Friday, January 23, 2009

Art Journal Day 21 - Altered Image

This journal entry proved to be another exercise to stretch the old grey matter. We were to alter an image that we photographed ourselves. Where to start? I decided I wasn't going to take a lot of time finding a picture, so I just went by impulse. I have several digital files labeled flowers or spring or summer with a descriptive. So I just randomly chose one of those. The tulips caught my eye as I went through the file. It's really not a good photo, but I save such things because I see something that appeals to me and it may inspire a painting.
Just to make this more interesting, I made some quick adjustments with PS Elements (hue, saturation, posterized). Then it was time to go to the office.
After work, I decided to cut out some of the flowers so I could control their composition. Then I had to decide what the background would be. I used Daniel Smith's Sedona Clay watercolor to wash the paper. Then I used ModgePodge to add rectangles of orange mulberry paper. Next I added the tulips and some leaves. The watercolored areas needed to be beefed up, so I added more color. That's all I did. I could have done more, but I was loving the play of the complementary colors and that was enough for me.

3 comments:

Kelly Warren said...

Regina, I love all these challenge entries. Where is the challenge blog? I'm intriqued! Maybe it will get me moving! :-)

sgreerpitt said...

I too am interested in where you find your challenges. What is PS elements? I've been working with paper and color for decades, but am totally new to art/photo on the computer.

Regina said...

The journal challenge was posted by Misty Mawn for the month of January. Sometimes I participate in Illustration Friday where a prompt is given each Friday. There are many challenges out there, but I just observe most that I've run across. There's only so much time & I need to stay on the path of my own goals.
PS Elements is PhotoShop Elements, an economical & hobbyist version of the professional editing program Photoshop.