Extreme weather seems to be the norm almost all over the world this year. Here in the South of England our problem is constant rain and gales, causing flooding both on the coast and inland. Many people have been flooded out for weeks, and major rail and road networks have been disrupted. I am lucky in that I have not been seriously affected by the flooding, but I am oh so sick of the constant wind and rain.

One of the effects of the weather is that it has been very difficult to get out and take photographs, so I have fallen back to playing with the ones I've already got, in photoshop.

With the help of some textures from 2-lil-Owls this box of flowers was transferred into this

And by adding textures and a filter the national gallery takes on a painterly look

Which do you like best? before or after?

Because of the weather I've spent more time painting and less time taking photos, but I am really enjoying taking photos of my art work and digitally enhancing them by adding texture, effects, or combining them with other pictures.

This version just has the usual Lightroom enhancements

This has had textures added and been combined with another photos

and this one has had a severe crop! which is your favourite?

This is one I finished painting today and have been playing with ever since!

The original with Lightroom adjustments

with a combination of bought and home made textures

Using different blending modes and a filter - this is my favourite, which is yours?

Finally one of the few pictures I managed to take this week!

The original and one with added texture and a Valentine's message from me to you!

A bit of a mishmash of things this week with no particular theme. On Saturday we went to the National Theatre in London to see 'The Light Princess' a new musical. The sets were absolutely amazing and the choreography stunning. The music however was pedestrian, sounding like pretty much any other modern musical and certainly no tune you came away humming. However I would recommend it as a stunning visual performance and the lead Rosalie Craig was superb.

Another of the leading actors was Clive Rowe who my son and I met at a restaurant in The Cut about 10 or more years ago. The tables were very close together and both Clive and my son were reading Terry Pratchet and struck up a conversation. Turned out we had seen him in Peter Pan when my son was four and that he was currently in rehearsal at the Young Vic. He was absolutely charming and we have followed his career ever since!

Sunday saw the start of the Brene Brown e-course Gifts of Imperfection. It combines the material from the book with art journalling. Three key words from this week's intention are 'courage, compassion and connection'

One of the first exercises was to take the perfection pledge - the idea was to write it on your hand and then take a selfie but this went a bit wrong in my case and I ended up with a rather messy hand so I made this heart instead!

Another course I am taking is Sebastian Michael's photoshop artistry. This week he challenged the group to make something special for Kim Klassen and her husband John who is seriously ill with leukaemia. It was Kim that introduced me to both Photoshop and Lightroom and guided my first faltering steps in her classes, so it was a pleasure to work on this piece which I also dedicate to a dear friend I have learned this week is fighting cancer.

I do realise of course that I am in grave danger of over-using the Scarlet angel - but I can't resist!

Finally we have been starting to think seriously about where we might move to when we retire in a couple of years. At the moment the top hit is Salisbury which we visited last weekend, but watch this space!

Texture Time

Pot Pourri