More Experiments

I am lucky that I have time this week until my regular job starts up to play around with my digital art. This first piece is done for another friend of mine who had a black cat named Gdowski. Ellen sculpts all kinds of fish and dragons with polymer clay, so I thought they should be represented. Again, these images were created using elements from Deviant Scrap and Scrapbook Graphics.

This next one is of my husky Cheyenne, who is very photogenic. Most of these elements came from Scrapbook Graphics and Designer Digitals.

Finally, the last image is strictly me playing around with different backgrounds, and roses from Deviant Art stock.

Flooring Project

A friend of mine is revamping her art studio, including the floor. She wants to add old book pages and imagery, and has asked her friends to make images for her. I made these two images with both personal photography and elements from Deviant Scrap and Scrapbook Graphics.

My friend needs these images to be more monochromatic and earth toned, which is not my usual color palette, so this was a little bit of a challenge. Anyway, they are ready for her to use.

New Year, New Work

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I have started some new digital pieces, and am having a blast with Photoshop. Since I have some time in January before my work starts up again, I have been doing a number of tutorials and learning new skills in Photoshop. I have also discovered some really great sites for digital elements to enhance your own photography, or to create your own image.

These images used products from Scrapbook Graphics and Deviant Scrap. I also used stock images from JoesSistah on Flickr, and stock imagery from Celairen and Ec-stock found on Deviant Art.

Here are 3 images I have finished this past week.

Virginia Vacation

We just got back from visiting family in rural Virginia, where the scenery is amazing. One of my favorite things to do there is to just drive around the countryside, taking photos of old buildings, barns, and of course the beautiful Shenandoah mountains.

Since my photography skills are somewhat lacking, I like to tweak the images I take in Photoshop, removing phone poles, signs, and cars, then I add painterly effects digitally.

New Encaustic Fossil Series

This week I have started a new encaustic fossil series incorporating imagery on a wood panel, encaustic medium, and oil sticks.

I recently bought some R & F pigment sticks, and they are by far the best oil sticks I have used.

I am using images manipulated in Photoshop, then printed and glued to a gessoed wood panel. Then I apply encaustic medium, fuse and then apply the oil sticks. By layering the oil sticks and wax, the painting becomes quite luminous.

I really enjoy working with these new oil sticks, and in this new more pastel color palette. I am going to let these dry for a couple of days, then see if more layers of color and wax are needed.

All Dolls Are Art Conference

Well, I finally got some pictures of the things I made in my classes at ADAA. I took Lisa Renner's classes on "Reliquary Doll" and "Bird Peeps", and I just love my little creations.

Lisa is a very good friend of mine, and is extraordinarily talented. She is also one of the best teachers out there. No one, and I really mean no one else puts as much time and effort into all the class handouts and class kits.

The conference is the very first for this group, and I thought it was well organized with lots of class choices. I was glad to see some mixed media classes offered, as I do not sew at all.

Aladdin's Genies

I have been working on a group of dolls I am calling "Aladdin's Genies", since they all originate with a glass bottle. I am enjoying playing around with them, and seeing all their different personalities. They are made of glass bottles, polymer clay, inks, chalks, paint, wire and fibers. I hope you enjoy them.

I also attended an art doll conference; All Dolls Are Art, which was fabulous. I will be posting pictures at a later date.