Catching Up

I've been absent for a while because I've been so involved in Marie Otero's Photo Magic class.  Here is my entry for Photo Art Friday a bit early because of the holiday.  I'm going to post some examples of what I've been doing.  (Notice I'm not posting a work from my archives, but I'll do that another time.)  

This one involves extracting the subject and placing on a different background.  I used Kim Klassen's  "Canvas Magic" here.  After I did this I found a great video tutorial on Photoshop Elements site on how to do a really clean extraction....... ( I mean you can see a halo around their heads and I didn't quite get the area behind the left arm of my grand on the right}.......but you get the idea.  This.......

   

from this......

and this....... 

from this.....

We also learned to make our own bokeh and various watermarks.  And we worked with gradients.  Below I've used the same gradient as I did for the candy machines.  

We worked with radial blurs here........

from this.....

I needed to make this image a square, so I cropped the bottom part of it.

There's much more and I'll most likely be showing you some more examples in the days to come.  

Meantime......everyone, be sure to stop by Photo Art Friday on Friday to see the goodies.

Linking to

Jump for Joy

Today's theme for Texture Tuesday is "Two".  I should have titled this "Double Your Pleasure" to fit with the theme.  I found this technique in my latest issue of Elements magazine.  It really is a simple technique, but it took me longer than I had anticipated simply because part of the process is extracting the subject image. That is not one of my strong suits.  Arrgh!

I used Pixel Dust Photo Art's "Medieval Magic" texture, Kim's "February Magic Edges" texture, and a stencil brush by Marie Otero.  The font is "Quilted Butterfly".  Join us over at Texture Tuesday and Photo Art Friday for a cuppa or a glassa and a tour of some magic art!!

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 and

My Love Affair with Roses

Photo Art Friday's eTheme this week is to try something different, something we haven't previously done - a new technique perhaps.

My roses seem to be doing so well even though the nights have been downright cold for Southern Calif.  I played for two days with different textures, filters, blend modes.  I really like this one SOOC.

I do believe the Double Delight is my absoute favorite, hands down.  It has beautiful form (the perfect point that opens magnificently.  It has a luxurious fragrance.  It has incredible variety -- no two blooms are ever quite alike.  Some have more red.  Some are almost white with just a tinge of red on the edges.  And some have quite a bit of yellow when they are first cut.

I love all kinds of flowers and foliage in the garden, but it's really hard to beat roses.  They really add joy to my life!

I love the subtle look of this with French Kiss' 

"Stone Blush" texture and French Kiss' "French Script" brushes.

and then there's

this look with French Kiss' "Stone Blush" and "Purple Prose" textures.  I'm in love with this look.

or maybe

this look with FK's Stone Blush texture and French Script brushes plus Topaz Adjust filters.  Don't they just look delicious?

Then there's this fun look I got by using Topaz Adjust filters. 

Everyday's a special day when I can spend time playing with Photoshop.  I love that I can take the worst images that I would have discarded and make them star quality!

Oh yes, I almost forgot.  I'm taking another class with Marie Otero called "Digital Photo Magic".  The beautiful Double Delight below is from my week 1 projects.

and finally something a little different for Photo Art Friday. I used Kim Klassen's "Canvas Back" texture.

Hope you are planning on checking out the exquisite art work from everyone participating in 

Photo Art Friday.

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