Beth Coll: Illustration, Photography and Design

Snowdrop Macro

Beth — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 18:54:12 +0000

Mid Century Modern Doodle

Beth — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 22:09:39 +0000

Drawn with iDraw for the iPad.

Interior

Beth — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 21:50:29 +0000

IPhone photo taken with the toycamera app and painted on the iPad using the Procreate app.

Vector Portraits with iDraw

Beth — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 02:00:57 +0000

I recently updated my iPad to the latest generation, mainly for artistic purposes. It makes all the painting and drawing apps I use so much faster and smoother, and the retina display is very nice. My favorite app lately has been iDraw. I love how affordable vector drawing programs have become after years of figuring out how to justify paying for Adobe Illustrator. I also love the feel of being able to edit bezier curves directly on the screen using a stylus.

These started out as photos, which I posterized using the filterstorm app. I then spent a few hours vectorizing them in iDraw, using about five different shades of gray. They both still could use some tweaking. Oh, if only I had the time to sit around all day tweaking bezier curves.

Don’t Forget to Cook

Beth — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:08:09 +0000

That’s what I need to tell myself sometimes. I get so stressed out and the process of cooking can be so soothing. It’s easy to let cooking slide into the category of all the other things I hate about being a housewife (laundry, straightening up, doing the dishes, more laundry.) But then I remember that I actually like to cook. And I especially love cooking something that will be appreciated. There is nothing I can cook that will be appreciated by my young children, who would be happy to subsist entirely on happy meals and goldfish. So I mistakenly let cooking drift into the category of things I hate about being a housewife.

After the stress of getting 3 little kids out the door with their Valentines day crap, I realized I had neglected to eat breakfast and I made this. Fried polenta with a tomato basil brunoise, and feta scrambled eggs. And darn it was good.

Meet the Robots

Beth — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:00:09 +0000

A collaboration between me and my 5 year old.

A Baltimore Night Photowalk

Beth — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 19:45:27 +0000

These are were all taken at Inner Harbor East, the newly developed area of Baltimore that stretches from Fell’s Point to the Inner Harbor. It was my first foray into night time photography, so I think I have (a lot of) room for improvement. Some were taken with the iPhone and some with the Nikon D90. More and more I seem to be turning to my iPhone to take interesting pictures, even when I have the Nikon with me. There’s something so satisfying with being able to edit your pictures right after you take them. I used the snapseed app to do some immediate cropping and added some tiltshift effects on the iPhone pics.

Rhododendron

Beth — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 21:27:19 +0000

This is a rhododendron from my backyard. The thing I love about these flowers is that when in bloom, they appear to be lit from within.

Seagull on a Bridge

Beth — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 21:20:29 +0000

This was taken out of my car window, approaching the toll booth at Corson’s Inlet Bridge, between Strathmere and Ocean City, New Jersey.

The Naval Academy Bridge

Beth — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 21:14:20 +0000

From Wikipedia:

“The U.S. Naval Academy Bridge is a bridge that crosses the Severn River in Annapolis, Maryland. It is located downriver from the Severn River Bridge and adjacent to the United States Naval Academy. Its predecessor, a bascule bridge, once served as the main point of entry into Annapolis from both Ritchie Highway and the ferry to the Eastern Shore prior to the construction of the John Hanson Highway and the current Severn River Bridge. In 1994, the bascule bridge was replaced with the current crossing. The bridge’s design was the winning entry of a bridge design competition, and was officially named the U.S. Naval Academy Bridge in honor of the Naval Academy’s 150th anniversary.