{continuing pages for Christmas Art jOURNaL}...

A few page options for my Christmas Journal.

I've included a couple of magazine pictures I have been saving to use in the journal

along with a couple of altered photos.

 

 The page below includes more personal Christmas items.  Along with one

of the same magazine photos.

I plan to use one of these 1st two photo layouts as the first page in the journal. Then beginning with page 2 I will

begin the family photo pages interspersed with all sorts of non tradition page sizes and items.

 

The 2 photos below are from the box I packed these ornaments in last year.

 I'm not sure which of these photos I perfer.

But I think they will be on the inside back cover.

Before I can assemble the pages I will need to decide what will be on the outside back cover and page 2.  I have begun the first of the family photos from 1972.  But haven't any idea about the back cover yet.

But enough time has been spent on this for now.

 

I didn't get enough takers for my photo challenge to do a post.  But if Eden still wants to send hers I will post it.  Thanks Eden, maybe next time more will join it.  I think maybe you have to have hundreds of viewers for a challege to work.

{from photograph to faux painting and challenge}...

I set out to create a piece of art in red and yellows.  Not colors I usually work with.

Using only PSE, and a bit of luck with my layering I came up with this.

I am really pleased with the results.



Once I created the photo I attached it to a 3" wide styoform block that I had prepared with a

plaster texture.  This allows it to sit on a table or hang on a wall.  It's now at the Raven Cafe

Collage Show.



Below is the original photo from moguefile.com  

I don't have all of the layers available to show as I work with so many combinations

it's difficult to remember which one's I keep. 

But after doing a bit of cropping, and a hue/saturation to tone down the colors

I tried a Gaussian blur, which I often try, but rarely keep as the results seem to just create an out of focus photo.  And not in a pleasing way.  But this time it looked really great and showed real promise.  I then add a greenish yellow layer a couple of times and grunged it up a bit with some brushes.

 

It's just amazing how this nice photo can become so much more.

If you took a dozen people, even a hundred people they would all come up with just as many

other amazing results.

 

Which suggests.

 Why not offer a challenge.  Is anyone game?  What can you do with this photo?

Here' the link to the original photo.  http://morguefile.com/archive/display/690489

As these photos are free to use I don't think this is a problem.

 

If you leave a comment to let me know you'd like to participate I'll know who to wait for

and collect everyone's

photo for a later post.

 

Just email me your photo and I will post all the results here.

My email is at the top right column.

 

No rules.  Just do your own thing.

 

I hope you will join in.

{last hurrah for summer flowers}...

" they" say Summertime is coming to it's  official end this weekend.

But our temps are still well into the 80's  (which is a very summertime heat) and yes the wild sunflowers are in full bloom.  But I'm not quite ready to bring in the yellow sunflowers.

 Yet.

So after bring in some fresh cut Echinacea flowers.  I shot a few photos of the old dried

Echinaceas.  Then spent too much time playing with them in PSE.  But I enjoyed every moment

of it.  I haven't been in PSE much this summer so it was time well enjoyed.

 

There are sooooo many choices in photo editing and I always wonder why I am so attracted to

whatever it is I see in them that is so beautiful to me.  Why this combination of layers?   Rather than another?   So when I came across the following quote from Carl Jung.  I knew I was not alone in my wondering.  And that there must be something to it.

 

Trust that which gives you meaning

 and accept it as your guide. ~ Carl Jung

 

Now if I just knew where is was guiding me!