The Eyes Have It

Beyond Beyond Assignment - From Above

Shooting a subject from above is challenging.  We don't usually view the world this way unless it is our shoes or maybe the sand along the beach while searching for shells.

In Beyond Beyond we were encouraged to take shots from above.  I tried a few things unsuccessfully.  The subjects were really flat and boring shot this way.  I decided to try a still life of some of my eye makeup.  The round brushes and tubes would roll away from their placement on my smooth surface.  I think putting the rumpled cloth beneath them helped save the shot.  Not only did it stop the items from rolling, the fabric folds gave the light more places for shadows and textures.

In Photoshop Elements 4.0, I enhanced the lighting with a gradient layer and levels adjustment layer.  Kim Klassen's texture layer, Cora, was applied twice and using different blend and opacity adjustments for each layer.  A text layer was added. The finishing touch was to add the frame on a separate color fill layer which was also adjusted for blend and opacity.

Revisiting Art Journals and Clipping Layers

Tonight I learned how to make a template with PS Elements which I used to assemble this collage. The template was created with layers and shapes and clipping layers together.  I don't know why it took me so long to get to the point of figuring out how to do this, but I know I will find the technique very useful.  It's really not hard.

The template before adding images.

Well, once I made the template, what was I to put in the blanks?   A quick scan through image files took me to folders with journal shots.  I chose xo and heart themed pages for this collage.  Next I added a subtle texture layer by Kim Klassen called Peony.  Finally, the quote was added.
I might paraphrase this quote to say, "At the touch of love everyone becomes an artist."

Zing Zing Zing

I'm back to blogging and I hope to make this a regular practice again.  This quick post features a digitally altered image of my new journal cover.

I decided to join Amanda Jolley's Joy Journal Project to help me get back to art journaling.  Our prompt was to choose a word for 2013 with further instructions.  In December I was watching episodes of the BBC program "As Time Goes By".  One of the main characters sighed that the ZING had gone out of his life.  I love the sound of that word.  ZING
I had a much more serious word in mind - STEADFAST, but ZING wouldn't let go.

This journal has bristol board pages and recycled cereal box covers.  I will bind them with my Zutter.  I may also include other paper in the journal since I'm keeping the pages loose for now.

Pieces of scrapbooking papers were adhered to cereal box cut to size.  I added smears of gesso, and stamping.  Die cut flowers were added.  I will probably add doodling to the covers as well as time goes by.  The insides of the covers are the plain side of the boxes which have some gesso and glazes of color on them with a finish of matte medium.  I can easily embellish them in a variety of ways as time goes by.

I'm also planning to get back to digital image processing and have signed up for more of Kim Klassen's inspiration with Beyond Beyond.  This was the first processing I've done with PSE for a few months and I can't believe how much I've forgotten.  I have several weeks of lessons to pour though to get caught up.  This image was altered with a bit of texture layering and blending modes along with some added text.

More Magnolias - Vintage Style

One of the challenges of photographing Magnolias is finding a focal point when the whole tree is bursting out in blooms.  Last week there were just a few buds fully opened and I was able to get this shot by holding the camera above my head.
It's busy shot, but I was able to bring out the foreground blooms with the help of Kim Klassen's texture layers.  I added a couple layers of The Veil to the uncropped image.  Then I chose a selection to crop and add more texture.  Music Lovin' and Lilly were added to this image.  All layers were adjusted with blending modes and varying opacity.  I erased the texture from the focal blooms on all but one layer of The Veil.

The day was overcast, so I needed to adjust the levels before adding the texture layers.  There had been a soft rain earlier that afternoon.  The wet branches reflect the light grey of the sky.

I'm a huge fan of limited color schemes when I paint, and I like that this image has a limited palette.  The bits of green are a sweet bit of complement to the pinks of the magnolias.

I'm submitting this image to Texture Tuesday, the Pink Edition.  I hope you'll go check out the other images here.  You can see my Flickr stream here.

Magnificent Magnolias - O Magnify the Lord

It's color week in Kim Klassen's eCourse, Beyond Layers.  Wednesday's color was pink.  The timing couldn't be more perfect.  Look what I saw just outside the door when I left work!

The magnolia blossoms look like hundreds of votive cups and the branches are like arms lifted up to Heaven worshipping the Lord God, our Creator!

