harvest

is there anything more soothing then the smell of lavender

it was such a wonderful first fall weekend

 what a perfect day to harvest

 

I spent time cleaning my garage

 making space for all my garden ornaments and furniture

wondering through the garden, taking photos and planning next years design

 

it will be sad to see the garden go

but I will have this bundle to remind me

that spring will come again

and I will be ready to get my finger in the dirt

and nurture it back to its glory once again

 

 

 

 

change in weather

i've been hibernating this winter, mostly due to a "popped rib"

its been a problem since late november and i've done everything possible to make it better

some days better than others

going a little stir crazy, watching too much tv and no art

on the weekend there was a huge change in the weather

temperatures reaching 13c 58f 

the 2 foot layer of snow on my front lawn is now completely gone

i decided to head out with my camera, i got as far as the bluffs near my house

the marina was filed with ducks, geese and this wonderful swan

i really wanted to play in ps  when i got home but sitting at the computer is difficult

so i finally "rigged" a spot on the couch, with lots of pillows and got some time to play

i found several interesting masks and bokeh at shadowhouse

a half and hour later i was happy with the results and getting a chance to create

now back to rest!!

one thing always leads to another

for weeks now i have been working on a flagstone patio

first i had to dig up the sod, then level the ground, added some fabric screening and

i was ready to head to the local landscaping store

4 trips with 200lbs each

did i mention i love my bug!!! it's great for any job

once i got all the stone moved from the car to the backyard the puzzle began

it took me several day to finally get it just right

i used sand to level and heighten some of the stones

once it settles a bit i will add in the mortar

while i was at the landscaping store i found some really interesting rocks

and of course the forklift had some great texture on it

which lead me to photoshop where i converted it to b/w and added it to my poppy photo

i duplicated the poppy  and texture photos several times

tried on several filters and played with all the blending modes

finally i added a layer mask from shadowhouse

texture challenge

this months challenge was a lot of fun

i loved playing with all the textures

above i added all six with various blending modes and a filter on my photo

the mask is from shadowhouse

below are some wonderful samples from the participants

deborah


caryl

kathleen holley

johanna

joanne

kaylene

marilyn

marion

glory

jill

today i am celebrating my fourth year of blogging
i can't imagine not having this outlet

(i love looking back and seeing my art life )

it has been wonderful
"meeting" so many talented people
sharing ideas and art
and being inspired by it all
i greatly appreciate every ones
comments and encouragement
and would like to say
" thank-you "
sincerely, nancy

------

(above, one of my country photos using several filters

my grunge textures and a mask from shadowhouse)

what to do with this??

my friend marie has launched her new site love to photoshop

and is offering this texture for free download
it's from her latest trip to venice and she is also offering 24 of her high res

textures for 40%off (see promo here)

above my project using marie's texture

with a few of her venetian textures and a mask from shadowhouse

a few variations using mosaic tiles, invert and posterize filters

texture challenge

this weeks textures can be found on my flickr page

no matter where i go i always find texture......my eye just goes to it

telephone pole, rusted mail box, stone wall, peeling paint, park bench

at the flea market, auto garage, graveyard ......everywhere..anywhere

i always have my little camera in my purse just in case

someone asked me how i start a project
i create a new blank file add in all 6 textures and then bring in a photo maybe 2
i "turn off" all but one of the textures and try on all the blending modes
saving the ones i like and then moving on to the next texture
then i try 2 or 3 or all 6 to see what they look like
most of the time it gets a bit busy
this time i actually liked what happened
above all six layers and the blending modes i used

above six new textures i created by combining several of the textures
and playing with the blending modes
over the next week i will play some more to see what i can create
for this challenge, i will post results on march 11th
so if you want to play along go to my flickr page and download these textures
email me your results and i will post every ones projects

texture challenge part 2

another wonderful submission from eden for my texture challenge

a few people asked about my project so above i have all the elements i used
2 of my photos, 4 of the encaustic textures found on my flickr page
some text and a clipping mask from shadowhouse
below right and left are variations using different blending modes
from the original middle project

so even when i think i have finished a project
i always go back the next day with a clear head and
play some more, you just never know what can happen
and a month from now, when i am bored or don't know what to work on
i will try adding another photo or some element
to change it again
i always save the pdf flie so i can remember what i did

texture challenge

for our 7th texture challenge i offered 6 of my encaustic textures

i love how they can change any photo

above i used 4 of the textures on 2 photos

with some text and a layermask from shadowhouse

marion

kathleen holley
glory
johanna

kathleen amt
rosie
juilet

deb
marilyn

kaylene

joanne

playing around

a friend asked me "how do you start a project, how do you know what

photos will work, what's your inspiration"

i said "it'll be easier to show you"

so i quickly opened a photo folder and randomly grabbed 2 photos

layer them on top of each other and showed her all the blending modes

(she was already amazed on how good it looked but i said, wait there's more)

i opened 3 documents and 2 layer masks from shadowhouse

rearranging the layers , turning them on and off , and playing

with the blending modes i came up with the above finished project

sometimes it's that simple, most of the time i don't have an idea

i just want to practice, or experiment

if i think too much about it nothing gets done

and the best ones just happen

(above the elements i used in my project)

above, a screen shot of my project

below a few variations of the same project

"practice makes perfect" or so they say
every morning i sit with a cup of tea and play in ps
i usually spend 30 minutes, sometimes more
i never know what will happen and i'm always surprised by the results
the key is to just start and see where it will lead
and of course have fun

playing around

taking time to play in ps using

my latest textures for my next challenge

( original photo take a few weeks ago near owen sound)