Inspire

I'm thrilled with this piece. There are 15 layers here which include my grands' faces blended with the mannequin's face. The background is my acrylic painting. Textures used were "Scratches" by Paul Grand, wood texture by Susan Tuttle, bokeh texture by Caleb Kimbrough of Lost & Taken. Mannequin image by morguefile.com, brush from the Dreamwood collection by Elbereth de Lioncourt. When I did the last layer, I realized that I pulled that new white layer under the overlapping brush. It turned out to be a serendipitous event because I like the brushes extending onto the white matte

More Collages

I'm having so much fun with digital collages 

it's addicting.  Now that I can finally move around in PS without major brain drain, it's not work as it was when I began the journey.

Be Still

Pussy Willow

Tree of Life

I just finished this digital collage.  I think I have about 20 layers here.  

I just kept layering and layering 

pieces.  The mannequin images are from morguefile.com. 

The other images are mine and include a hand, my grand's feet in her prom shoes, a poinsettia and a shot of a tree on my patio.  The background is a shot of a really 

large tree looking up at its branches.  It's a really cool shot by itself.  I'm not sure but there are probably a couple other images hidden in there somewhere.  

It reminds me of those pictures with all the hidden animals and the puzzle was to list as many as possible.  Whoever got the most was the winner!

WHY BLOG?

Ten years ago I hardly knew what the internet was or how to navigate around a computer.  Thank goodness my son was very techie.  I learned a lot with his input.  I didn't have a clue about blogs.  I had heard of them but that was about it.....until I wanted a way to share my art and enjoy others' art.  It all started when I read Danny Gregory's book "The Creative License".  I decided maybe I could draw.  I was so inspired by his book I emailed him, and he suggested I join his  Yahoo group "Everyday Matters".   I did just that though I had never been part of a group online  -- another technical hurdle, I thought at the time.  Wow, this was an incredible adventure.  There were literally hundreds of people all posting messages regarding art and techniques.  These people had blogs and they had Flickr pages to show their art.  How did they do that?  I was determined to learn.  I had to create my own blog.  Whew!  I struggled with it, but I managed to do it without knowing one thing about HTML.  Thanks to "Blogger" and many of you bloggers out there, I too could be in the blogging world.  It might have been a little easier if the book "Blogging for Bliss" by Tara Frey had been out.

Because of blogs, I have been able to watch informative videos, take online classes in photography and Photoshop Elements as well as other art techniques.  Have you noticed the improved quality of these video courses?  What about the incredible  variety of subjects covered?  I have to say I also appreciate all the wonderful artists who share their knowledge freely with YouTube videos on their blog. 

So, why do I blog?  Is it sheer ego?  I mean really, who cares about my art or what I have to say?  Well I care about others' artistic endeavors and what they have to share.  It's all been very inspirational for me.  It has helped me improve my art.  I think it provides a social outlet and it's an instrument for sharing ideas and concepts.  

Blogging, tweeting, Facebook -- all these are fast becoming the fabric of social networking.  I raise my hand/drink to them.  What?  I don't even belong to Facebook and I haven't the foggiest notion about Twitter.  Maybe, in the near future.... For now, blogging is enough for me. 
What about you?  Why do you blog? 

Fly Away

You know how I love color.....

and this certainly has color!  I wanted to use one of my paintings as a background.  Actually I combined a watercolor of an orchid spray and another painting.  Then I wanted to add elements like the image of the girl, the hand and the bird.  I think I ended up with 16 layers here.  I'm not totally pleased with it because the hand and bird don't really show up.  I probably could have fiddled with a blending mode but I'm sort of "done" with it, if you know what I mean.  I'll practice on something else.

Tea Party Queen

Had some fun with this one using a variety of textures and overlays and also applied an effect called "Johnna's Tea Party" from CoffeeShop.  These actions can be so addictive.  They are easy to use.  The most difficult thing for me is remembering how to install them.  So tomorrow I'm going to install the "Lomo" action. The mask is courtesy of Marie Otero who teaches the Digital Magic class.  It was an outstanding class!

  

Today's Project

Today's project is a continuation of my Digital Magic classes. 

I'm beginning to understand how all the layers work .  

This image has several textures including my famous "donkey tail" texture and an overlay of an old envelope.

Heat Wave

Actually there's no heat wave here yet......

just lovely temperatures in the low to mid 70's.  This image reminds me of a heat wave though, hot and fiery!

She also makes me think of a tango dancer or female matador!!

Beach Cottage

Wow, only $297,000 for 2 bedrooms and 2 baths across the street from Lido Isle in Newport Beach, CA

It's part of a recently developed manufactured housing site called Lido Peninsula Resort with a very short walk to the water.

If I were wealthy, this would be a perfect week-end house or for two of us, perhaps it would be okay for a full-time abode.  Certainly it's in a nice neighborhood.  You can see more including a short video here.  

More Moody Pop

I like this one best

Bates Motel?

I've been playing around with this PSE action from CoffeeShop.  Some photos lend themselves to the action better than others.  I do like the dark, moody look it gives.

Moody Girls