This photo shows a view of the inside of the heart-shaped box, the collage and decoupage project that I finally finished over the weekend. The box once held a Mother's Day gift from my daughter. A friend gave me a some craft materials she no longer wanted, and among them was a bag of printed metallic ribbon. I used bits of that ribbon to create the designs that cover the surfaces.
Yesterday I finally finished this collage and decoupage project, a heart-shaped box that I covered with decoupage and collage created from printed metallic ribbons. This photo shows a view of the top of the box.
Today I finally finished this project, a heart-shaped box covered with collage and decoupage designs created from printed metallic ribbon. I finished all the cutting and pasting earlier in the week, and have been working on painting the inside wall of the box top, which I finished yesterday. I am happy with the texture, especially because it reflects the ribbon on the adjacent surface. Today I painted all of the exposed edged and patched and filled any gaps I could find. It was hard to get the paint to adhere to the surface of the box, so it took several coats, and there were four heart-shaped perimeters to do. I had dark gold and light gold craft paint, and experimented with the brush work till I got the look I wanted. I am happy to be finished with this project, and glad for how it turned out. It has taken quite a long time, but I will miss working on it.
This is a necklace that I made this afternoon. I started with the color combination of the copper-colored leather cord and the Chinese jade disk. Then I added the big wooden bead and the little brass bead, tied the knots, adjusted the length a bit, and I was done.
This is a digitally modified photograph that began with the picture of the main road at Long Hill Gardens that I posted here yesterday. I took the photo with my iPhone camera, and before I transferred the image to my computer, I made a duplicate and used the Camera Bag app to apply the Colorcross effect. I liked the crazy colors, but when I saw the image on my computer screen, I knew I had a problem: the photo was much too dark. I lightened the image as much as I could and I still had some interesting color, except for the sky, which had turned white. So I opened the image in Painter, intending only to fix the sky with a color overlay. But after I did that, I continued to experiment. (One of my painting teachers taught me that being forced to solve a problem is a good way to make art -- maybe because it gets you to think creatively.) In Painter, I could see that adjusting the lighting had meant losing definition along the road and in the tree branches. I tried an overall digital woodcut effect, but didn't like the result. But I realized that I could use the selection tool to apply the woodcut effect only to some of the tree branches, and that helped. Then I used the selection tool to add definition to some areas of the road with a combination of posterizing and woodcut effects. Finally, I hit some dark areas in the snow with digital airbrush. I liked the result, and here it is. Thanks, Prof. Daigle, wherever you are. You were right. I learned a lot tonight.
It was sunny today, with temperatures in the thirties, so we went to Long Hill Gardens for a walk. The afternoon sunlight looked good on the snow, so I took some pictures. This is the tree-lined lane that leads from the entrance up to the main building. Tonight I cropped the original photo to get this composition, and used Painter to do some selective posterizing.
This heart-shaped box is still a work in progress. Apart from minor fixes, I am finished with cutting and pasting bits of printed metallic ribbon. Now I am painting the inside wall of the box top. I got started yesterday, and at first I was nervous about getting paint on the collaged surfaces. I am using two different colors of gold metalic craft paint (acrylic) mixed with glossy medium to get very thin layers. I thought it might be difficult to get the paint to stick to the shiny surface of the box, and I was right. So I used thin layers, figuring that paint woul stick to paint, and that seems to work. After applying three very thin layers, I am starting to see results, but I think I will need two or three more layers to cover the surface (which would take about an hour altogether.) In this photo, you can still see the orange of the paste-board showing through. As I applied the paint, my vertical brush strokes created a natural pattern. With the third coat, I decided to try horizontal strokes over the vertical ones to get better coverage and in the process also realized that the horizontal and vertical marks would create a pattern that looks something like the texture of the woven metallic ribbon.
This image started with one of the photos that I took at Lynch Park, during our recent and short-lived warm spell. I used my iPhone camera to take the picture, and then afterward used the Camera Bag app to apply the Cinema effect, which seemed to create some dramatic colors. Tonight I used iPhoto to adjust the contrast and lighting because the rocks were much darker than they appear in this image. Then I cropped the image to get this composition.
This a posterized version of the image I posted yesterday, a digital woodcut created from a photo that I took at Lynch Park, here in Beverly, MA. Last night, I used Painter to clean up the photo (and the snow in the photo) with a digital airbrush, and then to transform it into a digital woodcut. I liked the woodcut, but suddenly wondered what would happen if I posterized a digital woodcut. I tried it, and this is the result. (This is something I had never tried before, so I am happy to have found a new process.) Anyway, I liked the result, so here it is.
