new ATC’s

A few years ago I used to make and exchange ATC’s (Artist Trading Cards) but as we started to travel more I had to choose a more portable hobby and began to dabble in digital creations. Yesterday I had the chance to show a couple of friends how to make ATC’s using (at last) some images from my (huge) stash. These are the ones I made.

a lucky cut with the scissors revealed the words “most faithfully” in the bottom one. Sometimes you don’t actually see what you’ve created until it’s finished. It’s the same with photographs – elements hidden at the time of taking the photo are revealed when you can view the picture on a large screen.

After so much time away from the physical act of creating a collage it was a pleasure to riffle through the images and find things that spoke to me. As always it was also a pleasure to revisit some of the images I’ve collected from various magazines over the years.

Photo Art Friday: collage

Bonnie’s optional challenge this week was to create a collage.

I can see that I haven’t quite mastered the art of blending the edges or making clean selections, but it’s all part of the learning curve. I used one of Bonnie’s textures to draw the finished composition together.

Photo Art Friday 22 March: self portrait

Self Portrait

and some variations

me and my shadow on camel-back in India
In PSE I used the cutout filter and Bonnie’s tiled script texture blended in colour burn

combination of a photo of me and a paper collage I made

PAF – digitally altered still life

I’ve been following Kim Klassen’s Beyond Layers class and this week she asked if we were “makers” or “takers” of photos. “Makers” are those who create their own still life compositions, then take photographs of them and alter them and “Takers” go out and take photographs. I’m definitely a taker; I don’t think I’ve made more than a couple of still life compositions in my whole photographic life. Coincidentally this week Bonnie challenged us to share a ‘digitally manipulated still life’ (as opposed to simply a still life photograph), so this was quite difficult for me. As luck as would have it, I’d taken a series a photos last month of a still life I’d come across in a hotel garden.
I superimposed 2 of the photos in Picasa and then opened the combined image in PSE10. I experimented with several different filters, keeping each result on a different layer. Then I merged them all together and got this as a final result.

weekly photo challenge: renewal

WordPress’ own weekly photo challenge this week was to share a photo featuring “renewal”, however we wished to interpret that.

These photos were taken in the woods near Watersmeet, Lynmouth, North Devon, UK, in the spring of this year and the mosaic of images was created as part of Kim Klassen’s Beyond Layers course.

Don’t forget to go and see how other people have interpreted this prompt.

PDPA-improbable pairing

Bonnie’s challenge to us this week was to share an image featuring “improbable pairing/s”, however we chose to interpret that.

Is Lily dreaming of what might have been/could be? I think there is a certain poignancy to this image of Lily, a lady boy, who works for one of the many cabarets in Chiang Mai and the image of the pigeon. The pigeon, like Lily, wears fake plumage for its feathers have been dyed.

travel theme: art

Ailsa’s challenge this week is to showcase a photo illustrating “art” in whatever form we choose.

Wikepedia defines Art thus: Art is a term that describes a diverse range of human activities and the products of those activities, but here refers to the visual arts, which cover the creation of images or objects in fields including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and other visual media.

This installation has always tickled me – monument to the unknown washer women

it was a tottering pile of brightly coloured washing bowls seen in Luxembourg back in 2005.

More “conventional” art, maybe?

collages made by children, displayed in the tunnel in the Grund area of old Luxembourg

and finally, how about some floral sushi?

PS having just come across another day in paradise‘s contribution in which she mentions that her sister is an artist, I thought I would mention that my sister is an artist too.

you can see her work here. Since we live on opposite sides of the world to each other, I guess this counts as travel too.

the three muses: postage stamps

Whilst exploring an internet link I came across a blog called the three muses and they have a challenge to use postage stamps in some form in your artwork. I love postage stamps and incorporating them into my artwork and made these journal pages

Pebbles was one of my favourite cats

and I think Sandy was my alltime favourite

colour week

This week in Kim Klassen’s Beyond Layers course we were on the lookout for colour. We were encouraged to go out and take photos of different colours for each day of the week. However, since life rarely runs smoothly, we could raid our archives if necessary. All the following photos were taken during the last week.
Monday – green

the heart of a lily, the first leaves of a wild honeysuckle, moss-covered stone steps

Tuesday – yellow

yellow flowers in the local park

Wednesday – pink

pink red currant bush flowers (well I think they’re pink), pink cherry blossom and a selection of pink buttons seen at a fabric fair over the weekend

Thursday – blue

a statue of the Madonna in a roadside shrine, blue fabrics at the fabric fair, blue and white crockery on sale at the antiques fair at the weekend

Friday – red

another Madonna, the bare stems of a cornus bush, blossom on an unidentified tree in the local park

Saturday – rainbow

rainbow fabrics and notions at the fabric fair

other rainbow photos

a box of chocolates

local graffiti

Tiffany lamp in our friend’s office

the real thing

In Thailand, where I have spent many holidays, colour is the key to culture; each day of the week has a colour allotted to it. Thus loyal followers of the King would wear yellow t-shirts on Mondays for example and many office workers don shirts according to the colour of the day. Lucky them, they don’t have to think about what to wear! I’ve created collages for each of the days of my week

Sunday is coloured red for the sun god
Monday is yellow or cream for the moon god
Tuesday is pink for the Mars god
Wednesday is green for the Mercury god
Thursday is orange for the Jupiter god
Friday is sky blue for the Venus god (not goddess)
Saturday is violet for the Saturn god

Children are taught the days by their colours and absorb constant reminders – the scarves tied around trees, boat prows, spirit house pedestals, and sacred posts are selected from the seven lucky hues (never black).

stranger

A while ago Tee Thompson posted an art journal prompt on Facebook called “stranger”. The idea was to draw or paint a stranger or use a photo from a magazine or newspaper and then journal a bit about the life of your stranger.

La Principessa Befania hails from a far-distant land of high peaked mountains and a people known for their fiery dispositions. She is no exception and the expression on her face indicates that she might have mischief on her mind.

La Diva was a regular visitor to the elegant salons of Edwardian England. Known for her saucy outfits and biting wit she was a hit wherever she went.

a slightly different take on Eve where the snake has become a jewelled salamander