FIRST MINI-CHALLENGE -or- NEW TO PHOTO-ART?
See below for "Information and Guidelines."

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PHOTO ART: Mini-challenge# 50 – Pink Lotus

Here’s another “mini-challenge” to play with in the Photo-based Art category until the next official challenge is posted here (http://www.retouchpro.com/challenge/index.html).

The image can be downloaded by clicking the link near the bottom of this lengthy introduction!

When I first saw this image, all I could say was, “Wow.” I knew right away it belonged in the hands of the folks who participate in these mini-challenges.

It was taken by Allan Smallbone, whose butterfly and Japanese pond pictures were used in the very popular mini-challenges 44 and 45.

Thanks again, Alan, for gracing us with another stunning picture to work with.

~DannyR~

LEGAL VERBIAGE
Alan retains the U.S. and international copyright © not only for the original image, but also for any photo-art versions of it. Unauthorized distribution or use of this image without permission is prohibited.

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INFORMATION AND GUIDELINES

Unlike “official challenges” for this forum, which can be found here (http://www.retouchpro.com/challenge/index.html), this one will be self-contained within this thread. It is intended as an opportunity to engage in this art form until the next official challenge is posted.

The rules are more-or-less the same:
* It’s a challenge, not a contest -- intended to provide opportunities to experiment, share methods and/or techniques and, most importantly, have FUN.
* Everyone who participates is a winner.
* There’s no expiration date.

GUIDELINES:
1. Use any method, application(s), style(s) you like:
. * Convert to sketch, grayscale, abstract, watercolor, oil painting, pen-and-ink, Conte crayon, impasto, van Gogh or any style of your choosing
. * Add elements from other images (collage) or replace the background
. * Hand painting? Tracing? Freehand? You bet. Always appreciate entries of this nature.
. * Apply filters from your favorite application(s) or tweak it with 3rd party plug-ins
. * Feeling animated? Animated entries are definitely welcome. There have been some really funny ones submitted in the past. Fish jumping, leaves falling, wheels turning. You get the idea.
. * Any or all of the above

Bottom line:
How you create this masterpiece makes no difference. Whatever floats your boat as long as you follow guideline #4 in the process.

2. When done, reply to this thread and attach your work (don’t forget the 100kb size limit).

Note: Multiple entries OK if you’re so inspired.

3. By all means include some verbiage on how you achieved your masterpiece so others will benefit from your skills and experience. Make it as descriptive as you like. Grammar and spelling will not be graded. Priority given to content, not how it is written.

4. Have fun.


A special message to those who are new to Photo-art
… Who may be feeling a little uncomfortable about posting an entry.

If you’ve read this far, it means you’re at least curious. That’s a good sign. :)

But what if you’re feeling a little squeamish about posting your first image?

From time to time I hear from those who want to participate, but have considerable anxieties about posting their creations in these mini-challenge. “I’m just a beginner. My pictures don’t belong,” “I see the works of others and I know I’ll never get that good,” “How am I supposed to compete with those wonderful creations?” are typical expressions of concern.

To which I say: Put your fears to rest. This isn’t a competition. You will not be judged in the traditional “art critique” sense. Your honor isn’t on the line. This isn’t about who’s best.

Don’t hold back from participating and posting your creation because your initial attempts don’t measure up (in your own mind) to images generated by folks with more experience than you.

This is a no-fault, all-fun way to jump in the pool. Everyone started the same place: The beginning. Everyone who is more skilled and experienced than you got to that point by practicing, experimenting, asking questions, learning from others, and participating.

Can one learn without interacting with others? Sure. Can one learn as fast? Absolutely not.

When you participate, others get to know you. That makes it easier to ask them questions. Asking questions leads to learning from those with more experience than you. It just keeps getting better and better!

By all means give it a go. You’ll be glad you did.

