Showing posts with label mixed-media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mixed-media. Show all posts

29.10.10

November Desktop



A little treat for the beginning of the month - I really enjoyed making last month's ones, so I decided to try and make this a bit of a regular thing. Download your particular size by clicking on the button above.

Have a lovely last weekend of October and Happy Halloween for those celebrating.

7.9.10

Inspired by...



Lastnight when I got home from work I thought I'd experiment with a few things lying around the house and create a little collage.  I've seen a few similar pieces popping up on various blogs and I'm completely smitten with the overall look.  I think this will be a work in progress.  It's not quite "there" yet, but I'm happy enough with the initial first steps to keep working.

The colours were inspired by some of the work Lemontines has been doing recently.  I first came across Lemontine's blog as a knitter, but she's now 71 days into her 365 challenge and I'm really enjoying seeing how she's developing and refining her love for texture in her shots. 
{69/365}
Isn't it lovely?

And then, I saw this post on Inspiration Studio and I haven't been able to get the idea out of my head since. Elk creates beautiful mixed-media collages and her blog is definitely worthy of a cup of tea and some down-time. "Red or Gray, Depends on the Day" is full of simple objects placed together to create beautiful and powerful images.   
Where do you get your inspiration?  Blogs, magazines, museums?  I had an interesting discussion with my sister about creativity in today's internet-based world.  She'd just been to a talk at the Melbourne Writers Festival about creativity and how the internet can be both an outlet for creativity and a vehicle that robs you of time to 'create'.  Do you think the internet helps or hinders creativity?


2.9.10

a poem on Thursday : Pi


Pi
The admirable number pi: 
three point one four one. 
All the following digits are also just a start, 
five nine two because it never ends. 
It can't be grasped, six five three five , at a glance, 
eight nine, by calculation, 
seven nine, through imagination, 
or even three two three eight in jest, or by comparison 
four six to anything 
two six four three in the world. 
The longest snake on earth ends at thirty-odd feet.
Same goes for fairy tale snakes, though they make it a little longer.
The caravan of digits that is pi
does not stop at the edge of the page,
but runs off the table and into the air,
over the wall, a leaf, a bird's nest, the clouds, straight into the sky,
through all the bloatedness and bottomlessness.
Oh how short, all but mouse-like is the comet's tail!
How frail is a ray of starlight, bending in any old space!
Meanwhile two three fifteen three hundred nineteen
my phone number your shirt size
the year nineteen hundred and seventy-three sixth floor
number of inhabitants sixty-five cents
hip measurement two fingers a charade and a code,
in which we find how blithe the trostle sings!
and please remain calm,
and heaven and earth shall pass away,
but not pi, that won't happen,
it still has an okay five,
and quite a fine eight,
and all but final seven,
prodding and prodding a plodding eternity
to last.
- Wislawa Szymborska

This is possibly the furthest "off" from Madeline Bea's prompt (for the record it was 'illuminate') that I've been.  But this is where I ended up.  I just wasn't happy with any of the poems that I found about light and illumination.  I was also interested in finding a 'happy' poem written by a women.  This is also an incredibly hard thing to accomplish which led me to thinking about why women seemed to be tortured souls when they write poetry (think Emily Dickinson as a prime example) and men can be all romantic and whistful.  If anyone knows of a bright and happy female poet, send her my way.


26.8.10

a poem on thursday : tea


The first cup caresses my dry lips and throat, 
The second shatters the walls of my lonely sadness,
The third searches the dry rivulets of my soul to find the stories of five thousand scrolls. 
With the fourth the pain of past injustice vanishes through my pores.
The fifth purifies my flesh and bone.
With the sixth I am in touch with the immortals.
The seventh gives such pleasure I can hardly bear. The fresh wind blows through my wings
As I make my way to Penglai.*
Lu Tong (A.D. 618-907) Tang Dynasty.
(*Penglai, a mountain in China, was the traditional home of the immortals.)


This week the theme from Madeline Bea was 'orient'.  My mum sent me this poem at the beginning of the year and I really wanted to use it this week.  A pot of good tea is medicine for the soul I think.

24.8.10

a little lesson



I've had a few people ask me how I blend my photos so I thought I'd put together a small tutorial for anyone who's interested.  I should qualify this by saying that I know very little about the technical names and so some of the names I use are bound to be wrong.  A lot of what I've learnt has come from trial and error and reading around the internet.  I also did a wonderful introductory e-course on Photoshop/Photoshop Elements called 'the skinny' by Kim Klassen.  This gave me the basics and the confidence to play around with Photoshop on my own - it's a wonderful course and I would recommend anyone wanting to learn how to find their way around these programs to take the class next time she is running it.  

And now onto the lesson:

Some general remarks: This little lesson is Photoshop specific, but I think it could probably be applied to photoshop elements as well.  It relies on you having a basic command of these programs to follow along.  If you have any questions, send me an email and I'll try to help out.

