What I'm Working On

I've been out of the loop here for a while.  I took an acrylic class in Pasadena from Chris Cozen.  It was a busy class all day long and lucky for the students -- there were only fifteen of us.  Chris showed us how to get the most from the Golden line - fluid acrylics, various mediums, the new open acrylics and the air brush acrylics.  The new open acrylics are terrific for monoprints.  Mine looks like this.

From this plate I made a couple prints and used them as collage pieces 

  This is certainly not the  most exciting art work here.  But then Chris said our class was technique driven and we would not go home with a finished project. I learned so much in this class.

Oh, and the airbrush paints are to die for!!!  They are so highly pigmented, the colors are dazzling.  They are almost like a watercolor ink but much more stable.  I had never used them.  That's what I used on the above collage.

Chris teaches online classes with Julie Prichard.  Check out the workshops to see if any tantalize your muse.  I'm definitely signing up for at least one and maybe a couple more.  They are really affordable.  

I'm Home

I'm back.........

home, that is.

I had a few fun days in Santa Barbara.  Visited the Mission Santa Barbara

and spent some time at the wharf.  Such a pretty marina and beach.

Love the color of these kayaks all stacked up together.

We didn't do this but I wish we had.  Lobster sounds so good right now.

Had some wonderful meals - seafood and delicious wine from Santa Barbara Winery.  Also shopped up and down State Street.  Purchased

some unique tea from Teavana and some little ramekins

which were on sale at Sur Le Table.  It's not as if I don't have that store here, but I don't make it a point to go there.

Edge Tutorial

For those of you with Photoshop Elements

here's a little tutorial on how to get these edges.  Those with Photoshop can get this effect with layer masks.  This is an easier way for PSE users.  The

possibilities are endless with various filters.

I used a layer fill with color so it would show better on my white blog background.

To Bokeh or Not?

I've been experimenting.....

with bokeh textures.  The painting features a transfer of a woman's face in prayer/contemplation.  The only processing I did was add the bokeh texture.  While they are not effective on everything I think they are a nice addition to this art.

I keep trying them on lots of images, so there will probably be a rash of my images that have been bokeh'd in the future.  

DO YOU BOKEH?

Digital Collage

So many projects - not enough time.  I played with this one until it squeaked.  I can't even remember all the filters I used.  I know I used the texturizer "canvas". I also used "plastic wrap".  I had to extract the gladiolas from a journal page.  I tried several frames, none of which I really like on this.  

I really think it needs something but I'll have to contemplate what.  If it were an acrylic painting, I would just paint over it.  I think this is a victim of over processing!!

Photoshop Revisited

Okay, I've had my fun changing my blog so.....

today I'm back to creating in Photoshop.  i've incorporated a piece of art as background, some freebie images of daisies and butterflies, one of my photos used as a texture.  I also played with filters and settled on "ink outline".

Big Eyes

I change my wallpaper on my desktop every week or so with the magnificent National Geographic photos.  I had to share this one because it is an incredible display of my favorite colors -- purple and green.  I love tree frogs with their beautiful green bodies and big eyes.

 "This is the wind what blows, he said, & it lives in a jar in my bed & his eyes were big with the knowing of all that."

~ Brian Andreas

Go and have a beautiful day! 

Where to Find Class for Blog Design

If you want to learn how to put a new dress on your blog, I'm taking an online class from Jessica Sprague called "Blog Design Basics for Blogger".

It's very inexpensive and self paced.  All the videos are there for you forever if you wish. You can access them 24/7 so you can take the class in your pajamas

with your cuppa if you wish.  There is a forum where questions are answered.  So what are you waiting for?    

Today I finally added some "happy art" in a frame to my sidebar.  I also fixed signature.  Not sure if I'm going to use the signature, but I wanted to go through the exercise to be sure I know how to do it.   

Too Cutesy?

After all this work I'm wondering to myself if this is a bit too cutesy.  I wanted a fun look -- more playful but not homespun or cute.  The good  news is that I now know how to change things around, so I can design to my heart's content.  I still don't have this signature where I want it, so I need to do a bit more work.  It is centered when I view the blog, but now I have too much space between signature and post divider.  And I think that flower in my signature needs to be deleted since the post divider has enough flowers.  I'm beginning to feel like the flower child.  I don't want to tell you that I was around back in the days of the "flower children" but I was....   Back to the design board.  See you soon.

Bits and Pieces

   I thought I would show what I used for my background.  I'm going to redo my banner but haven't decided what to use yet.  I want it to have a fun feeling but not "cutesy".  I used part of the image on the left for the background side panels and part of the image on the right for the border of the side panels.

I love the class I'm taking through Jessica Sprague.  I'm just so delighted to feel okay with editing HTML -- not worried about destroying my blog.  Whew!!! I still need to work on the sidebar and signature.  But we're getting there.