Photoshop Madness

After many years of puttering, I was fortunate to be able to take a course in Photoshop that was offered at work. I came out of the course with a big handbook and my mind overloaded, but have been working diligently on my lunch hour trying to get the hang of using layers, brushes, filters and other photoshop aspects. I am finally getting the hang of it. Here is a little piece that I did for Betty, from the Roses on my Table ning group. Betty has been sick, so everyone made her a page for a book as a gift.

The floral background is one of my own paintings, softened in photoshop. I combined it with royalty free vintage clipart from the Graphics Fairy [on blogspot, a wonderful resource, check it out!]http://www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/

Wet Spiral Leaf Postcards

Right after I took a photo of these 3 postcards, I sprayed them with fixative. They have to travel to Hawaii and Texas, so I didn't want them to get wrecked in the mail. The fixative is very pungent...smells like a cross between skunk and turpentine, so I sprayed way out in the backyard, then left them on the fence to air out. In the early evening, I remembered them, and discovered that they had gotten sprayed from the sprinklers. They were all wet and puffed up, but the paint had not run. I ironed them until they were almost dry, and tucked them under a cast iron pot overnight to deflate them. They are almost as good as new, fortunately, and ready to be put in the mailbox.

The background paper is a nice Japanese rag that I collaged with recycled coffee filters, then enhanced with watercolor and watersoluble oil pastels. The center is the same paper, with aged with coffee and watercolors, and stamped with my own hand carved leaf in a brown distress ink, and stitched to the background.

Reiki Healing: SAQA Auction Donation

My donation for this year's SAQA Auction is called Reiki Healing. I used the Beryl Taylor reverse applique/slice and dice technique. Instead of Beryl's circles, I used square shapes, and put an antahkarana--the ancient healing symbol used in reiki--in the center. I added a few accent beads and hand appliqued the center patch.

The piece is very soft, a little off kilter--the squares, although I measured and cut ever so carefully, had a mind of their own. I used an old wool blanket as the batting, and an old sheet as the backing, so it incorporated a lot of recycled materials. The antahkarana is belived to heal whether you believe in it or not, just looking at is can be healing--no prayers or meditation is necessary to make it work.