New Paintover on Visual Journal Page

Good morning everyone! Hope everyone's week is going well. Fall has really rolled in....lots of early morning...what some people would call "gloom." I personally love the cool air in the A.M. I'm quite sure the sun will be out in a few hours. We don't have very many days that the sun doesn't pop out to greet us.
I am posting a new paintover today of my Grandmother. I believe it is from the early 30's. She passed away in 1999 at 90 years old. I did the pic in a 5x7 size & attached to a new journal I am working on. At this point it is strictly a visual journal that is full of things that I love. I am having a blast with something called Texture Magic made by Delta. It is 3 dimensional paint & that is what makes my texture pop...LOVE this stuff at only  $4 something a tube!
Have a great Wednesday!

Time for some Photoshop creations

Good morning everyone! I hope you all had a nice weekend. I did a bit of artwork & watched a little football. I wasn't too thrilled with the football results but...it's early!
I am posting some PSE creations I did a while back. The images came from morguefile.com. I tweaked the hue, saturation & opacity on each of them. The 2nd one reminds me of Lady Gaga but I believe the image was a mannequin. Lady Gaga does have somewhat of a mannequin look about her too though.
I hope you all have a wonderful week full of creative possibilities!

More Paintovers

Good morning everyone. I hope you're all having a good week so far & keeping cool. I guess the kids are all back in school now so that gives you moms a break!

I have 4 painovers this morning. I did run into a problem but I am hoping to overcome that on my next batch. The top shows all of trhem together which is the best shot because it's not too close...not close enough to see all the flaws!

When I went to attach the pic to the canvas I got some white spots on the photo from the canvas. I was using a matte photo paper which I will NOT continue to use. I will either go with cheap copy paper or a laser print from here on. The only pic that didn't come out with the spots was the 1st individual one of my sister Gail & my niece Alexis. Alex is now 27. I used cheap copy paper on that one.  The next photo is my mom, the next is my mom & grandmother & the last is my baby, Tim. Tim is now 45! He hates the fact that I put red socks on him in the pic. He wanted me to paint a flesh tone over those. If you look close you will see the little flaws.....I guess it's just practice practice! I have to thank Lisa Bebi once again as I immediately emailed her with my problem & she was right back to me with suggestions to correct it. Thanks so much, Lisa!

Paintover Class with Lisa Bebi

Good morning everyone! I attended a great class with Lisa Bebi this weekend at Minnie Helvey's home. We were so thrilled to have Lisa come to us for this class & so grateful for all the valuable information we took away from this class. I did not have my camera with me but I took some phone pics of the other girl's work. We had some fabulous images to work with which made it even better. I believe I am headed into a paintover frenzy here this week. I can't wait to do more!! My picture is posted first (of course) & it is my Mother at the age of 5 or so. They are all 8x10. I hope you all have a creative week.

First Plumeria bloom & the Ventura County Fair

Good morning to everyone! I finally have my very first Plumeria bloom I have posted this morning. The plant was started two years ago so it took a while. It is the most wonderful smelling flower...I just love it!

We made a trip to the County Fair on Thursday & I picked up a couple more exotic plants. They're all planted now & the wait is on. Hopefully it won't take two years for these to bloom. I just hope I don't kill them!

I also posted some other pics from the fair...mostly flowers. I did manage to get some Speed Racer in there as well as Howdy Doody. My son loves Speed Racer & I date back to Howdy Doody...UGH:>)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I am looking forward to next weekend when I have a paintover class with none other than......Lisa Bebi!

I CAN'T wait!

Back to Photoshop Elements

Good Tuesday morning everyone! What a gorgeous morning...so nice & cool!

I love that marine layer! Hope you are all having a good week so far.

I have a couple of PSE creations from a while back that I am posting today.

The technique is what I've learned thus far in my Down & Dirty the Digital Way class. I never actually finished that class so it is my intent to get that done this week, I hope. The top photo was a freebie of a bicycle in Prague. The 2nd is a dahlia from the dahlia festival last year in Canby Oregon.

I want to thank you all for your very kind thoughts regarding my loss of Dexter. I LOVE my blogging friends!!!

