TIME TO THINK ABOUT 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR

(Geisha image taken from a photo by Jon Rawlinson.)

Ongoing DW Celebration -- Create a card for a Special Person

Don't be shocked....this is not at all the type of holiday cards I create; however, it is fun to experiment and jump out of my comfort zone.

Christmas Celebration at Digital Whisper

To kick off the celebration we were to create an ATC using angel for our theme.  Here is mine.

Vintage Tags for an upcoming Challenge at DW

I had to add something related to the holiday season.  These tags were created using PhotoShop for an upcoming challenge at Digital Whisper's annual holiday celebration which starts Thursday.  (Create a vintage tag using a photo of an ancestor or current photo which has been converted via a sepia hue to appear vintage.)

All I need to do now is print and attach ribbon or cord or present  them as a token of love to each member at our family gathering.
 

The images I used are from Altered Artifacts and Quaddles at Deviantart.

DW Halloween Party Continues

We were provided with the following image to use as our doll for a steampunk or zetti costume to wear to the party.

I used mostly images from scrapbooking kits and wings from Yanna-stock at Deviantart plus an overlay from Action Fix for my party costume.

All that is left for me to do is hand out the candy when the children come tomorrow to collect their treats.

Digital Whisper ongoing Halloween Party

For this challenge, we were to select items from a large list for our Halloween Banquet.  I elected to make the sauces.

Digital Whisper HALLOWEEN PARTY 2011

WHERE HAVE ALL THE ROSES GONE!

The administrative staff at Digital Whisper worked hard the last couple of weeks to put together a fun Halloween Party digital style.  The first challenge was to use a skeleton, gothic arches, roses or other items of our choice.  I used a photo from the Powerhouse Museum Collction along with the roses provided by Su.



Digital Whisper HALLOWEEN PARTY 2011

Back to PhotoShop -- Story Time at Creative Souls

My program is not acting correctly with no pointer when I hover over the layers palette or some of the tools.  It is madening; however, it has been so long since I had a chance to play I struggled thru and created this fun postage stamp.   IF ANY OF YOU HAVE A SOLUTION TO MY PROBLEM, I would be forever grateful.  Changing the cursor in preferences had no effect on the pointer.  I view characters made up of dots and lines and it is really difficult to determine where to click, especially when you are attempting to crop a picture.  I even reset all of the tools to no avail.

The above piece was created for Story Time at Creative Souls and the inspiration was this poem,

Quote-No Title-Author Unknown

"My feet they are sore, and my limbs they are weary;
Long is the way, and the mountains are wild;
Soon will the twilight close moonless and dreary
Over the path of the poor orphan child."

Digital Followers

I have not forgoten any of you; my computer has been giving me problems.  It will load some programs and not others so tomorrow I'm taking it in to get fixed.  I will also be away from my computer mid October but will catch up with all of your blogs ASAP.  I know I'm missing a lot of creative pieces of art which I miss terribly.

Carolyn

Floral manipulatiion

Our son and daughter in-law were here this past week and bought me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers which I photographed.  I just had to do a little experimenting with one of the flowers, a chrysanthemum.

Below is a photo of the flowers in the bouquet -- the arrangement is gorgeous and still very pretty and fresh looking, as I just snapped this photo.

DW Color Palette Challenge #16

We were provided with several paintings to use for this challenge and I selected the one included in the top photo.  I used two palette generators and neither one selected a hue of green so I used the colors on the palette without expanding my choices.  The background was created using the painting and a motion blur filter.  All other elements were brushes.  The Geisha from Colorel and leaves by John Sperry.

Digital Freebies

Rian on her newly consolidated blog offers regular freebies of images which can be used to enhance your digital creations or to make other art projects a lot more fun.  I have had her button on my blog for sometime but wanted to let you know of the changes she has made to her web site.   Check it out and capture some of her freebies.  She is most generous.  Thank you, Rian. 

She also creates some incredible pieces of digital art and it is always a treat to visit her blog.

Challenge 20 at Story Time - Creative Souls

Treasures by: Claire Richcreek Thomas was the theme for this two-week challenge.  I wanted to finish mine early as September is a very busy month for me.  I used the "sleeping angel" painting by
John George Brown as the focal point and the background is a personal photo.    I also used filters including a watercolor option:

His overalls hung on the hook by his hat, and I noticed his pockets were bulging out fat.  So I emptied them out in a pile on the chair, and I tenderly touched ev'ry treasure with care.

There were three rubber bands, a parking lot ticket,

Two paper clips and a fishing cricket,

A camphor ball and an empty match box,

A half dozen nails and a couple of rocks,

A yellow golf tee, two lollypop sticks,

A marble, a spool and three tooth picks,

A knife and a pencil, some dry corn silk,

A wire and a cap from a bottle of milk,

A rusty door key and a white chicken feather,

An old clock gear and a piece of leather,

A flash-light bulb and three or four strings,

A broken dog biscuit and two hair springs,

Then I gathered them up, all his "treasures" so grand, ev'ry rock, ev'ry nail and each rubber band, and I put them all back, then I kissed him good-night, and he smiled in his sleep as I turned out the light.  And I thrilled as I thought of the fun and the joy such trival things could give to a boy.

