It’s been mighty cold in New Jersey. After seeing lots of inspiring frozen bubble photos, I decided to give it a try. While mighty cold, it was fascinating and beautiful to see the gorgeous patterns emerge as the bubble froze. Many of the unfrozen bubbles were also pretty, and I decided to use Photoshop to merge bubbles with my bird photos.
I did both of these based on photos I took.
This is the original image.
I posted these images on another site about a month ago. Since I haven’t posted in a while, thought I’d share them here. I took the images in May in central NJ. For the past couple years, there were plenty of poppies because of the construction of a new hospital. That construction tore up some fields, and the poppies blossomed. Since the construction has been completed and the earth is now settled, not many are coming up. Even so, I was able to take some shots. This is how I played with the above image.
First I darkened the edge a bit to keep the focus on the poppy.
I added a frame effect and like this as is. It’s already printed and in my journal.
In this I kept the first frame, added black, and changed the tonality. However, I still like the softness in the above image.
For the remaining images, I played around with what I call step and repeats — that is I play around with sections of the image in Photoshop.
Another version
And another
And another
And another
I do have some of these images printed and in my sketchbook with some notes. I was also experimenting with some small prints on fabric. However, I haven’t yet stitched a thing.
I took this shot one afternoon, on route to the train station. From it, I created a bunch of variations using several different iPad/iPhone apps. (Yes, I know I’m missing a “w” from my signature brush!)
The first is a sketch I did using an app called Pen & Ink (which is a basic drawing program, no layers — if you need recommendations on other programs with layers, I can give them) on an iPad along with a “Jot” stylus. I drew it from a fashion magazine ad photo. After it was finished, I took it into other apps to try some different effects on the image. I use Photosync to go from my iPad to the computer, as I can’t help but to also use Photoshop, and then use Photosync to take the image back to my iPad. The one with the black background looks like it would translate well on black fabric with white perle cotton thread and heavy stitches. I also like the bottom image and am thinking of making it in fabric. At the very least, it’s fun experimenting!
While at Macworld, I took some ipad/iphone sessions relating to artwork and photography, and I met some people doing very cool work. That was fun. Plus I came away feeling better about my own work, and that’s always a plus. The buzz-phrase was “app-stacking,” which is just a catchy way to describe using multiple apps to get a final look. The process of using more than one application (an app is simply a program) toward your final work is nothing new. Some of us even giggled at the term as we noted anyone working in digital media has been doing it for years.
I did like some of the new pressure sensitive styluses. Jot makes a new one that sells for $89. It requires blue tooth and a charge (which they say will last up to a month). I suspect if it was available at the show, I would have been swept up in the moment and bought it. But now that I’m home and giving it more thought, I’m on the fence. I like that you can rest your hand on the iPad and it doesn’t pick up any lines from it; the only lines are made from the stylus. However, I like using a combination of fingers and stylus, so I’m vacillating on whether to get it (yes, you can toggle it on and off). Another is called Hex3 from JaJa, which I tried during some sketching demonstrations. That felt very good. I’m on the fence about treating myself to one as I’ve gotten use to working in lower a lower opacity to build up color, but I suspect one is in my future.
I’m a member of 8 That Create, the brain child of artist Sue Bleiweiss. Part of our mission is to encourage our individual artist journeys. Our first joint journey is the creation of a piece under the theme, “Empty Spaces.” Because of my darn back woes, I haven’t contributed as much as I should have. However, I have finally finished the digital end of my piece which I am calling “Faith.”
"Faith," ©2012 Gloria Hansen
This is the piece prior to being stitched. You can read about the process of how I went from a very basic idea to this finished digital collage. The post is called, “The evolution of “Faith” – my empty spaces piece, and you can find it here.
I decided to take the original watercolor I painted into Photoshop and play around with it. Initially I was going to redo his snout. Instead, I decided to see what type of funky things I could do with it. In the above, I brightened up the colors.
I changed him to black/white.
And then gave him more texture.
Here he has half tone dots going on.
And here a warp glass look.
Here’s I amplified the colors, making him computer dog.
I like this one.
Here I duplicated the image, reflected and overlapped it.
Here I duplicated it, flipped it, and repeated a couple times. Yes, it’s has a hokey kaleidoscope effect. Even so, I like it. I thought I might print it out. Upon closer inspection, some of my overlaps are a bit off and messy. If I do anything with it, I’ll need to redo the steps and take more care.
This is another digital painting based on a photograph of our dog, Budz.
I first did a sketch based on a photograph in a fashion magazine. I then scanned the drawing into Photoshop and used a wet brush to create the background. In the process, I painted right over a hand.
I then digitally repainted the dress, adjusted the colors, sketched in a suggested hand, removed the green area from the right, and extended the background area. I was going to entirely redraw the arm and hand behind the head, but decided instead to stop.
Another version with more vibrancy on the color.
A couple drawings from my sketchbook. Both are based on images from a fashion magazine. I enjoy sketching, and one goal this year is making an effort to do it on a more regular basis.
The other thing I’ve been doing is adding hand stitching to my Artifications quilt. I exhibited the quilt this past fall in Houston. However, the quilt kept calling for hand stitches to follow some of the curved secondary patterns in the design. I thus removed the hanging sleeve and part of the facing and have been hand stitching it with red variegated perle cotton thread.
I made this one for my niece. :)
The thing about a digital file is that you can keep altering and altering and altering. With fresh morning eyes I did this version, which I like best.
This evening while watching the Giants win over the Cowboys, I did a quick pencil sketch of my dog, Bud-z. While I like his head, I have issues with other areas. Rather than toss it, or try to change it, I decided to scan it into Photoshop and see what I could do with it.
I used the custom shape tool to create a patterned background on the top. I also used it to create the checker board pattern on the floor. I then added a wash of lavender color to different areas.
The version on the above left uses a watercolor filter, and I punched up the color. In the version of the right, I added back some of the detail in the dog and some additional color in the pattered background.
Next I added a frame, adjusted the colors. On the right, I adjusted the colors again. This gets addictive!
