[sharynideas]

These poor flowers are condemned to die within the month.
Even though they can't get a pardon from Father Frost, maybe someone would like to give them immortality through art.
Shari

[palms1]

Hopefully i have saved one from "death row"

where's Steve when hes needed i bet he would save one

Palms

[lkroll]

Maybe a little abstract for your taste, but just having some Droste fun tonight.

[palms1]

Originally Posted by lkroll

Maybe a little abstract for your taste, but just having some Droste fun tonight.

Not too abstract for me lkroll l like it, colours are great

Palms

[sharynideas]

Thanks for your responses. I am just beginning to get brave enough to try to paint with the brushes, so it is really interesting to me to see how the experts would paint a photo I like.
Palms, I love your interpretation, especially the border and soft colors. Would you mind sharing how you did the border?
Lkroll, I would have never thought of an abstract from the hybiscus. It looks like an aerial view of a new amusement park ride.
I am attaching my tries at painting the two pictures.

[Cassidy]

Just playing around a bit

[palms1]

Thank you sharynideas i like your paintings especially the hibuscus one,

To do the border effect

duplicate your image on the top layer Edit > transform > Scale

On the top pallette click the little link between the W & H ( maintains the aspect ratio ) enter a value in either the width or height, i think i used about85%

The rest is now optional by selecting the image in both layers one at a time i used Edit >stroke 10 in pink, ( on the bottom layer i clicked inside )

Again on the bottom layer i lightened the image or you could darken it
quite a few options on the bottom layer filters for example

top layer you could rotate using the transform tool again

Palms

[palms1]

Originally Posted by Cassidy

Just playing around a bit

Nice bit of play Cassidy

Palms

[dmrdm]

It won't be long, that's for sure. Gave the stroke thing mentioned above a try and continued from there.

A little bit of everything. H/Sat, G. Blur, Artistic dry brush - lost track after awhile because I played with it so much.

[sharynideas]

I know what you all mean when you say you played with the pictures so much you lost track. I worked on that hybiscus so much that I could never reproduce it if I tried.
Palms- Thanks so much for the mini tutorial. I redid the hybiscus. I have Elements rather than photoshop. Some of the commands are quite a bit different. Apparently especially the edit commands. I figured out how to scale, but never did figure out "Edit >stroke 10 in pink". I realize there's quite a bit of difference in the capabilities of the two programs, and photoshop is definitely what the professional needs.
Anyway, I put a border on the hybiscus and darkened it with levels. I couldn't figure out how you and Dmrdm put the colored frames on the border, so I put bevels on both layers.
(When I got finished and posted this, I realized I do have a Stroke command under Edit. I had never used it. It's a great way to add a border. Sorry to have sounded so stupid.)
Dmrdm- The flowers probably have less than 2 weeks here in Western PA. But you'd never know it. Yesterday's high was 93 and overnight low was 73.
Cass-Your interpretation really made the Mandevilla's colors pop.

[solitear]

Thought I'd join in on the fun..... Thank you, Shari !

[Steve Conway]

Originally Posted by palms1

Hopefully I have saved one from "death row"

where's Steve when hes needed I bet he would save one

Palms

Well now it's only natural that you would think of me when you need help with flowers. As you well know, I wait every day for the next post so I can dig right in and do them justice. And I can see the poor things crying for me to save them. However I find that my highly valuable time allows me to only do this one.

Hope it meets with the poor blossom's approval.

Steve C.

[palms1]

Sharynideas glad you worked through the mini tut I wouldnt think you stupid we all have been there and some times still cant find things the hibiscus looks great, dont you feel great when you learn another new trick !
Yours also looks great Solitear I will have to find some time to so the hibuscus everyones done such a good job at it.

And hey Super Steve to the rescue again, funny thing is now, I dont think you will lose the flower thing every one has caught on with it

Palms

[lkroll]

Started out using Unplugged's CopyStar filter, but then I made it seamless. The individual (and higher quality) tile is here. Attached is what can be done with it.

[sharynideas]

Thank you all for giving the flowers eternal life. I'm going to print them all out. When the snow flies, it'll remind me that better times are ahead.
Shari