There are times in my life (and I’m sure in yours too) when there are too many little detailed things to have to take care of…I think it must be called…Life. Tax time is one of them. For some reason, I can never be early. I have to be getting them out right around The Day. I even took them in a bit earlier, but I guess my cpa was pretty busy this year so it took her awhile. I finally got them out on the 14th. I also have to pay sales tax this month and have been waiting for checks to arrive so I can pay that. One of my election judge friends last week begged me to take a Photoshop class with her because there was a bit of a drive and she didn’t want to go alone. The price was definitely right ($20), so I signed up. We went Tuesday night and I learned SO much. I’m glad I went. We will do the second night tonight. Now, I only have Photoshop Elements 5 on my computer, but I found many of the same functions we learned about in my software and I am very pleased about that. Some of them are in different places, but I was able to locate them and do the same things we did in class. Let’s see if I can show you a photo I played with. My neighbors planted a bunch of sunflowers next to our yard a couple of years ago. I photographed them green as well as when they turned.

I take a lot of pictures. I have always been a bit of a nature nut, seeking out the woods and the river whenever I wanted to be alone and think. And I have always taken pictures of things in nature. This hobby now comes in very handy with my art also. I love to take a photograph and use it as a jumping off place to start a new art piece. I don’t do realism, but I like to abstract whatever is in the photo. I think Photoshop will be another tool I can use in making my art…all for a $20 bill and a few hours well spent with a friend. (Well I did pay for the software too, but that was minimal.)