Author: lauramchugh

I got my photos back from Costco today. The 5x7s came out great. I also got two 12x12s. The only issue with them was that I hadn’t sized them as 12×12 before uploading them to the Costco Photo website, so they were cropped right at the center by the auto-cropping software. Still, they were only $2.99 each, so I can’t really complain. I can always use paper for something art-wise. I think I will redo these at the 12×12 base size and resend for printing. Only by getting these proofs can you really tell what works.

Day 90. Namaste.

Here’s a graphic summary of my current art project:

Starts with 40-50 photocollage images created on Photoshop CS4. (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE PSCS4???!!!) These images are combined in iMovie to make a 2-5 min video/slideshow accompanied by an appropriate music track. Uploaded onto You Tube.

Step 2 – pick the best 5 of these images and create high resolution 5x7s. Send these to the Costco photo link to be printed. Also order one of the images (the best of the set) as a 12×12.

Pick these up at Costco on Wednesday afternoon. Get some mat board for matting them.

Mat the smaller photos; take the 12×12 and make it into an encaustic diptych. One half of the diptych will be the photo with an encaustic overlayer treatment. The other panel will be placed right up against the first and will be an encaustic that mirrors the colors and textures of the first panel.

There are four themes in the works for this project:

Day 59 – Strawberries and Pomegranates – You Tube completed; prints ordered.

Day 56 – Cherries and Grapes – You Tube completed.

Day 55 – Pumpkins and Bananas – You Tube completed; prints ordered.

Day ?? – Salmon and ??? – Not started yet.

I really like how this turned out. This is another fruit stand sign I’m using as a background. I took photos of them along Highway 92, then cropped just this part for the sign background.

I used photoshop to add a transparent gradient in blue (think glazing with a transparent paint). Then, I added the grape graphic as a second layer, and in a third layer that I brought forward, I used a graphic paintbrush of a mechanical drawing to “stamp” the collaged image. I re-sized the brush so taht the dimension lines running horizontal lined up with the top and bottom of the grape cluster. See, now wasn’t that easy?

Then, I did about 20 more of these variations, and made them into a You Tube video (slide show), accompanied by my brother in law’s band Avant Gardeners. The accompanying cut, Walk It Down, is from their self-published CD Untilled (1996). Thanks Art!

PS – I did the Strawberries and Pomegranates as a You Tube too. Click here to see it.