Kat's World

Moo-Mania Challenge

2012-02-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed creating my first Moo a couple of weeks ago. The current challenge over at Moo-Mania is to create a Moo with the theme of love.

Here are the resources I used:

background/texture - Shadowhouse Creations
tree brush - Edelihu
bird brush - 3DigitalStock

Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day!

All Pulped Out Texture Challenge

2012-02-08T08:12:00.000-08:00

I love the wonderful encaustic textures Nancy at All Pulped Out gave us to work with this month. They are fabulous...I really love the circles (my favorite shape).

This is the photo that I used:

I took this photo at a small Celtic Festival in Front Royal, VA...the bird is a Coopers Hawk.

Here's what I created:

As you can see, I did not actually texturize the photo but rather used Nancy's textures to create a wonderful background for the hawk. I used 5 out of the 6 textures...the only one I did not use was #3. Only one texture was actually put over the hawk. To create the background, I started with one of the textures. My next layer was the color...I used Grunge Brushes courtesy of Shadowhouse Creations with a palette of gold, orange and brown. I then kept adding textures using different blend modes (mostly "color" and "linear" burn). I also gave the hawk a painterly effect using Topaz filters.

Texture Challenge

2012-01-31T08:58:00.000-08:00

Another wonderful texture challenge from Nancy at All Pulped Out. I used the "Grunge3" texture for this image:

I tried many different textures and combinations, blending modes, etc. but when all was said and done I kept coming back to this image. Not very complicated...but I was happy with it.

This picture was taken in our backyard with our first ever DSLR camera (a Canon Rebel). I'm excited to get into a little photography but am rather clueless...so many functions, etc. Truth is, I don't know an ISO from a UFO or an f-stop from a bus stop...should be interesting!

Moo-Mania Challenge - Asian Theme

2012-01-21T09:27:00.000-08:00

I can't say that I ever heard the term "moo" associated with art. So when Birgit posted the Moo-Mania Challenge on the We Love Digital Art message board, I had to check it out.

Turns out "A Moo is a little card sized 2.8 x 7 centimeters, or approximately 1.1 x 2.8 inches. Beside this fixed size it is what you make of it." The current theme for the challenge is "Asian". Well, I love
all things Asian and was intrigued by the size so figured I'd give it a try.

My favorite thing about this Moo is the color....oh how I love the colors...and the little crane too! I created it in Photoshop (CS5) using four different images (I also did some color adjustments, level adjustments, etc.) I also used a couple of "Topaz" filters to give it a more painterly effect.

Here are the links to the images I used:

Foreground - PD Photo

Background - DartmoorGiant

Geisha - Conveyor belt sushi

Crane - Emre Ayaroglu

The foreground image is in the public domain and all the others have creative commons licenses attached (bless their hearts!)

What a great challenge...it was fun to do and the size factor was indeed a challenge!

January Texture Challenge

2012-01-17T07:08:00.000-08:00

My first post of the new year...seriously...where does the time go?

Nancy over at All Pulped Out has offered another great texture challenge. This month she took photos of "poles" to use as textures! You never know what she's going to come up with...love it! Here's my creation:

I used a gradient, two photos (trees and wolf) and pole texture 1, 5, and 7. I used lots of different blending modes with "difference" being the most prevalent. The tree image was my own and the wolf image is in the public domain. Here's the link if anyone would like to use it Wikimedia Commons.

Thanks for another great challenge Nancy! and a Happy New Year to everyone!

Digital Montage Studio November Challenge

2011-11-18T09:12:00.001-08:00

The November challenge over at Digital Montage Studio is all about texture. We were to take photos of the texture that surrounds us and then use that to create our artwork.

Here's what I came up with:

Here's the texture I used:

My first layer was a gradient (gold to teal). I then added the texture above (my gravel driveway) and changed the blending mode to Difference and found that I loved the colors. I then added the Native American baskets (photo found at Library of Congress; part of Curtis Collection) and used the Hard Light blending mode. I did some creative masking and voila...done.

Feel free to use the gravel texture above and those below for your artwork. You can use them as texture...to create other textures...whatever your heart desires. The only thing I ask is that you don't redistribute them "as is".

