photo challenge – Page 2 – Encore! Old Pianos with a New Song

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #38: Weathered and Worn

This week’s challenge was easy, as nearly every piano I’ve ever brought into the family has fit the description of “weathered and worn.”

While I love my mission of helping old pianos sing a new song, sometimes it can be quite a challenge due to the conditions from which they have been rescued. People “retire” their pianos to the garage or to a non-climate-controlled storage unit when they no longer have a use for them. Sometimes they move out of the family home, or pass away, and the piano, too heavy to move, is abandoned in the home. If the home sits vacant for any length of time, then both weather and critters take their toll on this once beautiful and fine instrument. It doesn’t matter how much time and effort was put into creating a piano. The highest quality piano ever produced is humbled to the level of the most affordable instrument fashioned for the humblest of homes when it is neglected for decades on end. But even these have a certain charm, you’ll have to admit.

This week I am responding to the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #38 — Weathered or Worn, hosted by Ann-Christine a.k.a Leya of lagottocattleya.wordpress.com. I found this challenge on Cee Neuner’s website.

Thanks, Cee, for this wonderful directory you’ve created: “For the Love of Challenges.” For the record, Cee’s directory lists not only photo challenges, but also writing and music challenges as well, and they are grouped by category. It’s very well organized.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Dogs of Blogs

Photo Challenges, Shows and Events

Riverwalk 2019 — Guess who came to visit me at the show?

Duke, a 6-year-old German shepherd, is a relatively new addition to our family. My son adopted him a year ago in Virginia, and he just came to live with us last month. When Bobby found him, Duke was malnourished, sick, and severely underweight. With the help of a family friend, who also happens to be a veterinarian assistant, Duke got the care he needed, and now he is healthy and happy.

Duke loves to shadow me around the house. I don’t allow him in the studio because there isn’t enough room in there for the two of us, but he is right by my side in the living room and kitchen.

Duke did not go with me to the art show, but Bobby stopped by for a visit, and I asked him to take a photo of my display, with me in it. Naturally, I had to hold Duke so Bobby could hold the camera.

Getting ready (4) — Isn’t he a handsome fella?

This week I am responding to the photo challenge, Dogs of Blogs, hosted by Jessica of Sorting Life’s Issues with Jess. She has chosen a dog theme for the month of March to celebrate the birthday of her dog Oreo. I do hope you’ll hop over to her page and take a look. Her photos are absolutely adorable.

I discovered Jessica, her blog, and her challenge, on Cee Neuner’s list of challenges, so I wish to give her credit as well. Thanks, Cee, for this wonderful directory you’ve created: “For the Love of Challenges.” For the record, Cee’s directory lists not only photo challenges, but also writing and music challenges as well, and they are grouped by category. It’s very well organized.

Getting ready (1) — Duke waited for some attention while I worked on preparing my display.

Tomorrow I’ll give you more details about the show.

FOTD: Piano Bouquet

From the Studio

Each week I intend to participate in a photo challenge, just for the fun of it. I’ll spread my horizons, not sticking to any one challenge in particular, and soon I’ll create an album to collect the photos.

For my very first photo challenge, I’ve decided to do Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD) challenge. However, I’ve chosen a very special flower for the first photo from this blog: the Yellow Hammer. There actually is a variety of rhododendron called the yellow hammer, but this bunch was “grown” in my studio. 🙂

The green part in the center of the felt came to me that way, but I colored the remainder of the felt with a yellow color wash, and then had to carefully prevent it from shrinking as it dried. If they look dirty, it’s because they are about 100 years old, and at the beginning I was cleaning hammers with a nylon brush. Now I clean them with a wire brush, which works much more effectively.

This particular bouquet has found a happy home overseas, but I will make more as soon as I can find the right vases in which to put them.

Piano Bouquet