Reptile Challenge at DigitalWhisper Deviantart

Reptiles are not for me so I created a fun piece for the challenge.  At least I hope the creatures are having fun.  I would think the snail would crawl into his shell in the event of a real attack.  What do you think?

The source for the photos and textures used can be found on my DeviantArt account. 

WEDDING BELLS

Over at Creative Souls, Cindy provided the following poem for this week's inspiration:

Hark! The merry chimes are pealing,
Soft and glad the music swells,
Gaily in the night wind stealing,
Sweetly sound the wedding bells.
- Eliza Cook

When I did a search for a cathedral with bells, I found this marvelous photo of the cathedral at San Miguel de Allende and just knew I had to incorporate it into my digital manipulation.  (for you Donna)

The resources for the other elements can be found here:

DO YOU THINK MY BRIDE WANTS TO ATTEND THE WEDDING? 

CHEETAHS' HUT

I have never had a desire to visit Africa; however, I do enjoy photos of the beautiful animals and scenery.  I recently completed the following piece for an IN AFRICA challenge at Manipulate This.  To see the source for the contents, visit my account at DeviantArt .

 

TREE of LIFE - DW Weekly Challenge.

We were to create a piece representing our tree of life.  Some members created a tree using images of photos close to them; ie, family, friends, faith, etc.  I elected to view life as "free flowing." My tree was created with love and its branches are full and flourishing.  May it live a long time!

MODEL:
http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&global=1&q=w...
TREE:
http://night-fate-stock.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=the+amazing+snow+tree#/d3ahrer
FRAME:  http://freephotoframes.com (frame No. 29)
BRUSHES:  Aurora 2 (source unknown)
FOG BRUSHES:
http://simfonic.deviantart.com/art/Three-Fog-Brushes-192286167

Aug 20 Challenge at Creative Souls

Our hostess, Cindy, has been  reading "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" and provided the following quote for this week's challenge:

"Ladieeees and gentlemen!" he crowed.  "It gives me the utmost pleasure to present to you a performance like no other in history!  A show of such unrivaled daring of such accomplished magicianship, that you simply won't believe your eyes!  Good citizens, I give you Miss Peregrine and her Peculiar Children!"


I opted to take a different approach and created a piece with one of the children as a grownup writing about Miss Peregrine's "peculiar children."

The images I selected of the children were from the Library of Congress, I regret I didn't record the source of the book or the house background.  I found them in my download file from years back.

Aug 12 Story Time at Creative Souls

FINAL POSTCARD from LIBERATE YOUR ART

The wonderful hostess for this swap, Kat Sloma, mailed me one of her postcards which I wanted to share with you.  Kat is a professional photographer who recently returned from two years in Italy.  She offers classes on photography for those interested.

THANKS KAT, this was a wonderful swap.

EQUESTRIAN PRINCESS

For the monthly contest, EXOTIC PRINCESS, over at Manipulate This - DeviantART.  We were provided with 3-4 models as an option for our "princess" and all other elements had to be from DeviantArt stock.  You can view the exact resources I used here .

Journals and Paper Dolls -- Weekly challenge at Digital Whisper

As a child I liked to cut out paper dolls but my sister was the one with the imagination for the stories.  I kept a diary as a teenager but never a journal.  So this is my first journal page.

The paper doll idea is from my good friend Inka at Altered Artifacts along with the image for the stage.  The background for the stage was from an image Kimmie provided for an earlier challenge.  I used journal #2 from the link provided by Su and a couple of textures.  The cloth scraps are from another friend, Heather T. from her kit Scrap Masks.

I did do some sewing as a teenager but certainly not "designer" clothes.  

Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap

Several months ago I signed up to participate in Kat Sloma's LIBERATE YOUR ART postcard swap.  I elected to send in ten postcards and received ten back from a variety of artists and photographers.  Because Kat is a professional photographer, the majority of the participants were also talented photographers.  Only two out of the ten postcards had no identification to send personal thanks.  Coincidentally, one card was from an artist in my own town, Eagle, Idaho.  How ironic is that!  It was definitely a random thing because there were hundreds of cards submitted and it would have been impossible to match my source with another mailing source.  As my good friend Donna said, "It was meant to be." 

ENJOY!

The postcards I submitted have been seen previously on this blog but I added them again.

Monthly Challenge (Angels) at DigitalWhisper DeviantART

We had two requirements for this challenge -- to use one of three statues submitted by a member of the group and to use a verse or poem from Deviantart OR create a poem to coincide with our piece.  I not only can't draw but I also don't write poems so all of the elements came from others.  You can view a complete list of the resources I used for this piece called REMEMBER ME here.

