'shrooms and Photoshop

I have a fondness for fungus in nature. I take photos of them in my neighborhood, in the woods and anywhere I can capture their beauty. While walking my terrier, Honey, I've taken loads of pics of mushrooms growing on my neighbors' front yards. The city replaced several trees on their parkways in the Spring, so it was a good summer to see a lot of different varieties. I captured the 'shroom above basking in the sunlight. It was a perfect angle for the shot.

I then went home and uploaded it to my laptop and played with it in Photoshop. I didn't need to enhance or change the actual fungus--it was perfect! But I added some "accessories" to my scene. With the first, I added more mushrooms from previous photoshoots and popped a fairy into the scene.  

With the second scene, I cropped it close and added a photo of a garden gnome from another neighbor's yard. The gnome in this case was pure white cement, so I colored in his clothes and  beard to make my fantasy figure a little bit more believable (that doesn't even make sense, but...).

You never know what you'll discover when you take a walk, whether it's in the city, the suburbs, the countryside or an island. Happy hunting!!
 

Dollar Tree Magic for a Summer Wedding

Imagine a wedding venue where the desserts are 2-bite Bundtinis from Nothing Bundt Bakery and there are 300 of them!! The tiny bites of bliss required some kind of tiered arrangements on which to offer them, So off to my local Dollar Store I went.  My haul included 10 each of three sizes of plates/platters and 4 packages of champagne glasses.

I used both hot glue and E6000 to adhere my "pieces" together and voila! I have ten 3-tiered serving pieces for the wedding venue (drops the mike). 

Challenges I am Entering:
  Moving along with the Times - Clean & Simple
Krafty Chicks - Clean & Simple

Unicorn Challenges - Not a Square

New-to-Me Technique - Hammering Flowers

  

Today I wandered around the neighborhood, looking for inspiration. I can always find it in nature, sure enough I was admiring all the bright colors blooming in neighbors' yards. Asking for permission first, I gathered up a few glowers and/or petals and brought them home to try something new (to me) - hammered flowers.

I decided to use a T-shirt, and prepared it by soaking it in a mixture of milk and Epsom salts. I used a hybrid version of a binder for improving the colors and staying powers of the flowers' imprint. Most Pinterest posts said using soy milk or ash for tie-dyeing but I had none.  

I placed my shirt on a king-sized cutting board I inherited from my mom, then covered my soon-to-be canvas with parchment paper since I had no wax paper. Next came the hammer, and I had a good, intense workout pounding the flowers into my shirt. 

After allowing the flowers to dry a bit, I removed them to admire my new artwork. Hmmm! Maybe haphazard was the wrong way to place the blooms. And the red left a brownish dye color. And the leaves didn't leave their mark much. And some of the prints were unrecognizable. And maybe I should have practiced on watercolor paper first...

Anyway, I learned a new technique and am going to practice what I preach and try this technique on watercolor paper (arranging the blooms artfully). A little progress every day adds up...

Challenges I am Entering:

  Creative Fingers - Anything Goes

  Creative Inspiration - ANything Goes

My Kind of Town...

Frank Sinatra sang it well in the 1964 movie "Robin and the Seven Hoods". The song, "My Kind of Town, Chicago is", was nominated for the Academy Awards that year, but lost out to "Chim Chim Cheree" by Dick Van Dyke.  That song and a new-to-me painting technique inspired me to create my canvas today. It features the Chicago city skyline and a sky exploding with fireworks.

I started with a white canvas, using a free clipart of the Chicago skyline to cover the bottom before painting the top of my canvas black. Using metallic acrylic paints (copper, gold, silver, green & blue), I created a "stamp" out of a cardboard paper roll, snipping its end with scissors and fanning it out before dipping it into various paints and pressing onto the canvas (this is the new-to-me technique).  As I worked from top to bottom, I rolled smaller versions of my "stamp" so the fireworks looked smaller as they neared the cityscape.

I really think it turned out well. I'm going to seal it with gloss vanish before hanging it up in my house. 

Happy 4th of July, everyone! And Happy Birthday, Wendy!

Challenges I am Entering:

Little Red Wagon - Light It Up

DL Art -  July

Halloween & Other Occasions - celebrate your Country

The Four Seasons - July

Leaping into Inspiration

I was out walking Honey, my little terrier, and as I passed the house of a good friend and neighbor, I saw a rusty, older-than-dirt garden deco in the tiny patch of garden where the lamppost resides. He was one ugly toad, but he still managed a big smile. The "before" photo is below.

The photo above features the happy little frog after giving him a makeover. I sanded most of his surface and put on a layer of white gesso. The I pulled out my acrylics and gave him a healthy new look. I even painted the back of Mr. Happy (my name for him) so it would retard the rust. Then I sealed front and back with Gloss varnish and he now looks like he's leaping for joy. Below, he's pretending to be happy but I could tell he wanted a little help...

 Challenges I am Entering: