Comfort Cottage

Shine

Hello my friends!  I spent some time over the weekend playing in Photoshop CS5.  Using some free downloaded brushes and photos, I created a new piece of digital art.  By signing up to be a member of Deviant Art, you can have access to a wealth of resources for your digital art.

 

 

I started with a photograph that I used by persmission here. 

Flourish brushes by Eliza Vladi

Circle cluster brushes from Starwalt

Floral Fireworks brushes by Lileya

Fractal brushes and glow brushes by Hawksmont

Digital texture by Kim Klassen

It's okay to shine!

Until next time,

 

In The Bleak Midwinter

Hello there!  I have the Day 7 offering for Kim Klassen's Twelve Days of Texture.

 

 

I combined two of my photos in Photoshop CS5 and used several of Kim's textures.  Here's the layer by layer:

Layer 1:  kkEdward; blend mode: normal; opacity:  47%;  with a gradient overlay

Layer 2: Fence photograph; Blend Mode: color burn; opacity: 100%

Layer 3:  Lily photograph; Blend Mode:  Lighten; Opacity: 94%; added an Underpainting filter; added a layer mask to paint out unwanted parts of photo

Layer 4:  kkCosmos; Blend Mode: Screen; Opacity: 100%

Layer 5:  copy of kkCosmos; Blend Mode: Screen; Opacity 100%

Layer 6:  kkScratched Magic; Blend Mode: Screen; Opacity 100%

Layer 7:  Font: Enid; Opacity 85%; drop shadow; Stroke: color, black; size 3pts

 

In The Bleak Midwinter is a beautiful hymn, written by Gustov Holst in 1905.  The lyrics were penned by  poetess, Christina Rosetti.   The hymn was masterfully reworked by the late singer/songwriter, Dan Fogelberg, and recorded for his 1999 Christmas CD, The First Christmas Morning.  The song expresses the poignant desire of a soul wishing to give something to his Lord in gratitude for the gift of His Son.  The only gift worthy of his Lord is his heart.

I created this work in honor of Dan, who passed away on December 16, 2007.  His was a beautiful soul, and he is joyfully remembered and sadly missed.

 

Until next time,

 

Christmas Past

Another offering for Kim Klassen's Twelve Days of Texture!

 

 

I captured this image of a vintage bicycle last year.  The building it is leaning against dates back to the early 1700's.  My Photoshop CS5 recipe:

 

Bottom Layer:  Kim's Zuzu texture; blending mode:  normal; hue adjusted toward the magenta side; opacity: 77%

Photo Layer: In color; Blending mode set to Normal

Copy of Photo Layer:  photo converted to black and white; bumped up the curves settings; added a noise filter;  added a sepia toned photo filter; added a layer mask to loosely paint the poinsettias back in (I set the brush to 20% flow); blending mode:  Darken

I then merged the Photo layer and the Copy of Photo layer.

Top Layer:  Kim's Annabelle texture, inverted; blending mode: Color Dodge; opacity 100%

 To learn more about Kim, the Twelve Days of Texture, and for free textures, class offerings, and links to all of the "Twelve Days" participants, click here.

Have a fabulous day!

 

Until next time,

 

 

 

 

Love Came Down At Christmas

This was supposed to be Day 4 of Twelve Days of Texture at Kim Klassen Cafe, but it's after midnight.  It's now Day 5!

 

 

I used two of my photos for this one.  Both photo layers have a drybrush filter and a colored pencil filter applied to them.  I tweaked the settings until I got the look I was after.  I also used Kim's Cosmos texture above the photo layer, inverted, set to screen with a reduced opacity.  The font is Aquiline and the quote is by Christina G. Rosetti.  To see more texture art, click here to find all the links.

 

Until next time,

 

Twelve Days of Texture

Kim Klassen is having a wonderful twelve day texture-fest over at the Cafe.  I'm jumping in on Day 3.  I posted the original photo a little earlier today in my previous post.  I added a few layers of Kim's Lilly texture and added a "posterize" adjustment layer to the photo layer in Photoshop CS5.

 

 

For some beautiful examples of digital artistry combining photography and texture, you can click here to go straight to the Twelve Days of Texture event at the Kim Klassen Cafe.  You'll find all the links there!

 

See you again soon!

 

Sweet Dreams

Today is Texture Tuesday at Kim Klassen Cafe.  I happened to catch my sweet Molly girl snoozing on the love seat.  This little golden knows how to relax.

 

 

My recipe:

I worked in Photoshop CS5

Layer 1:  photograph

Layer 2:  Photoshop brushes - Stars and Gorguss Clouds (free downloads-I can't remember the source!); both set to Screen

Layer 3:  Kim Klassen's Phoebe texture, set to screen at 51% opacity

Layer 4:  Another layer of Phoebe set to Color Burn at 100% opacity

Layer 5:  Font - Splendid 66; size: 48pts with drop shadow set to 52% opacity

 

You can see all of the Texture Tuesday entries at Kim Klassen Cafe.  Have a wonderful day!

 

Until next time,

 

Geometric Art

I had wanted to share this with you two days ago, but I unfortunately could not find my camera card to photograph it!  Yesterday, we had a lovely day, celebrating Thanksgiving early with my sister and her family.  It was then that I realized that I didn't have my card.  That was a bit disappointing because my great niece is now vertical and walking!  I started searching for my card last night and finally gave up around midnight.  This morning, I decided to start straightening my work area.  I checked under my desk for the fifth time, and finally I noticed a little speck of black hiding behind the desk leg.  Eureka!  I'm back in business.  So here is my newest drawing.

