playing with the elements

i adore digital image manipulation!! i've spent several years admiring and tinkering with digital art in various forms--yesterday i picked up a fantastic book (with a 40% off coupon--even better!) called Digital Expressions by Susan Tuttle. Absolutely perfect for me! I have the basic  knowledge of what Photoshop Elements can do, but this book acts like tutorials showing step by step how to achieve certain looks!

the first little lesson was an easy vignette--i took it a step further and altered the color to be less saturated and a touch sepia--

next was a lesson in selecting objects, desaturation and color popping--because the statue had no color to begin with though, i added a spectrum gradient layer--

third lesson was all over the board--multiple photos, text, filters, brushes...

so much fun!

What a deal!

On a mission to locate "bead ends" for my sister, I stopped at a local shell shop that also carries some jewelry stuff (Raider's Reef--if you are ever on Anna Maria Island, you gotta check it out!)--they had a bin of "vintage jewelry" in little zip bags for 50 cents, $1 and $2--so for less than $12 i found these treasures!

the dark chain bracelet with the crown pendant has already been usurped by my hunny--glad I could please her for a dollar...lol

a pretty pendant for $2

and how could i pass up the libra earrings for 50 cents??

Greetings from the sunny coast of Florida

Wow--i'm not sure where the month of May has gone!!

We are down in Florida now over the Memorial Day holiday, and I purposely only brought my laptop and a sketchbook hoping to catch up on my own blog and reading everyone else's--much to my own chagrin, the internet connection here is elusive at best!!  So I will hurry through a post, and hope the connection holds out!!

So maybe it is because I miss our little Hidey Cat, but this little ring holder kitty just meowed at me and I had to have her.

I finally made it to a crop before we left for Florida, but instead of scrapbooking, Becky and I worked on some jewelry. Now, my big box of bead projects is somewhere in storage, but I did have my grandmother's broken jewelery box of miss-matched jewelry bits.  Seven sterling charms (still on their cards), a brand new charm bracelet, and two broken ankle bracelets became a colorful new bracelet for me!!  Unfortunately, the jumprings i used were ineffective and I almost lost my two favorite charms--While sunning by the pool, i replaced the rings with wrapped wire and voila! my charms are safe for wearing!!

Zen Owls

I've been drawn to owls this week. I always like them, of course, but i have been inspired to draw them everywhere!  there are flocks of them on my desk calendar, in my planner and in two art journals...

today was my second day working on these owlies--i will share their progress every so often--i only work on them for about 15 minutes during my lunch, so it will likely take a while to finish. 

Happy Woden's Day to all and thanks for stopping by!

Senses

Senses

I don’t know how to handle
the words I hear.

(time)

They drifted into memory
as you locked yourself away
from my sight.
But I hear them
again and again
as they replay themselves in my mind.

(time)

I can’t see you
But you are near.

(time)

The tears of hopelessness flow.
salt
mixed with bitterness of rejection—
all I can taste
since dinner
like our soul
grows cold with absence.

(time)

The bed is empty
Your pillows and your scent are gone.

(time)

The vastness
of the space where I lay
envelopes me with harsh emptiness.
The pillow is soft
The blanket is warm
But I feel nothing
without you
by my side.

Harrumph

Well, i have no photos to share with you of my art play from last night, because my attempts at using transparencies and the clear, acrylic caulk were an epic fail.  I did manage to get very pale transfers when i used plain white acrylic paint, but again, not the results I had hoped for. Not sure what I am doing wrong, because i have done this type of transfer (with acrylic paint) and had it turn out fine.  Perhaps stress and lack of sleep have me forgetting some crucial point...

What types of transfers do you all have success with?

FINALLY!!!

It seems like it has been forever since I had any art time or even time to read other blogs!!  We've been in the new house for about a month now, and as you can imagine, it has been one thing after another. We've had 3 floods (all non related and in different parts of the house), issues with contractors, and I was almost flattened when a shelf of books in my new studio fell on me...(not just A shelf, but an entire section of shelves....)

My awesome new studio is still a ways from being complete, but about 75% of the stuff is in, the tables are set up and it is functional! On Tuesday, i locked myself away and worked on Michelle Ward's latest street team challenge--mono printing

Here is a group shot of my finished pages:

My favorites from the group--this one was a first pull after spraying the paint/glass with water:

I plan to go back over this one with a black marker to sketch in the details of the flowers and leaves--or maybe zentangle them!

                                      

this was a first pull of one mono-print, with a second pull of another manon-print layered over.

                                         

Another layered print--first layer was a second pull, and for the second layer, i layed the tyvek shaped that were thick with paint on the glass to pull a print of just them.

                                         

For this one, after pulling a second print, i painted flowers on the glass with black paint, sprayed it with water and pulled that as a print.

Definately a great technique with lots of possibilities! I'm curious to try it on fabric---Thanks for the inspiration, Michelle!