Mobile Art Monday No. 54

This week's Mobile Art Monday brought to you on Wednesday.

Apps used: Procreate and iColorama.

This was supposed to be a simple test to see how my last tutorial would work on a building.
I got carried away and couldn't give it up. I had to try and make something of it.

In the first part of this edit, I followed the steps in the last tutorial here using these images in iColorama.

The only thing I did different was the blend mode was set to Color Burn when I imported the 'sketch'.

*I saved this to camera roll and eventually used it later in my workflow. 

At this point I went on to play... (be sure to click Apply to save your changes.)
In Form>Mirror Preset 17. I saved this edit to camera roll to use later. (You never know what you might need.) Did NOT click Apply.

Still in Form>Mirror but with Preset 11. I applied this edit and moved on.

In this step I did 2 things.

A. Effects>Blend.  I imported my original cropped photo because I wanted more of the windows brought back. Masked out the other areas. Clicked Apply.

B. Effects >Blend. I imported the sketch again to give more definition to the roof. Blend mode was set to Multiply and masked out most of the lower area. Clicked Apply.

The sky was too blank so I imported the other 'mirror' photo that was saved previously. Effects>Blend>Multiply. Rotated it and masked out all but the corner. Clicked Apply.

I went back to Style>Tensor but used Preset 4. I imported the sketch photo and got this streaky effect.

One more photo import... Effects>Blend. This time I imported the first saved edit.*

I saved one version with a Color Blend Mode and another with Hard Light.

Switching gears, I started importing images into layers in Procreate.
I started with the last two, reducing the opacity on the Hard Light layer.
Next came the sketch image at Color Burn.
A new blank layer to add sketch lines of my own.
A previously edited image for texture in the sky area.
Tiny evergreen trees.
A large leafless tree.
And a paint layer for enhancements and dodging and burning.
All it seems to be missing is a few birds so I added them today.

Hope you're having some fun with mobile art no matter what day it is.

Taste Crisis

I feel like I'm in the middle of a 'taste' crisis. I browse the digital scrapbook stores, seeing varying styles and none really seem to appeal at the moment. Not enough to buy any which is good for my pocket book for awhile. 

I look at my friends art, totally enamored with some yet not knowing how to begin to do something similar.

I'm feeling very unsettled. Perhaps I should be out working in the garden...

Today I cleaned the desktop of my iMac. I've always created a folder on the desktop titled "Desk cleaned (date)". My current folder was titled Feb 2016. Inside it was various files plus a folder titled Desk Sept. Inside that was another titled On My Desk July. Inside that was another for May 2015. Besides all these folders a ton of files or photos were randomly scattered throughout. 

They haven't all disappeared but I threw a ton of stuff in the trash and backed up others. Right now those folders are still there but I think I'll put them all in one called To Put Away and save that for another day.  (This is to say nothing about the stuff stacked up in my Downloads folder.) Can anyone relate?

I am proud to say that as I cleaned my current desktop off, nothing was added to that folder.

It was nice to look back at some old work with new eyes, even back to 2009 (not sure why some of those things were there.) And I sure looked a lot younger 5 years ago. 

This was a try out of Picsart on my iPad.

It will add layers but not show them for editing after the effect is applied. Sort of similar to iColorama. I'll be exploring it more.

Milk and Cookies

I found this awesome little tea cup with no handle on a trip to Santa Fe. It was made by a local potter, who sells under the name of Magpie Pottery. She also made the cute little spoon.

My version of milk and cookies for Be Still 52 is this divine chocolate and some chocolate mint tea from Artful Tea. I've become addicted to Bark Thins, snacking chocolate. (Another great find, or was it?) Before, I could take or leave chocolate, no big deal. My taste has changed.

Another great find this week was a partially shot roll of film in a old camera from my collection. It's an Ansco Color Clipper that was made back in the 40's and 50's. 

I was rearranging the shelves and decided to check out the old baby. I'm just old enough to recognize a roll that has more shots on it. It was a bit hard to figure how to even use the camera but I was determined and snapped a few around the house. The film was dropped of at the local camera store today and one of the guys there is going to develop it himself. I'll be real curious to see what shows up.

Hipstamatic, Tinto 1884 Lens, Robusta Film

Linking up with Kim for Friday Finds.

Texture Tuesday May 27

It's the free and easy edition today, over at Kim's Texture Tuesday. Something I've been waiting for! So guess what? You are getting more peonies and a text tip.
This first one is textured with kk_0405 and kk_simple2. Layers shot below.

Here's a tip….After you've finished your quote…

1. Merge the text layers together.
2. Make a selection by Command(Control) clicking the thumbnail of that layer.
3. Click on the eyeball to turn off the visibility of the text layer.
4. In the Adjustment panel (or Menu) add a Levels adjustment layer. Your selection will disappear and look like nothing has happened. 
5. Now adjust the levels slider by pulling the left slider to the right to darken and reveal your text.

I posted this yesterday but just had to show it again. I'm trying to work through the Start2Finish class a second time around and make improvements. A collage from the above shoot with my peonies starting to dry up.

Come on over and check out what everyone's been texturing.

Friday Finds Feb 21

This morning I found that it had been 8 days since I last unloaded my camera. (Normally that's not unusual but these past 2 months I had been more on top of this.) There were some interesting goodies there, however I don't have time to process them before I head to work. So I'll bid you a fabulous weekend with some of my favorite 'reds'!

