Google, at some point they will deprecate it and make it unusable. Since I don’t know long it will keep working, I’m playing around with it a fair amount and generating stuff I can use in the future (saving the output as JPGs).

For this post, I’m using the combination of three photos; my backyard, a shot of some winter Aspens, and a photo I now don’t recall blended together to generate this . . .

Then, I sent the above to my Paper Artist app . . . another app that’s no longer available but that’s hanging on to life on my phone.

I have a few favorite effects, so I keep using them and then, but I should try to blend them to see that I get . . . maybe next time, but for now . . .

One of the advantages of traveling is . . . you don’t follow the news as much. 

The consequence is that I miss out on a whole lot of indignation and consternation. I mean, sure, I get the peripheral noise of people screaming about this or that or TEOTWAWKI but functionally, none of it affects any portion of my life. 

Also, invariably, something which everyone screamed was an immediate concern a month ago is forgotten within a week. Many other things of immediate concerns happened between then and now . . . and still, none of them affected my life. 

The buds don’t care, either. And here’s the funny — or not so funny — stuff about it all. None of the associated dire predictions came true. None. 

For the vast majority of the people, not only did nothing happen, but none of it was of any consequence to them. It kinda makes one wonder why so many were so worked up about it to begin with . . . I mean, I’m sure it can’t be healthy, physically or psychologically. 

Our exercise routine used to be thus: 1.5 hours at the gym on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Sometimes we’d get in additional walking. The 1.5 hours were split between free weights, aerobics (rowing for me), and weight machines. 

We’ve now been traveling for a shade over two months . . . that’s a major disruption of our routine. But, it’s not just a disruption of our exercise routine . . . traveling also disrupts other routines. Like my eating routine.

Yes, I’m trying to tell you, my readers, that I’ve increased in mass. How much? I don’t know. Remember this photo?

I originally posted it as a joke but I know I’ve put on some weight because of how my clothes fit. 

Another component of my routine was a weighing in, each day at the same time. That provided me with data as far as when to increase my workout or decrease my eating or both. 

I don’t have a scale but I know my clothes. 

I follow few opinions blogs. Be that because I value my own opinion over that of others (they don’t agree with me) or because most opinion blogs are monetized (require monetary compensation to read) or because most opinion blogs are highly biased to one or the other extreme . . . whatever the reason, I follow few opinions blogs.

Maybe it’s because few opinions blogs that — in my opinion — have the right mix of critical thinking, logic, honesty, and willingness to admit when they are wrong. 

However, I do follow many photo blogs. Two such blogs are lightscatter and 2clicksaway, both run by oneowner, a. k. a. Ken Bello.

I follow them because they offer ideas for subjects and composition and because of the often interesting post-processing and treatments of the photos.

. . . but that ain’t my name. At my current rate of progress, Art and I will never be intimately acquainted. Still, I persist . . . because I have a Note 8 and that comes with a stylus.  

When I go to bed, I usually unwind by watching a movie that involves lots of shooting of bad guys with extreme prejudice. However, sometimes I pick up the phone, extract the stylus, fire up Painter, and . . . 

That’s about a ten minutes effort. Would have been finished faster were it not for something I discovered . . . despite a clear mental image, it’s difficult drawing a sitting dog that doesn’t look like a misshapen goat. Heck, even what I got requires a big heap of imagination . . . like, imagining the figure as a dog. 

One of the reasons I wanted a Note 8 in replacement for my Note II is the stylus pen that comes with it. 

That’s because I also have apps like Painter, Art Canvas, Paper Artist, and Pixlr. So, for instance, if I’m waiting somewhere or if I just want my mind to unwind or if I want to zone out, I apt to grab the stylus, open up Painter, and . . .