Collage, Paper, Pixels

I was recently inspired by  collage artist Randel Plowman's blog wherein he tries to get a new collage posted for sale every day.  It doesn't seem like he quite hits his mark but he's pretty consistent.  While I don't want to take on such a challenge for myself, it did give me a little burst of energy to see what I could come up with in a short period of time (ie. the time when I was supposed to be doing my yoga exercises).


I had thought I might do some drawing or other sort of mark making on it, but I was curious to see what could be done with it on the computer in Photoshop.

I was particularly taken with a diagram of a garden plan that my husband had sketched on a scrap of paper.  That is a kind of mark making that I would never do myself so I asked him if I could use it in my art work.  He gladly loaned it to my cause.  See those circles and lines and writing in black?  That's his.  I also applied a pencil crayon effect to the whole thing and an almost transparent overlay of one of my paintings (see the turquoise cast?)  through the magic of Photoshop.

Party Hat

I still wanted a little more "punch" though, so I used a recent photo of my daughter, changing it to an ink outline in--you guessed it--Photoshop. The result looked rather like she was wearing some crazy kind of a hat, plus the lampshade element reminded me of the cliché of drunken revellers wearing lampshades on their heads at parties, thus the title for the finished piece.

This could make a nice little matted print, a greeting card to celebrate an event, or a party invitation.

Seems the best laid plans of exercising oftimes turn to making art.  But that's okay, too.

Purrfect Moments

Although I'm not making art in my studio these days, I am having fun rendering my photos into faux art. I hope my photographer friends will forgive me...and my painter friends as well. This photo has been "treated" with a pastel effect in Adobe Photoshop. I have only the most rudimentary idea of what can be done in Photoshop, but it's enough to keep me amused for hours.

The Tea Reader

I've finished another of the 3 small canvasses seen in my July 24 posting. This one was inspired by a label from a box of tea my friend, Susan, in Seattle had. The image of an Asian lady holding a tea bowl was too precious to throw away so I brought it home with me. I glued it to the previously textured canvas, added origami papers, tissue, tulle and threads, then went at it with paints. This was one of those times when I just had to trust that it would all turn out well in the end. Like the Tea Reader, I looked to find what was revealed once the "swirling" had stopped.