Imagine

Some of you have seen me use

this image of a mannequin in previous posts.   I just love her, so

I'm using her again.

Layer 1 is one of my painting texture/backgrounds

Layer 2 - I duplicated the background in overlay blend

Layer 3 - I layered the mannequin image

Layer 4 - another duplicate of my background - this time on Multiply

Layer 5 - A texture called "it's all about color - medium copper"

Sorry, for the life of me I don't remember where I got it.    If anyone knows, please leave a comment or email me.

Layer 6- Pixel Dust Photo Art "dream" overlay in linear light blend

Layer 7 - I rotated PDPA "dream" overlay 180º and used hard light blend

Layer 8 - I added one of my own textures on color burn

All blends were 100%

Layer 9 - added text

Linking to

Don't forget to click on the badge above so you can see many more fun works of art for Photo Art Friday.Have a great week everyone.

 

The Theme is Love

Our theme for Texture Tuesday is Love

I remember so many years ago, well not that many,  we wore wrist corsages for our proms.  I always loved gardenia corsages.  Even though they would turn brown in a day or so, the fragrance was absolute heaven!  As long as I've had a garden I've had gardenias.  This is probably the last bloom for this season, as the weather is starting to turn cooler.  Whenever I see gardenias, I'm reminded of love.  As the fragrance of these flowers is very heady, so is love.  I used KKlassen's "All My Loving" and one other (can't remember now - should have labeled the layer, right?? Right!)

Anyway be sure to click on the badge in my sidebar so that you can continue on with many more beautiful photos.

See you next week everyone.

Finding My Eye Class Week 2

Finding My Eye Journal

This section is for my assignments for the class 

I'm taking a class at Kat Eye View.  Our first assignment is "Why I Take Photos".

I've attempted to analyze here why I take photographs.  There was a time when I would 
intermittently take photos 
of family and events so 
that we would have memories to savor. 
 I love looking through old photos of our family. I do think these memories are 
a very important part of 
life. I was not particularly disciplined about taking these photos however. 

 Now, though 

I still take photos of my family, my impetus to have any disciplined frequency 

is for artistic purposes. I wanted to learn PSE so I could play with my art images. Then I decided I had better invest in a decent camera and learn how to use it. I'm still learning how 

to use it. I have taken all kinds of classes on line for art and PSE. I've also taken a class or two on photography. With time 

my skills have increased, but I'm still really new with photography. I enjoy it 

and I enjoy manipulating 

images to get different artistic effects. I love looking at others' blogs and seeing their art and photos. Starting a blog was really 

an adventure for me since 

computers were somewhat new to me. HTML? What the heck is that? I still 

don't know much about that, just enough to be dangerous. I took a class on blogging design. When I look at others' blogs I wonder 

how they were able to 

do some of the things they do to make their blogs look so inviting. So I've worked on that too. So here I am in another class to learn more about myself and about the process.

Process of Elimination

Hard to believe it's Photo Art Friday again.
I found Kat's website while blog hopping the other day.  I'm insatiable when it comes to learning about photography and Photoshop.  She did a wonderful post on the "process of elimination" here.  It involves cropping an area of interest from your photo. After reading this post and looking at her examples I decided to give it a whirl.  I found this photo,

which was pretty ordinary and way too busy.  I cropped this piece of it

and from that I started my editing for different looks.

by converting to black/white and posterizing it.

Then I decided to get a bit artsy and layered Nick Fortune's "Green #1 Texture" over it.

  I played around with filters and voila!

Okay, I went back and played some more for this look.  It was just crying for some fun text.

 Possibilities are endless as you all know.

New Brush

I've been trying to find photoshop brushes that look like labels or adhesive tape.  I found some really cute brushes that look like polka dot ribbon but can't seem to download them.  I get a Gimp PDF file for Windows even though it clearly states it is for Mac.  Oh well, I did find this set of brushes by Invisibles Now here. and promptly played a bit on one of my journal pages.

I used these in combination with the "rough typewriter" font.  I guess I'll keep looking.  There sure are a lot of really cool free brushes out there.  I'd like to see one like these with white letters instead of transparent. Now that I think of it, there is plain "tape" included which I could use as a white brush and then brush the letters over that. Then it would look like a label that came from my old label maker.

Summer Lovin'

Hello readers.  I'm playing Texture Tuesday once again.  This week was a free week - no theme, just use at least one layer of one of  Kim's textures.  This is one of my favorite photos taken of one of my grands at a local beach.  First the original......

and next the edited photo.

