Cc is for Creative Collaboration

This image is a collaboration between me and the sea.The pattern is created by the action of the tides on the sand and beach rocks.

I don't think this needs any enhancement from me - my job here was merely to notice, capture and share this tiny moment of nature's art.

Tomorrow is the last day of the month and the challenge. Phew!

L is for Lovely Luminous Light

This image began as a photograph of winter dry bushes reflected in a puddle.

I loved the hot color of the bushes and the bright cool  blue patches created by the sun shining on the water.


It was strong in its original form but  I wanted to see what I could do with it in Photoshop.

With just two tweaks, the image was transformed from photo to painting and I am thrilled with the  light, airy and luminous feel of this piece.

For me, image editing is a wonderful way to be creative and calm at the same time.

I is for Inspiration

We spent the winter traveling, "snowbirding" - spending our time in places where the sun shone and the weather was warm.

We traveled along down Route One - along the Pacific coast. Such beauty I hated to blink my eyes in case I might miss something.

So, I started to take pictures. Whether on the beach or in the desert, I found that I was drawn to taking pictures of the ever changing sky. Sunrise, sunsets, sunny days and stormy ones. In spite of my goal to draw or paint every day, our travel time was busy, our camper small, and I soon realized that my art was being created with my camera.


No matter where we were, I watched the sky -  the way colors change as the light grows or fades, how water and sky can blend together or reflect each other in different ways, and how different the colors are in a desert sky. Now, just looking at my photos returns me to a different place and time.

This photo was taken on the California coast on a day that could not seem to make up its mind. The color of the clouds and the light on the horizon was truly so beautiful I almost forgot to try to capture it.

I love working with my camera - for me this process is both inspiration and instant gratification.

Z is for Zinnias

YAY! I've made it through the alphabet, though not yet through the entire month. After 26 days I really feel like I am in a productive and creative zone, and glad to be meeting my own goal of creating and sharing something everyday for this month.

Today's work is based on a photograph of zinnias - it is done in Photoshop.

Once again, setting out to plan a painting, I have combined digital effects that result in an image that reads as a painting, and provides me with the guide I need to move to the canvas. However, once again, I feel like this stands alone as a work of art worth sharing.

I have always loved making computer art. I have decades of experience in graphic design using all kinds of computer art tools - CorelDraw 1 anybody?  But I used to feel guilty about using my tools to create "fine art."  Lately though, the more I experiment, the more images I create, the more my point of view shifts. I think art happens where and how it happens -

For me, using digital tools allows me to build my visual and my technical skills. They also enable me to accomplish another of my goals for this month - to understand how to abstract an image. As I play with Photoshop and Illustrator, I begin to see how to simplify, how textures and shapes combine to "read" as flowers, or seascapes or sunsets. Most of all, no matter where the working takes place,  I am LEARNING everyday and with every piece.

How do you feel about painting in Photoshop or other digital tools? How do you use them in conjunction with your art?

P is for playing, peppers and Photoshop

Today is Art Everyday Month, day 16!

I have had a busy day. I taught 18 kids in my Young Rembrandts class this afternoon and spent the morning prepping. 

There was grocery shopping, dog walking and dinner prep in the mix too. By the time I am getting around to making my everyday art, I am out of ideas, and out of energy.

But, I am determined to do something everyday, so I opened Picasa and started scrolling through my pix seeking inspiration. Last summer I had a huge harvest of wild looking peppers - I took many pictures of them, and even drew some. One of my favorite photos swam into my vision. OK - P is for peppers.

The pepper in the photos are bright bright red and green and shiny  - somehow the colors are not grabbing me tonight - but the wild curvy shapes are interesting. So, I opened the image in Photoshop and just started to play - there is lovely music playing in the background, and frankly, trying filters and effects on photos with Photoshop is my idea of relaxation. I think the results are relaxing too - and so different from the original image. They have gone from garden reality to undersea abstraction with just the clicks of a mouse.

Once again this brings me to the value of this challenge - I am amazing myself with the variety of approaches I have at my fingertips. I feel like I am stretching and building my art muscles each day. Today's image suggests an idea for a painting .... so, who knows what tomorrow will bring.

H is for How-to

I love to combine Photoshop with drawing, or use it to make digital pictures look like paintings, or enhance an image, or design a card, or, or, or ....

Photoshop is not an easy tool to master (in my opinion). Though I was adept at many other graphic and photo editing programs, (often self taught), I needed real help to learn how to make the most of this tool.

Even after years of use, I have only scratched the surface of its potential. I first learned how to use it by taking an online course. This was a great - I had all the time I needed to practice the lessons and the techniques on my own computer and my schedule. It was kind of an art everyday challenge in itself. When I was done with a lesson I posted it to the class website and had the benefit of class and teacher critique. Not only did I learn a lot, the positive comments really boosted my self-confidence, and the results of the lessons often became the basis for graphic design projects for my business.

Now, one of my favorite ways to expand my skills and try out new techniques is to explore Photoshop tutorials online for inspiration.  Sometimes I look for something particular (once I needed to create bubbles with faces inside - and yes, by combining several tutorials, succeeded.)  Often, I just happen upon an idea that appeals to me and try it out. 

Today's image is built on one of my favorite photos. I took this at sunset one night at the beach - I loved the warm light of the original, so I decided to try the process described in a tutorial I Stumbled Upon to enhance the light and see what happened.

Which brings me to a caveat about tutorials - not all of them actually make sense to me - this was the case with the one I worked from. I don't think I did it right - but, I accidentally created a beautiful texture layer which, when I combined it with the original image, added a depth of light and warmth that I really like. Sometimes the mistakes lead to the best outcomes. When I completed the tutorial steps, I began to play with this using some of my favorite tricks - and this is the result.