I did very minimal editing to the images... just level adjustments to lighten up the shots.  The sky was overcast yesterday, so the lighting was quite soft.
The story board template came from Kim's eCourse.  I'm still learning how to use it.  I want to change the top middle image, but haven't figured out a short cut to doing that yet.

Whisper Truth to Myself

It seems ironic to me that I'm posting this image today.  It's the first day of Spring; a time to celebrate the bursting forth of the renewal of green.  I took a tour of my flower gardens today.  I tossed most of the dead sunflowers off to the side.  We are having a record setting heat blast in Iowa, and there is a premature surge of new life in the garden.  Plants that don't normally produce new growth or buds until later in May are displaying infant leaves.

I am torn.  I know from life experience that this just ain't right.  There could be snowstorms in the next few weeks.  More likely, killing frost and freezing temperatures will come. I haven't been liberated from these thoughts to celebrate the early spring to its fullness.

Honestly, I do have fear.  Fear that fruit crops will suffer.  Our crab apple tree stood naked all winter because last spring a hail storm destroyed its blooms when they should have been pollinated.  There was not one marble sized crab apple on that tree. I missed the kisses of cranberry red against the winter sky.  I missed the flocks of robins or cedar waxwings stripping them away in late winter.

So now I must pray, knowing the Lord IS my helper.  He can and will help me through disappointments and loss.  He has been faithful in the past and he will be again.  Sara Groves sings it so well.

This image was shot in my winter garden.  I processed it with Photoshop Elements 4.0 to convert it to black and white and enhanced it with Kim Klassen's texture layer Flourish.  In Kim's eCourse, Beyond Layers, we were prompted by the word "whisper", which is what inspired me to choose this image from my archives.

Kim will be offering another round of Beyond Layers and I highly recommend this course.  There is technical information as well as artistic insight and exploration.

Happy Heart Monarch

Kim Klassen "Happy Heart" texture applied to my image

I was away from my laptop for more than a week attending to a family matter.  I told my Hubby that right after missing him, I missed editing images!  So before my busy day away from home gets started, I checked out the latest Texture Tuesday assignment at the Kim Klassen Cafe.

Every fall, butterflies visit my back yard garden and feast on the nectar of the Autumn Joy Sedum plants.  The butterflies are usually so preoccupied with their feeding that I can get fairly close to them.

I used minimal editing on this shot.  After croppping, I balanced the levels and desaturated the green to visually push the foilage back.  Two layers of the Kim Klassen's texture "Happy Heart" were added and the multiply blending mode was applied.  I erased the texture over the butterfly from one layer.  (For just a short while, I'm still using PSE 4.0, but will be upgrading very soon when my Wacom Intuos 4 tablet arrives. Then I'll easily mask out areas.)

This editing was a simple fix to help pop the butterfly from the busy surroundings.  I see the white spots like jewels set around the most beautiful stained glass.  Our Creator God is a magnificent artist!

"When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

  the moon and the stars, which You have set in place,

  what is man that You are mindful of him,

  and the son of man that you care for him?"

A Barn and More Treasure from James




This barn always captures my attention from afar.

  Do you ever take the slower route to your destination?  You may be rewarded in seeing treasures you would have missed while flying down the interstate highway.

A few years ago, I noticed this barn in the distance while taking one of our favorite back roads.  I am drawn to that barn like a moth to a flame.  My husband often offered to stop so I could photograph it, but I would wave him on with excuses about the terrible, harsh mid-day lighting.  It was true.  I knew an image would wash out and there would be little contrast.

But one day I was traveling on my own and turned down the gravel road so I could get closer to the barn.  And since I'd bothered to do that, I might as well take a few pictures to remember the day.

Fast forward to the present.  I'm looking at my photo images with new eyes since learning different editing techniques, especially from Kim Klassen.

Editing this image has been a challenge for me. To give it a painterly feeling, I made several adjustments including blending modes, levels, hue, saturation, high pass filter, and Kim's texture layers Sienna and History. My emotional tie to the subject made me more tentative than usual, but I felt something was missing.  Last night I hopped over to Texture Tuesday, where Kim challenged us to use her texture "Felicity" on an image.  I thought, "Why not try Felicity on this barn?"  It was just the extra something I needed to pull my layers together.

I debated whether or not to add text, but the road was crying out to me for something.  After a bit of searching, I decided to use a verse that has become very familiar to me this month since it is in the Book of James in the Bible. (James 3: 18)  If you are new to this blog, I'm in a Bible Study on James and have been memorizing the book.  By the grace of God, I've completed four chapters and have started the last one.