Leftover snow/ice from our Oct. 29th snowstorm that dumped 8-9" at our house. We had no power for 2 days....arrrgh!

Yup...a view of my birdfeeder:

And this would be my vinyl siding:

I hope you find some use for these...enjoy!

We Love Digital Art November Challenge

2011-11-17T19:06:00.001-08:00

The theme for the November homepage challenge over at We Love Digital Art is Queens and Princesses.

Here are the images I used:

And here's what I came up with (these have been quite heavily filtered in Topaz).

Enjoy and happy creating!

All Pulped Out Texture Challenge

2011-11-17T18:11:00.001-08:00

Nancy at All Pulped Out has been having a monthly texture challenge and it's wonderful to see all the beautiful work that has been created. She offers us several textures to work with and I would encourage everyone to give it a try. Here is my November entry...hope you like it.

I'm still struggling when it comes to texture...but I'm hopeful that someday it will click. I have a most difficult time selecting what texture will work well with what photo, etc.

At any rate, thank you Nancy for another great challenge.

Digital Montage Studio October Challenge

2011-10-25T08:26:00.000-07:00

Cindy over at Digital Montage Studio
http://dmstudiochallenge.blogspot.com/2011/10/october-challenge-2011.html has a photography challenge going for the month of October. The theme is Fall colors and the images can be photoshopped...yay!

I really don't take very many photos, but it just so happened that I went thru a corn maze Saturday evening and brought my camera along. Here's the original image:

The first thing I did was put the photo thru a couple of Topaz filters (Adjust and Simplify). Next came the texture...three of them actually. I used two textures (Square-164 and Worn Thin-4) courtesy of Shadowhouse Creations http://shadowhousecreations.blogspot.com/. The third texture is courtesy of Nancy Donaldson, All Pulped Out http://allpulpedout.blogspot.com/2011/10/texture-challenge.html who has been having some wonderful texture challenges. Last but not least, I color matched the yellow from the corn and added the word Autumn using the Papyrus font. Here's the finished image:

Enjoy!

Challenge Images

2011-10-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

Here are the images I created from the Challenge images in the previous post.

For the typewriter image, I used a texture by SkeletalMess (aka Shadowhouse Creations) as well as one by Lypho (Flickr). I used a photoshop brush courtesy of Hawksmont to make the cracks in the work typewriter.

For the image above, I'd like to thank mconnors at morgueFile for the city scene, as well as Eddi van W. at Flickr for the rain texture. I used a couple filters to enhance the image as well as a lighting adjustment.

Autumn Doe is a compilation of four different images as well as filters. My thanks to "gracey" at morgueFile for the beautiful trees; "mirabbi" at morgueFile for the grass; "marykbaird" at morgueFile for the doe; and Alaskan Dude (Frank Kovalchek) at Flickr for the dirt road.

Last but not least, this image was created using one of my fractals as well as the same rain texture as above courtesy of Eddi van W. at Flickr. A lighting adjustment and a very dark blue/black gradient was used as well.

If anyone would like the links to the actual images used in my creations, please email me at lunamom58@gmail.com and I will be happy to send them to you.

We Love Digital Art Challenge

2011-09-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

As you can see blogging is not exactly my "cup of tea". For me, it is a rather painful experience...kind of like a trip to the dentist! Why you ask? Well (a very deep subject)...first of all, I find it very difficult to put into words what I want to say. Secondly, I find the whole process frustrating...seriously...why do I have to download images in reverse order and then try to juggle things around? Truth is...it must be me because I see so many beautiful blogs out there in cyberspace...kudos to all those who can figure this stuff out!

Now that I'm done with my rant (I feel better!), it's time to get down to business. Over at the yahoo group "We Love Digital Art" (see link in upper right hand corner), we often have themed challenges which are great because other than the theme you have complete control. A couple of months ago, we had a starter image challenge...a photo of Edgar Alan Poe. It was fun and all the creations were awesome! So...I'd like to offer up another "starter image" challenge.

