Senses Engaged

Aria

2010-11-12T09:28:00.000-08:00

Miss Scarlet

2010-10-29T12:41:00.001-07:00

Image credits include animals from dreamstime, frame from Shadowhouse Creations, and the ringdial from lockstock of deviantART. The woman's photo is a found relative - a purchase made through ebay.

Out of my League

2010-10-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

I have been messing with this collage for days and have finally given up. It's not quite what I would like but have not been able to figure out how to "fix" it. Today I am feeling out of my league regarding photoshop - maybe even 20,000 of them...

Mercury

2010-10-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

Another sample of a photo I had taken in the past and then altered by simply adding some text via Photoshop. I love how the drops of water look on the leaf, thanks to my macro lens. The script in the above photo is a brush available at Obsidian Dawn.

Why I love Photoshop

2010-09-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

I love Photoshop because with a few simple steps you can take an ordinary photo and change it into something completely different. The original photo only had a few layers added to change it into the final image shown on top: I added a layer of text and adjusted the blend mode to darken and added a mask onto this layer to remove the text from showing on the leaves; the next layer was added from a free download provided by Shadowhouse Creations with the blend mode set to difference; finally a duplicate layer of the original photo is placed on top and a mask was added so that only the original colour of the red leaves would be showing.

Spinel

2010-09-24T14:33:00.001-07:00

An abstract piece...

Autumn's Haze

2010-09-02T16:57:00.001-07:00

The mask used over top of the image was a freebie that Marie of Lost Aussie gave to students of her Digital Magic class.

Courtyard

2010-08-30T14:12:00.001-07:00

De-mystified

2010-08-28T07:37:00.001-07:00

Mystified

2010-08-27T15:40:00.001-07:00

The Clockmaker

2010-08-26T08:55:00.001-07:00

Portal

2010-07-15T13:38:00.000-07:00

The background for this collage was also used for Orbital 2. One of the nice things about working digitally, is that when your artwork reaches an interesting stage you can save a duplicate and work on that second piece with different images.

Orbital 2

2010-07-15T13:31:00.001-07:00

Another collage I have been working on that still needs altering/adjusting but I have given up for the time being. As I haven't posted a collage for quite awhile, I decided to post it today in spite of the difficulties. Looking back through my work I see that Orbital 1 gave me similar grief.
(The first orbital collage was done almost two year ago.) http://papercracker.blogspot.com/2008/07/orbital.html

Cusp

2010-06-22T16:32:00.001-07:00

Tempest

2010-05-23T15:53:00.001-07:00

I've been in a creative slump lately which is why the posts have been so few and far between... Fortunately, this week's challenge (movement) over at Digital Whisper led to this collage. The woman's image is from a painting by Thomas Eakins.

Practicing Scales

2010-04-15T16:05:00.001-07:00

Maps Challenge

2010-04-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

Created for this week's challenge over at Three Muses...

Mixed Messages

2010-04-12T01:00:00.000-07:00

Departures

2010-04-11T08:44:00.000-07:00

Blackbird Challenge

2010-04-07T05:59:00.000-07:00

This piece was created for the Three Muses weekly challenge.
We have many red-winged blackbirds around here, so red and black seemed a natural choice when selecting my colors...

Shiraz adjusted

2010-03-28T06:36:00.000-07:00

I have made a few adjustments to Shiraz: adding the compass in the top right corner as well as slightly moving where the sails appear on her hands. I printed this one out on my new Epson printer and the colors are so wonderful! I was doing the happy dance around my room... It wasn't pretty so there are no attached pictures of that.

Opinions wanted

2010-03-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

I was wondering if you would like to help me...
I have the above four versions of this digital collage, tentatively titled at this point "Bitter Medicine". I would like some feedback as to which version you prefer. Sometimes all the options that are available can become a bit of a road block and I am not sure which one to continue working on. Thanks in advance for your input.

Shiraz

2010-03-10T15:16:00.001-08:00

This one may or may not be finished yet... I might still do some tinkering with it. The woman's image comes from a painting by artist Jean-Léon Gérôme who lived in the 1800s.

Sprocket Man

2010-03-10T12:26:00.001-08:00

Perception

2010-03-09T14:15:00.001-08:00

The woman's image comes from a Botticelli painting.

Secret Sunday

2010-03-07T13:44:00.001-08:00

Just a reminder to check out Seth's blog: The Altered Page. Seth has compiled secrets, tips and tricks from over 150 artists. One of my tips is featured today.

Three Muses Challenge

2010-02-27T13:53:00.000-08:00

The Three Muses challenge of the week is Architecture - something I love! There are many different images layered over the woman's face: two different stairways, an arched bridge and a cityscape.