As a rule I think if you're going to blend photos you're better off starting with a fairly uncomplicated photo, with a chunk of foreground or background to play with.  Landscape photos or a simple still life are  good places to start.

Step One - Spruce up your photo: I'm going to leave this part up to you.  I generally copy my background image and adjust the 'levels' a bit until I'm happy.

Adding the first photo: The first thing you need to to is select the foreground with the Quick Selection Tool and create a new layer from this selection.  
- Open the image you want to blend into the foreground (I found a map on the internet).
- With your cursor button selected, drag the map onto your photo and adjust the size so that it extends over the foreground.
- Attach the map to your forground layer (you achieve this with the option key and the mouse hovering over between the two layers).
- Now is the fun bit...  Play around with the 'light' options (overlay, screen, soft light are good places to start) and the opacity until you are happy with the way the image looks.

Adding text: Create a new text layer and copy and paste (or type) some text of your liking.  
- Play around with the 'light' options and opacity until you like the way the text looks.  
- In this photo I also erased some of the text to get less severe look, but this is a personal preference

Ta-Da! Finished.  You can keep going and add more, introduce some texture, add a vintage effect - let the creative juices fly.  If I was going to keep going with this picture I'd probably end up decreasing either the writing or the map as I think it looks a bit busy at the moment and maybe bring the whole piece together with some kind of textured overlay.  

I hope this has been at least a little bit helpful to the people who emailed and asked.  If you have any other questions, just send me an email or post a comment

19.8.10

there is another sky



There is another sky 

There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields -
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!
by Emily Dickinson


This week over at Madeline Bea the prompt was "ethereal" - the picture is two photos blended together, both from the forest surrounding Vienna.  I like the way it looks as if you're looking from one world, into another - a brighter garden, where not a frost has been.

12.8.10

a poem on thursday : raw with love

This week Madeline Bea provided the prompt "raw".  I ended up using a poem by Charles Bukowski.  I've read quite a bit of his work during the year and I tend to find it a little, well, 'raw'.  He tackles some interesting themes in a pretty confronting manner.  But I decided to take a big breath and use his poem this week - the mixed-media picture used the poem as a springboard.  I played around alot with this picture trying to emphasise the eyes, give it a slightly haunting look and yet still keep it light, romantic and airy.  I'm not completely happy with the final product, but I think I'm getting better.

Raw with Love

little dark girl with
kind eyes
when it comes time to
use the knife
I won't flinch and
I won't blame
you,
as I drive along the shore alone
as the palms wave,
the ugly heavy palms,
as the living does not arrive
as the dead do not leave,
I won't blame you,
instead
I will remember the kisses
our lips raw with love
and how you gave me
everything you had
and how I
offered you what was left of
me,
and I will remember your small room
the feel of you
the light in the window
your records
your books
our morning coffee
our noons our nights
our bodies spilled together
sleeping
the tiny flowing currents
immediate and forever
your leg my leg
your arm my arm
your smile and the warmth
of you
who made me laugh
again.
little dark girl with kind eyes
you have no
knife. the knife is
mine and I won't use it
yet. 
- Charles Bukowski

5.8.10

a poem on thursday: man in orbit

This week over at Madeline Bea's 'Sunday Creative' the theme is "shapely".  Thanks to this prompt I have discovered this week that there is a whole genre of poetry that revolves around 'shaping' your poems to reflect the contents of the prose.  I like this idea and it gives the poems an extra dimension and a bit of fun.  

The image that follows is really just a bit of fun.

3.8.10

etsy love

I've been stalking a few artists on Etsy today in search of inspiration, ideas and techniques for my next mixed-media piece.  So far I've been doing all my work using photoshop, but I love the way these three artists have combined photos, paint and digital manipulation to create some wonderful pieces.  I'm slowly starting to amass quite a large collection of bits and pieces of paper from paper swaps and flea market finds.  I think the next step is to buy a canvas, or a piece of wood, and try my hand at something like this.
 



29.7.10

a poem on thursday: morning



Morning 
(Love Sonnet XXVVII)

Naked you are simple as one of your hands;
Smooth, earthy, small, transparent, round.
Your moon lines, apple pathways, 
Naked you are slender as a naked grain of wheat.

Naked you are blue as a night in Cuba;
You've vines and stars in your hair.
Naked you are spacious and yellow
As summer in a goldern Church.

Naked you are tiny as one of your nails;
Curved, subtle, rosy, till the day is born.
And you withdraw to the underground world.

As if down a tunnel of clothing and of chores;
Your clear light dims, gets dressed, drops its leaves, 
And becomes a naked hand again.
Pablo Neruda


This week's prompt over at Madeline Bea was "naked" - once again I started with the poem, which led to this mixed-media print.  The photo is mine, the woman is from Mum and Woman’s Body by Pan Yuliang*, texture used is Kim Klassen's 'simple things'.