This time I decided to go with three different images...pick one or all three and have a go at it! These images come from three of my favorite resource sites.

This first image, "Hello Bill", comes from the Library of Congress site and is part of the "Performing Arts Posters" collection. Here is the link:
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/var/item/var1995002142/PP/

As you can see in the original image above, "Hello Bill" is "goodbye Bill" as there are several chunks missing. I used my clone tool and filled in the blanks as best I could. Feel free to use the cloned image below:

This next image comes from Jon Sullivan at PD Photo.org. He has many wonderful images that he has put into the "public domain". This particular one is an old typewriter photographed at the "Bodie" ghost town in Calif. Here's the link:

http://www.pdphoto.org/PictureDetail.php?mat=&pg=8264

While the majority of his photos are public domain be sure to check carefully as a few are not.

This next image is by "gracey" and is found at the morgueFile site. Here's the link:

http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/763550

This is not a public domain image by itself, but rather an image that can be used for manipulations, etc. You will also note that "gracey" would love to see how her image is used and has given her email address. If the photographer has given an email address, I always send them a thank you along with an attachment of the image I created.

Last but not least...with the exception of the "cloned Bill", I would encourage you to download the images from the original source with the links I have provided for two reasons. First...these are wonderful resource sites and while you are there you can look to see what else is offered. Secondly....always go to the original site to verify that you can indeed use the image...don't take someones elses word for it.

So....I hope you will join me in this challenge...pick one or all three! The only requirement is to have fun and challenge yourself to try new things. I plan on posting my creations at WLDA as well as on my blog....stay tuned!

Digital Photo Manipulation

2011-06-10T08:05:00.001-07:00

When it comes to digital art, I must say that photo manipulation is my fave! I really enjoy taking bits and pieces of several photos and turning them into my own, unique creation. I spend many hours on the internet looking for images to use (public domain and those with creative commons licenses) and am very grateful to those who share.

The one below is titled "Bus Stop". I really don't know why other than it's the first thing that popped into my head and it wouldn't go away. I used four images to create this as well as some photoshop cloud brushes. Credits are listed below:

Rock - psyberartist http://www.flickr.com/photos/10175246@N08/5457248045/

House - Jan Tik http://www.flickr.com/photos/15363357@N00/6183733/

Woman - Remco Boerma http://www.flickr.com/photos/7987175@N04/520569686/

Balloons - Joe DeShon http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Great_pershing_balloon_derby_2005_09_04.jpg

Cloud brushes - Javier Zhx http://javierzhx.deviantart.com/art/Cloud-Brushes-34277964

The first thing I did in Photoshop Elements 9 was create a 5x5 white square. I then did a blue gradient (light to dark). Next, I used the Cloud brushes to create the clouds. I cut out the part of the rock that I wanted to use and made that my next layer. Next, I added the wonderful house and used the "Transform>Perspective" to give it that whimsical look. Next, I added the woman (I had done a lighting adjustment prior to adding this) and after that the balloons. Last but not least I added some shadows and I think the Tweaker filter from Xero Graphics http://www.xero-graphics.co.uk/freeware.htm. I fuss around so much that by the time I'm done...I've forgotten what I've done!

This next creation is titled "Springtime Stroll" and while it does not have as many elements, it did create a challenge in that I was mixing the old with the new.

Here are the images I used to create it:

Woman - Library of Congress Performing Arts Posters

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/var/item/var1994001534/PP/

Background - luisrock62

http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/31198

Paper boats - John Morgan

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aidanmorgan/2747157580/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aidanmorgan/4740869793/

The first thing I did was convert the background image to black and white. I ended up using the "Infrared" option as this was the best fit. I also converted the woman to black and white and sharpened it quite a bit so that it meshed well with the background. I cut out that paper boats, converted them to black and white, and also added a shadow. A shadow was also added to the woman. Next, I used a photoshop gradient (orange to purple)...blending mode "soft light". Last but not least I used a couple of Xero Graphics filters (Illustrator and Tweaker) to achieve the final result.

Enjoy!

