Lost Aussie on the loose

Evolution of a Rose

Yesterday my friend Julie Pritchard took this most amazing photo of a rose and posted on her Blog.  As an avid rose lover, her idea of a photo shoot for her cut bloom appealed to me and so off I hopped into the garden, secateurs in hand, and snipped a few blossoms for the vase in the kitchen, detouring along the way with the camera.

I grabbed a bit of vintage wall paper and used that for the backdrop for my rose.  Snapped a bunch of pics and then had at my favourite in Photoshop.  The progress of the initial picture can be seen below.

The first picture is SOOC (straight out of the camera), the second is after some adjustments in Camera RAW, third I added two layers of texture and blended - sounds a bit like a cooking demo, doesn't it?  Fourth step was to add some text and blend it into the background and then a little "m" for good measure...kind of like salt to add taste!
Lastly I gave the picture the Rounded Corner treatment (my tutorial can be found  here).
And Voila...there you have it!   No filters, no fancy actions, just layering and blending and a little masking here and there.

Thanks for the inspiration Julie!

Never a Dull (Pixel) Moment

I'm full on and busy wrapping my head around the next set of tutorials for the Online Class which starts in a couple of weeks.

Although Photoshop Elements has come a long way in the last few years and the current Version 8 is a powerful tool, there are still some aspects of function that I am used to using every day in Photoshop that don't exist in Elements.
Figuring work arounds and alternate ways of doing things is proving a fun and exciting challenge.

The best thing about digital art and photo manipulation is that there is no right or wrong way to do things and always two more paths to the desired outcome than the one you thought of in the first place!

And before I head back to work, I just want to say, thanks very much to all the new subscribers to my Online Class mailing list.  The interest in the Classes has been overwhelming and I will be posting a new Class schedule in the very near future.

Back From Art N Soul

Back safe and sound from our trip to Virginia Art N Soul where I taught two days of fabulous classes.  I guess you would have to ask the participants whether they enjoyed themselves or not, but since no-one left the class early or threw eggs in my direction, I can only interpret that in a good way!

I had 20 fabulous students in my Surface Magic Class, where we created weird and wonderful substrates upon which to print and a further 16 who were brave enough to try their hand at mastering some digital art skills in the Lovely Layers Class, with incredible results.

It was thoroughly rewarding in each case, to see "light bulb" moments when people GOT what we were trying to do and the OOOOOOhhhh....aaaahhhhh's that could be heard when something gorgeous came off the printer or the magic and mystery of the layer's palette started to make sense.

Nothing rings more truly with delight for a teacher than the sound of a happy student!

I can't overlook the investment that DH made either.  He was my technical support and go-fer "dude", manning printers and making sure that all the electronic and technical aspects of the class were hooked up and ready to go.  He's earned Brownie points in a big way!!

Returning to New York yesterday took us a while.  Unfortunately we managed to snag the 'beach" traffic as we hit New Jersey, adding an hour to the 8 we had already tallied for our journey.  Still, it was nice to get back home, be greeted by the four paw critters and examine what had been going on while we were away.

Yes, the Peonies managed to bloom while I was away, and so did some of the Roses.  There will be days aplenty to savour their blossoms, so that is good!

Next on the agenda is final preparations for the Online Class which starts in June, and judging by the responses I had while I was away, I think there will be a few more to come in quick succession!..so stay tuned for those updates!

Ciao for now

3,2,1..

Wish me Luck!

xoxo

NY See

Snapped down around W14th & 6th Ave, or thereabouts.  The City was just a delightful place to be on Sunday.  Too early for the Summer tourist swarm and warm enough to wear a summer dress and carry nothing but a camera - perfect!

DH spent the day rubbernecking into the sky to see if he could spot Naked Men on Rooftops.... a project with a price tag of $400,000 and was apparently paid for without using Public money - which is probably just as well, as last I heard, the State had none and has just closed 14 Public parks for the lack of.

I suppose rubbernecking is considered good outdoor exercise.  Although I don't know if 30 seconds on a Midtown street corner peering skywards in search of 31 naked statues is going to be as relaxing as sitting on a Park bench in the sunshine.