*Pan Yuliang was one of China's first artists to paint in a western style.  She had an interesting life, some of which you can read about on Wiki.

15.7.10

a poem on thursday: the bridge



The Bridge by Russell Edson
In his travels he comes to a bridge made entirely of bones.
Before crossing he writes a letter to his mother: Dear mother,
guess what? the ape accidentally bit off one of his hands while
eating a banana. Just now I am at the foot of a bone bridge. I
shall be crossing it shortly. I don't know if I shall find hills and
valleys made of flesh on the other side, or simply constant
night, villages of sleep. The ape is scolding me for not teaching
him better. I am letting him wear my pith helmet for
consolation. The bridge looks like one of those skeletal
reconstructions of a huge dinosaur one sees in a museum. The
ape is looking at the stump of his wrist and scolding me again.
I offer him another banana and he gets very furious, as though
I'd insulted him. Tomorrow we cross the bridge. I'll write to
you from the other side if I can; if not, look for a sign . . .


I've started using Madeline Bea's Sunday Creative as a word prompt for a poem and digital mixed-media piece each week.  Seems as my thoughts are drifting on somewhat of a tangent lately, and the word is acting more like a springboard to another place than as a theme in itself.  

This week's word was connect; 'connect' means to unite, join or be associated.  Bridges connect.  And so I initially set about finding a poem about bridges and I stumbled across this curiosity.  Russell Edson is a contemporary American prose poet.  I'm drawn to his writing, it has a dream like quality that reels you in and yet there is something profoundly disturbing about it.  This poem makes me think of dreams and the line we sometimes walk between sleep and wake, psychosis and sanity, life and death.  And so to my mixed-media image.  A letter home, a tangled dream, a place where reality and dreams collide.

7.7.10

a poem on thursday (on a wednesday): little boy blue



Little Boy Blue
by Eugene Field (1850-1895)
 
The little toy dog is covered with dust,
   But sturdy and stanch he stands;
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
   And his musket moulds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new,
   And the soldier was passing fair;
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
   Kissed them and put them there. 

"Now, don't you go till I come," he said,
   "And don't you make any noise!"
So, toddling off to his trundle-bed,
   He dreamt of the pretty toys;
And, as he was dreaming, an angel song
   Awakened our Little Boy Blue---
Oh! the years are many, the years are long,
   But the little toy friends are true! 

Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,
   Each in the same old place---
Awaiting the touch of a little hand,
   The smile of a little face;
And they wonder, as waiting the long years through
   In the dust of that little chair,
What has become of our Little Boy Blue,
   Since he kissed them and put them there.

23.6.10

feeding time


"Feeding Time"

Based on some very nice comments on my blog, conversations and overwhelming pats-on-the-back, I decided to have another play around with mixed-media.  

This time last year I was preparing to move to Botswana.  I was to spend a year there doing research with a celebrated research group.  I was pretty stoked about the opportunity and while quietly cautious about how it would 'be', excitedly thought that it would be a wonderful 12 months of adventure, learning and fun.  Three months later I was back in europe.  What went wrong?  Many things.  Wrong job. Wrong time. Wrong place.  I spent three months staring down a chasm of everything that was 'wrong' with "Africa" (sic).  It made me cynical and jaded long before most ex-pats get over the honeymoon romance of sunsets and servants. It made me question my research, the aid industry and fundamentally question the role of the white man in africa.   I haven't talked about it much except to say that it 'wasn't good'.  'Feeding Time' is my tribute to those three months and what I learned.

15.6.10

first steps

First steps into the world of mixed-media.  I made this for a Danish friend's Hens weekend.  There's a lovely tradition in Denmark of everyone giving the bride-to-be a small gift symbolising thier friendship with her.  It's then up to the bride to guess which gift is from whom.  As a trial of mixed-media, I made this for her.  

2.6.10

mixed media

I'm currently thinking about what my next 'creative' project will be and contemplating experimenting with mixed media.  It seems to be the perfect way to combine my love of paper, photography and vintage, as well as  sing up all the tiny bits and pieces of "things" that I tend to keep because I can't bare to throw them out.  There are so many great artists inspiring me at the moment, but here are two of my favourites.
Labokoff creates these stunning digitally patined photographs of Paris and the surrounding countryside.  She has an etsy store and website where she sells her prints.  I think these would look great as a set hanging framed on a wall somewhere.  There is such a poetic feel to all of her work and yet its somehow still very much grounded in this world. 
I also love this mixed media print by Liesl Pfeffer, also found on etsy.  Liesl is based in Australia but currently travelling around the states on holidays.  Check out her cute blog for more about her art and travels. I really, really like the print below - so much so I'm close to buying on as a belated birthday present to myself.
 What are your feelings on mixed media? Love it or loathe it? Any favourite artists?