My New Website

Lately, I have been designing a website with a portfolio of my work.  I have used the elements and pictures in the portfolio to design graphics for print.  The artistic concepts of graphics change from year to year in much the same way clothing, and furnishings do.  So to keep up with the technology, much less the art is a real challenge.  I have no illusions of ever becoming as accomplished as some, but I certainly enjoy learning something new as often as I can.   I am introducing my website and making the connection to it today.  Some of the pages require that you become a member of the site in order to view them.  It is a slight inhibiter to having my work stolen at a pace faster than I can produce it.  But, eventually, I want my work to be usuable.  I would like to see my efforts bless someone else.  With the onset of digital photography, pictures became a passion for me. The greatest benefit of being able to take so many pictures is that you can take so many pictures.  I therefore am less attatched to them.  Making some available for others to see, is genuinely fun.  Check out my website here:
 http://tenacbirder.wix.com/prinked-ink#

and in the future from the side bar. Hope you have an opportunity to prink some ink one day soon!

Inspired by the Natural ~ fullfilled by the Technical

Textural and natural things inspire me.  I simply love taking pictures of my wood pile, for instance.  We were unable to use the wood last winter because it was so warm. As a result the bark is coming away from the logs. The cuts are ragged and curling. In Gimp, I did various filters on the pic, with the last one being a "Gimpressionist filter." I found one that looked like threads. What an interesting look! Can't wait to see what this filtering does on pine cones and mushrooms!

All this week I have been thinking about how much detail is involved in the way the Lord dressed our earth and everything in it and beyond it.  When I found the word "Prink" in the dictionary one day, and read that it meant "to dress for show, preen," I couldn't help but think of that being what a designer does, then prints it, and tries to bring it to a place of usefulness or share it in a place which displays its beauty.  God is the author of that.  And I love being a part of his creative spirit. But in this great scheme of things, there comes a time when things need to be revived. That is as much a part of the natural way God created things as new design is.  Revival, Renewal, Re-enlightenment, and Restoration are a part of the cycle of life. It is time that our nation seeks it, that our families seek it, and our churches seek it. The commitments of our forefathers and the dreams of our youth need to be revisited, and the truths of prosperity need to be revitalized. All of the things that make our lives continue on means that we must revisit them and somehow address their needs to be dressed up when they begin to look shabby.  Why do we always get so gloomy when we see the need?  We don't mind buying new clothes, or new food, or going on new vacations. Our world needs some Prinking. Like a bird preening feathers after the rains, we need a resituation everyday of our lives in some way. Let's get "prinking!"
My prayer is that the Lord will abundantly provide. AMEN

Read more:
http://agardencalledgethsemane.blogspot.com/

http://www.mywingsaremadeoffaith.typepad.com/

In my newest learning endeavors, I have been playing with creating brushes and patterns for Gimp projects.  Funny how some things have become so second hand easy, and others still don't click.  Not that it's hard, but that I can't keep the correct sequence in my mind to get the desired results.  But practice makes perfect.  I decided to make a file into which i just put the stuff I was playing with, and I went ahead and made a brush or pattern file that I can take to the gimp files when I need them, instead of just filling up the dialoge boxes with something I might not use often.  This way I can copy them over long enough to use them and delete them when I am not.  I get tired of the same old swirls and curves so I ususallly make fresh ones these days anyway.  But the grungies and scratches, smears and blobs take time to get good results, so it's best to have a variety of them made which are large enough to move them about and use only parts of them.  I discovered that I can use only parts of curls and swirls too to cast shadows and erase out swaths of color.


 

This is a disconnected set of curls,
connect them and they become lace.



I love ceating my own Capital cursive letters.
Roughing them up a bit using several filters and
brushes enhances them.



I designed various settings and styles of this potential brush. 
Filling it with a marble pattern already available in my gimp
patterns gives me a cool look without having to create the pattern.

Gimp Brushes

I have discovered making brushes in Gimp..WOW what a great world of reward for your work it opens up.  Just wondering the best way to reserve the brushes without putting them all in the dialogue box.  Thinking I will save them in a separate file, and move them into and out of the actual gimp file and dialogue as I use them. Still simpler than making from scratch every time, and hunting them in various files.  More on this as I make them.  So many ideas!

Photo Art

In the sixties, I had an English teacher who was only a few years older than we, and she was so much fun. One day she brought in photographer friends of hers to show us a slide show of their work. I will never forget how impressive their black-n-whites of graphic looking things were.  Full of angles and shadows, stripes and boxes, corner to corner off kilter subjects and people hanging upside down.  They made an impression on me and were the first real longing I had to someday get a camera and use it to create art.  This week I had a few opportunities to capture some shots that captured that aesthetic.  If you look around, good black n whites are everywhere.  But the best ones are not where you set the camera to black n white but where the light and darks create a grey tone image with touches of color.  Sometimes a rainy day and some silouetting adds to the effect.  Rocks in water under gray skies for example. 
Another way to make things happen is to dress subjects in black n white or grays, and make sure the background is also a grey, white, or black, and let the only thing in the picture be skin tones and 1 tiny object with a defined color.  Rather than going back to computer colorize the object, make it real. To go one step further, the subject could wear gloves, and colored hose, ( stiped ones are fun,) and a white outfit and hat. Turn the subject away from the camera, and avoid getting any skin in the pic. Really fun artistic prints can be acheived.
One of my favorites is my brother's arched bridge over the ditch near the road at his house. In the early morning sun, it was all grays and whites. Open your eyes to the things around you, and create a black-n-white pic that is taken in full color!  

A wedding bouquet of ivory roses, stephonotis, freesia, and pearl pins
is altered in gimp, to produce a guiled look. 
Romantic and luscious,  uhmmm.

With a little patience...!