Before and After.......................

I thought I would share, with you, one of the reasons I love Photoshop Elements so much. This picture is one that I took on a road trip to Vermont in early Fall. I fell in love with this cart and thought I would use it in someway in a future art piece. The first picture, here, is the "before" shot (the original one that I took). The second picture is the example of the same picture but I played around with it in Photoshop with cropping, filters, tinting, etc. There is so much one can do with this program and use for cards, in collages, making notecards, etc. It's almost like you can turn a photo into looking like a watercolor painting, a poster, sponged work, distressed brushing - no end to the fun! A note here, too, is the original picture was a colored one and Photoshop offers you the option of turning your colored photo into black and white and this is what I did here. :) Love, Marilyn

Love was in bloom.....................

Recently a friend of mine scanned pictures of her mom and dad and sent them to me. These were the only pictures she had of them and I was honored that she shared them.

I decided to work on a little digital art, today, and decided to use these as a surprise to Linda. :)

I hope she likes what I did.

I hope everyone had a terrific holiday!

Love, Marilyn

Digital Holiday Greeting :)

I am wishing you all a very happy, healthy, and safe holiday. May your traditions offer you and yours joyous moments that last well into your new year.

I look forward to sharing more art and thoughts with all of you in the coming new year!

Love, Marilyn

A Matchbox Shrine................................:)

These are pictures of a matchbox shrine I've been working on. The first picture is of the completely closed shrine. I just recently learned how to make those delicate paper roses from a very special person in my life. They are made from walnut ink-stained natural coffee filters! The "window" was cut out and a piece of Mica added for effect. The top of box was painted with crackle paint then distressed with slightly darker color. I had a lot of fun adding beads and other embellishments. The second picture is of the inside of the box. I added ribbon along the inside edges. The "halo" on the image is an actual charm that I found in my stash along with the gold wings. The third picture is the back of the shrine as I wanted you to see that I wrapped fabric around the box and added some lace as well. Thank you all for visiting and know how much I appreciate your supportive and lovely comments always! Love to all - Marilyn

Deco pages .................... :)

I decided to take a little break from holiday stuff today and have some fun creating in two Deco books that I currently have. The triangular pages; the theme is Friends/Birds/Nests and this is one of my favorite subjects :)

The tag-shaped pages; the theme is Old-Fashioned Christmas. I enjoyed this, as well, and on the first page, I decided to use my digital collage as a base; it seemed to fit the theme :)
Hope everyone is having a great day! Love, Marilyn

Holiday Photoshop greeting.................

I had a lot of fun with this one using Photoshop Elements. The sweet girl is from a Christmas card I received and I just love her! I scanned her in, cropped and added her into this Victorian scene which was another holiday card that I scanned. It just seemed the two were meant to be combined. I used some filters (Rough Pastels) for the girl along with some shading and coloring. I added the flower on her hat and even added some snowflakes with the paint brush.

The text was added as a final step.

Happy Holidays everyone and may your traditions offer you peace, joy, and comfort that lasts well into the new year! Love, Marilyn

More Photoshop Fun.............:)

I won't be uploading a lot of artwork, for awhile, as I'm working hard on some handmade gifts for friends and if I upload pictures of them on my Blog, my friends will see and not be surprised :) I will wait and upload them after holiday.

In meantime, I am having more fun with Photoshop Elements and family pictures. This is a picture of my son, David, who just turned 31 not too long ago. Where did the time go? Whew!

This was a black/white photo of him and I had fun playing with his picture using some cool filters, effects and color.

I think red is definitely his color! :)

Love you David!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend................................Love, Marilyn

Photoshop fun.......................

I've been working on holiday cards and some handmade gifts so I thought I would take a little break and play with Photoshop Elements for a little bit today. I think my favorite tool in Photoshop is the Filters option. You can really create some cool effects!

I'm wishing you all a great upcoming weekend!

Love, Marilyn

Holiday Card sampling..........

Today is a good day to get to finishing my holiday cards and start addressing them since our weather is not good and we're in for a mess tonight into tomorrow.

This is a picture of two cards that I've worked on. The poinsettia card I hand-painted; thought I'd try a few of these. The other card is an altered holiday card; one that was store bought that I altered a bit. The image was an angel but I gessoed the background out and created a new one, added some coordinating ribbon and embellishment. The background was painted then stamped over with silver metallic ink using a lace background stamp.

