Fall themed northern Nature close up macro Photography - Lichens, Mushrooms and Moss

The snow is starting to fall all over Sweden so I guess the winter is almost here and I should enjoy the last days of Fall and all the things that comes with it. One of my most favorite things about any season is different opportunities in nature for macro photography. So here is a selection of shots that I took last fall in Northern woods of Sweden. I just love the way Mushrooms, Lichens, Moss and pine needles look together, like tiny little Fairy gardens :)

and don't they look pretty together on a wall? :)

The scientific names of some of the species you can see on the pictures are: Cladonia cristatella (British Soldier Lichens), Cladonia fimbriata (Pixie cup Lichens), Cladonia rangiferina (Reindeer Lichen), Hebeloma mesophaeum, etc...

Désirée - Vampire jewelry red necklace Ruby Garnet red Spinel in oxidized sterling silver. Handmade gothic costume cosplay jewellery by Arctida

Seems like today’s youth is obsessed with vampires; the movies, the TV-shows and the books! Anywhere you look there are VAMPIRES flashing their fangs at you :) And off course the premiere of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, which makes me so excited because I’m a huge fan of vampires too!

So I decided to combine my two biggest interests - Jewelry design and Digital Art. A jewelry peace fitting for a hot and sexy vamp girl and off course a real vampire model :) So here is what I ended up with:

 

I had that classical vampire in mind when I made this: pale skin, red, blood-thirsty eyes, porcelain-white teeth, dark, red lips and a gothic feel in all. I used a model shot on a white background, and the rest is Photoshop. This is my first time making a photo-manipulation with a real model, so I hope you like it :)

The necklace symbolizes drops of blood running down the neck, right after being bitten by a vampire... Guess my model is going to turn into a night child now ;)

 

Spring themed Fine Art Nature Closeup Macro Photography

The winter tightens its grip on Sweden with each day yet there is still hope… at least I hope it is :) Don’t get me wrong I love winter, snow, ice and cold but sometime a girl needs to get cheered up with some strong colors :) So I decided to decorate our living rum with a series of my spring-themed macro shots. Strong lime greens colors of nature awakening from the winter slumber should be perfect for curing any kind of gloomy mood me think :) Here they come...

The idea of making a series came from a photographer friend of mine, Irina. Check out her amazing "One Tulip story" series!


Oh and did you know that in many folklores and literatures, Green is the color of nature, fertility, life. Grass green is the most restful color. Green symbolizes self-respect and wellbeing and is the color of balance. It also means learning, growth and harmony and has become a symbol of environmentalism. Green is a safe color, if you don't know what color to use anywhere use green.
Green contains the powerful energies of nature, growth, desire to expand or increase. Balance and a sense of order are found in the color green. Change and transformation is necessary for growth, and so this ability to sustain changes is also a part of the energy of green.

Silent Blues - Fine Art Nature Photography - Forget Me Not Closeup

The summer is here and so is the time for long walks out in the nature. So here is my latest macro from the woods :) A close up shot of Forget me not flowers - Silent Blues.

The Awakening - Fine Art Nature Photography - Spring branch closeup

The new week is here and so is the new theme for the weekly challenge :) This week it is ...walking, hiking, nature! hosted by BHB Kidstyle. Such a great theme now when the weather is just perfect for taking those long nature walks. So here is my entry, a closeup shot of a sprouting branch in the woods - The Awakening

Photographic Gemstone Mandalas - Fine Art Abstract Macro Kaleidoscope

As those of you who know me has probably realized at this point, Digital Art is one of my biggest passions in life :) and especially part of making gemstone mandalas. Even my signature avatar is a tiny version of one of my mandalas. So I thought I will post one that is missing here on my blog - Amethyst Radiance.

The origin for this Mandala is a macro shot of gorgeous faceted Amethyst gemstone that I used in one of my jewelry designs - earrings Niolle

and here is the whole collection of my mandalas so far :)

It’s my Birthday!

It’s my birthday! Yep, I’m officially older and wiser today! Well maybe not wiser but older all right :) and is it customary to give flowers on ones birthday, here is my latest floral shot for you :)

Pink Revival - Nature Macro Photography - Abstract Floral Hibiscus Closeup

The spring is finally here and so I’m starting to work with "obligatory" spring Macro shots of different flowers :)

Pink Revival - a closeup shot of a beautiful hot pink Hibiscus after rain...

 

Tender Innocence - a closeup shot of a beautiful White Rose after rain

Ode to the Swedish Flag - a closeup of a sunny Forsythia Blossom

Pandoras Beauty - Fine Art Nature Photography - Abstract Succulent Closeup

I have finally seen James Cameron's Avatar movie and I was completely blown away! Not by the story (obviously) but by the whole new world what is pictured there. It reminded me a lot the Pandora planet from Soviet Science Fiction writers brothers Strugatsky books but I won’t go into that now :) Anyway that computer animated world has given me a lot of ideas and I think I’m going to make a whole collection dedicated to Pandora planet.

So here is the first piece :) Ta da… Pandoras Beauty - a macro shot of a Succulent plant. It looks almost like something living in Pandora's forests...

oh and I found my earlier piece that could have been from the same forest, what do you think? :)

Autumnal Equinox - photographic Mandala - Digital Art Abstract Citrine Gemstone Macro Kaleidoscope print

It has been ages since I made a new mandala/kaleidoscope piece, and I really missed it :) So when I’ve read about this weeks challenge theme - Fall is coming! (chosen by Sumiko). I knew it was my chance! I’ve had this wonderful macro shot of Golden Citrine Faceted Cubes 

and I had a feeling it would be perfect for a mandala, I just needed the excuse to sit down and make it :) and ta da... a new mandala is born - Autumnal Equinox.

Mad Scientists of Etsy (MSOE) monthly challenge - "Cretaceous Ocean"

So the April is almost over and here are the results of the monthly challenge from Mad Scientists of Etsy (MSOE). This month’s challenge was a creation inspired by the theme of "Cretaceous Ocean".

…just a little bit of mandatory nerd (= science) talk now :)

The Cretaceous was a geologic time period approximately 145 to 65 million years ago. It was a period with a relatively warm climate and high sea level. The oceans and seas were populated with now extinct marine reptiles, ammonites and rudists; and the land by dinosaurs. At the same time, new groups of mammals and birds as well as flowering plants appeared. The Cretaceous ended with one of the largest mass extinctions in Earth history, the K-T extinction, when many species, including the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and large marine reptiles, disappeared.
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So I’ve decided to try my new acquired skills in digital drawing and create underwater scenery what could’ve been seen at that time. I’ve used my own shots of the Triops (tadpole shrimp or shield shrimp).

 
Their external morphology has not changed since around 220 million years ago, which would mean that their early relatives were much bigger but looked exactly or similar to what these little guys look today. The rest of the scenery was digitally drawn in Photoshop by yours truly :)

Mad Scientists of Etsy (MSOE) monthly challenge - "Photosynthesis"

So the January is over and here are the results of the monthly challenge from Mad Scientists of Etsy (MSOE). This month’s challenge was a creation inspired by the theme of "Photosynthesis".

…just a little bit of mandatory nerd (= science) talk now :)

Photosynthesis is a metabolic pathway that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of Bacteria, but not in Archaea. In plants, algae and cyanobacteria photosynthesis uses carbon dioxide and water, releasing oxygen as a waste product.

Now isn't that convenient for us, people and animals that need oxygen to breathe :)

So I've decided to make two entries - both are flowers (duh!?), because they are pretty and Photosynthesize :) The first one is a Flower necklace with gorgeous Sky Blue Topazes and Green Agate rondelles (more examples of my Gemstone Flowers)

The second one is a macro shot of a beautiful pair of Crocuses that I took last spring.


The February month’s challenge is "Mycology", now that should be fun :)

"The Unbearable Lightness of Being" - weekly challenge

So it is Monday today, which means the dead line for of the weekly challenge. This weeks theme was a creation inspired by the Milan Kundera's book "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"(chosen by this week's boss HeliS).

I have always enjoyed photographing. I‘ve got my first camera when I was 10 (I think) and I’ve been taking pictures non-stop ever since :) First it was just a hobby, when later on it became of necessity for my jewelry business as well. I’ve got lots of positive responses about pictures that I take for my jewelry so it was only a matter of time before I would collect the courage, take the plunge and start posting my digital work :) and so I’m at the last step now…Mandalas was easy, most of us still have that little kid inside who is amazed by the kaleidoscope pictures :) Posting my nature shots is much harder because there are so many amazing Photo artists out there and I don’t really think I’m at their level yet, but maybe with your help and critique I will get there some day :)

Anyway, here is my entry... "Unbearable Lightness" - a macro shot of beautiful Snowdrop flowers that I took last spring ( cant wait for this spring to come, now when I have a new camera! :) I felt that tiny white flower-drops was a perfect interpretation of "Lightness", yet they seems to be just a bit too heavy or "Unbearable" for the plant to keep them up towards the sun...

