Mosaic Mask for Photoshop Elements

By on 9-30-2011 in Mixed Media, Original photos, Places to See, Vintage

parliament buildings

At the new Just Art, a digital art and scrapbooking site we were discussing mosaic filters but in Photoshop Elements the technique for using this filter on a layers mask is not possible without creating the mask first. I have created this one to test out how well it would work using a black and white image, putting it through the mosaic filter and using that as your mask. This is how it turned out. I changed the mask colour to one of the sky colours and used the multiply filter on it as well. I am including the mask if you would like to try it yourself, just right click and save to download it. The photo I used is of our Canadian Parliament Buildings taken from the back, across the Ottawa River at the Museum. It is an interesting effect. The link for the new site is: Just Art . Come on over if you want to share and learn with the rest of us, you will be welcomed.

mask

Clay horses have dreams too, created for the Just Art Challenge on Facebook

By on 9-30-2011 in Mixed Media, Original photos, Places to See, Vintage

The first month for the Just Art Challenge on Facebook brought us a challenge to use a coloured image along with outlines of that same image. There have been some wonderful pieces done. This is my piece along with a sample of different filters and effects done in PSE 11. The terra cotta horse was one on display at our museum several years ago. I fell in love with the fellow which is approximately the size of a pony. An amazing piece of art. I used a filter from the sketch series, a background, two horse shapes along with some effects and transparencies and the brushes in eraser mode to first bring out the clay horse and then to take away some of the background of the horse image.

clay horse

This is a sample I did using several different filters and effects before working on the piece itself. I did not however, use brushes on this piece. The original image without filters is in the middle.

Part photo-partsketch examples

Paintings have a life of their own ……

By on 9-30-2011 in Mixed Media, Original photos, Places to See, Vintage

This piece was done for The Digital Scrapbooking Studio’s January art challenge. I used a paper and a brush given to us by Jilbert who was hosting the challenge this month. I chose the photo as soon as I saw the papers. They were made for each other. The quote of Vincent Van Gogh’s is one of my favourite of his. I love his paintings and the way he layered strokes of paint on a canvas and created a masterpiece.

Art Challenge Jan 2015

Sisters ….. vintage photos of my sister and I

By on 9-30-2011 in Mixed Media, Original photos, Places to See, Vintage

When the ATC theme of sisters came up on the Art For the Creative Mind Yahoo group, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I had these two great photos of my sister and I when we were very young in Toronto. I’m the little blonde. One was taken with us dressed in our ballet tutus and the other in dresses made by my grandmother. She was one of the best artists with a needle I know. She could take a bit of this and a bit of that and make wonderful outfits for us. The little kitten in that photo just did not want to be there….I can still remember the scratches even now.

sisters
I gave us both new outfits in Photoshop Elements along with Princess crowns…lots of glimmer and bits of threads as well.

sisters

These dresses had bright red trim and buttons … I loved this dress and wore my sister’s hand-me-down as well. The front bib bodice was pleated as well…where the bruises were I added band aids and another pair of Princess crowns of course. These were so much fun to do as they brought me back to the early years.

sisters,backs
sisters, backs
These are the backs of the ATCs … I create a back that is interesting and holds all the information as well. The front of a piece is not the only canvas to cover and it is always important to sign your work.

Printing Plate Images from the Almonte Mill Museum

By on 9-30-2011 in Mixed Media, Original photos, Places to See, Vintage

My visit to the Almonte Museum last year yielded several wonderful printing plates. I couldn’t resist using them for digital images.

Printing Plate Image

The original plates are the orange plates. I changed the image from colour to black and white and then recoloured them. Faces were left as is and I rotated the others to give a right side up print.

Printing Plate Image

These images could be used on a digital or scanned background, set into transparency to hover above the background and another image set over top of that. Lots of play with these old plates.

Printing Plate Images

You could also transfer the images to fabric to use in your fabric arts or onto paper for a little ATC.

ATC backgrounds for Spring

By on 9-30-2011 in Mixed Media, Original photos, Places to See, Vintage

ATC backgrounds

It’s amazing what you can do when you capture a piece of a high resolution photo. You can filter and style them until they no longer look like the object they are. I created a page of ATC backgrounds for your Spring creations. These came from earlier photos from the summer of 2011.