I hope you all are having a good weekend. Love, Marilyn

Katherine.................:)

Katherine Hepburn has always been and still is my favorite actress. I, to this day, love watching old movies of hers. I used to really enjoy her personal interviews learning the quotes that she's lived by, her independent attitude, not being afraid to speak her mind, and while still being a little modest about her talent. She used to live by these three quotes:

"The Truth Shall Make You Free"

"Fight for Independence" - both of these were by George Bernard Shaw

"Independence is the Solution" - this one was her father's.

I recently had the opportunity of joining an art exchange and the theme is Bookmarks. We make 3 for 3, different, and the bookmarks must address a favorite book that we've read. Katherine Hepburn wrote a book called Me and it was a delight to read and I still re-read it occasionally when I'm in need of a little inspiration. I call it when I need a little "attitude adjustment" :)

This is a picture of my bookmarks for the exchange. I had to jump on this chance to honor Katherine in my way.

Artfully yours.....................Marilyn

Giving Thanks...............................:)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Today is the day we give thanks for all the things we have been blessed with; particularly the people, in our lives, who we love and care about.

I want to thank you all, on this day, for your continued friendships, support, caring and love that you send my way each and every day. I am very thankful for all of you!

May the traditions of your holiday offer you peace, love and comfort with the people in your lives who you love and care about.

Love to all...................................................Marilyn

Rose........................

I have many favorite collectibles. I would say old music scores and sheets are right up there in the top ten! This is a little Photoshop fun I had with a music score I found at a flea market during the summer. It was instant love of the cover.

A rose by any other name???????

Have a great day and I wish you and yours a very peaceful and Happy Thanksgiving!

Love, Marilyn

Serenity..............

This is a piece I did a couple of days ago. It measures approx. 5 x 7 and is done on illustration board.

I stamped the Geisha (my favorite) and watercolored using Twinkling H20's. I used acrylic daubers directly on a Penny Black stamp for the foliage.

Have a great weekend! Love, Marilyn

Words are powerful :)

My husband and I took a road trip, not too long ago, to Woodstock, Vt. It's a beautiful picture-postcard little town that offers delightful visual splendor as well as the best pumpkin pie I've ever had!!

As one enters Woodstock, Vt., you are greeted with a beautiful park that is across from the Woodstock Inn Resort. The town often holds community events there; and fall is a very busy time. The day we were there, the town was putting on a chili festival and the aroma in the air, between the fall leaves and the chili, was almost too much to bear :)

Luckily, I had my camera on me and decided to take some shots at the park. Much to my surprise, at every tree base, there are these slate slabs with quotes on them! I thought I would share a few of my favorites with you and please feel free to use these in any way you would like.

Words are so powerful and coming across these quotes on such a beautiful day, made me realize I just had to capture them and share with very special people in my life.

Enjoy the moments! Love, Marilyn

A Change of Pace................

This is a recent digital collage of mine.

I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday weekend.

Happy Veteran's Day and thoughts are with all who served and who are still serving our country.

Love to all.................Marilyn

Everything but the kitchen sink.......

Today I felt like working on what I call "lab work". I like to take some time and just experiment with things I've learned; no pressure, just play and see what happens.

This is an 8 x 10 done on illustration board. The base is charcoal, then gel medium spread with an adhesive tool, working in with textured items including free-hand shapes with skewer, screen pieces, jar lids, my fingers, etc. Acrylics are washed over and the result is a total surprise! Fun, fun, fun.....

Love, Marilyn

'tis nearing the season!

I cannot believe that the holidays are approaching already. If the weather is an indicator, you wouldn't know it here. It's been mild, sunny, just beautiful really and it hasn't quite registered that holiday time is near.

I did make a little headway starting my holiday cards and today began working on some handmade gifts and I even managed to get this holiday-themed 4 x 4 page for an exchange done. I thought I'd share a picture of it with you.

Thanks for visiting and leaving your lovely, supportive and meaningful comments!

Love to all.................Marilyn

Expression........................

This is an 8 x 10 canvas that I worked on this week and finished today. It is a mix of acrylics and collaging. The base is actually torn decorative papers with acrylic washes using alcohol to lighten up areas. I included some delicate Unryu and watercolored rice papers.

The woman is actually my first attempt at free-hand painting a figure! She's supposed to be smiling a bit more, but I couldn't get her mouth just right. Oh well; perhaps she's reflecting on her surroundings :)

I had fun adding in some real dried Queen Anne's Lace and after sinking them into some gel medium, once they dried, I went over them with a little white gesso.