Golden Theme for Spot Prize at Dezinaworld

Golden is the theme for August so I decided to attempt another abstract painting of one of June's images for the monthly Spot Prize challenge.  Isn't that a cute cat!

Abstract Painting Challenge at Montage Studio

Cindy created a two-part tutorial on abstract painting and our challenge this month was to use her tutorials and create a piece.   The image I selected to paint was from the Childrens Sheet over at Dezinaworld.  (Hope you like what I did with her, June.)

STORY TIME quote from "The Pendulum" by Dwight Lyman Moody

"There was once a pendulum waiting to be fixed on a new clock.  It began to calculate how long it would be before the big wheels were worn out and its work was done."

The photos used for my piece were all from PhotoXpress.  The verse is from a new brush set by Kim Klaussen.

Digital Whisper Postcard Vintage-Modern

The object of the challenge was to take something vintage and modernize it.  I used a brush of a postcard by dubtastic and the models were from Faln-stock at Deviant art.  The pool lounge section was from a photo from Fotolia.  I also use one sparkle brush by Obsidian Dawn.com  The postage stamps were from my friend, Barb.

FUN FRIDAY

Every Friday, June at Dezinaworld offers us free images and I had to chuckle at the two "dudes" listed as a freebie today.  Thanks, June.

Purple-Green Monthly Spot Challenge at Dezinaworld

The beautiful maiden image was from June at Dezinaworld.  I just experimented this afternoon and had a great time.

Weekly challenge 108 at Digital Whisper - Photo Painting.

I am fond of dolls and selected an antique doll photo from Barbara at Deviantart. 

For painting the doll I used mostly the smudge tool with various brushes; copied it into Corel Essentials,  made a few adjustments and copied it back into Photoshop.  I played around with the layer sequence and blending modes for my final result.

Digital Painting at Digital Whisper Continues

This week we were to take a photo and paint it digitally.  I am fond of dolls so I used a photo of an antique doll from Barbara at Deviantart.  I use Photoshop CS4 and mostly the smudge tool, then I popped the image into Corel Essentials made a few changes and returned it to Photoshop for the final steps.

July GLASS Challenge at Digital Montage Studio

The wine goblet was from Deviantart.   THANK YOU.  The photos of the grapes were personal photos and the overlay was from Action FX.  The interesting element on the goblet was the emblem which I extracted, manipulated and put at the top.   It was hardly visible on the wine glass.

New Weekly Painting Challenge at Digital Whisper

ABSTRACT PAINTING -- Never having attempted this type of a digital piece I had no idea what was in store for me.  Kimmie over at Digital Whisper provided two excellent tutorials and I followed sections of each to create my abstract creation.  ACTUALLY IT WAS A LOT OF FUN.

Digital Whisper Month of Painting

For the first challenge, we were provided a photo of a pear and a tutorial to do some digital painting;  WELL . . . I have never been one to draw or attempt to paint so I struggled with the concept.  Below are my two attempts at the pear.  It isn't easy to paint a picture using your mouse and a brush.


FIRST ATTEMPT

 

And here is the photo included in the tutorial that we were to replicate by painting.

I never did manage to get the spotty texture.  Just when I had some coloring to my liking it was changed by a quick click of the mouse.  You can't make a painter out of a person who can't draw.

LOCKED OUT - Steampunk Aquatik

 I  just had to attempt to do a steampunk piece for a contest at Inspyretash's site even though I knew I wouldn't even come close to the submissions by the experts at Deviantart.  It is by doing that we perfect our techniques and learn.  Here is what I created:

You can view all of the resources I used here.

Windmill Challenge at Digital-Whisper Deviantart

 

You can check the resources used for this piece by visiting my page at Deviantart.  

REVISED - Queen of Hearts

The moderators at Manipulate This thought my card should be identical top and bottom in the true playing card style.  THUS I REVISED IT and also removed the bamboo bar in the middle.

STORY TIME at Creative Souls

Life's Way by: Nixon Waterman

The ways are long I walk alone, the fields are dull and dreary;

The paths are set with thorn and stone, my heart is worn and weary.

But skies are all a tender blue, and filled with sunny weather,

When in the paths of joy we two walk, hand in hand, together.

I hear the happy thrushes tune their song in bush and bower;

I hear the bees their story croon from honeyed flower to flower.

The music stirs me with distress, I cannot kindly bear it,

For, oh, there is no joy unless your heart with mine may share it.

Oh come with me and glad the way with eyes of beauty smiling;

December seems as glad as May in your divine beguiling.

For, though we stray through garden fair, or weary wastes of heather,

The paths are good and golden where we two may walk together.

I rephrased the poem to match my digital piece.  

QUEEN OF HEARTS

I created this playing card for the challenge at Manipulate This over at Deviantart.com

A playing card is small and I thought I could whip this one out quickly; however, I spent several hours making sure I included all of the requirements.   You can view the resources I used here.