Month: February 2018

Pokemon Go

On February 25, 2018

As part of my birthday celebration in February, I flew up to San Francisco to play Pokemon Go on Pier 39 with Adryane and Don. Besides finding enough Wailmer candies to evolve a Wailord, I captured the Dragonite in the screenshot and fought level 5 raids. We played, stopping only for photographs, lunch and dark chocolate, until I had to catch my flight back late that afternoon.

When I caught the screenshot of the Ferry Arch from inside the app and the photo of the Ferry Arch with my FujiX-T2, I was already thinking about making a page remembering the day. This was one of the easiest pages I’ve ever created. It involved combining two photos and some iPhone screenshots using artsy brushes on inverted masks. Directions for creating this page follow.

Create a sketch of the photo, change the blend mode to linear burn and duplicate. Add an inverted mask and use brushes from ArtsyPaint No. 14 and AnnaBlendz Artsy No. 10 to bring back the sketch.

Note: I used Topaz Simplify to create my sketch. You can also create a sketch with Photocopy in the Filter gallery.

Use the same brush sets on inverted masks to add color from the photo copies to the sketch. Place the top color layer on color burn at 100% and the layer below on linear burn at 100%. Use the same technique on the extension of the track.

Place textures 2 and 3 from PaperTextures No. 6 above the photo layers.

Stamp brushes from ArtsyPaint No. 14 on new blank layers in a light blue below the photo.

Place iPhone screenshots on the page, resize and give each a custom shadow. Add thread 9 from UrbanThreadz No. 15 above the cards. Add a Poke ball above the screenshots and give it a shadow.

Note: I found the Poke ball on the internet.

Place photo just below the Pokemon screen shots. Extract and give it a shadow.

Add title and journaling to finish the page.

I want to thank Adryane and her husband, Don for a fabulous day: talking, walking and playing Pokemon Go.

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Photograph Art

By Linda

On February 18, 2018

In Photography, Scrapbooking

After a wonderful visit with my sister last week, I’m just now beginning to work with some of the photographs that I created while in California. Although my art primarily emanates from my photography, at times, a page is inspired by both the photograph and the designs with which I work. In this case, the greens in Anna’s palette inspired me to use this photograph.

I began by placing artsy paper 1 from ArtPlay Palette Heath, but soon switched it out for solid paper 2 in order to eliminate the sky. I placed transfer 1 in the same position as on the artsy paper.

Next, I created a sketch of the photo and clipped it to mask 1 from FotoBlendz Overlays No. 11. I changed the color of the mask to white to accommodate a blend mode of linear burn on my sketch.

Above the sketch, I clipped the photo, added an inverted layer mask and revealed the color photo by stamping on the mask with brushes from ArtsyPaint No. 7 and ArtsyPaint No. 8. The photo layer is on normal blend mode at 100%. I added a levels adjustment layer above the photo on overlay blend mode to brighten the photo.

Next, I roughly extracted the pagoda from a second copy of the sketch and placed it above the other photo layers. I changed the blend mode to linear burn at 100% but I did not clip it to the mask. That allowed the pagoda to dominate the scene since it wasn’t clipped to the mask. I also place art stroke 1 above the group of photo layers.

With the addition of a title and text from Inspire WordART Mix No. 1, a button and leaf from ArtPlay Palette Heath, a thread 14 from ButtonThreadz No. 1 and some journaling, I finished my page.

Initially I struggled with where to place the journaling, but after I extracted the pagoda so that it rose above the masking, I though it provided enough balance to place the little cluster, text and word art on the right side. I like that the photo still dominates the page.

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Huntington Library

By Linda

On February 5, 2018

In Photography

My twin and I had a wonderful first day of celebration of our birthday. Today we walked the Huntington Gardens and had lunch on a patio; the weather was that fantastic. It was also an opportunity for me to help my sister learn to use her camera. She’s learning quickly.

I tried using the shrub to frame the Asian art.

This was shot with my 35mm, 50mm equivalent on my crop camera, so it’s not macro quality. However, I liked the bokeh behind the flower. Although I had brought my macro lens with me, I used only my normal lens on this walk.

Another favorite was this small nook in the Japanese garden.

White is really hard to capture, but it helped that I shot in raw. Moving the highlights to the left in Lightroom made a big difference.

I was surprised to see geese in the Chinese garden. It’s hard to see but there is one sitting on the bridge.

I liked the light coming through the openings of the bridge from the other side.

Of course it’s always a good idea to try a vertical perspective.

The glare from the ceiling lights made it difficult to capture Pinkie and Blue Boy, but working with ISO and aperture was a good experience for my sister. I shot these in raw with my Fuji X-T2 for a friend. No flash is allowed in the galleries at the Huntington Library.

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On a Flight

By Linda

On February 4, 2018

In Scrapbooking

On my flight to California, I created this page with Anna’s new ArtPlay Palette Lavaliere. I’m in California celebrating a birthday with my twin sister, so you are more likely to see photos rather than pages on my blog this week.

I began this page by placing solid paper 4 from ArtPlay Palette Lavaliere as well as the layers of file 4 from MultiMedia Lock and Key No. 1.

Note: I adjusted the color of the lock by clipping a Hue and Saturation adjustment layer to the group of file 4 layers. I also later added a layer mask to erase a part of the image so that it wouldn’t interfere with my photo.

Below the multimedia file layers, I stamped two copies of brush 4 in Lock and Key N0. 1 in a warm pink and changed the blend mode to linear burn at 100%. I added glow 2 from LoveGlows No. 2 and changed the blend mode to color at 100%.

I then placed a photo of my granddaughter between the lock and the brush layers and blended the photo into the background paper. I duplicated the photo and I extracted her with the Magic Wand tool before giving her image a custom drop shadow.

Next, I placed the layers of file 4 from Artsy Transfers Lavaliere. I adjusted the color of the transfer layer with a Hue and Saturation adjustment layer. I placed glow 1 from ArtPlay Palette Sun Fun on color burn at 100% to brighten the right corner.

Note: I added a Levels adjustment layer to the solid paper at 50% on screen blend mode. I also went back to adjust the blending of photo layers.

Finally, I added a title and journaling to finish my layout.

While working on this layout, I thought about what Anna shared in her AnnaNews email this week regarding changes she’s making in order to make more progress on the things she wants to accomplish. I think my art play was a great use of my time on the flight to Los Angeles even if I forgot to put on my AirPods so I could listen to some of my unfinished coursework while I played. That’s what I intended to do. Maybe on the flight home I will.

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