Caturday Art iPhone Fun

A poorly lit portrait of Betsy on iPhone

My iPhone updated to iOS 16.x. This time, I actually took the time to read about the updates and found that I can now remove backgrounds from photos. In a hurry as always, I grabbed the above photo taken at night with bad lighting, removed the background and got this:

Background removed

I knew instantly what images I needed to use to make this successful but just plowed on with this image. I put it into Photoshop Elements 11 and fixed the light as best I could.

That's better.
But I couldn't recover her beautiful eye color.
It's also a bit green.

I could have removed the greenish tint, but I didn't. I wanted to play! I used only Photoshop Elements filters here.

Please don't ask me which filters: I didn't pay attention!

I definitely have a lot more playing to do. I want more and softer colors. 

But now I have a new time-sucking hobby!

(I actually love those.)

👇 Jigsaw 👇

99iPhone Betsy

Caturday Art at
Athena Cat Goddess

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Snowfall

Sunshine Betsy

It finally snowed this past week. Not seriously, just several inches and then snow showers for two more days. The showers came from the lake effect snow which is giving Buffalo several feet of snow. We get Great Lakes lake effect snow in the early season, even way over here, a couple of hundred miles northeast. Today the sun is out and the temperature has finally risen to 32°F (0°C). But the windchill is 25°F (-4°C). And just like my car mechanic said, my studded tires are doing well for the third season on the ice and snow covered roads. Phew!

In Morgan looking south to Bald Mountain in
Westmore viewing the lake effect snow
clouds with visible snow showers.

Something about the snowy weather made the cats more visible. They interacted more with me, Lucy and each other. They are not sleeping together yet, but are both sleeping with me. Betsy likes to sit in the window sun, like the photo above. She's become very talkative, also.  However, Nell made sure a photograph was impossible. She's like that.

Lucy enjoying the first day of snow;
there is no green to be seen now.

I haven't blogged in a week because of more curriculum changes at school. That is not good and it is exhausting because I do the work at home. But our population needs the changes as students come and go or become, thankfully, more engaged in their education and can cope with higher level mathematics. It's also extremely frustrating. Now the holidays are almost here, so there are dinners to plan at home and school. We have nearly a week off this year for Thanksgiving. That is a blessing!

Every good kitty bathes before bed.

Good night, Betsy!

I have two arts this week because it is relaxing to do when you are tired. Stay warm this weekend! I'll be baking dinner rolls and doing jigsaw puzzles.

Sunshine Betsy

Bathing Betsy

110Sunshine Betsy140Bathing Betsy

Caturday Art at
Athena Cat Goddess

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Bedtime Cats

Nelly Goes to Bed

I can't even remember what effects I used for today! But they show the different moods of the kitties at bedtime. Nelly is calm and quiet and Betsy is squirmy. I have added 15 minutes to bedtime because of all the extra activity now with Betsy in the family!

Betsy Goes to Bed

The effects give choices for my mood for puzzle solving, also. I'm getting better and better times with regular practice! Have a marvelous weekend!

130Nelly Goes to Bed
130Betsy Goes to Bed

Caturday Art at
Athena Cat Goddess

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Busy Busy Busy

Nelly's Biscuits

Nelly and Betsy have been very busy. Nelly, nightly, is making biscuits galore and Betsy now works in "my" home office. She's quite the typist. Her help has required me to re-type several pages of text and to reconnect to important chats. During a virtual meeting this week, I think I saw another participant roll his eyes when Betsy strolled by the screen. Again. Obviously, he isn't owned by a cat. I have no control over which meetings these girls attend! In fact, I seem to have no control whatsoever. 

Betsy's Office

They decided last week that they would no longer eat their very expensive grain-free canned food. That was fine: I just put out more of the very expensive dry grain-free food. And sure enough, Nelly decided tonight that the dry was bad and the canned was good. Betsy, who seems to have begun the dry trend, was extremely interested in the canned again, very suddenly.  

There are two jigsaws today. They each took me between 66-70 minutes to complete. That was good. The stress at school is the worst I can remember, and the time doing the jigsaws was very relaxing. Both photos are the Picasso effect.

150Biscuits Nelly150Office Betsy

Caturday Art at 
Athena Cat Goddess

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Escher Cats

Escher with my colors

Betsy finally came to bed last night! It's been at least two weeks since her adoption. She didn't stay in bed, however. As soon as I moved, she left. It will take time, but she will stay in the future. She loved the scratches she received and was rolling about and purring. You can see Nell in the back on her biscuit blanket. Lucy was at the top of the bed in her usual spot but out of sight of the camera. 

I chose the Escher treatment for the photo because he is an artist and mathematician that I use nearly every year to illustrate tessellations to classes. His work, both artistically and mathematically, is very famous. The treatment of the photo definitely is not Escher, but it is very pleasing (to me).

My jigsaw puzzle last week only took me one hour to finish! I'm proud. Maybe it was luck; maybe I'm improving. This puzzle will be the real test of my skills.

204Bedtime

Caturday Art at
Athena Cat Goddess

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Watercolor Betsy

This soft watercolor belies Betsy's personality. She looks soft and cuddly, but is as stubborn as a bear. 

Betsy disappeared on me yesterday. She didn't pop up for scratches when I came home from school. Concerned, I called and I searched in all the places I could search that could possibly be dangerous (did I close her in the dryer? the freezer? the cupboard?) and I handed out a very early supper and I found nothing. So I panicked. But finally, she POOF appeared and strolled over to me for her scratches three hours late! As I scratched and cuddled her, and as she purred, I spoke to her about scaring me and that disappearing was not allowed. Betsy was completely unimpressed. She had obviously been mousing in the cellar. I should have remembered that Nell does this often, especially this time of year when the mice move in through the granite boulder foundation. I shouldn't have panicked. 

.

My 180-piece puzzle from last weekend took me two hours to solve. This is 120 pieces, but the colors are gray and muted. I hope I finish it!

Have a wonderful weekend!

120Watercolor Betsy

Caturday Art at
Athena Cat Goddess

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Halloween Betsy

This is my first time at Caturday Art. I had photos of my new Betsy and some time on my hands and played with Photoshop Camera (free) on my phone. I was pleased. What's scarier to me than Betsy is the state of my house! But on the other hand, it lends appropriate atmosphere for the season. I'm going to have fun learning this winter from all of you and your methods and apps!

Just like Athena, I am adding a jigsaw. I love to do them, especially in winter. Hope you enjoy.

180Halloween Betsy

Caturday Art at
Athena Cat Goddess

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Black & White Grumpy Nell

Don't ever wake me up for Caturday pic again.

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