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| Just Like in This Image....My Art is Now FREE TO FLY |
I am on a SABBATICAL....well that is what I have been calling it but I guess it is more correct to say that I'm on an art vacation. When I looked up the definition of sabbatical and I found out that they last usually a year. I don't see me putting aside my other obligations for that length of time, but I am determined to make the most of this small window of time I have carved out to really produce more art and to improve my online presence.
I will be blogging regularly, showing off my newest art creations. I will be working on making some holiday collections along with images for my March 2018 show..."I Dare You Not to Smile" that will be presented at the Boulder City Art Gallery in Boulder City, Nevada.
For the past month I have been learning to combine my artwork and digital enhancements using Photoshop. I love the freedom that this program gives me with my artwork. I can fix things, combine separate elements together to change up the compositions and add backgrounds or foregrounds.
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| Up, Up and Away |
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| Digitally Improved |
Here is an example of what I worked on yesterday using a painting I did a year ago. Up, Up and Away was painted especially for my grandson Hunter. His nursery was decorated in elephants and my daughter asked me to do a special artwork piece to hang there. This painting was done on a 16 x 20 canvas in Acrylics.
Because of the way I had painted the balloons I felt that I wasn't really able to produce prints or add the image to cards and magnets as I usually do with my work. Yesterday afternoon I pulled up the image onto my laptop and began working some Photoshop magic on it. I removed the original balloons and the little mouse I painted hanging on the elephants tail. I then downloaded some royalty free png file images of balloons, a stowaway mouse and the blue sky background and I now have a great image that I believe very marketable.
I've added this image with different sayings to both a Child and Toddler T-shirt. I'm planning on ordering them for my two granddaughters birthdays coming up next month.
Zazzle Shop-Elephant T-Shirt
Zazzle Shop-Elephant Toddler Shirt
Making the effort to learn just a little Photoshop has opened an ability for me to take my art to a new level. In my heart I knew it would but each time I tried to learn to use the program for more than cropping the photo I grew frustrated. I tried on several occasions to learn from my children, which resulted in...INSTANT FRUSTRATION!
What was different this time? First I made a list of about 5 things I really wanted to learn how to do and then I started watching YouTube videos. I know this may sound funny, but I have been fascinated with stickers for sometime and I really wanted to learn how to make them. I watched several videos before finding one that made sense to me. I took notes and then spent a whole day working on making a sheet of poorly done stickers, but I learned how the layers work. This had always been the mystery to me and as you know if you know anything about Photoshop, it is ALL ABOUT LAYERS.
I have also been taking my edited JPEGS of my artwork and adding them to a number of products in my Zazzle Shop. Mostly coffee mugs and T-Shirts at this point, but I think they look great and am confident that I will be earning some small royalties on these images soon. Here is several examples of my coffee mugs and an easy to use link in the event you might just want to order one for yourself or to give as a gift.
Zazzle Shop- Online Dating Sparrow Mug
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