Here is an ATC I did using Photoshop Elements 6.0. It is my tribute to Edgar Degas whose ballerina paintings I love.



For this collage, I used white for the background layer. The next layer I used was a background that I had painted using Golden Paints. I used sequin waste to give the painted background some texture. Here is how the hand painted canvas looked before altering it.



Once the layer was added, I changed to opacity to 70% so that the background layer of white would come through and lighten this layer. I then added various images such as a sheet of music, two images of ballerinas, a self-portrait of degas, and I used some photoshop brushes for the folliage.

This is the second digital challenge issued by Cindy from our Yahoo group. The challenge this time deals with layers. We have to create an ATC with at least 12 layers (which I did). This is what I started with:



After creating an image with 12 layers (I eliminated a couple), I ended up with the following finished project:



I called this piece My Favorite Things because this particular collage contains elements that I love: da Vinci's Vetruvian Man, an image from the Pre-Raphaelites, swirls, architecture, a mask (of course), lace, flowers, and leaves. The background was painted by me and textured with gel medium and ephemera. I do kind of like how this turned out even though these are not the usual colors I work in.

I changed the look of my blog today. The design is just so me....chaotic. Hope you like.

I created this background using a stamped pair on watercolor paper. Well, at least it isn't a mask :).

Well, I seem to be stuck on the theme of Venice and masks. I wonder what Freud would say about that.



The background is a piece I painted on 140-lb watercolor paper using Golden Fluid Acrylic paints putting on with a brush and then blending using a baby wipe. I also used alcohol wipes sparingly to lighten up the areas of color.

After Cynthia's workshop, I have become addicted to doing backgrounds. This is another one that I did using a painted canvas. The yellow background was created using Golden Paints on canvas board. I brushed some watered down fluid acrylic paints on the background and allowed them to dry a little. I then sprayed the canvas with a bit of water and wiped some of it off with a rag. I then stamped writing on the background using Espresso Adirondack dye pads. After all of this dried, I used gel medium to apply the little bits of ephemera, dabbed very lightly areas of Cobalt Teal Golden acrylic paints (you can use your rag to wipe it off a bit). Lastly, using sequin waste, I dabbed some watered down gesso over the sequin waste which created the little circles of white.




As a rule I always take pictures or scan in my backgrounds for further use. Because I could not scan this background in, I photographed it. Using photoshop I add various elements to create the final background.

Well, we had an earthquake today at 7:34am which woke me up from my sound sleep (I thought it was all a dream). It turned out to be 4.0 on the richter scale and the epicenter was off the coast of La Jolla. According to what I have read, the most interesting thing to come from this earthquake were all the giant squid that washed ashore. Oh well, the pressure is building up at the San Andreas fault so I guess that the "big one" is coming.

I have been doing a digital workshop with Cynthia Powell from The Latest Trends in Mixed Media yahoo group. We have worked through 4 tutorials at this point and on the last one she challenged us to come up with a digital ATC. We had to use the techniques learned in the tutorials PLUS use one we hadn't learned from the tutorial. So here are some of the things I did. For the first layer (the background) I used a solid color of white. I tried black, blue, magenta, purple, etc. and found that the white background highlighted the layers the best. For the next layer, I used a piece that I had created in a class with Karen O'Brien.

The next three layers were 3 different masks which I tried to find with colors that went with the background I was using. I then used a sheet of music for the next layer. I varied the opacity with each of these last 4 layers.

The 7th layer was the image of the masked lady. This I had to extract from the original image. After placing her on the O'Brien background I decided I needed to add touches of color from the background on her dress. To do this I had to use the adjust color option under the Enhance menu. From there I chose replace color and then highlighted her dress with varying shades of green, blue, and magenta.

The last layer was the text iteself. Originally the text was in white but it was just too stark so I "greyed" it down. After moving the text box around, I placed it where it is presently.

Whew, after saving all of this I saved in the Photoshop Elements 6 format (.psd) and resaved as a jpeg file for posting on the web. This is the finished product.



I would like to send a special thanks to Cynthia Powell for her most excellent tutorials on using PSE 6.0. If you have any questions or comments, please post in the comment section below.

It has been a while since I posted but I have been working diligently on several projects: history of costume/fashion slideshow, a piece for a magazine, two workshops, and whatever happens to strike my fancy. What I am posting today is the digital collage challenge for one of the Yahoo groups I belong to. The image on the left was the piece that inspired my digital collage. I fell in love with this photo when I found it on the web. I am fascinated by the Carnevale in Venice, Italy from both a modern and historical perspective. Some of my favorite artists (Longhi, Guardi, de Gobbis) painted scenes of Venice (18th centory) during Carnevale in ridotti (state run gambling houses), convent parlours, etc., wherever the patrician class gathered. The piece on the right is the digital collage inspired by the woman sitting on a harlequin type floor. I had a great deal of fun creating it and do like the way it turned out.