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Monday, May 21, 2018

I've Been Published!

I'm so excited to report that my Underwater Library composition has been published in the May 2018 issue of Living the Photo Artistic Life magazine! Here is the link:
https://issuu.com/thephotoartisticlife/docs/issue39-final?e=15580327/61282126
I'm on page 75. 

It's such an honor to be published along side so many amazing photo artists.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Underwater Library

I'm not sure how I came up with this idea. Sometimes looking at other art or photos gives me inspiration and I write it down. Later I will go back to my notes and if something catches my imagination I'll run with it. The original vision when starting this was to have a more prominent looking library underwater but found some interesting background items that looked more like it was a library from long ago. It just built from there, literally.  

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Tulip Fields

As part of my digital art class at AWAKE, one of the lessons covered the dispersion technique where something explodes out of an object. I thought of doves flying out of a white tulip which became the subject for a new composition. The photo of tulips in the field were bright pink with a boring building in the background but I liked the general feel of it. So I changed the tulips to white, added an interesting barn structure and changed up the sky to appear more dramatic. The combined background layers were then placed inside the old book to give it some dimension and then aged. The antique pen was a finishing touch. 

Monday, March 26, 2018

The Conductor

I had a little fun with my muse this week. I played with the concert/train conductor theme and added a bit of Where's Waldo with musical instruments scattered throughout the piece. Some more obvious than others. 

Portal to Spring

We've been stuck in winter mode around here and I've been feeling like spring, although officially here, is still just a dream away. This composition shares my feelings that spring weather and flowers are just beyond that portal. 

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Sayulita Girl

While visiting the small village of Sayulita Mexico we walked along a quiet street of small shops. A little girl peeked at me from a doorway next to a shop entrance. In a moment of shyness she ducked behind the wall and I spied her doll next to her mimicking the same pose. I couldn't resist snapping a photo of this sweet scene. 

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Another World

The main photo is from a trip we took to Friday Harbor, WA. In this composition there are some subtle additions. The first and most obvious is the earth rather than the moon in the sky. The others are a sunken ship and mermaid at the bottom left. It's a rather moody/dreamy work which I seem to be leaning toward lately. The original photo was taken in the early evening.

The next composition will be much lighter in feel so stay posted. 

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Bedroom Canvas

We recently redecorated our guest bedroom in soft blues and grays. Along one small accent wall my husband installed shiplap. The basics are in place and there is still a large bare wall staring at me when I walk into the room. So today I played with a photo I shot off the coast of Peurto Vallarta while our extended family was vacationing in nearby Sayulita, Mexico. A copy was imported into Topaz Impressions then blended with the original photo and finished up with several more texture layers in Photoshop. I ordered a 32 x 24 canvas print from Costco. I was aiming for a painterly feel and wanted to lighten and brighten it a bit to fit the colors in the room a little better. Below is the original for comparison.

The Staircase

This is the first time I played with multiple photo layers in black and white. The stairway is leading to the center photo of Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy. I layered on a few textures in color to give a vintage appearance to areas along the border. The tree and bird are from our cabin property. On the lower left notice some padlocks on a ring; locks of love.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Walk in the Woods

After coming home from vacation it took me awhile to get back in the swing of making art. This piece started off as a hot mess and I almost dumped it. But in the AWAKE class there was a video about creating for fun. Just play and see what happens. After all, I don't have to show everything I make - just my best work. This piece finally came together and I'm happy with it. The girl was from a wedding I was shooting, most of the path and trees was from a trip to Italy and the plum blossoms are from a tree in my garden. 

Sunday, January 28, 2018

My First Attemps


Here they are. My first attempts at multi-layered digital artistry. After adding layer after layer and tweaking them repeatedly at some point I called them done. At this point I'm learning and my wish is to eventually find my voice and individuality in my art. You know how it is when you look at a piece of art and you know who composed it? That's the idea. I prefer not to say goal as that assumes you're done. Art styles evolve with time so this will probably be a forever moving target. But for now I'm pretty pleased with these two compositions. A year from now I'll look back and hopefully see how far I've evolved but in the mean time it's about feeling satisfied with what's been accomplished so far. 

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

A Year of Art Discovery

2018 brings a sense of renewal and a fresh start. I've neglected my blog for so long but am starting this year full of ambition and focus.

I signed up for a digital artistry course several years ago when Photoshop Elements was my photo editing program of choice. It's a simplified and somewhat limited version of it's big brother/sister Photoshop which holds unlimited editing and creative potential. Navigating through the course in PE had it's limitations and I didn't complete the entire course. I have since switched to Photoshop. Recently I decided to re-explore the Photoshop Artistry course and start from the beginning. Further into the course it became clear that I wanted more. Sebastian Michaels, the amazing creator of the Photoshop Artistry course, is also the creator of the year long explorative program titled AWAKE. On January 1st I took the plunge and committed myself to learning and creating digital artistry on a bigger scale through AWAKE. So exciting!

Adding to the 'year of art discovery' I also signed up for Tangie Baxter's Art Journal Emporium. I'll be art journaling my way through 2018. Most people participating will be doing hands-on mixed media art in paper journals. Me, well, I decided I already have so many digital art and scrapbook supplies that I would do my journaling digitally. One of my first assignments was to choose a 'word of the year'. I chose JOY. It resonates. Tangie suggested some ways to encourage you to keep your word close at hand all year. I'm going to wear mine close to my heart daily as I purchased a simple but beautiful JOY necklace from Etsy.

And if that weren't enough - CRAZY - YES - I signed up for Mike Dooley Love Your Life which is a 30 day project. It's a focused program to help you transform your year ahead. I think Mike is a wonderful motivator and speaker and truly wants to help others find joy in their lives.

What a ride this will be. The year holds so much promise!

Joyously yours,
Tina