Digital Montage Studio Challenge #5

2011-03-21T06:07:00.001-07:00

You know the old saying "There's one in every crowd"...well, it's usually me! Cindy Powell at Digital Montage Studio http://dmstudiochallenge.blogspot.com/2011/03/5.html gave us the beautiful background shown below for challenge #5. To make a long story short, I used it more in the capacity of a texture as opposed to a background...but I was very happy with the results.

Below are two photos used in my creation. They were both found at morgueFile...this is a wonderful place to find images to manipulate.

My background layer was the photo of the forest and stream. Next, I cut the deer out of the original photo and that was my next layer. My last layer was Cindy's beautiful background. I changed the blending mode to "multiply" and changed the opacity to 72%. I also did some tweaking...light erasing and lighting adjustments, etc.

Here is the finished product created in Photoshop Elements 7...hope you like it!

Thanks Cindy for the wonderful background!

Fun with Filters/Effects in Photoshop Elements 7

2011-03-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

Wow...two posts in one week...I'm on a roll! Truth is, this is my third attempt at this post (had to delete the first two) so my blood pressure is a little high. I don't know what it is about this format but I just don't get it.

At any rate, the other day I downloaded a bunch of free Photoshop plugins from Xero. Here's the link http://www.xero-graphics.co.uk/freeware.htm I've been doing some playing with a photo I took last summer with my Sony Cybershot point and click camera. Here's what I came up with:

This is the original photo of a thistle and a butterfly. Thistle is right on top of my favorite flower list although some refer to it as a weed. Not only are the flowers beautiful but they are a real butterfly attractant. My husband always mows around the thistle on our bank because he knows how much I love them.

This next photo has the Xero Graphics Caravaggio filter applied to it. This particular filter gives it a painterly effect (Iused it somewhat sparingly):

As much as I love the color green I felt it was a little too much so I then used a layer adjustment to change the color slightly...I then gave it a color burn. This is actually the next to last picture in this post. I then flattened the image and gave it a posterized effect which is this photo:

For this image I simply took photo with the color burn (next to last image) and went to layer style-image effects-circular vignette:

Here's the one that has the carvaggio filter, color adjustment and color burn:

This is the same as the photo above except that I went into the Photoshop "artistic Filters" and chose watercolor:

If anyone would like better instructions let me know and I'll attempt it. In the meantime...have fun playing and creating!

This 'n That

2011-03-04T07:12:00.000-08:00

Wow...it's been a long time! As you can see, I'm not one to do alot of posting on my blog.

It's been a long, cold winter here in northern VA and I am so looking forward to Spring. That got me to thinking about Easter and so I created a couple of digital pieces...here's one (The other is at the yahoo group "We Love Digital Art"). The background is a texture courtesy of Jerry Jones http://shadowhousecreations.blogspot.com and the cute little bunny was found at Morguefile http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/599925
The basket and eggs are my own.

The three image sheets below are all my own which I would like to share with you. Feel free to use these items in your digital artwork if you'd like. The only thing I ask is that you not redistribute them "as is".

On this first sheet, I used the oval cookie cutter tool (Photoshop Elements 7), and made some eggs from my fractals. The bottom photo is my "pysanky" (Ukranian Easter Eggs) which I made several years ago. They were done with beeswax and anniline dyes. I haven't done any in a year now....perhaps soon (to be honest, my eyesight isn't what it used to be).

Sorry this basket looks so old, faded, and ratty but there's a reason. This was my Easter basket when I was a little girl...it's close to 50 years old! It's an antique like me...so that makes it special.

Last but not least, here's a few other tidbits I threw together. The clock is the one I used in "Cheshire Cat" for the WLDA "Alice in Wonderland" challenge.

Hope you find some use for these snips and have a great day!

