Copyright: All artwork/content protected under ©2007-2011 Lynne Ciacco

All content herein copyright © Lynne Ciacco


Wednesday, June 25, 2014

A little too flowery?

What better model than a flower? Full of colour and life, not at all camera shy--and offering all sorts of exciting possibilities for creative editing.


c.2014. L.Ciacco. Iris Pastelli. Digital Art from original photo

Flowers have long been popular subjects for painters, including myself. But in this instance, I have turned a photograph into what I hope looks like a chalk pastel drawing. I love working with pastels, though they do get terribly messy (at least in my hands). Working digitally, bending and blending the pixels with the smudge tool in Photoshop, I can get a very similar effect to chalk pastels without all the dust. This was a brand new discovery for me--very excited about it!



Here's a collage of four of the versions/experiments I made along the way, just trying different filters and textures in Photoshop.



This highly abstracted version still has an element of painterliness to it, hinting at a highly textured, mixed-media canvas.



Pure abstraction! Created with applying the Wave filter in Photoshop (applied blindly, I might add.  "Whack it on there and see what happens!" is the technique used).



This is the photo that I used to make all the above images. It was already cropped and had several filters applied to it, including plastic wrap (helps keep the flowers fresh).



And this is the photo where it all began, taken with my Asus tablet using the 'Little Photo camera' and the 'HDR-FX' apps.

Go ahead and ask me if I'm having fun yet!

Joining up with Nature's Footstep abstract meme today.  Pop over there to treat yourself to other participants' digital art.

16 comments:

  1. Beautiful post.
    Best regards!

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    1. Thank you for visiting and leaving such a nice comment, Robert.

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  2. Wow...love your processing and results♪ http://lauriekazmierczak.com/gathered-flotsam/

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    1. So glad you appreciate my efforts! Thank you so much.

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  3. You had me at the first view and then the second to the last for color and just enough realism. ALL of these are dreamlike and yes, here is the question: Are you having fun? Looks like it to me!

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    1. You got that right, I am having fun! I'm happy that you found something to please your artist's eye.

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  4. Way more fun than the Crayola 64 pack, even with the built in sharpener!

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    1. You know me so well, Carmenooch! Couldn't have put it better myself.
      :-)

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  5. These are gorgeous. Great work here.

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    1. Thank you so much, CJ. Very much appreciated.

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  6. These are really nice, You are invited to share this with Feline Art Friday (it does not need to be feline related):
    http://kittypartay.blogspot.com/2014/06/feline-art-friday-2.html

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    1. Thanks Julie. I will try to join in the fun on Friday. Thanks for inviting me.

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  7. of course it is not too flowery. This is great for your health I think. :)

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    1. Yes, absolutely great for my health--keeps me happily occupied, playful, engaged, curious, learning, and is a good form of meditation!

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  8. LOL - I can tell you're having LOTS of fun, Lynne! These pieces are all pretty trippy! The first one is gorgeous, and appears almost abstract to me, with its soft, flowing colors. The 4 together remind me of a sixties poster, but my real favorite is the "pure abstraction" one - a very dynamic composition and the colors are delightful. "Whack it on there and see what happens" is definitely a tried-and-true technique!

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    1. You are so right--I am tripping the light fantastic with my tablet and the various apps I'm discovering. A great tool! I hadn't thought of the 60s poster feel to some of the variations, but I like the concept. So delighted you like the pure abstraction! I figured it certainly wouldn't be to everyone's taste. Nice to know that you are familiar with that specialized technique of "whacking it on there"!
      :-)

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