Learning Photoshop Elements (PSE) with The Pixeladies!

The PSE 2 class is coming to a close while my head is full of information plus possibilities are brewing. Photoshop Elements is an amazing program! For me, it has so much untapped capability that I'm only beginning to better understand and utilize.

The Guided functions are very helpful (though not always intuitive) for doing basic and fun alterations to a single or multiple images. For example, you can add frames around images, you can move a face in one image to another image, you can create text that has photos in the letters rather than colors (great thing for a trip scrapbook cover).

In the program itself, there are fun filters to play with to see how 'far out' you can push images. Images may begin dull, but they can end up being unrecognizable and totally awesome!!

Layers are the KEY to the program's capability. The user's ability to use the platform to customize and uniquely alter photographs and other images really comes down to learning layers, how to work with them, and a sense of curiosity and just trying things out. That's what I've done in some of my course images below. I love the extrusion effect in the first photo! Guess how many layers 'A Call to Wintering' has? (The answer is at the bottom of this post.) The other two were Guided functions called Photomerge Compose and Pop Art.

I expect the Level 3 course that starts shortly will be truly intense!! What an incredible teaching team The Pixeladies are, and I feel truly fortunate to be studying with them!!

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Introducing 'Kaleidoclown'

For fun, I've drawn one of my own photos (yes, I was dressed in a clown outfit) and added a wild and crazy background to accompany it for today's practice effort. As part of sketching the piece, it was split into four sections with two opposing diagonal lines. In terms of color choices, I've worked with color gradations for some shape sections. Can you believe, there are five major shapes in this effort? There really are -- circles, squares, trapezoids, triangles and spirals. I think the substrate is Biengfang Watercolor Paper (140 lb.). The materials used were Ohuhu markers, Micron 01 pigment ink pen, some red Stickles glitter glue for the nose, and a white Posca pen (for white dots on the face and to highlight eyes) and a yellow one (for yellow dots in the center of the flowers on the hat). There was no intention in working on this piece other than to have fun...and based on how it looks, I'd say well done!. One thing I learned is that blending with the Ohuhus i

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I'm working on a new project with multiple layers and shapes of different colored organzas. It is an interpretation of lighting on an ice rink...from a show I recently saw. There is a lot more stitching to do, but I like how its coming along. I'm learning organzas are not easy to work with especially when you layer them and have overlaid edges. The fabric also tends to ravel easily. This post also linked to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .

Announcing new book - The Soliloquies of A Wayfaring Trio!

I'm so delighted with my new book -- that I designed, wrote and illustrated, and is now in print thanks to Blurb! 'The Soliloquies of A Wayfaring Trio' was a months-long effort this year. I had no plan to create a book when I started reading unpacked journals from years ago. Those journals -- started in 1979 -- was at a time when life was about to serve-up some dramatic changes including a solo move from the Midwest to the Pacific Coast. I wasn't writing poetry then. In fact, I had never written poetry before, and it was only through those journals that I started writing creatively. In 1981, that creative writing began with prose (one to four sentences in length). While taking a 10-month journey to Europe (1982-3), poetry in free verse form started showing up. An edited version of one of the poems written during that trip appears in the latest book and is titled 'A Day at Nea Kameni' (a location in Greece). Thereafter, and in looking back, new poems s

Cay Denise

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