Digital Montage Studio Challenge

2010-11-05T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm always up for a new challenge so here goes. Cynthia Powell has started a new challenge blog called the Digital Montage Studio Challenge http://dmstudiochallenge.blogspot.com/ . Each month she will be giving us a starter image to manipulate...it's always fun to see everyone's creation. Here's November's starter image:

And here's my creation titled "Honey I'm Home"

Now I must admit that I found this starter image to be rather tricky...but after all it is a "challenge". Even though I believe it is the image of the outside of a building, my backwards brain insisted I make it the inside. The first thing I did was remove the door and replace it with the woods. Next I cutout the bear from a public domain (Wikimedia Commons) image and placed him in the doorway. The bear's hat and bow tie came with my Photoshop Elements 7. As you can see it turned whimsical. I used the clone and paint tool to get rid of the light on the floor. I then went and picked out a PSE pattern and applied it to the wall to give the look of wallpaper. Next I took a frame I found at flickr (courtesy of Eric Wustenhagen) and inserted a picture of another bear getting into a bird feeder. The interesting thing about this is that the bear getting into the bird feeder is a picture I took....yes...little boo-boo was in my front yard in June 2009 and we watched as he took down my feeder and did some serious dining. The wooden rocking horse is my own photo...this was my daughter's when she was a little girl. I also added the "Home Sweet Home" text above the door and voila...."Honey I'm Home".

As you can see I cropped the very top of the photo...hope that's not cheating but the rafters were bothering me LOL! Hope you enjoyed my creation...I had fun creating it!

Acorn Post Card

2010-10-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Fall to one and all! Yesterday, I went out and collected some acorns and leaves and snapped some pictures. And then, of course, it was time to play in Photoshop Elements 7. Here's the result of some of my playing and I wanted to share how I did it with my friends at We Love Digital Art yahoo group (and anyone else who happens to stumble upon this blog).

I've been doing quite a bit of experimenting with texture lately. If used properly, it can add quite a bit of interest to your art. I find it rather intimidating because I don't really have a good handle on it yet. They say that after awhile you get so you know which textures will work well to achieve the look you want...I'm not there yet.

Two of the textures I used for this piece came from Shadowhouse Creations and the other was found at The Texture King (I have included links to each of the textures I used below). Jerry Jones at Shadowhouse Creations is like a texture master...he makes all his own. He very graciously allows others to use his textures...all he asks for is attribution (i.e. texture courtesy of Shadowhouse Creations plus a link to his website if possible) and a thank you. He also does not allow people to post his actual texture on their sites but rather a link to his blog so that people will download from his site. He has Terms of Use at his site and you should always read this before downloading anything from any site. I would encourage people to visit his site as he also has Photoshop brushes you can download and well as tips, etc.

Here are the links to the actual textures I used...doesn't mean they are the best choices....but I was happy with the result.

Shadowhouse Creations:

Abstract-1
http://shadowhousecreations.blogspot.com/2010/04/abstract-texture-set-3.html

Post Card
http://shadowhousecreations.blogspot.com/2010/04/post-cards-texture-set.html

Texture King:

http://www.textureking.com/content/img/stock/big/10_4946.JPG

And here's how I actually put it together:

Background - Abstract-1 texture
The next layer is the post card texture - the blending mode was "multiply" at 100% opacity
The next layer is my acorn - blending mode is "overlay" at 100 % opacity
The next layer is my text...yup....I live in Winchester, VA
The last layer is the texture king texture - blending mode is "soft light", opacity 57%

So there you have it. Below you will find two snips - the acorn I used above and also an old postage stamp. I took both these photos and cut them out. Feel free to do a "save picture as" and use them in any of your artwork. The postage stamp is rather dark...sorry. You will also notice that when I cut out the acorn I left the shadow on it. I really find this helpful but of course you could erase it if you prefer. (Please note: only the acorn and postage stamp snips below are for download....all other items on this blog are copyrighted).

Enjoy! I would love to see some more post cards at We Love Digital Art.

Maude Fealy Digitized

2010-08-20T18:34:00.001-07:00

Oh I have been very, very bad! I have not posted anything in 2 weeks. Truth is, when I started this blog, I knew this would happen. Writing for me is like pulling teeth and I really struggle with this format. This is the third go around with this post...no kidding...I kept hitting the wrong key! Argh!

Quite some time ago, I downloaded a photo of Maude Fealy from The Graphics Fairy blog and here's what I've done with it. I must say I love this photo...I think it has something to do with her eyes...not to mention that she's beautiful! Maude Fealy was born in the 1880's and she was a silent screen and stage actress.

