Photoshop Once Again....

I'm starting to work in PS once again.  Took a little vacation to do my face class.  Every time I do this, I promise myself I will do a little of both every day......but for whatever reason,  I seem to get involved with one and let the other dwindle.   I just purchased Topaz ReStyle, the latest of Topaz' products.  It literally has thousands of styles and is so much fun to play with.  It's hard to settle on a look when there is so much to choose from.  This is simply a landscape image imposed over the cherub image, tweaked with Topaz, with the addition of some brushes.   

You can play with it on a 30 day trial, and the price is reduced 50% through the end of August.

Topaz held a webinar Friday, and I "attended".  I have never before done a webinar.  It's a great way to learn.  I will be "attending" another Topaz event on the 22nd...tips and tricks.  There is so much these plug-ins can do.  I would probably never do half of these if not for learning through their webinars or tutorials.

Facelift?

.....kitchen that is.

Hello, my friends, I'm so excited I just had to share with you.

When we moved into this house in late '97, the kitchen was a horrible ugly-looking circa '70's kitchen. Note the lineolum on the backsplash and floor.  

Yeppers....this is what it looked like when we opened escrow.

So in '98 we completely redid it - opened the ceiling and demo'd it to the wall studs.   The cabinets were not even salvageable, so we went with custom cabinets.  Our contractor was so 

reasonable that it was cheaper to do his cabinets than 

the ones at the big box stores.

At the time, for various reasons, I opted to go with tile countertops.    So this is what it looked like (and still does) when we finished with it.

I've always regretted that we did not go with granite.  So 14 years later I'm finally getting my granite countertop.  Seems like that should be easy enough.  For those of you who've "redone" kitchens, you are sitting there chuckling to yourselves or probably rolling on the floor with laughter!!

It's never simple.  If we're redoing the countertop, we also have to have a new backsplash.  Too bad, I rather liked this one.

Then, we might as well get a new, updated faucet and a new stainless sink, right?  Oh, and since the sink is brushed stainless and the faucet is also brushed stainless, then do I really want the tacky chrome water dispenser and the white air gap for the dishwasher marring the look of beautiful granite and stainless?

Of course not.  Ka-ching, ka-ching!! A few more $$ 

Then.....all the cabinetry has to be repainted....I mean it's time.  So, my friends, the simple new countertop has become a major facelift for the kitchen.  

Seriously, I'm not complaining.  I'm thrilled.  I could go on for the next day or so about the ordeal of getting estimates from big box stores and independent fabricators and all the ups and downs of that....did you know there's a choice between 2cm and 3cm granite?? Well, I didn't,  but I do now.

It should be done by end of August, so stay tuned for the "after" pictures.

Something in the Mail?

It's my turn to host our Eastside Art group.  We've had so many fun get-togethers.  We've made gourd dolls with Norma and with Diane... an ocean drum from a gourd  (sounds like one of those rain sticks).  Jacki taught us how to make collages of faces with torn paper.   We painted beautiful flowers with Erin, hydrangeas and sunflowers.  We made gelatin prints with Libby using a commercial Jelli plate and also with homemade gelatin plates.

My oh my.....what in the world would I "teach".  I decided on a mixed media day....we'll make mail art.  I've been making some mail art just to get back in the swing of mixed media.

Top and bottom spaces are copies of a piece I sent to a friend for her birthday.  The middle two spaces are another piece....no particular theme.  I wanted to see if I could do an inkjet printer image transfer with gel medium.  I haven't done one in quite a long time.  I used a piece of Dover Publications clip art and applied in the top left corner of the middle-left space.  It came out quite well, so I think we'll do some of that too.  I did some crazy stitching on my sewing machine to finish these up.

I will take pics of the various pieces the girls do and post sometime after the event which is mid-August.

In Process

I thought I'd share one of my faces in progress in my sketchbook. Here's the first take and I will show more as I add more details.

This lesson is about turned faces and this one is a 3/4 turn as you can see.....a bit more challenging since the eyes are not equal.  

I love her big eyes.....not sure what she'll look like in the next stage.  Stay tuned.....

Where Has the Time Gone??

What can I say?  I've been so immersed in faces that I've let my photography become a "stepchild".  I would not want

to bore you with all my face drawing attempts, many of which I 

consider failures on the way to success.....

This little girl was done with colored pencil and Dylusions ink.

For the doodles I used the Signo Uniball pen.  I love it as it writes on just about anything.

And this little party girl was done using alcohol markers.  I wasn't satisfied with the results here as they didn't blend well and left lots of streaks.  I think I might have had better results with a bleed-proof paper made for alcohol markers.  Question is.....do I really want to order MORE supplies???  Art supplies can really be addicting!  

I had such a disaster using distress ink on the background that I covered it up with collage papers.   Onward and upward as they say.......

Machines.......

Here's what I made for a collaborative art project.  I found the instructions in a Somerset publication called 
"Sew"....I purchased it because I wanted some really simple machine stitching projects.  