Allegory

2010-02-25T09:57:00.000-08:00

Meridian

2010-02-23T16:45:00.001-08:00

The Thinking Man

2010-02-20T07:24:00.001-08:00

2010-02-18T09:44:00.001-08:00

Untitled

2010-02-16T15:28:00.000-08:00

or should that be Unentitled?
Thinking of lots of stuff with this one... Like how it was wrong for women to be educated and proper ladies spent their time sitting quietly with their needlework. I think this woman is a rebel - rather than sitting still in the corner she would rather be out racing in the fields.

The Winner is...

2010-02-14T15:19:00.000-08:00

Using a random number generator, the winner of my draw is JAX!!
Thank you to all who took the time to visit my blog; I will spend many enjoyable hours over the coming weeks visiting your sites and making new friends.
I would also like to thank Lisa who came up with the wonderful idea of One World One Heart.
Jax your print will go into the mail today. Hope you like it as much as I do!

OWOH

2010-01-25T01:11:00.000-08:00

NOW CLOSED
"What is OWOH", you ask? It stands for One World One Heart and it's a wonderful way to make new friends from around the world, view some lovely eye candy, and maybe even win a prize!

Lisa created this event in 2007, as a means of bringing artists together from all over the planet. She writes this:
Think of this as taking a giant tour of homes; you get to stop in, look around, meet the people who live there, admire and be inspired and before you go on to the next one you leave your name in hopes to win a door prize at each "home".

I will be giving away a print of a digital collage (which image is yet to be determined), and anyone from anywhere may enter to win. All you need to do in order to enter the draw is leave me a comment on this post and make sure that I have a way to contact you if you are the winner. (If you have a blog site please list a link to it in your comments; if you do not have a blog you may still enter my contest-just leave your email address.) The One World One Heart event ends on Feb 15th, and I will draw a winner at random on that date.
Below is a copy of the digital collage which will be mailed to the winner. (Your print will not have the copyright symbol on it.)
Thanks for stopping by and entering!

Return the Forest

2010-01-16T11:22:00.000-08:00

Wave Goodbye

2010-01-08T13:14:00.000-08:00

There have been a lot of Bald Eagles flying around here lately. I have posted some additional photos on my other blog; if you are interested in looking, click here or check the link on my sidebar.

The Truth Seekers

2010-01-02T16:06:00.001-08:00

Perquisition

2009-12-28T12:30:00.001-08:00

Cosmos

2009-12-26T10:39:00.001-08:00

In its most general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from a Greek term κόσμος meaning "order, orderly arrangement..."
-explanation taken from Wikipedia

I've got a Secret...

2009-12-19T15:42:00.001-08:00

and I shared it with Seth at The Altered Page.
Seth is posting tips, tricks and secrets from more than 200 artists over the coming weeks, so be sure to visit his blog.

2009-12-19T11:51:00.000-08:00

I've been mucking about with this one for over a week and have finally given up on it... The cube is a new thing that I am able to do after finally updating my Photoshop to the CS4 version. There are so many new things to learn that it's blowing my mind.

Fragmentation

2009-11-01T14:21:00.000-08:00

Voyager

2009-10-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

I have added a watermark to this image in preparation for selling my art online. I will soon be offering high quality prints of my digital collages through Etsy.

Lyric

2009-10-21T11:08:00.000-07:00

A simple composition of only three images, but I think she will stay as is.

Osmosis

2009-10-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

Pensive

2009-09-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

I will be out of town for awhile attending the Art and Soul event in Portland, Oregon. I am attending classes with Ann Baldwin, Michael deMeng, Daniel Essig and others... 9 classes in 6 days - yikes! I know I will return home exhausted but happy.

Urban

2009-09-24T16:11:00.001-07:00

Land of the Midnight Sun

2009-09-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

This collage uses some of the photos I took in Alaska last week, along with another vintage gentleman.

A Visual Cacophony

2009-09-18T13:34:00.000-07:00

A discordant and meaningless mixture, with a relationship difficult to understand.

The Time Traveler's Other Wife

2009-09-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

In a Quandary

2009-09-15T06:01:00.000-07:00

Within

2009-09-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

Seems I can't get enough of gears and anatomy images lately...

The Mediator

2009-09-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

This image was created for Trudi's Byron book.

Planning Commission

2009-09-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

This image was created for Byron's magical mystery tour and was included in Trudi's book.

Giraffe post

2009-09-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

Postcard was created for the Byron book exchange.

Confused Identity

2009-09-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

Postcard was created for the Byron book exchange.

Discombobulated upon Arrival

2009-09-09T13:08:00.000-07:00

Postcard was created for the Byron book exchange.

Peacock post

2009-09-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

Postcard was created for the Byron book exchange.

Parrot post

2009-09-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

Postcard was created for the Byron book exchange.
Back of the card mentions the colorful birds of Uniqos and how they all seem ready for a cup of tea and a good gossip...