Getting back into blog posting

Good Friday morning to all! It's been a while since my last post & I won't lie by saying I am so ready to jump back in.....I am forcing myself to take a plunge! Have to get back to some sort of normalcy!

I am starting with a beautiful picture of Dexter that I took a few months ago. A friend of ours, John Miller, who is a fabulous photographer, took my pic & printed it on a 16x20 gallery wrapped canvas. It is drop dead gorgeous & I absolutely LOVE it! I can see my boy's beautiful face all the time now as he hangs on the wall in my den. Miss my angel terribly!

The next photos are a male carousel lion that was carved by one of my hubby's school friends (with my hubby's help.) We've had the male & female lion for some 20 years or so. I sold the male earlier this year & the gentleman that bought it had it painted.  I am showing the before & after pics as we were simply amazed at the beautiful work done by a local artist. Fortunately the man that purchased it lives only about 20 minutes from me & he was nice enough to call me when it was completed. Check this baby out!!!

Hope you all have a beautiful weekend!

Rest in peace my sweet Dexter

Well...I am a bit behind on posting because I have just lacked motivation. My sweet Bengal boy, Dexter crossed over the rainbow bridge on July 4th & our hearts are trying to heal. He got very sick very fast. He spent 4days in the emergency hospital on oxygen but it was all too much for my little angel to overcome. He was not even 5 years old yet & I can't even begin to tell you how much we miss him! He had heart disease as well as severe anemia. They also believe he had lymphoma or leukemia once they did a spleen aspiration.  I want to share some of my favorite pics of my sweet boy....he was indeed the most beautiful boy I have ever had. I should have named him REGAL because that's what he was. 

2ND Piece for Washington Art Show & Sale

Boy, did this week fly by!At least I got a lot accomplished so I guess that's why it went so fast. This morning I have my 2ND piece that's going to Washington next week for the art show & sale I mentioned in my last post. This is a 10x10 canvas that is done with layers & layers of paper, gel medium, glaze, & a little rubber stamping. The image in the center was done with a sheer heaven transfer to tissue paper. I was very pleased with this one, particularly the colors. I didn't shoot pics of the sides of the canvas (unfortunately) but it is a wide gallery wrapped canvas & the sides turned out very nice too. Next week I will mail both of these off.
Wishing you all a wonderful & creative weekend!

New Fabric Collage for Upcoming Art Show & Sale

This is the first piece of two that I did for an upcoming Art show & sale in Everett. Wa. This is being hosted by the 3231 Creatives Gallery. The show runs between July 15th & August 17th.  All pieces are done in a 10x10 format. If any of you are in the Everett area, the address is: 3231 Broadway Ave.  Everett, Wa.  The Facebook link is: http://www.facebook.com/blackdoorstudio#!/event.php?eid=152986018105121.

 Wishing you all a very happy summer!

Mixed Media Collage

Good Morning! I am featuring a mixed media collage this morning done on a 12x12 canvas. It is done with multiple layers of paper, gel medium & a bit of rubber stamping.
The image is a transfer to tissue paper using Sheer Heaven.
I am currently working on a couple of pieces for an upcoming show in Everett, Wa.  next month. I'll share those pieces soon.
I did visit the automotive museum on the weekend & it was AMAZING! I have included a link to my Facebook pics in the event you'd like to take a peek.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2128617131887.2127748.1139713603
Happy hump day!

Some PSE boat variations & flowers

Good Saturday morning everyone. I hope you all have a great weekend planned. I am off to the Mullin Automotive Museum  http://www.mullinautomotivemuseum.com/ this morning & I can't wait!
This morning I have a boat picture that I found at http://morguefile.com/ that I did a couple of PSE variations on. I do like the top one the best. The 3rd photo is a flower in my yard & the rose is also from http://morguefile.com/. The backgrounds & masks are from http://shadowhousecreations.blogspot.com/. Now....I would walk through my process with you but I go so many places with these pics that sometimes I forget how I even got there. I just keep playing & adding more layers, adjusting the hue, saturation & opacity. For some reason I tend to be drawn to boats in spite of the fact that I really have no desire to be on one nor in the water!
Happy Saturday to you all!