 

 

Joyelle

11" x 11"

Pen and Ink on 140lb cold press paper

 

I wanted to have an accurate drawing with even angles to start with, so I began by creating a skeleton frame in Photoshop CS5.  That was a challenge, but I eventually figured it out.  I then traced the frame onto the paper with a light box.  The light box is a handy little gadget to have, but if you don't have one, the best way to transfer a drawing onto paper is to tape it to a window where light is coming in, and then tape your paper up over the drawing.  It works like a charm every time!  After I had the basic skeleton ready, I just proceeded section by section to work patterns in pen and ink.   The beauty of the template is that depending on which sections you use, and how you group them together, the finished product will never be the same twice!  This is the original template:

 

 

I think I'll finish straightening my work area, and then make some art.  What are you planning for Thanksgiving?  We'll have a quiet dinner at home, since we had our big get-together yesterday.  On Friday, I want to start decorating the house for Christmas.  When do you start decorating?  I can't wait to break out the Christmas CDs!  Have a wonderful day.  I'm thinking of all of you.

 

Until next time,

 

A Never Ending Story

Hello there!  How are you today?  I hope you'll drop me a comment today and tell me what you're up to.  I'm looking forward to a day at home.  Yesterday started with a bang.  My nineteen year old college sophomore son was diagnosed with pneumonia.  Of course, I spent the day running him to the doctor, whose appointment secretary insisted that there was no record of him having ever been a patient there.  It turns out that she looked up the wrong name.  That'll do it every time :)

I'm so happy you are joining me for Texture Tuesday.  To find out what it's all about, and to see many wonderful examples of digital art, please pay Kim a visit at Kim Klassen Cafe. Thank you, Kim, for providing us with such wonderful photoshop textures and inspiration!

This week's theme is Love.  It took me awhile to figure out how to approach this.  I went through my photos and finally, this one jumped out at me.  It is yet another one I took in Maine.  The lovely pair of flowers reminds me of the beauty of two hearts joined in love.  Not even when parted in death does their story end.  It lives on in the hearts and souls of all who loved and were loved by them.  It's effects spread out like ripples on the water.

 

 

I used one layer of Kim's Scripted Edges texture set to Linear Dodge over the photo.  I added a layer mask to the texture layer and brushed the texture away from just the pink blossoms.  It seemed to help bring them forward.  The font for the word "love" is Felt Pen.  The layer is set to Screen at 73 percent opacity.  The font for the rest of the text is Porcelain, set to Normal.

Thank you so much for visiting!

Until next time,

 

Vintage Maine

I'm a little late with my Texture Tuesday project, but better late than never!  By now, you all know of my passion for all things Maine.  I took three of my photographs and turned them into vintage, well-worn postcards.

 

The first one is the marsh across from Seawall on Mount Desert Island.  I used two layers of Kim's Nature's Beauty texture over the photo.  Both layers were set to Soft Light at about 70 percent opacity.  I used the Vintage Companion texture over top of a layer of off-white for the border.  The texture layer was set to Multiply at 80 percent opacity.  I applied a brown photo filter the Vintage Companion texture at about 80 percent.  The font is Cygnet Round set to Bevel and Emboss down.  I reduced the 0pacity to fade it.  To give the photo that grainy look that vintage images have, I added added CS5's noise filter and checked the Monochromatic and Uniform boxes.  To imitate the look of worn-off color, I used the Eraser tool with various grunge brushes on the photo.  I also reduce the saturation of the photo.

 

 

My method for the second one is the same. 

 

 

I took this photo at Stonington Harbor on Deer Isle.  My method was a little different.  I only used one layer of texture over the photo - Bent Edges, set on Linear Burn at 21 percent.  I reduced the saturation of the photo and set the opacity to 94 percent.

 

 

If you would like to enjoy all of the beautiful work of Texture Tuesday's participants, head on over to Kim Klassen Cafe.  Kim offers free textures if you sign up and wonderful tutorials to get you up to speed in the wonderful world of digital artistry.

 

Until next time,

 

Solitude

I hope all of you had a fabulous Labor Day weekend!  I spent most of it dabbling in my studio, of course.  Today is Texture Tuesday over at Kim Klassen Cafe.  I used one of my photos from Schoodic Peninsula for the challenge.  I love the idea of a story board, so I combined that with two of Kim's incredible textures for this week's challenge.  I created the composition with Photoshop CS5.  I've included a description of techniques, so if you're not a Photoshop or Photoshop Elements user, feel free to ignore it!

 

Techniques

I began by filling the bottom layer with a solid, weak gray.  I used two layers of Cracker Jack 2 under the photo layer.  I wanted the crackle to be well-defined without being overpowering, so I adjusted the opacity of the texture layers until I was satisfied.  I set the photo layer to multiply.  On top of the photo, I used two layers of Serious Magic set to screen.  I sized them to fit the photo.   To give the photo a more faded look, I reduced its saturation by about 10%.   The font is PegsannaHMK set to soft light. There are two layers and I used a drop shadow under one layer.  I reduced the opacity of the drop shadow by about 50%.  For the color chips, I used the rectangular mask tool to make a small square.  I then modified the mask to feather by 20 pixels.  I added the color using the pastel brush from CS5's dry media collection. I made four more copies of the color chip and used the eyedropper to select colors from the photo, adding a different color overlay to each chip.  I merged the color chip layers and set them to multiply.  Finally, I used the eraser tool and a grunge brush to get rid of the photo's hard edge.  I condensed the whole composition using the merge visible command.

 

If you would like to see how all of our digital artists used Kim's textures, just click on the Texture Tuesdays icon in my right sidebar and it will take you to Kim Klassen Cafe.  Thank you, Kim, for hosting the challenge and for your wonderful textures!

 

Until next time,