I think I have begun an intimate relationship with my sewing machine.  My husband calls it an expensive door stop.    
I sew so sporadically and I'm so new to machine stitching, that every time I decide to make a project involving the sewing machine, it takes forever just 

to remember how to change the "foot" or needle.  This week-end, we were definitely going steady.  I changed the foot to the free motion foot.  Somehow I had a jam and ended up having to take everything apart.....removed the bobbin plate and bobbin, removed the needle plate, cleared out the thread jam and decided I might as well clean.......got rid of the lint.  Then decided to change the needle since I would be sewing on 
cardstock and paper.  I guess I did not get the needle up as high as it would fit and ended up with another jam.  I mean really.....can you see what you're doing when you're installing the needle?? I have to do it by braille!  Maybe 
I need one of those mirrors like the dentist uses?   I took everything apart again!!!  I've read my instruction manual from beginning to end at least twice.  It is working now though...
 I suppose it's for the better that I had these challenges.  I had no choice but to "get intimate" with the machine.  I learned that I can, indeed, open it up and put everything back together again.....and, have it actually work....wonder of wonders!  
I managed to get a face drawn too.  I keep telling myself I'm going to draw a face every day.......well, somehow it just doesn't
quite happen.  Maybe it's because I want perfection.  I want that face I draw to look really good.  I threw that all to the wind
when I did this one.....just decided to scribble/sketch and not worry about that dreaded perfection.  

I used Stabilo pencils in my journal.

Have a fun day!!

    

I'm Still Here

Yes, I am still here.  This drawing thing does take some time.  Even though these are not portrait drawings, I still take a long time.  Plus I'm trying to use various art mediums.  Let me catch you up to date. 

I drew my lovely "Lavender Girl" and collaged a paper napkin around her. 

Her hair was done with watercolor ink which did not do well over the glue that I collaged with.  What to do??? I decided to gesso over her hair and I actually liked the lighter color.  I added a flower over her ear.

I took these photos in different locations.  I apologize for the poor quality but she was too big to fit my scanner.  

I love her little face.  The hair is not my fave but for now I'm satisfied.  Jane Davenport's class is all about having fun and drawing faces more stylistically.  I think mine will be going to "Mermaid School".  She has that look.  I know I will be able to turn these out faster with practice.  I do love drawing them so I don't really care that it takes so much time....it's really rather meditative.  I got lost in "Lavender Girl".

On another note, I worked on my sunflower painting.  Erin taught me a few tricks for "fixing" what I might not like.

I think I like it much better now.

I'm wishing you all a beautiful July 4th and all the friends and family and FOOD that goes with it!!

I really have been busy

I don't know what happened to the time.  It has flown by and I haven't posted for a week or so.

I really have been busy with so many things.....like researching for my kitchen redo.  Between the internet and asking friends I had so much info, it was  "analysis paralysis"!

I finally have made my decisions and I promise to post before and after pics.  I'm really only getting a new countertop, but you know how that goes......then I have to have a new sink and 

a new faucet.  While we're at it, might as well replace that garbage disposal which was never powerful enough.  1/2 hp just

doesn't cut it.  Yes, I meant the pun.

Okay so here's what else I've been up to.  

Our hostess for the Eastside Art group I'm in gave us a lesson in painting.  Most all the painting I've done is abstract.  This pic shows the beginning stage of the painting.

And......the finished product below

A big thank you to Jacki for taking the pics and sending to me.

A really big thank you to Erin for sharing her knowledge

with us and for such a fun day!!

Now for some pics of my face practice.  I'm loving Jane Davenport's "Supplies Me" online class.

The above was an exercise in drawing spheres and ovals.  I just filled in with faces.  Who cares if the eyes are a little wonky or the lips aren't quite right?  It's just practice  Below I drew a face over a journal page. 

Jane makes it so fun.......no pressure.  Her videos are fun and inspiring.

Have a great week-end everyone.

Taking a Break

....from my faces.  Sometimes I feel like I've been doing this blog so long, my posts all look alike.  I'm stepping out of my comfort zone here and posting a photo that's a bit more abstract.....a little unusual for me.  As much as I adore flowers and nature,  I've been trying to look at shapes, angles, etc.  This shot was really different....I took it looking through the glass to a multi-level steel staircase structure.

Okay....now that I've posted something out of the ordinary for me, the next image is a still life which I "doctored" with Kim Klassen's "Abstract" texture and the

dry brush filter a couple times.  I think I may have also used the watercolor filter...can't remember.  

Now if you want to look at some faces, take a look at Ruth's newest blog "Tawny Moon Studio".  I do like her mixed media combinations.

linking to Texture Tuesday.

Today's Girl

A new journal page.  I first laid down a background of Faber Castell's Gelatos and Glimmer mists plus added gesso.  I drew my funky girl on top even with ridges from gesso. Jane's class is encouraging us to get out all the art supplies we have sitting on shelves and work with them.....colored pencils, watercolor pencils, water based markers, alcohol markers, paint daubers, Twinkling H2O's, Distress paints and markers and much more. I thought I had a lot of supplies, but I don't have even half of what Jane uses.  And....I'm going to try not to purchase much more.   Notice I said "much".  

I still need to work on hair....just like my own hair, it's always a work in progress/practice!  I love her big eyes and diminutive mouth.  

I found some more classes I want to take.....found this website through one of my Flickr contacts.  I want to take every one of her classes.  They sound like so much fun.  Carla's teaching a Gelli art class now.  I'd sign up for it now, but I'm in one too many classes as it is.  I also found her husband's class on Photo Silly.  I had seen his class advertised a couple years ago on Alisa Burke's blog.  For whatever reason I failed to bookmark it and then when I looked for it again, it was not there.  I will definitely be taking his class.  

Oh Universe, can I please have some more time????