All of the images below were done in Photoshop Elements 7. I cropped the original photo of Maude. Of course, I couldn't stop there so I took two of my fractals and added them to come up with this.

I then took the image above and used it as a layer over a background image. Most of the backgrounds I used were from the Flickr Creative Commons- Free Picture pool so I must give attribution, cannot sell commercially in some cases (wasn't going to anyway), and need to share alike on the one by Paulo Brandao...and rightly so.

I used the "hard light" blending mode on

this one.

Background courtesy of EricRUMOR

www.flickr.com/photos/ericrumor07/3569830070/

On this one I used the "vivid light" blending

mode.

Background courtesy of http://www.pdpho to.org/ This photo was in the SanDiego set

I believe it's called Coronado (public domain).

I used the "luminosity" blend mode on this one.

Background courtesy of Wilson B.www.flickr.com/photos/wilsonb/4898773554/

I used the "multiply" blend mode on this one.
Background courtesy of Eerio

www.flickr.com/photos/23610720@N03/2432282760/

I used the "overlay" blending mode on this one.

Background courtesy of Paulo Brandao

www.flickr.com/photos/paulobrandao/2592581334/

Wow....that was a workout. I apologize for how this looks...I need Microsoft Word or I'm lost. I think I'll take blogspot lessons before I do anymore posts with this many photos LOL! I hope you enjoyed your visit!

Green Paper Challenge

2010-08-06T07:06:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun with the last challenge over at Green Paper http://greenpaper.typepad.com/green/ that I decided to give it a try again this month.
Mary Green supplied us with these three images and we had to use at least a part of each in our creation. This month's theme was Lady Churchill.

When I first saw the images I wasn't quite sure what I would do with them. Then I read the bio on Lady Churchill that Mary Green had linked to and thought...hmmmm...interesting. Slowly but surely the wheels started turning, and before I knew it my imagination had taken a sharp left turn right into the gutter...and there it stayed. Once I get something stuck in my head there's no hope for it. I considered not posting my story (this is Winston Churchill's mother after all) but the story is what set's up the art. So here it is:

It seems Lady Churchill enjoys men...and not just her husband. She also seems to have a hankering for younger men. Rumors had been circulating for years about her exploits , but if they only knew about this one it would be downright scandalous. You see, Lady Churchill, had been having an affair with a local farmer. For her to be associated in this manner with a commoner would have been her undoing. And so, with a sadness in her heart, she knew she had to end the affair. She had an overwhelming feeling that she was being watched and was becoming paranoid. There was this little bird that kept showing up wherever she was, and the phrase "a little birdie told me so" kept playing over and over again in her mind. For the last time, she met her lover on the country lane just outside of town where they'd met so many times before. With tears in her eyes, she told him of her decision to end the relationship. She also gave him a check she had procured very discreetly from her solicitor. This would not only help him out in the future but would also assure his silence. And so it was done. To this day, there have been reports of ghost sightings along this country lane. Many have seen the image of a well dressed woman who seems to be searching frantically for something she lost. Could it be?

I hope you like my digital creation and the story behind it. I hope you read it in the playful, lighthearted manner as was my intent.

The background is composed of two creative commons photos blended together.

UGArdener

www.flickr.com/photos/ugardener/2344252882/

skipnclick

www.flickr.com/photos/skipnclick/4825027362/

Enjoy!

Roller Derby Rocks!

2010-07-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we drove 7 hrs. to visit my daughter and grandchildren. While there, we were able to attend one of our daughters Roller Derby bouts (this was actually a scrimmage against a team from another state). It was our first one and we had a great time...I only wish I understood the rules a little better. It's a very rough sport but a good venue to get rid of lots of lifes stresses! If only I was 20 or 30 years younger...hmmm. The great thing is that once the skates come off and the pushing, blocking, and crashing ends...there is a lot of comraderie and they always have an after match party attended by both teams. I had wanted to get lots of great pictures (so I could manipulate them of course) but it was not to be. The first 3 photos here were taken by Jason Bechtel on 5/29 and are on Flickr. There is a creative commons license attached but unfortunately, he does not give permission to alter his photos....darn!
My daughter is the one in the white helmet with the purple star on it....the star means that she is a "jammer". Only jammers can score points.

