A Whole VIllage

A whole village hand painted and scanned.  These would be ideal for  your art journal or scrapbook.

Journal houses

I painted some houses on paper I had already prepared for one of my journals,  I just love how you can see the texture close up and the grungy look is soooooo nice.

Faces

As you can see I have been busy, I've been trying new faces and overall I am pleased with them, these are well and truly done!

Creating a digital stamp

How to create a digital stamp from an image

1. Open an image with strong lines or shapes.
2. Double click on your Background layer. Click on OK to convert it to Layer 0.
3. Select Image, Adjustments, Brightness/Contrast. Adjust the sliders Brightness to the left and Contrast to the right, until you have kind of a sharp image.
4. Now, select Image, Adjustments, Threshold. Your image will look black and white, move the slider that controls the Threshold to adjust it.
5. From the Toolbox, select the Magic Wand and click on any white area of your image, that would select all the white. Now press the Delete key. Your image will keep the black with a transparent background.
6. Select Image, Image Size… and resize your image to no more than 4 inches.
7. Now it’s time to create a brush based on this image. Select Edit, Define Brush Preset..., give it a name and click OK.
8. Remember to save your Brush by clicking the arrow that is pointing down next to your brush on the Toolbar. Then, click on the double arrows pointing to the right and choose Save Brushes.
9. You can use this brush or digital stamp as many times as you need it.

Final result

My Dad

Earlier this week we got some devastating news that our beloved Dad has passed away.  Nothing in the world prepares your for this, and I am not prepared.  I now have to prepare myself  for a flight to Africa - which I am not looking forward to because flying frightens me to death!    And in general I do not like funerals so this is more than a double whammy for me.  I am trying had hard not to think to much about any of it.  

I'm also planning an order of service for my dad which I want to take with so I don't have to try and find a printer there.   Now just trying to go through the motions of Christmas.   

Creating headers

With typography fixed firmly in the back of my head, I decided to create my own typed headers.  I've learned so much about these letters and the history behind them.  Its easy to bang some letters together, its much much harder to fiddle around with the spacing, and I'm not talking about the spacing that our computers automatically use.  I'm taking about using InDesign and making sure that you pull some letters closer together and push some further out, the weight of the letter is also important.  Anyway enough of the lesson .

Summer

This is Summer  and another mixed media image I have created,  she is really nice and brightly coloured.  I've been thinking that I would l love to be able to offer a mixed media workshops teaching this wonderful relaxing art.   Not sure if anyone would actually like to do this though.  She has been created using acrylics, pastel pencils, and collage bits.