The pep talk cheerfully brought to you by:

Danny Raphael
Photo-based Art Forum Moderator

I tried to achive an etching effect and I tried emboss but it did not look right. I then tried lighting effects and found that if you changr to Rgb Red or green it looks etched.
So I made it into a pencil drawing adjusted levels turned it into an RGb did lighing efects omni adjusted so it iluminated the center the most and changed the texture channel to red, flatten layers added gold color fill.

Danny tell Alan I love his flower shot. Flowers are one of my favorite subjects.

phili -- that is GORGEOUS!! Your love of flowers shows in your delicate rendition -- truly beautiful!

Phili, that's great! The problem I found with this picture is that there is no problem with it! It is already too beautiful, so to do much to it would be "gilding the lily (or lotus, in this case)." Your choice of removing all color and the delicate nature of the flower was a perfect way to go...you can't improve upon it, so you changed it in a dramatic way. Excellent.

I tried to make a drastic change too by emphasizing edges and darkening/brightening it. I seldom use color dodge mode but it seemed to work well here.

Phyllis

phili1,
I like the texture. I can almost feel it literally .

Phyllis, I love the inner glow on the lotus. I'm almost expecting Buddha to emerge from within.

Tony

Phyllis:

I'm with Tony. A very mystical effect.

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Phil:

Very nice. Looks like hammered bronze or gold -- something you'd pay a LOT of money for.

Alan's got a nice way with photos, doesn't he? WAIT until next week. I've got an image it the queue that I think will be especially interesting.

Wow Phyliss I thought the same way you do, a beautifull flower
is hard to beat, but I think you did it. I agree its mystical. It glows.

Its 3AM and I don’t know where my brains at :tired: so all I’m going to do is post this.

DocileBob, your image doesn't load...all I can see is the top third. You might want to go to "edit" and upload it again. Thanks.

Trimoon... wow!

That is... uh...

What I meant to say is...

wow!

Brilliant idea and beautiful result.

Phyllis :)

DocileBob

It looks fantastic just like it belongs in that coloration.

Timoon
It seems that the word wow fits alot of submissions latley and your is a definite wow

I darkened it a bit with levels, boosted the saturation and applied a colored charcoal filter.

Nice work all.
For this one , I copied the original, duplicated the green RGB channel, Applied it ( Image>>Apply Image) to the duplicate, at 100% in color burn mode. Then I ran lighting effects, with crossing lights, ( one light pink, one light blue/grey ), went to Fade Lighting effects, reduced the opacity to about 60%, set to screen, set the layer to hard light at 75%. Then, duplicated the duplicate, set the blending mode to darken, at 75%, then adjusted the levels of the red and blue channels.
Then, CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+N ( new layer ) CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E ( to stamp visible into the new layer, and reduced the saturation a bit.

:)

<edit> Thanks for the heads up pstewart. Couldn`t get it to relaod, either , so I started over </edit>

Teriffic photograph!

First I lightened just the background, then simplified the petals very slightly withBuzzPro. I defined this result as a pattern. Continuing on, I applied Trimoon's sketch technique alternating the brush between normal and disolve to get a grainy look to the sketch, then applied the color with the pattern stamp tool using the previously defined pattern.

Jim

Tried for a painting effect this time. Used dry brush then smart blur. Made another copy and changed it to BW line drawing with Smart Blur Edge Only. Pasted the color version on top of that and set blending mode to multiply. Jacked up saturation on the final.

Jim, I love the way you did this last one.

NIce work Jim, I love the softness it has.

Art your first one was the master piece, this one rates a good job.

OH well I have been trying to pick a winner and its hard they are all great.

Phyliss Outstanding yours jumps off the page.
Dolcebob fantastic
Art. awsome
Trimon just beautiful
Jim, it cant get any better.

CJ just when we thought the original could not be topped I think these guys came close.

Sorry guys I cant help mysef, I am just awed at the variations of styles and how good they turn out, and the talent I am in company with.

one More

Ok one More:D

Ok last one :D

Hi all,

I have been lurking and watching all the wonderous version that have been appearing from my photos. Amazing stuff. The artsy side of photoshop is something I have not explored much, I am still trying to master the editing part. :)

All of you are so talented, I wouldn't know how to use all these filters, but you all are making wanting to learn. :)

I am looking forward to lurking and learning some more, and I have some more pics if Danny finds them suitable.

Alan

STEVE (Trimoon):

I'm so accustomed to to keeping everything "inside the lines" I find the "leaf out of the frame" especially intreguing.

The sorta looks stamped into leather version is very cool.

How's the watercolor tutorial coming? :) What a great holiday present that would be to all of your fans!

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ART:

Did you do version 1 in Photoshop? Liked that one a lot.

Version 2 is very different than v1. I was expermenting with a similar method just last night. I wish I could find a way to retain the sharp, thin line detail rendered by Smart Blur / Find Edges, and lose the sometimes jaggie-ness.

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DOCILE BOB:

Appreciate your persistence in getting that image posted. Well worth the trouble (from my perspective). The texturing, especiallly on the underside of the leaves, really brings out the colors.

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JIM:

Wow again. Very sketch-like. Your skillful blending of methods generates another outstanding image.

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ALAN:

Me interested in more of your images for future minis? COME ON DOWN! They would be most welcome. I'll e-mail ya.

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CHUCK:

Very interesting effect. I like those results a lot. Painter is an amazing piece of software.

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I'm messing with actions again, this time from Mike Finn's site (click here (http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~mikefinn/action.html)
). Followed those by a couple applications of the "Rust Flakes" PS7 texture preset via the Texturizer filter.

~Danny~

Thats a great effect, is that in dpreview actions. I will have to try it. but how did you paint it. what type of brushes did you use. I like the colorations.

I cant believe all the different renditions of the same thing. It makes you expand you scope of thinking.

One more variation. this one with Paint Daubs, Smart Blur Edge Only inverted and then Grain, Soft.

Danny
I did the first one with PhotoImpact 8.0 and the second one with Photoshop Elements 2.0.
I've never used Photoshop.

Danny,
Love the texture (Rust flake). Looks like pressed paper. Why Don't I have one in PS7?

P.S.
To get a smoother edge on the smart blur, do a gaussian blurr then adjust level to your taste.

Could not begin to select a favorite, they are each one, outstanding, great work.

Danny,
Nevermind, I found the Rust flake texture.

Playing with the layers again, I don't remember how I got to this but here it is anyway.

Art, Jim, and Chuck, love your sketches...all different styles but all equally gorgeous. Excellent work, guys!

Bob, love the texture and the detail you brought out in the leaves.

Angue, the wax flower is great! Nice change of color too. Looks like the real fake! :)

Danny, great painting look. I use the rust flakes texture a lot for "oil paintings"...glad you found it.

Trimoon, I prefer your first paler version, but I also really like the brown one...looks like you cut it out of paper bags. Your creativity is endless.

Since I can't compete with the sketch/water color pros here, at least I can offer something no one else has done with the lotus. Two kaleidoscopes. This first one needed nothing more than a 3D shiny effect (KPT6 "materializer") after it was "twirl"-ed by KPT3 to turn it into a dinner plate.

Phyllis

This second one took more steps: twirled twice, color and layer adjustments, KPT materializer, and Photoshop layer effects. I don't know what it is, but I thought it was a pretty design.

Phyllis

Tony:

Positively brilliant! Smart Blur / Edge Only + Invert + a little Gaussian Blur + Levels = pretty tight edges. Very, very cool. Thanks for turnin' that lightbulb on!

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Art:

Didn't occur to me that Elements and Photoshop have nearly identical filter sets.

The results you get between PI 8 and Photoshop Elements 2 are great. I'd say you're getting along just fine w/o Photoshop.

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Phil:

I used Mike's Oil Paint .atn (I believe you told me you got that one from him) + a free one from his site (Amateur Panter).

Mike just posted another free one today ("comic") that's quite good.

For a download link check out this DPReview post (http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=3754671).

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Everyone who's new to PS7:

If you haven't checked out this folder, there's a LOT of neat stuff in it:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop 7.0\Presets

For example point your Texturizer filter to \Presets\Textures and you'll find some additional texture files, including the "Rusted Flakes" one mentioned above.

Agnue very nice effect, more great flowers.

Phyliss, thats great what program did you use.

Not my style at all really, stuck for ideas. Most have been before me.:)
Frank

Chuck.. The woodcut effect is good.. I like the way it looks and the color. It reminds me of a friend who paints just like this.

Frank .. That’s so cool looking! Nice color

Danny.. Yours has such a rich look to it. I can feel the texturing.
How's the watercolor tutorial coming? That’s a good question, and Ill get back to you on that.

Arthill.. The dark background is a good idea, it makes lotus glow like fire.

Angue.. To me Yours has a look of reflecting water

Phyllis.. You don’t have to compete your in a class all your own, First Class.

Chuck, what a great sketch! I like the simplicity, the texture, and the background color.

Frank, I love the metallic look...very nice.

Phili, the program I used is Photoshop 7, but the kaleidoscope filter is from KPT3. You still have two days to get FOUR different KPT packages plus Techtures plus that lame Dreamsuites2 for 1/4 the cost...only $199 thru andromeda.com...but the offer expires on 11/15/02.

Phyllis (who doesn't want to be the only one with a digital kaleidoscope!)

Originally posted by pstewart
Phyllis (who doesn't want to be the only one with a digital kaleidoscope!)
Phyllis, There was an entire thread on kaleidoscopes (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2738) a while back (before you joined us, I think.) I even wrote a Photoshop actions to create kaleidoscopes with 6, 8, 10 or 12 segments from an image. (I added the actions to the Action thread starting here (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=23269#post23269).) From what I have tried of the KPT3 swirl filter, I think my action gives you a little more visual control over exactly what part of the photo is used to create the kaleidoscope. But, I admit that I haven't played much with the KPT3 filter, so perhaps I'm missing something.

Just didn't want you to think that no one else has tried the kaleidoscopes. (In fact, there were a few of us obsessed with them a few months ago! ;) )

Jeanie

I cant take credit for this, it is an action but a good one.

This is from the same action.

By the way its Mike fins comic action, but if you use it in a certain way you get this results.

Chuck just fantastic. I like the texture totally different.

Omeyas, the coloration is great, what do they say about great minds Ha Ha. WE had the same idea.

CJ and Phyliss, we said what about real flowers, some really great entriies.

Phyllis,
This is all your fault! :D I decided to play around with my kaleidoscope action and took it a step further by applying some filters. As usual, I had no idea where I was going with it until I "arrived". ;)

Steps:
1. Applied the kaleidoscope_12 action.
2. Filled in the background layer with an appropriate color and added texture.
3. Applied a curves adjustment to make the flower "pop" a bit more.
4. Duplicated the kaleidoscope layer and applied the Paint Engine "Curve brush" filter.
5. Duplicated that layer and applied the glowing edges filter; changed the blending mode to luminosity.
6. Merged visible kaleidoscope layers to a new layer (without the background layer). Applied a slight curves adjustment to brighten the yellow tones. Added both a outer and inner glow.

Jeanie

Uh oh - I need help. Please stop me! I've got too much other stuff to do!! :(

A simple kaleidoscope using 10 segments. Sharpened, increased saturation in the R/Y/M channels. Added outer/inner "glow", which I changed to more of a shadow by changing the blending mode to multiply instead of screen and changing the color to black.

Jeanie

Jeanie -- you can't stop -- they're too beautiful!

I agree they are fantastic. Teh last one could be a sevring platter or center piece.

Thanks CJ and Phili. :blush: I appreciate your kind words.

But, I really do have to stop for a little bit. I know it sounds boring, but I have got to finish filing the piles in my office. It's important, b/c I've told myself I can't put my new computer together until I get the filing done. (Otherwise, I'll never do the filing. And it's gotten to the point where I can't find anything anymore. :bawling: )

Jeanie

Wow there are some really fantastic images up on this one - a very inspiring image

Heres my version, I have gone for a minimalist image - didn't really have to do to much
- cut out image
- adjusted the curves
- used a few layers with different settings to get the white
- it looked slightly unfinished so just produced a quick frame from the colours in the petals and lowered the opacity

Clare

This may have been said before, but I know one job I would
never apply for..... "Entry Judge." Each of you really were
inspired, all merit great praise. Such beauty & talent....

For the valley of Pink Lotus..... may I add a couple

Inverion, created this unusal happening....

Lastly, using a "Demo" of PhotoBrush..... experimented with all these new toys........

Goldcoin,
I agree - I'd really hate to be an entry judge!! ;)

OK - LAST ONE for me!!! (At least for a little while. I just love lotus, so might come back to this one.)

For this version, I selected the flower, copied to a new layer, transformed with 97% size and -5 rotation. Repeated that a few times (copy to new layer, transform using same values). Then rotated the entire image back a few degrees to have the center a little more level. Cloned in the background where needed. Ran the Paint Enging Mosaic filter and faded about 50%. Increased saturation in the yellow channel to make the center glow a little more.

Jeanie

jeaniesa - Thats fantastic - I love the way you've duplicated the leaves - Makes a completely different composition.

Goldcoin - I like your first image - you've made the flower look like it is made out of silk - so beautiful.

Jeanie, those twirls are great! I love the added texture too. Thanks for the link...I had fun looking through all the kaleidscopic images. Nice to know I'm not alone in my love of abstract geometric designs.

Goldcoin, I like your blue/green one best. Has a sixties look to it.

Clare, I love the delicate look of yours...and the thin frame is the perfect finishing touch!

Phili, that comic action is great...love the stark outlines.

Phyllis

In case of nuclear holocaust, might be nice to know that a mutated lotus might still survive! So here's a radioactive lotus, healthy and flourishing!

Phyllis

Phyllis,

That looks great how did you do it? Reminds me of lava lamps, blacklights and 8 track tapes, doh! a flashback....

Alan

Out on a date go to the Lotus Club.

Every body else is going with the out in space stuff, so why not me.

Thanks, Alan. Frankly, I don't know...just playing around with blending modes and color. Was a few days back so I don't recall the details.

I twirled it and got a few "blacklight" designs I really like. Here is one.

Phyllis

And here are two more. I was especially pleased with the scalloped edge. To make the second one, I twirled the lotus to a simple "double" design, then twirled that again.

Phyllis

Here is my first attempt. I changed the image to black and white and then applied the Photo Brush oil emboss filter.

This is a color sketch with framing texture.

Phyliss. I like them and I am Jealous, I cant do Kscopes. I cant deal with new toys right now, maby in the future.

Linda, very nice I like the delicate nature of number two and the colorations. NIce touch.

Trying out a few more PSP7 filters:

1. Effects> Textures > Polished Stone
2. Effects> Artistic Effects> Chrome
3. Effects> Artistic Effects> Colored edges (128, 0, 0)
4. Effects> Lighting Effects> Sunburst (moved burst just to the right of the stamens).

Al, these all turned out nice. I especially like the effect in #1. It looks like thick oil paint and could work well with many different subjects. Wish Photoshop had a filter like that. :(

Phyllis

Very nice Al! I especially like #4 - it looks like it's glowing! :)
Jeanie

Phyllis, being with m$ does sometimes have its advantages ;)

Jeanie, I included that #4 as I could almost see the lotus as cupped hands holding a glowing ball.

Al, what fun! Each is so different and adds a new dimension to the bloom.

Guess I haven't done one of these yet -- too busy enjoying all your submissions.

Here's one with the red channel layer blending set on Difference over a modified bloom with some mezzotinting masked in for texture and brightening.

You really can't stop at just one of these, can you?! ;) [Alan, your image is so beautiful].


Here's a lighter version....playing with the Red channel.

Cj.....

Both of these are wonderful, love the way you were able to center on the seed part of this flower..... looks almost real, alive & growing.

The white one, is my pick.....

Wow, CJ, those are awesome! I like both with slight preference for the white one. How did you get the speckles? I love the gold speckles against the purple in the first one! Was that the result of mezzotint? Or did you use diffuse filter, or diffuse blend mode also...or something else?

Phyllis

Chuck -- Really love that Paint Shop Pro sepia effect! Beautiful!
Goldcoin -- thanks, I'm glad you like it.
Phyllis -- yes, the speckles were from mezzotint -- I masked the effect to control where they showed up.

Chuck, nice effect that sepia. Will have to try it on something sometime.

CJ, I agree with Goldcoin and Phyllis. I also like the white one.

Duplicated and cropped, and did a linear burn blend mode. Liked it, and flattened it. Selected the background and did a KPTFraxplorer, and then darkened it and changed colors with hue/sat. Sharpened with KPTX. Adjusted levels on both background and flower to suit.

Yeah, baby!

Those are some colors, Phil. Striking rendition.

Same only more muted. Couldn't decide which I liked best, so why not post 'em bofe!
:wavey:

Yowww! Blacknight! Those images don't just glow, they're on FIRE! Beautiful!!

Wow Phil!! thats just awsome, I love that effect you got. ditto what CJ said, it really does look like the middle in the is burning.

- David :)

Chuck, the sepia toned lotus is quite beautiful and sophisticated. I picture it in a 4 by 6 version above an off-white leather sofa in a modern living room done in all neutral colors. Do you have the time to paint me one that size? :)

Blacknight, I see you are doing wonderful things with KPT...isn't it fun! I like both of these a LOT, and I went back and forth a few times and can't pick a favorite. I love the colors you used...just gorgeous!

Here's one painted by an artist in a real hurry! :)

Phyllis

Well at least it's more colorful than the last one. :)

Phyllis

I really like the psychedelic one, Phyllis. Isn't it peculiar how the same image can be done with different colors and textures and evoke different feelings in the viewer? SOMEONE will like anything created, because it will strike a chord in them somewhere. Art. Ain't it grand!
:wavey:

Oh, Chuck, you've gotta tell us what that texture is and how you got it to shine like that. It's wonderful! The picture has such a beautiful sheen to it! Looks a bit like the impasto effect you get with Painter.

Blacknight said: "Isn't it peculiar how the same image can be done with different colors and textures and evoke different feelings in the viewer? SOMEONE will like anything created, because it will strike a chord in them somewhere."

Very profound observation. Yep, that's art all right!

Phyllis

Done with two Flaming Pear filters, aetherize and silver, and some blending modes.

Phyllis

Phyllis - VERY cool!! :) Almost like a neon lotus! ;)

Jeanie

Abstract lotus?

Phyllis

OK, Phyllis... Fess up: How'd you do this one?

I've not a clue and it's one terrific interpretation.

~Danny~

This is my first attempt at any kind of art work. some of the pictures here are just fantastic. here is my attempt
opend 2 copies o;f the picture changed the first one to grey scale, then selected all of the second and moved it to the frist picture then used the paint brush set to "clear" and different opacities

denschneider:

I'd say for a first attempt you were EXTREMELY successful. Congratulations on achieving this effect and using a unique method.

Well done. Hope to see more of your creations in the future.

~DannyR~

Originally posted by DannyRaphael
OK, Phyllis... Fess up: How'd you do this one?

I've not a clue and it's one terrific interpretation.

Thanks, Danny. It's the same technique I've been trying all week on lots of different minis. If you want the details, look at my last submission to the flower mini #62
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=39096
where I explain it step by step. It's also explained along with a version of the produce in mini challenge #63, and used on a few fish in #58 as well, and on the two cats Jake and Joey and as part of the method on Guitar Charlie.

It's one of my favorite discoveries, and I am trying it on virtually everything these days till I tire of it. :)

Phyllis

Chuck, nice soft strokes and gentle color, and the faint outline was a good idea to retain definition with all that painting going on!

I thought I'd go in a shimmery satin direction. The background was done with KPT fiber optics...can't recall how I did the flower...lifted this b/w layer from a previous attempt (fiery lotus), inverted it, and overlaid it on original. Used my new "sharpen tool/lighten mode" technique to bring out the white highlights on the flower even more, then the last step was to apply layer style inner shadow.

Phyllis

Phyllis,
That satin look lotus is purty as a speckled pup!

bubba

Chuck:

GR-EAT job for a first time at bat with Painter. Very impressive and good for you. Painter can do some amaizing things. I hope to get into it later this year.

Phyllis:

As usual you delight us again with a creative and colorful interpretation. Well done.

~Danny~

Used Virtual Photographer's Dreamy preset to enhance the glow and then fed the result into Autotrace and merged the vector traces into Mayuradraw and exported the result as a bitmap. I then did an autocontrast. :)

Here is what I came up with for this mini challenge. Sorry I did this a couple of days ago and I'm just now getting time to post it I can't remember the steps taken for this one. :dizzy:

This was a fun challenge.
TwoLaidBack

Little late, but just found this nice flower pic.

Steve

some absolutely amazing renditions here! and the original image is gorgeous, which always helps!

i put a twist on this one... you'll see :)

this started out as an exercise in sharpening. i'm afraid the experiment got out of control. after running sharpening by about a value of 1500 overall, using both the aim sharpener and the high pass sharpener of Paint Shop Pro, i did some duped layers and blending, followed by the dreamsuite bonus demo and then some hand painting and blending and blurring of different types.

i also HIGHLY recommend going back through all the posts! there really are some amazing pieces here!

craig

Since this has been resurrected it would be a shame not to have a go.

gorgeous, nancy. i do hope you post in the art section more often. i saw one post somewhere in here about being you feelling you were 'too technical' or something along those lines. 'art' could almost be described as 'technical perfection'...almost. so, i think your work fits right in.

craig

The thing is, when I did traditional painting and drawing, aside from the odd moment of creative genius (my art teacher was always trying to find that in me - it was a rare occurance) I was always striving for the photorealistic quality, and I sort of ended up thinking one day - what's the point? You want photo quality - take a photo. Mostly I was working from photos I'd taken anyway.
Working digitally with a photo as a base, you've already got that photorealism, so if thats the goal then theres really no point doing anything.
So I'm just trying to find that creative flair that my art teacher always knew was there beneath the geek. Colour outside the lines occasionally etc. I'm not sure I'm really getting it but I am trying.

nancy,

i understand and i agree with you about photographs.

art is about communication. it's about the quality of that communication. it's about putting a sensation or feeling into an image. it speaks to you. it evokes an emotional response. it's a something you almost want to consume, take into yourself and hold onto. it conveys something to the viewer and says something to them on an emotional level or asethetic level or spiritual level. 'spirit' and 'aesthetics' are very close to one another.

when you watch an actor or actress portray something so well that you feel a tear come to your eye or a smile on your lips, that's art. the message is sent and delivered and felt.

when you read a story and laugh or get angry at what's going on, that's good communication and therefore art.

i used to work with wood a bit. i love working with wood. you take an old tree and strip the rough bark, cut it into a workable form, shape it, smooth it, color it and polish it and it almost glows with a quality you almost want to pick up and eat. that's art.

there is art in life. a newborn's smile, a mother's pregnant 'glow', the bliss of things shared by lovers, the radiance of a bride to be, that perfect sunrise or sunset, and so forth. something, some quality is conveyed that just hits something within us and we know it's art. it touches us on a high wave band, sort of, if you want to describe it in physics. it matches up with us, the being within. there's an agreement between the piece and what we really are. both belong in the realm of 'quality', not 'quantity'. art is quality. spirit is quality. when they agree with one another, that's art.

so, if i can help you in any way find some of that quality, please let me know.

craig

Got so far with this one, I had to stop myself. I risked overdoing it.

Peter

Wow! Extremely cool... looked at the others on this page and all are impressive,I have not looked at the other pages yet.

Thanks JimJam
Check the rest out some nice stuff there.

Peter