A Commitment

A couple of people have asked me about my blog recently, and I'm making a commitment to myself and all my fans (haha) that I will get back to blogging and posting how-to's regularly.

One reason I quit was that the studio computer died. First, my Ethernet cable got cut accidentally. I'd run it under the house and then buried down the hill to the studio (we are all about the high-tech stuff here, doncha know!). Then, after I replaced the Ethernet cord (which included bribing Miss Jenny to climb under the house), the computer itself just stopped powering up. So I gave up and disconnected the computer and hauled it up to the garage to await disposal...

But, last month, I started thinking about it. What if the only thing that was broken was the electrical part? So I took the computer apart and looked up the power unit--found a replacement one on Amazon for $13--and voila! My computer is good as new!

Now I'd love to tell you that this was really hard and tricky and fraught with peril...but it wasn't. It was just a matter of taking my time and using deductive reasoning. I didn't disconnect the old power unit until I had the new one, and then I would disconnect a plug and reconnect a new one in the same place...

There's a lesson here--I always bemoan the fact that we live in such a disposable society, yet I was ready to give up on my old computer...

Lesson learned...

An Image for You!

And what could be better than a free image? this one's particularly cool, I think-- the cover of a vintage 1929 Punch magazine from Britain...

Click the image and bring it up full size, then right click and choose "Save As".

Illustration Friday Captain

"All I need is a tall tall ship
And a star to steer her by."

Took the little boy from "The Waterboy" and gave him a ship on a sandy beach. The hardest part was painting and weathering the boat... I used my Mister Retro filters to make the wood look old.

Hard to believe that a week ago, Mama Goat was still alive. I looked at the pictures yesterday when I took pictures of the girls for the first day of school. Horrible.

three masking tape brushes for PS

Directions for uploading these brushes:
Right-click on the image and choose copy image. Paste image into a new document in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Then choose Edit > Define Brush Preset and give the brush a name.

Then, when you want to add a piece of 'masking tape' to an image, choose that brush, resize it to fit, and use it almost like a stamp--"click" and there you are. You can click several times or copy the layer and use "multipy" mode to make it darker, and you can choose any color you want before you stamp/brush it.

Any questions, let me know!

Today's Creativity

Not very much time out in the studio today, but I received a book I'd ordered from Amazon and it really inspired me. The book is Digital Art Studio: Techniques for Combining Inkjet Printing with Traditional Art Materials, by Karen Schminke et al.

Some of the techniques in the book I've already done, such as wet and matte medium transfers from Jet Print glossy photo paper, or gessoing a page from a book and then running it through my printer, like I did with yesterday's postcard with the eyes. But some will require more preparation before I can attempt them. So tonight I will read and make notes, and tomorrow I'll experiment. Thursday the girls start school, and Friday Joel has a freshman orientation, so by next week I should be operating on a more workmanlike schedule out in the studio.

Mini-tutorial on inkjet transfers (note: top images are the gesso transfer and its release sheet, middle images are the gel medium transfer and its release sheet, and the bottom images are water transfers onto rice paper):

Print reversed image on Jet Print Glossy Multi Purpose paper, available at WalMart. The paper is important, because this paper will release the inks, even from a pigment ink printer like my little Epson.

Water transfer:

thoroughly wet the receiving paper and blot. Place the glossy inkjet image face down, and rub firmly with a brayer or the back of a spoon. Peel up the corner to see if it needs more burnishing. When it appears that the image has transferred, lift paper off. This is great for putting images into diaries and journals, or onto cool papers like rice paper.

Gesso transfer: (which didn't work that well here)

brush gesso onto receiving paper/canvas, then burnish as above.

Gel Medium transfer:

Brush Golden Semi Gloss Gel Medium onto paper/canvas and follow directions as above. (You can use other acrylic mediums, but I always seem to have the best luck with this brand and type).

A few notes: The IMPERFECTION of the resulting image is part of its appeal. Don't expect a perfect image. This is a hit and miss transfer method, at its best. Also, the brand/type of paper is important, although you can always try others. This brand is cheap and readily available here in the U.S. You can try the water transfers with any gloss paper with inkjet prints that will smear when wet, such as HP. I love my Epson printers with their waterproof pigment ink. Wouldn't trade them for the world.

Hmmm. I'm sure I've left things out, but it's time to go make dinner for the kids. I'll add more later after I've thought about it.

I also made some Photoshop brushes, which I'll post later for anyone who wants to grab them...

IF Emergency

Awakening from a dream, Enid looked around and saw a nightmare. She was surrounded. It was all over.

All the World's a Stage

This is from before Katie got sick. The curtains are from the painting of a tent from the 1800s, photo of woman during Civil War, harlequin floor fabricated by me, photo of sky by me, baseboard pasted together from the background of the picture of the woman...

I love the colors in this--and isn't she beautiful?

The Waterboy, Part Two

Lying in bed last night, I figured out a way to minimize some of the damage that the original postcard of the little boy had sustained. Even though this will only be meaningful to Photoshop users, I'll tell you how I did it: I used a monochrome color mixer adjustment layer, decreasing the amount from the blue and green layers, which had the most damage, and increasing the amount of the red layer, which had the least damage. Of course, then the image was completely black and white, so I duplicated the image, set it to color, and placed it above the adj layer. That gave me the original color, but minimized the damage.