I see lots of comments from other AEDM participants about  the challenges of using Photoshop. I suggest googling Photoshop Tutorials (or go to the Adobe website) and see what you find. Try them out ... share what you create. And, don't be afraid to mess up - you never know what might appear.

Ten Tips for a Camera Safari and a Photo Contest for Kids

Taking photographs encourages kids to focus on the world in new ways, develop their ability to observe, and see the world from different perspectives. In other words, taking pictures encourages kids to be creative and strengthen several core thinking skills (focus and observation to name just two.)

Viewing photographs, in their infinite variety of images and colors, inspires kids to try to capture, save and share their vision of the world.

In my course for teachers and mentors one of the most popular assignments is a Photo Safari, a project that encourages students to share their world in a visual way by taking pictures of people and places in their community. This experience can have amazing results - for the photographers and for the viewers.

All it requires is access to a digital camera, and the technical ability to move the images from the camera to a computer. There are endless possibilities for sharing the photos you take, but that's another post.

One more thing that will help, is knowing a few tips you can use that will result in a better photo. Thanks to photographer and videographer John Waller for the great suggestions included below.

Waller is the originator of the Photo of the Year (POTY) contest, a fundraising event since 2002 that has raised thousands of dollars for the MESD Outdoor School Program. Over the years this great contest has expanded in many ways. It now includes a category for entries from photographers under 18.

About the contest: Youth: Any students out there with a strong attachment to your digital camera? This category is for photos taken by those 18 and under. Use that youthful imagination and make your mom proud. TEACHERS, say it with us, "Hmm...Photo of the Year...what a great addition to my curriculum...I should email the folks at POTY about submitting photos as a class!"

For more information, and to enter your kids' work, click here.

I hope you will take some time to visit the website, view the amazing outdoor photos, and share them with the kids your work with. Then, encourage them to grab a camera, head outdoors, and see what develops. And, please share your photos and experiences here - (photos can be posted to this blog - ask me how! Just post a comment at the end of this post and I will provide a How-to)

Ten Tips for Better Photographs

1. Be in the right place at the right time. Get out there, look around, and take your camera. It is tough to take great photographs if even one of those actions is missing.

2. Take lots of pictures. Digital photography has opened up a world of possibility to the amateur photographer because now you can instantly review your pictures. Adjust your settings, try different angles, or capture the action at different moments. The more photographs you take, the more likely you are to get a great shot. But remember what worked and what didn't and apply this new understanding when you take the next picture.

3. Watch the sun. The best times to take pictures are usually early in the morning and early evening; the worst time is generally midday, when light it most harsh.

4. Flash away. Just because you are outdoors doesn't mean you should put away your flash. Subjects in shadow can appear much too dark when compared to a bright sunny backdrop. When using your flash outdoors, the camera exposes the background first, then adds in the flash to illuminate your subject.

5. Get close up. Investigate the world around you in finer detail and you will discover a wealth of photo opportunities right at your feet. Most cameras have a macro mode that make getting those close up shots of insects and flowers a snap. Or when you are shooting action, zoom in so we can see the beads of sweat on an athlete's forehead.

6. Anticipate what is going to happen. To take a great outdoor action shot, you need to prepare for it in advance. What might happen, what would be the best angle, and are your settings appropriate? Then when your buddy cuts a sweet turn on their skies down the mountain, you'll be there to take the picture.

7. Use a tripod for low light. Those sweet sunsets, or moonrises, or starry night shots can be really sweet pictures if they are sharp and crisp. But a tripod is necessary because even the slightest shiver or tremble from a hand-held camera can cause the scene to blur.

8. The rule of thirds. This time tested rule tells us that we should not put the horizon line in the middle of the shot, but rather drop it to the bottom third or the top third depending on what meaning you want to convey. A low horizon conveys a sense of open, vast airiness, and a high horizon instills a sense that the land is the dominant force. The same is true for framing people.

9. Get a sense of perspective. Sometimes having a person in your scenic picture really impresses how big those mountains, or that cliff, or waterfall, or landscape really is.

10. Get creative. There are a lot of predictable photographs out there. The unconventional photographs really grab people's attention.

Play around with angles and settings and HAVE FUN!

Art Every Day: O is for Observation (and maybe Obsession)

Day 15

Today's picture is a digital image, a photograph of the sky viewed from the top of the hill in the park on the mushroom expedition. What grabbed my attention was the group of stripes in the middle of the clouds.

I have always been highly visual. I learn best by watching, I notice tiny details all around me, and most of all, I am aware of color. The advent of a digital camera in my life offered incredible opportunities for observation and focus. I especially enjoy the ability to see things from a macro perspective (see my flower pictures on this blog.) The process of viewing the world through the digital lens has clearly increased my powers of observation.

Then I started to paint from my photographs. My early efforts were most successful when I painted the lights and the darks that I saw. I spent hours searching my Picasa files finding images that would work to allow me to use the new skills I was developing. Seascapes, sunsets, images with strong contrast worked the best.

This new way of seeing, and my quest for images to paint became apparent in the photos I took. And my photos were definitely better. But there was more change coming. Soon, when I looked at an object or a scene, I began to think about how I could paint it. I observed carefully, running questions through my mind. Where were the lights? What were the colors in the shadows? What shapes, what lines did I see? I had the odd experience of walking into familiar places and seeing them in new ways - with an eye toward recreating them on my page.

Which brings me back to today's image. The sky over the park was huge - but the light was only in the sky, the earth was dark. I wanted to highlight the stripes of clouds I find so beautiful. I used my digital tools to open the foreground, illuminate the sky and make the colors as vibrant here as they are in my imagination.