I wish you all a safe and happy upcoming weekend! Love, Marilyn

Haley.........................:)

I thought it would be fitting that I introduce you all to a friend of mine. Her name is Haley and she's a 3-year old Golden Retriever who comes to visit my husband and I on occasion. We had the privilege of Haley's company, yesterday, with her "Dad" James.

Haley has really touched our hearts and I think she has the most beautiful face! We love when she visits her "Aunt" Marilyn and "Uncle" Ted; it makes for a really special day.

Enjoy!

Love to all........................Marilyn

Two Color Exercise.................

This was another challenging exercise for me during the Karen Rosasco workshop. I think this will be the last one for awhile; I'm getting ready to move on to other things :)

The first picture is the first "start" of this particular exercise. We had to choose two acrylic colors and paint random shapes onto watercolor paper, adding texture stamping. Then we were asked to start blending the colors while continuing to add texture.

I ended up, with what I thought, appeared to be the beginning of buildings, doorways, etc.

The last picture is what I ended up with. I just finished this piece today. I call it "View of a Village". As I started to add my line work, I could see a crowded village forming; perhaps an Asian village. I added some hints of rooftops, doors, more painting, and a few embellishments.

Thanks for visiting! Love - Marilyn

Another workshop project..............

This was another exercise project during my Karen Rosasco workshop last week. The first picture is of a "grid-type" painting that we had to do then add some foils and other elements. I wasn't quite happy with it so today I decided to work on it a little more and came up with more of what I was seeing going on here. We had to use rich colors of acrylics and also some texture stamping. I love adding foils in collage. I named this piece "Human Study" as I like the way the bird is perched on top of the foil piece. It looks like he's studying the woman. We are so often observing and studying the birds.

I hope you're all having an artful weekend......Love, Marilyn

A Lesson in Value :)

Here is another example of one of our lessons at the Karen Rosasco workshop from last week. I think this one was the hardest of all the exercises.

Karen had a notebook of a number of Andrew Wyeth prints and we, as students, had to choose one to work with. At first I was very excited as Andrew Wyeth is one of my favorite painters. I have a few prints of his around my house. Anyway, after we chose our print, we had to turn it sideways and paint on a large sheet of watercolor paper the "values" that we see. My excitement quickly turned to anxt. We had to eliminate any "realistic" things that we saw in the print. We could use only three colors of acrylics and we could add one more medium that we chose. I chose charcoal as it truly helped me with softening up any hard lines. Once we were finished, we could add one thing as a collage piece and I chose a piece of burlap as kind of a focal point; it called out to me with my color choices.

It took me two days to complete this; I stared at the blank page in the beginning and just didn't know where to start. I finally just jumped in and we had to have these critiqued, too. Everything we did in this workshop, had to be critiqued in front of the whole group. This was another growing experience for me :) I'm a very slow "grower"! :)

I so appreciate you all visiting my Blog and leaving your lovely, supportive and kind comments. They never go unnoticed! Thank you.....................Love, Marilyn

Drop and Drag.......................

Drop and Drag was the second exercise that we learned in the Karen Rosasco workshop last week. I loved it and it offers a real element of surprise.

Pretty much what it is, again working with Golden's Fluid Acrylics, you drop and swirl paint around watercolor paper (using 3 colors) and then apply a strip of one last color across the whole top sheet of the watercolor paper. Using a long, flat scraper tool, start dragging the paints downward. We actually used two sheets of watercolor paper and the bottom sheet was used to catch the last swipes of paint which we saved for a future project :)

What occurs are these wonderful and surprising shapes of colors and what we, as students, had to do was study the shapes and decide what we think the shapes represent. It took me awhile but I felt that my shapes looked like a bridge with tall buildings behind it. New York City, at night, came to my mind. The tricky part is once you decide what your shapes represent, you must paint around the shapes with a darker color to outline your painting.

We added line work by scraping with a cut-up credit card, I added some gold leaf in certain areas, some various lines with dimensional paint, masked the building areas and splattered some gold metallic paint on the sky with a toothbrush.

For some final embellishments, I stamped the word LIVE and added a script stamp to bottom right. I really love this technique and plan on creating more!

Artfully yours.....................Marilyn

THE BIG DARK..................

