New Video Series

Finally, I've finished my new series of videos on making collage papers. Here is a preview:

Stowe October, 9x12

What Else? 10x10

White Dots 9x12

Pink Collage 9x12

In this series of sixteen videos you will learn a whole new vocabulary of techniques for creating your own collage papers, including making your own stamps and stencils, spattering and dripping High Flow paint, staining tissue paper, altering printed text, using oil pastel, and much more. 

Making collage papers that are uniquely yours is a great way to engage with your materials, explore pattern, and discover new color combinations. Each video is all new, original, material. All the techniques are accessible to beginners through advanced painters. 

Buy it here. It's $29.95

Downloadable Coloring Page

I put this piece on my Facebook page, but it appears that people are having trouble getting the link to work.  I converted this image to a kind of line-work, but with some of the texture.  Download the coloring page here, print it out, and play with the colors using colored pencils or paint.

This is "Random Act #1", which is 19x25 on paper.

"Random Act #1" as a coloring page

On a scale of entertainment value, this might not be in your top ten, but a few people expressed interest, so here it is.  It is interesting to take a look at your own work using different Photoshop filters (I know, nobody used Photoshop anymore), just to get a different perspective.

Color Class Is Now Downloadable

Happy New Year!!  

Unlocking the Secrets of Color was the first online workshop I ever offered, back in May, 2011.  As you may know, I am "retiring" my older online workshops and making them downloadable.  In this format, you get all the lessons and access to all the videos, and work on your own, at your own pace.  Now, Unlocking the Secrets of Color is available for you to download.  Click here for details and to purchase.

These are two color study pieces I did to demonstrate using different proportions of two complementary colors. 

In my "regular" online workshops, I create a group blog, and everyone gets individual feedback from me on everything they post.  The group gets the benefit of seeing each others work as well as comments from others.  This year I will be adding some new online workshops, including "Beyond the Color Wheel" (sorry, it's already full, but I plan to offer it again in the fall), and a course on Black and White. 

Hope you have a happy and creative 2016; I'm sure you will!

Extreme Composition is Available as a Download

I have been teaching Extreme Composition online a couple times a year now for about three years.  Time to retire it, which means that now you can download all the content and have access to the videos.  As I develop new online classes, I'm retiring the old ones, making them available as downloadable self-study units. 

Check it out here.

I will be developing new online workshops, as you've seen.  My Advanced Color Studies is full, but I plan to offer it again in the fall.  I'm trying to squeeze in an online workshop on Working in Black and White.  My first offering of Monoprint Collage is coming to a close, and the next version is full.  I'll try to offer that again before too long.  Let me know if you have any suggestions for specific online workshops or downloadable content you'd like me to offer.

Cheers.  Thanks for visiting.

A WINNER!

The winner of the 14-pc set of Golden Paints is Gayle from St. John, New Brunswick.  Congratulations!  E-mail me, Gayle, with your mailing address, and I'll get that out to you shortly.

Thanks to ALL of you who commented.  You have given me a lot to think about.  A couple of you expressed interest in an online class in which we work only (or primarily) in black and white.  I'd be interested to hear any more thoughts on that, as I will be developing new classes for 2016.

Here is one more digital collage:

If you would like to print this out, I've formatted it in higher resolution on a ground measuring 8.5"x11".  I suggest you print it on Matte Photo Paper, or "presentation paper".

Download Digital Collage #3 here.

I follow a few Pinterest boards of art in black and white.  Take a look:

Black and White Art
White House / Black Market
Abstract Art: Black and White and Neutral
Black White Gray
Noir et Blanc

Enjoy the eye candy!

We Have A Winner

Thanks so much to ALL of you who participated in the giveaway.  I would like to be able to send something to each and every one of you.  So I'm going to.  HERE is a printable version of my Red 3'x3' piece.  I don't have a title for it yet.  Download it, and print on 8.5"x11" photo paper.

The winner is Kat McCullough, the gal that described herself as "computer stymied".  Congratulations, Kat.  We do have a runner-up prize, though, for Roberta in Nova Scotia.  I thought there was another commenter from Nova Scotia, from Bear River, but I can't find the comment.  You get a runner up prize too, if you contact me. 

Thanks again for your participation and comments!

This is how the print will look on the 8.5"x11"

Digital Art Tutorials

Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine has just put out a free e-book of four digital art tutorials, one of which is mine! I'm thrilled to pieces to be included in this e-publication, and it is FREE! You can download it HERE. In my tutorial I discuss how to alter images in Photoshop and print them out on fabric to use in fabric/paper collage. Here are a few pieces in progress using these techniques. The finished pieces are in the e-book.

"Forest Dream"


"Pedestal"

I want to show you in a little more detail how I got some of these layered images in Photoshop.

First, I scanned some images of these Greek vase paintings, and made them the same width, 5". (In this post they don't look the same width, but trust me).


In Image 1, I went to Image > Adjustments > Hue / Saturation and played with the hue slider to change the color:

Then I went to Levels (Image > Adjustments > Levels) and used the left and right sliders to bring up the highlights and darken the darks:

On Image 2, I simply used Levels to brighten the lights and darken the darks:

Now, here comes the fun part. Using the Move tool, I moved Image 1 onto Image 2:

This creates a layer over a background. In the layers panel, I double click on the layer (Image 1) and that opens the Layer Styles box. I play with the Opacity slider to make the image more transparent so you can see Image 2 underneath Image 1.

I then cropped the image using the crop tool:
Then I flattened the image, Layer > Flatten.

To selectively change the color I went to Image > Adjustments > Replace Color, which opens a dialog box like this:

Click on the color in the image that you want to replace (I clicked the gray of the horses), then play with the hue, saturation, and lightness sliders to change that color. The Fuzziness slider determines how broadly you want to define your selected color, and that color will show up as white in box that shows the image. Here is my result:

Then, just for fun, I played with the Hue / Saturation tool again. Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. Here is another altered version of the image:

I know this tutorial requires some basic knowledge of Photoshop, so I hope there are enough of you out there who can take advantage of it. Do get the free e-booklet from Cloth Paper Scissors! There are three other tutorials with fabulous art.