No wonder I have trouble sleeping!

I'll be posting all the pieces I used to make this soon--just need to gather them all together...

The Waterboy

Today I spent several hours in the studio. It felt good to have time to work. Katie really does seem to be feeling better--she danced around the livingroom this morning to show me how great she felt!

I like this piece. Tomorrow I'll post all the different photos that I used to make The Waterboy--mainly because I think it's interesting how photos/paintings/textures morph when they're used in Photoshop...

Playing with Photoshop

I've long been a believer that we learn best by playing--look how easily babies learn to walk and talk! I've been playing with Photoshop for the last year or so--reading, asking questions to my VERY PATIENT BEST FRIEND KELLY JO, and playing.

Today I haven't felt good--my ear aches (I'm going to the doctor tomorrow) and I feel yukky--but I escaped to the studio and played with some photos. This is the only piece that seems finished, so I thought I'd share both the original photograph (Katie and her friend at Halloween) and the tweaked version. Posting on my blog is the grown-up equivalent of sticking something to the refrigerator--looky here!

Experiments

I promised I'd share some of my digital experiments--my new digital montages/collages aren't done, but I want to show you what a scanner can do!

Flatbed scanners come in two types. If you have a scanner with a CCD photo cell, then you can use your scanner as a camera to take very detailed, well-lit pictures of three dimensional object up to an inch or two in depth! If you're like me and you don't have your scanner instruction booklet handy, you can just experiment like I did. One of my two scanners works, one doesn't.

I laid a bunch of seashells down on the scanner glass, left the lid open, and scanned at 600 dpi. All the scans came out with a nice black background since the scanner light didn't shine all the way to my ceiling. There's no need to put the scanner lid down.

The smaller of the two pictures is the original scan, reduced quite a bit detail so that I could post it here. The one with the blue background is my cleaned up, masked version. I also down-sized this one--the original is incredibly high quality!

What will I use these for? I'll use them in a photomontage, someday, probably. I've been scanning all the 3d objects I can think of, including some ceramic Easter bunnies, some small carved wooden animals, vegetables, dolls, and rusty nails/washers/etc. I found one site where they catch dragonflies, refrigerate them so they don't move, scan them, and then let them go after they've warmed to room temperature!

Some galleries:
Photovinc
Photographical.net

and some articles:
Photogalaxy
Carl McMillan
X-bit Labs

Oh My It's HOT

And if I could add little animated flames, I would!

Richard checked the temperature this afternoon and it was over 110 degrees. I won't even tell you what the thermometer actually read, because it's too ridiculous.

Of course, the old air conditioner in the studio stopped working two days ago. And of course, every new one we looked at needed a larger opening than the old one. We got an inexpensive new one, and the Two Stooges installed it this afternoon. We had to cut the drywall, cut the stud, and cut the siding. And of course, we did not have the right tools, BECAUSE WE ARE THE TWO STOOGES. But it's done, and the studio is gradually cooling down, and my computer didn't fry...

Katie leaves early tomorrow morning for the annual trip to the beach with her friend's family, so she'll miss the heat here. She's packing jeans and jackets along with shorts. Joel, on the other hand, has baseball practice tonight for the All-Star team, and a tournament this weekend in the blistering heat--it's supposed to get hotter during the next three days. He got sick after catching most of a doubleheader on Monday night, so we're trying to make sure he's well-hydrated.

I'm working on some new digital pieces as well as continuing to try and paint faces. I've also been experimenting with using my scanner as a camera, scanning 3-D objects and taking advantage of the incredible light and focus for about an inch or so.

I'll post some of the experiments tomorrow.

Hazel in the Night

More of life under the sea...

Illustration Friday:Suits

Ikept thinking about suits of cards--this is the Two of Gypsies.

Illustration Friday Paradise

I love what I wrote--

I'll live under the sea
in a forest of anemones
where I can feel the ocean's gentle swells and
ride the furious waves,
where the cold of the depths balance
the heat of my heart's desire...

But I'm not happy with any of the ways I tried to incorporate them. I'm looking for help, folks! Any suggestions are welcome...

Illustration Friday: Cars

Ephemeral

I'm on a roll right now--these three just jumped right out of me--no idea where they came from--

Illustration Friday Citrus

This is an experiment. I haven't decided whether I like it or not; I may work on it some more. I'd like to try something more graphic.

The pictures of the pickers is an actual snapshot of men working at a citrus ranch here in the Central Valley in 1895. I have a wonderful old snapshot of a little girl, big bow in her hair, sitting on a ladder in an orange orchard, but could I find it this morning? Nope. I need to scan everything and then tag each photo, I guess. Then I'd be able to pull things up by keywords...

Illustration Friday: Fortune

Dug out this old scrapbook I bought last year at a second-hand shop--had some great photobooth-type pix and other ephemera. This girl looks to me to be on the brink of something big! I hope all her dreams came true and good fortune came her way...

Illustration Friday: Green

Spent some time last evening messing around with digital watercolors and made this lovely green experimental piece--when I came out to the studio this morning, the computer had evidently hiccuped during the night, as it was GONE.

Here's another. This one is digital from the get-go. Usually I start with a scan of one of my collage backgrounds--not today!

Today I want to work some more on the PS book by Katrin Eismann...