This past week I have had the privilege of taking a 5-day, Mixed-Media Water and Acrylic Painting workshop of Karen Rosasco's. Her website is: http://www.karenrosasco.com/
if you'd like to visit her site to get an idea of her art. She is a nationally reknowned artist whose art I so admire. I had the pleasure of attending an exhibit of hers in Cooperstown, NY and that is how I got "hooked". The workshop I attended was in Duanesburg, NY and, to my surprise, I discovered that Karen doesn't live that far from my area. She lives in Delanson, NY!! Twice a year, Karen rents out the fire hall in Duanesburg for local people to attend her 5-days workshops. I have to say it was the most intense, challenging and exhilarating art workshop I've ever taken. Starting today, and then throughout the upcoming week, I will share with you some of the projects that I created while attending the workshop. Please keep in mind, these are not finished pieces but what Karen refers to as "starts".

These pictures are a result of what Karen calls The Big Dark. We always worked on a large sheet of heavy-weight watercolor paper (140lb hot press, sometimes 300 lb weight). This, in itself, was a huge challenge for me. It's just a little larger than a 4 x 4 or an ATC :) The beginning "starts" were on 22 x 30" size watercolor paper. We could cut them down, eventually, but the beginning piece was always done on the large sheet. Wow! The large picture, here, is my first start and we used Golden's Fluid Acrylics, which now, I will use nothing else in my art; I'm hooked! We had to start with black, paint geometric shapes and fill in with lighter colors. Once we did that, we could add texture stamping with acrylics using rubber stamps, bubble wrap, screening, corrugated cardboard; you name it, we used it! We could scrape with razor blades, cut-up credit cards, Xacto knives, it was just so much fun.

Karen's main theme to try to get across to everyone, was having us paint in abstract all throughout the workshop which was very challenging and sometimes stressful for me as I am such a realist with my art. Plus, and this is a huge plus; I am not a painter. Karen really challenged me to think geometric shapes and once I got where I could see that, then I could stamp, scrape, texturize, add more painting, etc. The smaller pieces, here, are the result of The Big Dark and now I have a series of sorts to add more painting to and ultimately frame!

We did do some collage work but always after we painted. I will share more of that at a later time. I promise not to bore you with this but I am bursting with wanting to share the projects and my thoughts on attending the most exhilarating, yet, exhausting workshop ever that I have had the privilege to take. There were 16 students, I felt like I was among the elite; the room was filled with real painters who exhibit and sell all over the country! The first day I felt like running home, getting my "blankie" getting in the fetal position in my bedroom :) I did feel a bit out of my league. But; Karen is so calm and encouraging and she really made me feel confident that I can apply her techniques to my style and applications.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend. Love - Marilyn

"Wonder"

Well; more Photoshop Elements practice. I really am having fun with this! This picture consists of 6 layers. The "bubbles" you see there are actually glass healing balls. When my husband and I were visiting Woodstock, Vermont, I found a very charming shop named Primrose Garden. There was a back porch that was part of the shop and while you're standing on the floor boards, you can actually see down to a creek that is running and you can hear the water; it was so relaxing. These healing balls were hanging from an old wooden beam and I wanted so badly to take a picture of them. I asked the owner of the shop for permission and she so graciously granted me the okay. I new I just had to have them for a photoshop project. I actually added a couple of layers of these healing balls, the figure is from a cool book that I found at an antique shop. I added some butterflies including one right in one of the balls.

I wish you all an artful weekend! Love, Marilyn

Canvas art.............................

I love working on canvas. These are pictures of some small canvas pieces that I did. One of my favorite ways to use a canvas is to work on the back side vs the front. I tend to purchase canvases that have the square opening in the back as I see these as potential shadowboxes! The first collage is such. The "front" back was done with torn masking tape, Gesso, washes and foam stamps to give it lots of texture. I then flipped the canvas over to make the "back" the front and created a little shadow box. Around the opening I adhered decorative papers, used old script paper, rubber stamping, stamped domino and a few other embellishments. I distressed the papers with Distress Ink.

The other picture is of two 4 x 4 canvases that I hinged together. I used images from www.paperwhimsy.com (one of my favorite websites), backgrounds were created with crinkled-up tissue paper and gel medium, washes, quotes and little embellishments.

I wish everyone a good day and upcoming weekend!

Love always - Marilyn

A couple of art projects for today.......

These are pictures of a couple of art projects I worked on today.