Here she is flying through the air about to crash!

Here's a team picture I took after the bout! My daughter is in front with the green tights. She got MVP jammer!

Here's another one of my pictures. The girl in the blurred green tights is my daughter. I don't know what made me think I was going to get good pictures. I have a little Sony Cybershot point and click camera. What I really need is a super duper digital camera, with a super duper telephoto lens, and a super duper fast shutter speed

Last but not least, this is a photo I took of my daughter and granddaughter just before we left for the match. She's got her game face on as well as her game outfit. She decided to wear her lime green, striped tights because she hoped they would distract and disorient the opposing team...she's a hoot!

Grandchildren and Digital Art

2010-07-21T15:12:00.000-07:00

I have four wonderful grandchildren and they are great subjects for my digital art...what could be better! They are all girls and range in age from 8 yrs. down to 3 yrs. ..each has their own distinct personality. Three of them live about 7 hrs. away so I don't get to see them nearly as often as I would like. I have turned them all into little faeries....here they are:

This is my youngest granddaughter who is now three years old. I love this picture because if you look closely in the lilypad you will see her at 2 days old. The other picture was taken when she was two.

This is my youngest granddaughter once again. She's looking a little grumpy in this one but it just adds to it. I took a photo of a sunflower that was just about ready to unfurl, added a yellow to red gradient with a color burn. I then took the photo and overlayed her image and did some erasing to get rid of what I didn't want.

This is my next youngest granddaughter and she's a spunky one! This is a box turtle that was wandering around my yard...we see them alot where I live. I took a photo of my granddaughter sitting on my couch, cut her out, and put her on the turtle. So cute!

These are my two oldest granddaughters. A "little birdie told them a secret" so they're sharing it. That is my birdhouse...the bird and flowerbox were added.

Grandchildren are just so great...you can spoil them and send them home! It's so much less pressure...they are a joy!

Green Paper Challenge - Miss Mary Hayes

2010-07-14T08:08:00.000-07:00

Mary Green at Green Paper (www.greenpaper.typepad.com/green/) has been kind enough to give us three images with the challenge being to create artwork using all three. I created two images in Photoshop Elements 7 as digital is my favorite medium at this particular point in time.

Here are the images she gave us to work with:

Here's my first image

You know that letter addressed to Miss Mary Hayes...well, it was a love letter from her beau.

Miss Mary Hayes is now gone from this earth but her spirit still haunts the house where she once lived. The letter still sits on the counter as she gazes upon her beau.

Background image courtesy of http://www.pdphoto.org/

Here's my second creation:

In this creation, Miss Mary Hayes' spirit is looking from the great beyond at the house where she once lived. She's thinking about the wonderful love letters she had received from her beau and all the wonderful memories attached to that time and place. Oh and if you're wondering where the flower picture is....it's there...it's the door (get your magnifying glass out...LOL)

Background courtesy of PDPhoto.org...the abandoned house is my own photo.

I love vintage images and these were great...thank you Mary Green. I was also amazed at all the wonderful artwork created from these three images...there is alot of talent out there. I hope you enjoy my entries! I am very new to this whole blogging thing so I apologize for the look of my site and my awkward writing abilities. Truth is....I don't have a clue...but it was FUN!

Digital Art

2010-07-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

I've been doing lots of experimenting in Photoshop Elements 7 with public domain images supplied by www.PDPhoto.org and figured my first ever blog would be devoted to them. There are thousands of photos on his website and they are gorgeous. These images have also been posted on the "we love digital art" yahoo group page.

This image is actually 3 different photos blended together. I used layer adjustment filters and of course, I had to play with color adjustments...just because I can!

This is my favorite of all three. I love the colors and the contrast of light and dark. This is also comprised of 3 photos blended into one.

This one is 2 photos blended for the background. The ravens were cut from another photo at PDPhoto.org and the dead tree was cut from a photo I took.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed creating them.