Off to dig up more image treasures and to store more True Treasure in my heart...

I Love Chicago!

Vintage, painterly effects applied

I love Chicago.  Every time I see this sign I smile.
It was lots of fun applying the latest homework from Beyond Layers to transform the ordinary shot into this warm vintage style image.

Straight from the camera

This was so much fun, I think I'll do more...

Makarios - Blessed - Happy

The Greek word 'makarios' is often translated as blessed or happy.

What a joy it has been to give my images new life using the editing skills I'm learning and by applying Kim Klassen's texture layers.  In Beyond Layers, Kim recently prompted us to consider choosing happiness.

In Bible study, I learned that the Greek word 'makarios', usually translated as 'blessed' in the New Testament, can also properly be translated as 'happy'.  Makarios is used several time in the familiar passage known as the Sermon on the Mount.  Ever since learning that truth, these words have been inseparable in my mind.

This excerpt is from the Holman Bible Dictionary:
"In the New Testament, the word “bless” often translates makarios, meaning “blessed, fortunate, happy.” The special characteristic of New Testament uses of “bless” and related words is close relationship to the religious joy people experience from being certain of salvation and thus of membership in the kingdom of God."

The Carefree Beauty Rose grows on a shrub that my husband and I selected for our anniversary many years ago.  It graces our garden with blooms from early summer through fall as long as the deer and rabbits leave it alone!

I applied screen adjustment to the image which helped unify the lighting since the background was very dark compared to the bloom in full sun. Kim's texture layer, Felicity, added extra character that I desired. This layer was adjusted with hard light to help bring out the grunge along the edge and yet maintain the lightness of the bloom.  If you like this look, you really must check out Kim's site!

Ranger Alcohol Ink Story Board - Beyond Layers Homework

As the saying goes, there's more than one way to skin a cat...

This past week I learned a different way to make photo collages in the Beyond Layers Year of Art Full Inspiration being taught by Kim Klassen.  She provided Photoshop and PS Elements templates that are SO easily personalized.  I'm anxious to learn exactly how to make this type of template... Kim, I'm being patient...

I thought it would be fun to take some of my archived "project in progress" images and insert them into the template.  Easy Peasy.

Just before starting this post, I decided to add the Beyond Layers button to the sidebar.  I saw that Blogger has added a few new gadgets to the blog design page, and I chose one that shows my most popular posts.  (Scroll down to the bottom of this page when you're done reading.)

NOW THIS IS WHAT IS TOTALLY COOL AND I HAD NO IDEA...
A previous post when I stepped out this exact card is on my top ten posts list.
As Michelle Ward would say, "How Cool Is That?"

So go to the previous post if you want to know more about my alcohol ink project.
Stay tuned for more story boards.

Faith and Works: Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Is my faith like this rusty old wagon?

I've been studying, memorizing and meditating on the second chapter of James. This is concentrated food for the mind, the heart and the soul.  The book of James contains the kind of teaching that inspired the late J. Vernon McGee to proclaim his famous phrase, "where the rubber meets the road".

You can have a car [faith], but if it just sits in the driveway, what good is it?
When the rubber meets the road, you're going places and doing things you can't just sitting in the driveway.

I was raised on a farm that is still in my family.  I enjoy walking down the lane past the grove, looking out across the pasture where cattle are grazing and the fields of corn and soy beans.  Along the way is a resting place for some of my brother's equipment.  Some have been retired from service.
As they settle into the landscape, their aging process helps camoflauge them with coatings of rust and lichens and fading, peeling paint.  Their patina is beautiful to me.

For today's Texture Tuesday, I chose this image of a retired grain wagon.  I applied Kim Klassen's texture layers "Confidence" and "Storm", along with other adjustments using Photoshop Elements.

During the editing process, I was reminded of the last verse in James 2.  One thought that came to mind is that if faith is the wagon, what good is it when it just sits wasting away.  But if it is hitched to the tractor, the wagon can be put to use to haul grain from the field to market.  The wagon [faith] is active along with the tractor [works]. (see James 2:22)
...probably not the best analogy, but that's how I came up with the verse for the image.

In case you're wondering, I'm close to having the second chapter memorized.  I'm finding that I must keep reviewing chapter one while continuing on with chapter 2, because the details tend to slip away from my mind if I don't.