One is a 4 x 4 page for a friend of mine and the other is the front page for a friend's Art Deco book. Her theme is Medieval and this was my interpretation of that theme.

Now; I'm off to watch some football with my husband and I'll see how long I can last at that! :)

Love to all....................Marilyn

Hope.....................

A little digi art before I start my day. It's a slow go but I'm just taking my time playin' around with all the different effects with filters and such.

Heather Cockrell (blog link below) is a friend of mine from Texas and she loves taking digital pictures of cemetary angels. These two images are digi pics that Heather was willing to share with me. Thank you Heather! They really call to me.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Heather's Blog: http://brokenhalo6.blogspot.com/

Love to all.....................Marilyn

Some Halloween "Digi" fun................

Today I took a day trip with my husband to Woodstock, Vermont. It's a beautiful little picture-postcard town and especially in autumn.

We had fun walking in and out of the shops and I brought my digital camera with me and took some really cool and fun shots.

This is a picture of a glassware's shop door and I was across the street taking the shot. The door is glass and it came out all wiggly and funky but I ended up liking it.

I decided to work on some photoshop tonight I had saved this pumpkin picture in my files and decided to add it and the text to this door picture for Halloween.

Love to all and thanks, so much, for your support and lovely comments. I just cannot do what I do without you! Hugs, Marilyn

Message in a tiny pillow :)

This is a picture of a 3 x 3 sewn pillow that is one of three that I am working on. It's called a Friendship Pillow as part of an art exchange I am in.

The reason it's called Friendship Pillow is that it holds a very special message INSIDE the sewn pillow that is supposed to offer comfort to the recipient and make them feel that they have a friend who is always thinking about them.

I was a little hesitant to participant, in this swap, because I don't sew very well but I love the person who is offering the swap and she inspires me SO much and encourages me to try things that I'm a little shaky about.

The thing is to create the pillow, stuff with polyfil and before sewing it to close it, insert the comforting friendship quote inside.

I decided, for my pillows, I would use antique handkerchiefs for the fronts. I will share pics of the other two in future. I found this to be a very special art exchange and quite meaningful for the recipients and myself. I cannot wait to get my returns! Fun!

Love, Marilyn

Are you ready for some football????????

I discovered a significant advantage of digital art particularly on a laptop computer. Today is Sunday which means football on TV most of the day. Now; I don't mind football especially when my team is playing (Dallas Cowboys). By the way; they kicked major butt today by beating the Rams 35-7-woohoo!!!

After the Dallas game, I was getting a little "itchy" so decided to get my laptop, bring it in the living room while my husband watched the football games. I think you know where I'm going with this right? :)

I started playing around with Photoshop Elements, practicing my lessons, and discovered that I can work on art right in the living room and appear somewhat aware of not only the football games but my husband as well :)

This is my latest digital collage during football today! Score!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish everyone a good rest of their day and a safe and happy upcoming week.

Love to all........................Marilyn

More Photoshop practicing.................

I try to work on a little bit of Photoshop Elements each day. Perhaps because of my short-term memory and not wanting to forget what I'm learning :)

But; I'm becoming more and more comfortable with the layers concept and having fun with it.

I like the fact that I can use some of my art stash and scan images, papers, even lace and such to create elements for a digi collage.

I don't think I'll turn to digital collage as a constant as I can see where I would miss the tactile part of creating collages as I do with the hands-on approach to a collage on canvas, ATC, Little Fat Book page; whatever the substrate. I would also miss not incorporating rubber stamping.

But, it's a new area for me to explore, and I do enjoy the little strides I make in trying to work with Photoshop Elements. I love the fact that you can edit photos and alter them to your liking then using them in artwork. I have quite a collection of old black and white photos that I will enjoy altering and editing in the program.

Thank you all for visiting my Blog, your lovely comments and support mean so much to me.

Love to all..........................Marilyn

Halloween Fun.............ATC's :)

I can't say that Halloween is one of my favorite subjects but when it comes to art, I decided to give it a go. :)

This is a picture of ATC's that I did for an exchange with a Halloween theme.

My very favorite inclusion, in my art, is beeswax so I decided to add some to the bottom two ATC's.

I came across these sweet images, in my art stash, and they really helped me have fun with Halloween :)

I hope everyone has a great weekend. It has just cooled off, here, in upstate New York. We've been experiencing some very unseasonable temperatures. We broke a record on Wednesday. It reached a whopping 93 degrees! Love to all.......Marilyn