Which One?

2009-09-06T20:56:00.001-07:00

Can't decide which version I prefer -- I would appreciate any feedback as to your choice... I will be away for the next week but have set up a series of postdated entries so that there will be a new image each day that I am away.
Thanks in advance for voting as to which of the above images you like best.

Resin and Rust

2009-09-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

Months ago, I had a conversation with Val of Val's Altered HeART
She had a post on her site on how to rust papers and I LOVED how her rusted map pages turned out. I asked Val if it would be okay to use one of her images in a digital collage and she kindly gave me permission. The tortoise-shell effect in the collage "South Charles" (posted yesterday) comes from Val's paper. Isn't it too cool? Thanks Val for kindly sharing how to achieve this awesome effect on your blog. (Click on Val's name to be taken to her instructions on how to make your own rusted papers.) One of the pictures in this post is an example of some rusted paper that I made using Val's instructions. The other image (with the feather attached) is a sample of printed tissue paper that has been coated with fibreglass resin. It made the tissue paper very thick and brittle and I loved how the resin left large blobs on the bottom of the paper as I had it hanging up to dry.

Classically Abstract

2009-09-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Monocle

2009-09-05T15:10:00.000-07:00

South Charles

2009-09-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

Mechanically Inclined

2009-09-04T08:23:00.000-07:00

New Things...

2009-06-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

There are new photos posted on The Recollection Parlor.
Trudi has been hard at work updating the site with everyone's Byron entries. Pop on over and have a look.

Mona challenge

2009-06-10T12:47:00.001-07:00

Well, it seems I jumped the gun a bit with my door artwork for the Three Muses . This week's challenge is to use the classic image of Mona Lisa. Challenge indeed! I do not like either of these pieces and would love to wipe that smirk off her face at this point. Instead of coming together well both pieces look too jumbled. But I have given up and decided to post them as is!

The Guardian

2009-06-05T11:47:00.000-07:00

This was created for the Three Muses challenge: doors.

2009-05-30T15:23:00.001-07:00

He's got a ticket to ride...

2009-05-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

I have decided to use this ATC for my project with The Recollection Parlor. One of the images used in this collage is a vintage French draft which I purchased from Artchix. The item itself is lovely and after scanning it, I know that I will be using this image quite a bit in the coming months.

Another digital ATC

2009-05-15T13:41:00.000-07:00

Dr Loxton lives high on a hill in a creepy, old house. Strange noises emanate from his basement along with an eerie glow of light. What is he up to in there?

Digital ATC

2009-05-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

I have recently signed up for an ATC swap with members of the Recollection Parlor (see sidebar for link). The central image in this collage was purchased from Ebay--love those "found relatives"! When creating the collage, I was imagining a school teacher. Some of the images used here are from an old dictionary as well as a photo of a feather and an inkwell.

Seeking New Horizons

2009-03-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

I am involved in a swap with The Recollection Parlor
using this man's image (Byron) as inspiration. You may also read more about him on Trudi's site: Two Dresses Studio.

Summer Memories

2009-02-23T13:39:00.000-08:00

Not 100% satisfied with this one, but thought I would go ahead and post it anyway. This collage uses three photos that I took this summer with my new digital camera. I still have a lot to learn on how to use the camera, but I'm enjoying incorporating my own images into my digital collage work. Plus if the image is a little skewed, with all the layers and effects in Photoshop, it can still work out okay. Gotta love that!

Cog-nitive Powers

2009-01-07T15:20:00.000-08:00

Anyone else feel their brain is in need of a tune-up? I've been in a bit of a slump lately, but I'm planning to get back on track and start creating again. Here is today's effort...

Inner Workings

2008-11-25T14:53:00.001-08:00

Perhaps a better title would have been: "What makes you tick?"

Washed up

2008-11-25T12:05:00.001-08:00

Look at this amazing find! Scouring the beach of a local lake revealed some fishy remains. These will be used in assemblage work and the images will likely also show up in some digital collages. (The red arrow is pointing out another tooth that can barely be seen in the scan. I will have to try and take some photos of these items with my macro lens to try and better capture the details.)

Morning and Evening

2008-11-06T12:22:00.000-08:00

2008-11-04T19:28:00.001-08:00

I thought that I would share some of the individual images that went into the final collage. Three of the four shown here were purchased through Dreamstime - a great site for collage artists. You can also find an incredible array of images/textures at Free Photos by Dennis Hill and Friends. (The image of the gothic arch shapes came from this site.) The main image of the boy was on a disc which I purchased from an Ebay store: Prairie Girl Primitives.
If you are wondering where the lion appears in the final collage, there is one eye showing above the boy's head, and to the right.