It's a bit like those massive black or white canvases you see in Modern museums....sometimes I just don't get IT!

(Yeah, I think I'm having a "ranty" week! or come to think about it, Qantas "P"d me off so much a few days ago, I just don't think I am done boiling over!)...don't worry, it will pass!

Where You Talk and To Who

I know there are lots of platforms to find your voice in today's market but given the privacy invasion of Facebook, I become more and more convinced that whatever I have to share, I like to do on my own terms and not those dictated by shareholders in Mega Companies over whom I have no control!

Blogs might be a bit passe for some folk, but I like mine.  I like the fact that you can come and go as you please.  I don't send you spam, you don't have to "friend" all and sundry to read what is here on offer and I promise I will never TWIT (oh sorry, Tweet) you about anything I have to say.  I'm sure you have better things to do that know when I dab a bit of paint on a canvas or down a cup of coffee after I get out of bed!

Yeah, I know it's a bit "soap boxy" and I don't discount the "reach" of the social networks, heaven knows I have happily used Facebook to promote my online classes, but I do worry about the extent of the data mining and just WHO gets to know what we post on those sites!  If you don't check your FB account settings, you just might be enabling Heaven Knows Who access to all sorts of data that you REALLY thought was private!!

So whilst some things might SEEM to be FREE...in actual fact it's SUBSCRIBER BEWARE!  Data mining is a massive industry, and not always controlled by those we would wish it to be!

More Digital Doodles

Another page for the Digital Journal.  A custom created texture file combined with a photo that I took at Old Field, out along the north shore of Long Island.  The journal words are put on a separate layer and the opacity pulled down (for internet use)......heaven forbid I share my crusty thoughts with you :-)
More pen and ink drawing and painting added for effect.

The CS5 beta that I tested for Adobe has really great painting capabilities.  I'm champing at the bit to install the licensed versions of the new software but want to wait until I've had my computers to Art n Soul and back and make sure there are no hiccups!
Having said that, this was all done on CS4 and there are only three main components - the photo, the texture layer and the bird....

Almost in Bloom

The Peonies are poking their heads out of their buds...finally!  My guess is that they will all start to bloom next week while I am away :-(   boo hoo!  Still I am hopeful that their long awaited faces might show properly this weekend with the sunshine that they are predicting.  The cold of the last week has been horrible, I've even had to turn the heating back on - which I am sure the Power Authority LOVES!  But I don't! The bills from this Winter were already horrendous enough!

May always seems to be a funny month in New York, hot one day, freezing your patootie off the next!  I even brought the fledgling tomato plants into the house two nights this week - am determined NOT to lose the few tiny yellow flowers that herald the begginning of berries - no sirree!

Re-Cycling Away

No - I'm not just twiddling my fingers and watching the grass grow - though it's doing a good job of that, all by itself, despite the fact that Winter seems to have come back for a visit!

We are making very very busy, lists all over the place, the Studio looks like a combination of a Staples store and copy shop.  My three "pooters" are all whirring away doing different jobs and I think DH will be quite happy when all of this Art n Soul business is off the table and he can find his wife (sane and sensible) again.

Anyway, as I was cutting up sheets of Tyvek and preparing Class packets this afternoon, I decided that it was the 'perfect' time to do something creative - total derail of focus - as I snagged a piece from my carefully grown pile and had at it with the printer and sewing machine.  My excuse was that I needed another "sample" to show students - well that works - right?

I'll be showing students how to work with the Tyvek during the AnS Surface Magic class as well as in the Online Class - which by the way is now FULL!  Thank you to everyone who signed up!  It was a rush and a roar and looks like I will need to hold another one soon!

For Mothers Near and Far

Mother

They were lovely, all the mothers
of the days of long ago,
With their gentle, quiet faces
And their hair as white as snow.
They were middle-aged at forty,
at fifty donned lace caps
And at sixty clung to shoulder shawls
and loved their little naps.
But I love the modern mother
who can share in all our joys,
And who understands the problems
of her growing girls and boys.
She may boast that she's older,
but her heart is twenty-three...
My glorious bright-eyed mother
Who is keeping young with me.
- Author Unknown