Yesterday we had a February thaw, with the high temperature at 59 degrees. Even though the snow is still piled up pretty high, it was a good day for a walk at Lynch Park. I haven't been to Lynch Park since our big snow storms. The city sends snow from the streets over to the parks in dump trucks, so the parking lot was full of great mounds of snow, making it hard to even tell where we were. But in the park itself, the paths were clear and we had a nice walk. It was great because lately it has been impossible to walk outside because of the ice and snow on the sidewalks. I took lots of pictures, in part because I didn't need gloves ,so it was easier to use the iPhone camera. This composition was one of the best shots from yesterday's walk. I liked the way the curves of the path echoed the curves of the shoreline. However, in the original photo, the snow banks next to the path are incredibly dirty. So tonight I opened the image in Painter and used digital airbrush to lighten the problem areas. Then I used Painter's woodcut effect, experimenting with the controls until I got what I wanted. After that, I made my final crop, and here it is. I also created a posterized version of this woodcut (never occurred to me to try that) and I plan to post it here tomorrow.
This is a collage and decoupage project, a heart-shaped box that I am covering with decoupage and collage created with printed metallic ribbon. This project is still in progress, but it is almost finished. Yesterday I finally completed the red area (floor of the interior) by filling the remaining gaps with bits of red-orange ribbon. So now all the collage and decoupage is basically done, and the cutting and pasting is finished. (There are still some very tiny gaps I will fill with paint and a tiny brush.) So there is only one more major step, one more surface left to cover: the interior of the box top. I have decided to just paint it with gold-colored acrylic paint. That way, the box will close easily and I can avoid wear and tear of friction between two collaged surfaces. Then I will also paint any exposed edges, too. Painting is much faster than pasting bits of ribbon, so this last part should go quickly, and I am very nearly done.
Yesterday I posted a sketch that I made on my iPad with the Brushes app. The image is four mountains, influenced by memories of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. I was trying to learn how to use transparent layers of color to create the look of a watercolor. On the iPad, Brushes captures a stroke-by-stroke video as you draw, so if you press play, you can watch as I struggle to learn something new.
This is a digital sketch made on my iPad with the Brushes app. Tonight I decided to try to "paint" with transparent layers of color, to get the color to behave something like watercolor paint. I have been able to do that with my Painter software, but Brushes behaves quite differently so there is definitely a learning curve. Tonight I felt like I was beginning to get the hang of it. Although I worked from my imagination, the shapes, color palette, and horizon line are all drawn from my memories of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. On the iPad, Brushes captures a stroke-by-stroke video as you draw. If I am able to post the video tomorrow, everyone can watch me struggle to make this work.
Here is a close-up photo of the inside of the heart-shaped box, as it looked two days ago, when I finished the interior wall. (I say finished even though I know I may still see gaps that need to be fixed.) This photo shows the patterns I am making with bits of printed metallic ribbon. Today I worked for just thirty minutes on filling in gaps in the bright red area (floor of box). You can see some of the gaps in this photo. The process of filling in the gaps is very tedious, and the difference is hard to see, but as I close up gaps with bright red-orange ribbon, the intensity of the red will increase, so I will wait till I finish that area to post again. After that, I will use gold-colored acrylic paint on the inside wall of the lid, and on any remaining raw edges. So I think am close to finishing, which is good, because I need to start painting for a show this spring, and I could use the extra room in my studio.
It is fun to see all the flowers on display in the stores this time of year, a great contrast to the ice and snow still piled up outside. This image started with a photograph that I took with my iPhone over the weekend during a trip to Whole Foods. Although the iPhone camera faithfully captured the colors and lighting, unfortunately it also captured several labels, tags, and floral wire that I hadn't seen in my excitement over the flowers. Oh, well. If you wait for anything to be perfect (love, flowers, or just a photograph), you can end up waiting a long, long time. So tonight I opened the original photo in Painter and used digital pastel to draw over the unwanted items to make them disappear. I also used just a little cut-and-paste. Then I posterized the image a little bit, and cropped it to get this composition.
This is a collage and decoupage project in progress, a heart-shaped box that I am covering with designs created from bits of printed metallic ribbon. Yesterday and again today, I have been working on finishing the inside wall of the box, filling in gaps. As the gaps get smaller, the work becomes more intense because it is hard to handle the tiny pieces of ribbon. Today I finally finished the inside wall, although no doubt I will find mistakes to fix. I feel like I might actually finish this project sometime this decade. What is still left to do: fill in remaining gaps on the red area in the interior of the box (which I started doing today, using bright red-orange pieces), and then finish the interior wall of the top of the box. At this point, I plan to paint that surface with gold paint. To be continued. . . .