If you're wondering about Texture Tuesday, see Kim Klassen's blog for details.

Flowers of the Grass and Other Ponderings

"For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass;

its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. 

So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits." 

James 1: 11 ESV

Daunting words.  I'm studying the book of James with a group from my church using Beth Moore's latest study guide: "James - Mercy Triumphs."  This time Beth threw out a challenge to memorize the book of James.  What?!?!  It's not required, but I was drawn to the challenge.  My normal thinking is that I cannot possibly do that.  Previous attempts to memorize topical verses has not been a great success.  I haven't disciplined myself to keep reviewing the verses to keep them fresh.  Occasionally, by the grace of God, a verse will come to mind when I need it.  So how did I think I could memorize a whole book of the Bible, let alone a chapter?

With God all things are possible.  Seek, Ask, Find.

And by HIS grace, I have memorized chapter 1 and have my foot firmly planted into the beginning of chapter 2.

What happens to your mind when you are memorizing a complete passage is pure blessing.
It is joy.

Something else happens.  The Word is alive in all aspects of your life in a new way. Even art making.

I skimmed through my image files looking for something that I could enhance with Kim Klassen's Simplicity Texture.  (Be sure to follow the link to Kim's site where each week she shares a texture.)
I was attracted to a group of images I shot one late autumn that were inspired by silhouettes and textures at a local park, and I hoped to use the shots for painting references.
The "Dead Heads" gave me a great digital palette.  The sky was a vast blank of nothingness.  Most of the detail of the image was lost to shadow, though not a perfect silhouette, giving me lost and found edges.

As I made adjustments to the image, cropped it and applied the texture layers, I remembered the Word that has been scrolling through my mind and falling from my lips over and over...

"Like a flower of the grass, he will pass away..."  James 1: 10b ESV.

I am reminded to share my blessings.

Tallcorn Towers Four Ways using PS Elements

Tallcorn Towers Four Ways

Today I learned a different way to convert color images to black and white. Then I made simple adjustments for a variety of effects.
My inspiration is a historical building in downtown Marshalltown.  I couldn't resist the name play of this building that is emphasized by the angle of this shot.  I edited out a street light that cluttered the right side of the composition.  Adding texture layers helped disguise some imperfections in that background edit.

Black and White adjustment layer.

I duplicated the background layer and used an adjustment layer to convert the color image to Black and White.  Using an adjustment layer gives you more editing options than converting the image using the Enhance menu.  That's just one of the many tips I've picked up from Kim Klassen.


Vintage Effect

 Since the black and white conversion was done to a layer, I could adjust it's opacity to let a bit of the original color come through.

Even more color comes through...

This image reminds me of old faded color photos that might be found in the back of a drawer.  I decreased the opacity of the Black and White layer even more to allow more color to come through than the previous image.
Let me remind you that there are additional textures and adjustments overlaid on the image.  The above shots are showing the differences from playing with the black and white layer.

Color fill layer added

I like the character that adding a color fill layer gave to the image.  Using the color picker tool, I selected a solid burnt orange hue from the bricks.  A layer of orange covered the whole image, but I greatly reduced its opacity.  This layer warmed up the cool tones and neutralized the sky area.  A painter would get a similar effect by painting a transparent colored glaze over their painting.

Be sure to check out Kim Klassen's web site.  She is starting a Photoshop Essentials eCourse in February and will be covering both PS Elements and Photoshop.  If my schedule wasn't already so full, I'd be taking that class.  Her videos are easy to understand and she is generous in providing practice images as well as free texture layers.  If nothing else, follow her blog.
You can see more of my recent editing at my Flickr photostream.  Thanks for your comments!
Oh yes, that IS a new blog banner at the top of the page.... same scripture with a different background (part of one of my paintings that sold).

If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.

I've been sorting through image files and playing with the new skills I'm learning from Kim Klassen.  You can still sign up for her Beyond Layers Year of Artful Inspiration.

This is an image I shot in Marshalltown, Iowa on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon when Hubby and I were admiring the architecture of its downtown area.  I was drawn to the color of the door and all the lovely texture created by the peeling paint.

Today I was challenged to choose a simple shot and alter it just enough....  After tweaking the light levels and hue saturation just a bit, I added Kim Klassen texture layers that were adjusted with blending modes.
Do you remember Milton Berle?  I thought his quote was just the right finishing touch.