heArt #100 Heart Agate

 

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.

Heart Agate Iris

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:

Iris Blur Ripple

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.

 

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