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I needed to make some 6×4″ pieces that will be mounted on form core, the added to watercolor paper,  and displayed in a box frame for an upcoming Fiber Revolution show.  I decided to do something with a photograph I took of a swan while  visiting Stratford-Upon-Avon.

This is the original photo.  I was pleased with the lighting in the photo and the overall look of the swan. It seemed a good image play with some digital ideas.

Using a variety of filters, this was the first.

I kept going with it.

For this one, I added a layer and used a brush to create lines with a low opacity to create streaky lines behind the swan.

Then I decided to crop into the swan, add another layer, and paint different background colors, and apply more filters.

Another version.

And yet another.

I like the grainy quality in them and particularly like the second and fifth versions.  I did several other versions than what I have here.  I tend to get carried away, doing  so many versions and experimentations, making lots of prints, playing around with additional ideas in my sketch book, that it’s a wonder I get anything done.  (The same thing happens when I design for clients.  I do a zillion of them.)  Many times I think I’m onto a new series for quilts, and I end up leaving it all in my sketchbook and then coming back to it a year or two later.  That’s what happened with my Blushing Triangles 3 and 4 quilts — I did the layouts for them a couple years ago, left them in my sketchbook, and only decided to create one last year and one this year.  I digress.  Once I print a couple of these,  I’ll add paint and possibly some pastel highlights to it to give it some extra omph.  Then, hopefully, I’ll finish one or two by Friday when I’ll be meeting up with another member of the group.  We’ll be framing the pieces.  I’ll be taking pictures for the group, and I’ll post my final.

Meanwhile, I continued designing.  I have another piece due for a new group I joined.  I decided to use time as my theme.  I have a thing with time, always feeling that I’m not getting enough finished, not maximizing my minutes, hours, days.  I have a zillion photos of clocks that I’ve taken all over the place — in the US, the UK, France.  In addition to the designs I created for the group, it seems I have another series in the making. I have a slew of designs for it, although who knows what I’ll actually make.   I’ll post some of the images once I get it the small project for the group finished.

Witley Decay is a piece I completed earlier this year.  I’m happy to report that  it was accepted in the Transformations ’09 SAQA show which will be premiering at the Festival of Quilts show in Birmingham, England.  At some point I’ll post information on it, too.  That quilt is a different direction for me.  I have more in that series, too.  However, I still have some other designs left in different series that I feel still need to be made.  In other words, I haven’t yet exhausted my need to continue with them.  See, not enough time!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 at 1:27 am and is filed under digital art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.