heArt-a-Day

This heart art is my attempt at digital scrapbooking. Below are some of the details as to how I created it, as well as a background and a couple of heart elements free for the taking. Note: If it has heartaday written on it, don’t take it. In fact, if you take the freebies and use them (I’d love attribution), send it to me and I’ll feature it here in an entry in the future.

Those of you that think the text is a rip off of the I Can Has Cheezburger blog, you’re right. I can’t get enough of that! It’s my own cat sitting on my parlor grand piano.

Below is the abbreviated version of how I did this all in Photoshop. Now, I don’t claim to be an expert at Photoshop by any means so if I’m doing something “wrong” to any PS geeks out there, let it go. This is my messy way of doing things.

Mini Tutorial

I started out with the flower picture below which is a macro photo I took of a common weed in the yard I call Creeping Charlie (also known as ground ivy). Noxious weed, beautiful glow-in-the-twilight lavender flowers. I’d retouched this photo at an earlier time. (more…)

I was experimenting around with Photoshop today, trying new things. My inspiration came from the January 2008 issue of American Quilter magazine. In it are two different articles about creating fabric digitally (awesome!).

Using the instructions in the article Digital Delights: “Applique and Piecing” by Computer (by Gudny Campbell and Sandra Hart * ) I started with this iris photo I had in my files. The color is a little off for a straight flower photo, so it’s perfect for altering.

Then I applied the Photoshop Motion Blur filter (horizontal) which made a gorgeous gradation right away. I was pretty surprised how well it turned out. To that I added the Ripple filter and ended up with the nice background below:

To get the final heart image I got into the Liquify filter, which was really like finger painting with a more sophisticated palette. Using the Forward Warp Tool I just drew the heart outline with my stylus and then kept working with the colors until it was obviously a heart. It’s amazing how much you can fine tune where the “paint” goes, even though the colors are a bit slippery, like oil on water. I think the end result has organic striations of color like you find in an agate.

* For examples of Gudny Campbell and Sandy Hart’s work, see their Art Quilt website.

Bookmark this page at Danogo.com!

Admittedly, the hearts are hard to find in this one, but they’re there masquerading as snowflakes. I made this in Photoshop with the freely downloadable brushes from BSilvia at Graphics-Illustrations. Her “snow scenes” tutorial was my inspiration. I used the Snowy Sky, Swirls (around the tree’s star), Christmas Trees Grunge, and Grunge Heart brushes.

Painted in Photoshop using brushes from my friend BSilvia at Graphics-Illustrations, including her new “grunge heart” set inspired by heArt-a-Day! Thanks Silvia! I’m in a bit of a hurry today and didn’t show them off to their best advantage, but I’ll be using them in future pieces.

Update:  I entered the Snow Queen at the weekly Artella Creativity Challenge and got first place.  Woo hoo!

Digital collage using vintage images from the Jack and Cat Curio blog. This is a slight variation on my entry in the Creativity Challenge #4 for Jack and Cat. I used some Photoshop brushes from
Obsidian Dawn.

You may have noticed the mystical looking symbols. Those are norse runes representing strength and joy, basically. I love to think of Santa is an archetype for the ancient shamans who lived from the arctic circle area of Scandinavia to Russia and Siberia. The word “shaman” comes from the native tribal groups of Siberia who are still running herds of reindeer today, despite Russia’s methods of oil retrieval that has destroyed much of the tundra food supply for the reindeer. To me Santa Claus is a powerful archetype on many levels, representing the primal power of good Father Nature in his winter aspect.

A couple of books have been written about this idea. See the links below for more:

When Santa Was a Shaman

Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men

Steve Rack is an artist who is doing a project of drawing 365 characters and posting them to a blog dedicated to them. They are very friendly and whimsical, so I asked him if he would like to draw one for heArt-a-Day. That’s how the wonderfully cute “luvvahug”, below, was born. Thanks, Steve!

I created this collage in Photoshop with clipart from Jack and Cat Curio’s blog, as well as photoshop brushes from Obsidian Dawn (Snow & Snowflakes) and BSilvia at Graphics-Illustrations (Grunge Stars, Magic Circles, Grunge Snowflakes, and Beads).

This is a heart I drew for Rick a few months ago. I was in a hurry that day, but sometimes the less time I take the better. My art professor at Cornell, Hugh Lifson, drilled into our heads that “less is more” and I tried to adhere to that. But I’m a glutton for layers and patterns, so it’s hard for me to get down to the bare minimum most of the time.

While I was getting it ready for the blog I decided that the colors were reminiscent of Tuscany, and the border I put on it gives it the illusion of being 3-D, like a tile.

Painted in Photoshop, as usual.

Through Facebook I’ve met an wonderful Arizona artist by the name of Kent Looft. His paintings are mainly realism (check out his chili peppers, they’re hot!), something I aspire to but have not reached the levels he has. I asked him if he’d like to be a guest “heArtist” on this blog. Below is his reply, which says more about my art than I ever could. This is an artist with a generous heart indeed, and I’m honored to have him as a guest here on my blog. See his article below.

Hello, Gretchen. You asked if I would be willing to contribute to your blog at heartaday with an article. Initially, I wasn’t quite sure where your readers might take interest, so I thought this overview might prove insightful and strike some discussion. To begin, I want to congratulate you on choosing to express your art with the HeArt a Day Series.

Reflections. Back in art school, I recall seeing a book that was a series of photos from Europe that consisted of a series of shots of simply, doors. And on the surface it would seem boring and a waste of time viewing much less shooting, but what it revealed was surprising.

Results. The door book viewing provided a portal of reference to people across the diversity of cultures, life styles, values, and position. And while some doors were magnificent with carving and ornamentation – others were profound in their simplicity, color and utility.

Variation on a Theme is an expression that is found in many art forms including music. The masterful works of Johann Sebastian Bach and Beethoven were often expressed with compositions based on a fugue theme that is woven throughout a composition. Today repeating themes are evident in current rap and hip hop music with the use of pre-ecorded audio loops and tracks that overlay the lead vocals. Da Da Da Dum…

One graphic element that occurs in many of your HeArt works I have seen is the spiral element. In a series you may choose to keep some aspects of each work the same – such as size, substrate, media, and a signature element (like your spiral) and alter other criteria such as color, pattern, scale.

The Medium is the message. Or create a series within a series of one design rendered with charcoal, pastel, watercolor and acrylic on different surfaces which will illustrate the range of expression each media brings to the table (easel).

Tell a story. The reason behind your choice of a heart form may be the most significant to center your expression through it. What does it represent to you, your life & family. Is is always happy or sometimes melancholy? How would it be seen thru someone other than yourself? A child? A grandparent? Shakespeare said; How do I love thee? Let me count thy ways….

Best wishes on your journey, Kent

Kent Looft is an author, artist and marketing consultant at Designarts, Inc.
http://www.designartsaz.com
www.artifactsgallery.blogspot.com
kent@designartsaz.com

For this I took the photograph of my heart ornament and altered it in Photoshop using gradients. I’m really happy with the way some of the gradients look. I sense variations on a theme to come from that. This was supposed to be an entry for a digital holiday card contest, but I misread the dimensions. Back to the graphic tablet.