Mayne Island

The ferry ride from Victoria to Vancouver is very beautiful and passes by several islands en route.  The ferry passes between Mayne Island and Galiano Islands and then Pender and Saltspring Islands.  So lovely.  As a ferry leaves Victoria, one also leaves Vancouver in the opposite direction and they pass one another as one moves through the islands.  Impressive.  And close!!!  Pods of orcas move through here as well and if one is lucky.......

This pic is of the lighthouse on Mayne Island, messed about with in Photoshop.  I have spent the week trying to understand and then create my own custom brushes. I may have accidentally erased my brain.  Apparently Control-Z should bring it back.  Or maybe just some more zzzzz's!  Lots of things to try!

I'll be back.

From here to there.

I have purchased a few (!!!) of the digital downloads from the Anna Aspnes store.  Her value packs and her palettes are quite lovely and contain lots of little bits and pieces that can be added to a piece and then tweaked.  I believe that everything that I have added here is from Anna's site.  Yum!  I am still thinking of stitch but since that eventuality seems a long way away I shall continue to play in this arena.  The little one that is the chair in front of my kitchen table!!  It's fun.

Oh goodness.  I hope you can see why it's such fun!!  These two pics show my starting point and where I have ended up for the moment.  Saving the final piece as a PSD file means that I can go in and continue to play around with the layers if I want.  I realize it is just the beginning of my journey, but I am learning lots.  It's what I like to do.

I'll be back.

http://www.annaaspnesdesigns.com/

http://www.oscraps.com/shop/Anna-Aspnes-Designs-c-383/

Anna Aspnes and Photoshop

Oh my.  My madness continues.  I can sometimes get lost in a tangential world!  And this has happened briefly here.  I discovered, through the Photoshop Artistry course I am taking, the work of designer Anna Aspnes.  While I have never done any scrapbooking, I believe that some of Anna's work would be in that genre.  But digitally.  Interesting.  I was inspired by some of her work and, after spending a bit of time on her blog (she sounds lovely), and purchasing a couple of things from the site that sells her work (oh my, again) I put together this little piece.  Took me a whole day, but that's ok.  I find that it is helping to cement some of the techniques from the Artistry course, so it's all good.

This is a piece with several pics that I took from our trip to France in 2014.  I can see where this would be a fun way to put together a memory book.  For all kinds of themes. Birthdays, graduations, summer, whatever.  Well, I suppose that is what the scrapbooking thing is all about,  Fun.

I woke up at three this morning (thank you, Full Moon) and have been up since then, playing around with Photoshop, trying new things, and then trying to figure out how I did them!!!  I love it!  Here are some links to tempt you.  Careful....it's pretty addictive!!!  You've been warned!

http://www.annaaspnesdesigns.com/

http://oscraps.com/

http://fineartgrunge.com/grungecanvas/

The Oregon Coast and moving forward

I am one of those people who often starts a how-to book, or a new course, and who re-does the first chapter or the first module a Hundred times, and never gets any further!!  Mind you, it means I know the first chapter Really Really Well.  But here I am pushing on with my photoshop course and I have moved into the second part of the Second Module.  Second!! Second I tell you!   Yay!

I continue to be absolutely delighted with this course!!  Here is a link to the course, in case you are wondering what all the fuss is about!!

 http://fineartgrunge.com/grungecanvas/

This is a pic I took several years ago on a trip down the Oregon Coast.  The scenery is spectacular and it is such fun to revisit some of my old photos.  Here I am practicing high-grunge technique, vignetting, layering, etc.

One of the advantages of being stuck at my kitchen table is that I can noodle away all day on my laptop, sometimes 8 hours or more, playing away with the information from the course.  Honestly, it is such a lot of fun!  But it's mildly obsessive....oh no wait, maybe that's just me!  And my guy is away for a week just now, so here I am, dawn 'til dusk.  My coffee gets cold, lunch is at three....it's all Perfect!!!!

And I'm starting to think of ways to put some of my pics onto fabric....but not just yet.  Need a bit more mobility for that.

Oh, I do hope you're not getting bored.
Because you know I'll be back....

Which one???

I have had to purchase more space for my Google Drive!  Quelle surprise!  And it's partially because I am saving (far too many of) my images to make comparisons for later, to try to remember what I've done whilst processing them, and so on and so on.  And therein madness lies!!  But it's kind of fun along the way.  For instance, this is a shot I took in Blois several years ago, during a coffee break (yeah, ok, coffee and croissant....but when in France, right??)  Both started out with the lighting effects filter and then one is posterized and the other has a watercolour filter applied to it,  Which one do I like best?? No idea!!!

Hard for me to decide.  I love the cartoon look to it all, however...that I like on both of them.  Such fun!

I'll be back.  Just have to save a few more images.....

Playing with filters

This is way too much fun....playing with filters.  Here I have used the Lighting Effects filter, various artistic filters and much to-ing and fro-ing between the various layers, much learning.  This is a pic I took in the Loire Valley several years ago now....of the Chateau d'Azay-le-rideau.  Built in the early 1500s it is considered to be one of the foremost examples of early Renaissance architecture.  For me?? Fodder for photoshop!!!

I'll be back. Can't seem to stop!  It's all good!