2008-11-01T05:33:00.000-07:00

The Incomplete Files

2008-09-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

These images are samples of digital collages which I started with good intentions but then got stumped. They are sitting (impatiently) inside my computer, waiting for inspiration to strike. As that hasn't happened yet I have decided to post them as is.

Fragile

2008-08-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

This collage combines some images from Dreamstime along with a background taken from the Earth as Art site. (Image courtesy of USGS National Center for EROS and NASA Landsat Project Science Office.) This particular photo is an image taken of the Terkezi Oasis in the country of Chad. There are a lot of cool images on this site and they will probably be showing up in more of my digital collages in the near future. Thanks to Sapphire who mentioned this awesome source on her blog: http://dakinidreams.blogspot.com/

The Photographer

2008-08-16T15:53:00.001-07:00

This piece includes both the front and back of some old photographs and a scan of a vintage camera lens.

For Queen and Country

2008-07-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

In the cobwebs of my mind

2008-07-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

All the images in this collage were found on the Dreamstime site (www.dreamstime.com). They have a wonderful selection of photos - you can find anything and everything there.

Orbital

2008-07-21T10:33:00.001-07:00

This one needs more work, but I am posting it anyway. I have titled it "Orbital" for the name of the bones in the face and the space images. I am quite fond of the colours in this piece and the image of the earth as viewed from the moon. If you look carefully, you can see part of the moon's surface extending along her lower eyelid.

More Michael

2008-07-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

As soon as I can figure out how to have individual albums on my sidebar, I am going to put all my "Misadventures of Michael" collages into it. I also plan to have one which will act as a junk drawer which will hold all the pieces I have started but haven't completed.

Mistress of the Deep

2008-07-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

Not sure about these last two collages, but I'm posting them anyway. They are a touch weird, just like me!

2008-07-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

"Name that Tune" swap

2008-06-23T16:32:00.000-07:00

Here is another entry for Altered Art Obsession's digital swap. These pages depict a song that I have been listening to quite a lot lately: Secondary Waltz by Mark Knopfler.

Digital Swap

2008-06-17T10:03:00.001-07:00

These are my pages for a digital swap with the Yahoo group: Altered Art Obsession. The mods have come up with an idea to still participate in group swaps, while keeping costs down, via swapping art digitally. Members upload their fatbook pages to a group site and after the deadline you download the pages yourself. This way you eliminate postage costs, you can print the art onto any paper you choose and bind it however you prefer. Great idea, isn't it? The first challenge is to create a fatbook page based on a song and I have chosen Expedition Sailor by Kim Mitchell. I love the lyrics of this song, especially "there is no shore I can't call home".

2008-06-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

I borrowed a book from the local library which is proving to be a big help in my digital collage efforts. If anyone is trying to learn more about this medium, you may be interested in Scott Kelby's books. I am currently working through "Photoshop 7: Down & Dirty Tricks".

The Old Man and the Sea

2008-05-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

Please excuse the Hemingway title, but that's all that came to mind for this image. But that gives me a great idea - how cool would it be to pick favourite book or song titles, and then illustrate them with collage, either digital or traditional?

Peaceful Horizons

2008-05-09T12:13:00.001-07:00

Not sure yet if this one is a keeper. I like the colors and face, but anything else added to it doesn't seem to fit. I went searching for a quote or poem and found this one, which kind of fit with where the collage was going. I added the railway tracks, clouds, water and ship to match the words... I may try re-working it again without the quote and see if I can up with a more cohesive piece.

Michael Rides Again

2008-05-04T18:43:00.000-07:00

One day soon I will have to write about Michael's misadventures. I envision him as a young Indiana Jones type, travelling the world on a mysterious quest.

2008-04-17T09:25:00.001-07:00

Here is a collage that I have been playing with for the last few days. This one is composed of approximately 30 layers, and is my most elaborate effort to date.

Michael's Misadventures part 3

2008-03-28T12:38:00.001-07:00

Slacking vrs Packing

2008-03-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

This is what I worked on today instead of packing for Artfest. I really must get organized as I leave in one week, but again I find myself slacking off.

Companion piece

2008-03-23T11:53:00.001-07:00

I worked on this girl at the same time as the boy posted on March 22nd, and they use a lot of the same images. However, I don't like this piece as much. I am not sure why, perhaps there are too many areas of contrast on this one. The boy's collage seems to blend better (if that makes sense). Anyway, I have messed around with her until I am sick of it, so I am putting it up on the blog and will analyze it again at another time. Sometimes I find that viewing the art on-screen helps me to be more objective. Also giving it some time and then coming back at it with fresh eyes can help. As always, if I mess with it further I will post the new results.

2008-03-22T16:36:00.000-07:00

This collage is composed of the six images shown below in the next entry.