Spring Lilacs

Since I'm sooo in the mood for Spring and anxiously awaiting its arrival, I thought I'd post some photos I took last year of some Lilacs. It'll probably be another month here before mine bloom, so these will have to do until then.

I love the smell of Lilacs in bloom, don't you? I don't think it really even feels like Spring until I can smell the Lilacs in the air. Hurry up, Spring. I'm waiting!

Sea Sisters Digital Collage

Last week's challenge at the Collage Obsession blog was to use some vintage photos of mermaids in a collage. I didn't have time last week to create a collage for this challenge, but I still wanted to use those mermaids to create something to add to my Digital Collages collection. So even though I'm tardy to that party, here is what I created using the 2 mermaid images they provided.

I started with a digital photograph of a rocky beach shore on Lake Erie that I took while on vacation a few years ago. I altered that photo quite a bit and added my usual watercolor effect, and then I added in the mermaids, along with some flowers for an extra pop of color. And that is my Sea Sisters digital collage. I really like how it turned out. :)

John at The Lake

My time in my studio has slowed down such a great deal the last month or two. I'm hoping that will change come this fall; but for now, when I am unable to spend the hours I'd like to getting down and dirty in the studio, I focus my creative energies on my digital art. It's kind of funny too, because I never thought I'd be one to get so excited doing digital art. But I really do absolutely positively love it! I hope you enjoy my creations a bit too.

This digital sketch I've created is from a photo I took of the Hubs at Lake Michigan last year. We always try to spend a weekend by the water somewhere for our anniversary each year, so this was one of those trips.

Ahh, memories. That's the stuff, isn't it?

I Do Believe in Fairies

I'm sure it's fairly clear by now that I love taking pictures of my granddaughter. I also have a thing for fairies. And it must be equally clear that I'm rather obsessed with digital photos and digital art right now. So please forgive me if I post another digital image creation of my granddaughter. Or should I say, the fairy who looks just like her...

I absolutely love how this turned out.  My husband even requested a printed version of it. Believe me, THAT is a compliment. And somehow I think there are more fairy photos in my future. ;)

It's Destiny

It's been nearly a month since I've been able to get into my studio. So unfortunately, I haven't been able to do much creating of late. I've only been doing digital art during that time, mostly of Michael Jackson, since he's pretty  much my favorite subject matter these days. :) But I did do one edit of a photo I took of my granddaughter, Destiny, on Easter. Thought I'd share that since I haven't been able to share much else lately.

I decided to make the background of the photo black and white, and leave Destiny in color to make her really pop out more. I love how it turned out. And I know I am not impartial, but doesn't she look adorable in her Easter dress? ;)

I'm quite fond of using this technique in my digital work. It's really a great way to add emphasis to almost any photo. I post all of my MJ edits and digital art on my ArtChick4MJ blog, if you have interest in seeing more of what I do there.

When I can't get into my studio, digital art is my creative outlet and refuge. Whether it's just editing digital photos or creating different types of digital collage or other digital art, it's what gets me through until I can get into my studio again.

Sunflower Landing

This is a digital image creation that I made from one of my own sunflower photos, Dylan's Sunflower, that I took last summer. I'm calling it Sunflower Landing. I've created it for the 3 Muses Black & White Challenge.  We had to use the Black & White theme, but that was really our only limitation, and how we interpret that theme is up to each artist. Any medium can be used for the 3 Muses challenges too, which gives us a lot of wonderful creative freedom. And in this case, it gave me an excuse to play around with digitally editing and altering my own photos, which I really enjoy.

I wanted to create an image that would appear as if it came right out of my sketchbook. So I took my sunflower photo and first changed it from color to black and white. Then I gave it a bit of extra contrast. And then I gave it a watercolor pencil effect that has no color. Next I wanted just a little pop of color, so I added the colorful butterfly to the sunflower's leaf. And finally, I added a frame to the photo that makes it look as if I've torn it out of my sketchbook.

I used PhotoScape to edit this photo. Normally I would use PaintShopPro, but I only have that program on my laptop, and I keep PhotoScape on my desktop PC for when I want to edit photos from there.

I really love how this turned out, and it makes me want to do more with digital editing of my own photographs. It also makes me want Spring to hurry up and get here, especially after the 10-12 inches of snow we got yesterday!