I duplicated the image and used overlay 100%

then I added Kim's "stained linen" overlay 89%

I duplicated that layer using a blend mode of multiply at 62%

I added Kim's "cool grunge" linear light 100% and removed some of the texture from the figure.

Finally I added Kim's "summer lovin" multiply 100%. 

There are a million ways this photo could be edited.  Actually I did try several different textures and blends.  In the end I decided on this. 

Summer is sadly ending and the leaves are beginning to fall.  Soon we will switch from daylight savings time to regular time and the days will get even shorter.  I always look forward to Dec. 21 because after that the days start to lengthen.  I know spring and summer can't be too far away.
See you next week for more Texture Tuesday fun.

Captiva Sunset

Here it is Friday again and I barely have my post ready.  I've joined Photo Art Friday hosted by Bonnie at Pixel Dust Photo Art.  Stop by and see the other great contributions.  Also Bonnie has great tips and examples for PS addicts.  She is generous in giving away textures and sharing her knowledge.

My entry is a photo taken on Captiva Island on the Gulf Coast of Florida.  Though we live very close to the beach here in Southern California, I love Florida and its beaches.  The sand is different, the light is different, the air is different.  It's just as beautiful as our coast.  

Every night, people gather with their beach chairs and wine to see the sunset.  There is magic in the air at this time of day on the beach.  The weather is balmy and one can get lost in the whole affair.  Though I love this photo with the silhouette of pines, it is not as clear as I would like, so I decided to "art it up".  I really did not need to do much. 

I did a levels adjustment, used Bonnie's texture 0514 darken 100% and removed a bit of it  from the sun and pines, then used texture 41 from Flickr_Lenabem hard light 100%.

Have a great week and see you next Photo Art Friday.

Things to Do

For Texture Tuesday this week's theme is "Do".  I am an inveterate list maker.  So what to "do" but make my "to do" list.  I used  one layer of Kim's Autumn Burst hard light 60%, one layer of Kim's Scripted Autumn soft light 100%.  I also used a texture of legal paper (can't remember the source) multiply 40%.  Then I added my list items.

Click on the badge below to see lots more fun examples of the "Do" theme using Kim's textures.

   

In Memoriam 9/11/2001

It's hard to believe that 10 years have passed.  I still remember that morning getting a call from a good friend telling me to turn on my TV.  She said "We're being attacked".  It was truly frightening.  Even though it did not directly affect me or mine, it affected all of us.  Never again will we be able to feel that naive innocence as a country. That said, I really think most of us would like to see our troops come home from a senseless war.  This is my homage to our fallen -- soldiers, firefighters/rescue people and the occupants of the twin towers.

I took these  images at a park near us just prior to Memorial Day this year.  The flags are erected every year.  A beautiful sculpture of a Marine stands there as a reminder of all our fallen who have died in service to our country.  That includes fire and police.

 

May we always stand tall and proud.  May we never forget.

Jazzy Succulents

This photo was really fun to work with.  You can see the original from the previous post.  It was so terrible I almost deleted it.  Then I decided to see what all I could do with it.  Here's the latest incarnation using Pixel Dust Photo Art's "dappled dawn" on color burn and "silent memory" also on color burn, and then poster edges.  Now I can really see the insect on the flower.  Can't tell if it's a bee or?

I'm using this for my Photo Friday Art entry.

You can see more of the fun - click on the badge below or in the sidebar.

Thanks, Bonnie, for hosting this fun weekly event and for your artistic textures.

Glorious Succulents

Texture Tuesday's entry uses Kim Klassen's "cracker jack" texture.  The original which is at the bottom of the post is a very poor image.  With the help of her texture using a linear burn blend and her "leaf" texture  -- lighten blend, the image just popped.  I did not even see the insect on the flower until I did this.  Thanks to Shadowhouse Creations for the mask/frame.

Every image is a new image with PS and textures!!

Hope everyone enjoyed the Labor Day week-end.

Here's the original

Not very exciting, huh?

Be sure to link over to Kim's  blog and view all the other entries.  On second thought, why not join the fun.  There are all levels of expertise participating in Texture Tuesday.  Many of us have taken Kim's expert classes, some of which are free and some for a fee.  I have learned so much from these classes.  If you don't know how to use textures, her classes are very enlightening!  Try it, you might become as addicted as we are.