Return of the Vikings - weekly challenge

This week’s theme was "Vikings with a hint of upcycling" picked by VKnO. I’ve wanted to try making nature collages for quiet a while now and thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to do so. I decided to "upcycle" two of my Nature shots and combine them with some digital drawing which resulted in - "Return of the Vikings". I still have tons to learn about collaging but I think it came up rather believable for a newbie :) or what do you think?

This photo was used for the sky. I took this picture last summer, up in the Northern Sweden, very close to the Norwegian border.

This photo were used for the sea. It was taken on one of our vacations in Egypt :) I only had pictures of the northern sea when it is stormy and I wanted on this collage for a weather to be relatively calm. So I chose this shot...

The rest of the details such as sun, mountains and boat were digitally drawn in Photoshop. It took me several days to do that (probably because I'm a newbie) but I'm rather pleased with the results... for now :)

Space - The Final Frontier

Since I was the host for the last week’s challenge, I didn’t want to still the ”glory” from my team-mates so I decided to post this after the challenge is over :) So here is my entry in the EST weekly challenge - Science Fiction (see the post bellow, October 8th).

This digital painting is drown completely from the scratch in Photoshop! I did not use any downloaded templates or copy/paste parts. This is my first attempt in digital drawing using "Space" as a theme. Hope you like it :)

Frost - EST weekly challenge

This week’s challenge theme is *Frost* and was picked by Ingemaaike (the winner of the last week’s challenge). I started to Google through internet to find a picture that would inspire me and found this gorgeous shot at National Geographic.

I chose a macro shot of a gorgeous Rock Crystal Clear Quartz briolette that I used in my “Neda” earrings and here is the result – my “Frost” Mandala :)

and here is yet another addition to my “Minimalisme” collection: "Nimue" - earrings with gorgeous sky blue Topaz pear briolettes, which seems to be perfect for this theme too :)

for sale in my Arctida shop

Van Gogh’s *Starry Night* - EST Weekly Challenge

I love our weekly challenges! The original idea came from Kreativlink and the whole point is to motivate us to create new things. I’ve wanted to increase my collection of mandalas for a while but never found the time or just had too many ideas at the same time and couldn't pick one so I gave up on making them. And now, it is a perfect timing! Each week, we have a new challenge and I can finally chose just one idea and execute it.

This week’s challenge, Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” was picked out by Staroftheast. 

 

Vincent Van Gogh "The Starry Night"

The colors of that painting reminded me a Spectrolite, which is is the most valued variety of Labradorite and can display the whole spectrum of colors. I chose a cobalt blue one with a splashes of yellow, orange and a little bit of red and voilà - another mandala :)

EST Photo Ispiration weekly challenge

For this week’s challenge our host *Antigoni* (the winner of the last week’s challenge) has decided to give us an ”EST Photo Ispiration Challenge”. She picked out this gorgeous picture and gave us free hands to get inspired by it…

I’ve got influenced by the candle in the middle of the table. It drew my attention immediately and I couldn’t take my eyes of it. Then I’ve realized that I’ve seen similar light somewhere… on my recent picture of a custom order that I’ve made with gorgeous Amber focal. Ta-da... the next Mandala was born :)

My latest passion

I have always enjoyed photographing. I‘ve got my first camera when I was 10 (I think) and I’ve been taking pictures non-stop ever since :) Lately, I have found a perfect way to combine my 2 great passions: gemstone jewelry and photography.

Since I constantly have to take macro pictures of my designs, I often get some pretty beautiful shots of gemstones. And after fitting them into the pattern in the Photoshop, I get lovely Mandalas. Mandala can be used for meditations (that’s the original purpose of them) or just simply enjoyed as a “picture on the wall” :) Here are my latest additions: “Ode to Labradorite” and “Ruby’s splendor”. Both of them have they origin in macro pics from my jewelry.