Linking up with Kim for Friday Finds.

Direction

I've been thinking long and hard about how I've not scrapbooked this year at all. I think I've made 2 pages. (besides the two I made this week)

It's time to figure out a direction. 

I've felt torn a lot.

Hadn't even used Photoshop as much since I fell head over heals in love with iPad apps. I now have 4 folders of them. A different one for 'cameras' and a different one for 'font type' apps. I should really weed a few out. The last trip I took to Amarillo I even left my big girl camera home (Gasp! I heard you.) Yes, and I got great pics to play with.

I would never give up my 'big girl' camera though.
Besides all that, I've been collecting mixed media art junk. What ever am I thinking!?!
One of my goals is to have an iPhone art show in this town. There, I said it. Now to outline a few steps to get there.
Instead of scraping a few things off my plate, I seem to keep adding. And they are all really good deserts. Maybe that's the problem. To many sweets, not enough meat.
The butterflies are migrating through so I've been on the look out. Here's who found their way to my zinnia's for a refreshing beverage. Some a bit tattered, such is life.

The black swallowtail put on a good show for me. I loved catching the little guys in flight.

I also found some mushrooms begging for attention.

And my zinnias are looking the best they have all summer. The butterflies seem to like them more than anything else. 

Linking up with Kim at Friday Finds and Nancy at Random Five Friday.

My random five:

Black Swallowtail

Clouded Sulfur

Fiery Skipper

Gulf Fritillary & Variegated Fritillary

Common Buckeye

Still hoping to spot some monarchs.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

More Poppies Please

Yes, I'm going to milk these poppies for all they're worth.

Chevron brush from Fragments Too available here.

I like the 'translucent-ness' of these.

 And the starkness of this shot.

I've recently gotten a new iMac and I've been frustrated over the 'little things'. Like my icons previews have been disappearing. Then I go open a folder and they're stacked on top of each other and all over the place. I've been a Mac girl forever and this is the worst transition I've ever had. At least my Photoshop is running faster than ever. But sometimes my curser disappears. I threw the Finder preference file in the trash and restarted. That helped with the preview problem. It's hard to get any work done around here!

Friday Finds and Random Facts

I search for coffee cups on every trip I take. Lately I've been more picky about what I buy.
Yesterday I found this at our local grocery store. They really do have an awesome gift/decor area. This was another shopping trip where I had to go back and get a cart. I found a perfect 'vase' to go on the mantle, that I've put off redecorating, and it was heavy. Too heavy to carry with a cup and small watermelon and a cool package of napkins. I took one last glance toward the floral section and decided to go check out lest my purchase go over $100. That vase was more than what I normally spend on a purse. However I splurged on my last purse, and it's a gorgeous dusty coral!
This lovely holds a lot of coffee, I won't need a refill. Don't you love the scalloped edge? More coral. It's from Creative Co-op. I've noticed a few of their things at the grocer before. Now that I've visited their website I will have to investigate further. The nectarine was sooooo juicy, I will go back for more.

Kim Klassen's kk_teatime texture with a slight hue adjustment layer toward the green.

Edits in Lightroom and CS6.

Linking up to Friday Finds over at the Cafe and Random 5 Friday.

5 Random Facts

1. In North Dakota if you walk through tall grass, chances are you will get ticks. 
2. If you sit under trees, chances are you will get ticks. 
3. They crawl very fast. 
4. Insect repellent around your lower legs does not help. 
5. Don't try to wash them down the sink. They will crawl right back out.

  

Beyond Beyond Day 9

Homework. Funny, now that I'm older I actually like homework. Especially if it has to do with photography. Class with Kim Klassen, Beyond Beyond Type Tricks.
The last couple days have been a bit rough, so when I saw this cup staring me in eyes from a TJ Max shelf, I knew it would come home with me. Fortunately I had just gotten the tulips yesterday.
Edited in Lightroom. Texture by Kim Klassen. Layers pallet below.

Linking up with Texture Tuesday, Kim Klassen.

Linking up with Tuesday Muse, with Nancy Claeys

Walk and Click, Our Yard

Linking up with Walk and Click Wednesdays with Lissa. Come join us.

After our little January snow I had to take inventory around the garden. The rising sun was beautiful that morning but didn't shine for long.

I edited this in Lightroom and used the preset, Colorful HDR Effect.  Colorful is the last thing I'd call it, however there was not much color in my images to start with. Speaking of Lightroom, there is a new magazine available only on the iPad and the first issue is free. Check it out on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips.

Cuppa TextureTuesday

It's Texture Tuesday and today's theme is Cuppa Love. I've spent too much time shooting my coffee this morning, I'm really needing to drink it since I've been awake since 4 AM.

• Edited in Lightroom with basic edits, then added BDP Glamour 1 from Preset Pond (free). 
• Assembled with a template in Lightroom's Print Module. 
• 'Printed' as a jpeg to desktop.  
• In Photoshop added Kim's 1301 texture twice.  
• Yes, the cookies were so good I ate 3, then made more coffee. 
• See layers below and SOOLightroom.

Join us with your favorite cup photos and link up at Kim's blog, Kim Klassen Cafe.

Local Color

I've been inspired by Sally's humor so I'm showing a little local color today.