Even though I have become used to the weather here north of Boston, and even though I do love taking pictures of snow, I have to admit that this has been a challenging winter. The weather report says temperatures will warm up into the thirties this week, and I am already thinking about spring. Today I saw some tulips--only at the grocery store--but here north of Boston, you have to take signs of spring where you can find them. This was at Whole Foods, and the sign said "Parrot Tulips". The sign and the bright flowers made me smile, so I took a picture. Tonight I cropped this image from the original photograph.
This is a photograph that I took last week, on the morning of February 8. We had some snow overnight, nothing much compared to some of recent snowstorms, but enough to dust the branches of the trees. I liked the contrast of the these two trees, so I took a picture. Tonight I cropped the original photo to get this composition.
Yesterday I set aside an hour to work on this project. This heart-shaped box once held a Mother's Day gift from my daughter. Now I am covering it with collage and decoupage patterns created from printed metallic ribbons. (The ribbons are also recycled, given to me by a friend). I am still working on the interior wall of the box. At this point, I am filling in remaining gaps. I did pretty much run out of the pink, green, and blue pattern that I was using. So now I am using another pattern. It is also pink, but floral, so there are also bits of green in it. It blends in and I think I have enough of it to finish.
This is another image cropped from the photo I took in the new courtyard in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. I posterized the photograph using Painter. Then I did some close-in cropping to create compositions that are almost abstract. What I was after was the light, color, geometry, and of course, the play with interior and exterior space.
Yesterday's post was a posterized and digitally edited photograph that I took on Sunday at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. I was fascinated by the new courtyard, which plays with interior and exterior space. I especially liked the way the windows reflected other parts of the museum, creating a sense of double exposure. This is one of the compositions that I cropped out of the image that I posted here last night.
This began with a photo that I took during yesterday's excursion to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. I liked the new courtyard so I took some pictures. I liked the play of inside and outside and the reflections of the buildings on glass that created a sense of double exposure. Tonight I opened the original version of this photo in Painter and posterized it; I didn't want the figures to be recognizable images of the people I photographed, so I did some additional posterizing and applied digital chalk to change the figures. After I finished this image, I cropped out some additional close-ups from it, which I hope to post here soon.
I took this photograph today during an excursion into Boston. My daughter and I went to the Museum of Fine Arts to have lunch and to see the new wing. Lunch was great, and we saw some beautiful exhibits. Today was full of surprises, and one of them was walking around a corner at of an exhibition in the new wing, opening a door, and suddenly finding myself in a glass-walled corridor, looking out at Boston skyline. I loved the play of inside/outside! This reminded me of a similar glass-walled corridor with an ocean view in Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA). Anyway, the light was amazing, so I took some pictures with my iPhone camera. This is the best of the photos. You can see the Prudential Center, as well as the John Hancock building, in the background. Apart from cropping the image to get this composition, I didn't do anything to it. The color is just as it came out of the camera.
I made another necklace today, this time with incised Chinese jade and wooden beads on a copper-colored leather cord. Even though I had to undo and redo some knots (which isn't at all fun), I like this method because the knots become part of the design.
Yesterday I posted an image of a winter rooftop, cropped from a photograph that I took yesterday. Today I went back to the originals in that set of photos, but this time I cropped out a different composition without the roof and showing more of the tree. Then I opened it in Painter and posterized it.
After a two-day snow-storm, I spent time today running around town doing all the errands I hadn't been able to take care of for the past few days. Even though the sun was shining and the snow was beautiful, I didn't stop to take pictures. But the late afternoon light was wonderful, so I grabbed my iPhone camera. The subject matter was nothing special: a garage roof and some branches, but the sunlight on the snow was amazing. Tonight I cropped this image out of the original, and posterized it using Painter.
I didn't plan to make jewelry today, but I was standing in my studio contemplating the huge amount of snow on the roof over my head, and noticed a small paper bag with some beads I bought last year. I saw the purple wooden beads in the bag, and I immediately remembered that I bought them to combine with Chinese jade. At that point, I was waiting around to answer the door (people coming with ladders to clear some snow off the gutters), so I decided to see if I could put a necklace together while I waited. So I laid the beads out on the design board, and started tying knots. Before you know it, I had snow cleared off the roof, worries gone, and a necklace finished.
Here north of Boston, it's another day, another snowstorm. But today's weather meant an opportunity to work on this project for an hour. I am covering this heart-shaped box with collage and decoupage created from printed metallic ribbons. Today I continued to work on the inside wall of the box, which I am covering in a predominately pale pink pattern that also has dark pink, blue, and rose in it. At this point, I am filling in the gaps, which means the pieces are getting smaller and smaller, and so it becomes more time consuming to make the pieces fit. It isn't a race (good thing!), but I am glad to see progress.
