Oil Pastels

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For this month, I decided to post some oil pastels that were originally created for a cafe in Victoria, BC. They were copied and used for signage, stationary and the logo. When I discovered them once again, I thought they would be ideal for an upcoming showing of my art at Centre Stage in New Minas, NS, in October of this year. I am very excited about this opportunity.

I used artist’s wooden panels,12″ x 12″ for the larger pieces and 8″ x 8″ for the smaller pieces for the frame. Each panel has a 3mm quality poplar wood board and a solid pine wood frame. I used acrylic paint on the background to match the oil pastels and moulding on the four larger pieces. Select each picture to enlarge it. 

See you next month.

Illustrator/Photoshop Art

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For this post I’m going to show you what can be created working between Illustrator & Photoshop. This all started with opening Illustrator and realizing how much I don’t know about certain tools provided in Illustrator CS6.  I decided to play with the Mesh Tool. Below is a bit of an explanation of what this tool is and what you can do with it.

[A mesh object is a multicolored object on which colors can flow in different directions and transition smoothly from one point to another. When you create a mesh object, multiple lines called mesh lines crisscross the object and provide a way to easily manipulate color transitions on the object. By moving and editing points on the mesh lines, you can change the intensity of a color shift, or change the extent of a colored area on the object], from Illustrator Help / Meshes web page. I don’t want to bore you by having the entire explanation in this post so for more information go to (https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/meshes.html). It’s worth reading the whole thing if you want to use this tool.

For the first project I started by drawing a rectangle with, what else but the rectangle tool, choosing a very vibrant pink fill. From there I just started adding points of colour and manoeuvring some of the points around until suddenly it looked like a bird with its beak facing towards the ground.  I decided to add an eye by drawing an oval with the ellipse tool, adding points with the mesh tool for the shading and highlighting, then added another oval for the eye-ball. Next I exported it as a PSD (although in this case it probably wasn’t necessary because I only used 1 layer whereas in future endeavours I used more than one layer and was able to work on each layer individually in Photoshop).  Next I played with a few filters in   Photoshop and finally decided on the Alien Skin Snap Art filter – Impasto paint. I quite like this paint filter and used it for a few other projects in this post. And there you have it, a Photoshop image that looks like a painting of a bird, or maybe you see something else. Let me know what you think it looks like.

I will give a short description of each project with the pictures I add. Enjoy.

This next project started the same as last with a simple rectangle. Then I decided to build a cluster of daisy like flowers in a variety of sizes. Exported it into Photoshop as a PSD then applied the Impasto paint filter.

For the next project I had an idea of producing something with what looks like a face. I wanted vibrant colours in the vein of Mexican or Latin American style art. I started with a rectangle then added an oval on top to give it a framed look. And once again I used the Impasto paint filter. I just love the effects of that paint filter. I’m not sure if I totally achieved the effect I was trying for but I liked what I ended up with.

For this project I started with a square. I started using the mesh tool working from the edges mainly and started to see an image. For me it started looking like some kind of butterfly or alike. I tried to use really bright cheerful colours. This time instead of using the Impasto filter I used the Snap Art –  Watercolour filter adding a little saturation and brightness (which is in the controls of this filter). This is one of my favourites.

These last few projects I’m just going to let you enjoy them without explanation.

 

New Logo for birdbrain graphics

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Hi everyone, I know it’s been a while but I think I’m finally back into the groove now that I’m settled into my new home in Nova Scotia. So let’s get right to it. For this post I’ve decided to make myself a new logo. It’s time for a change. Not that I don’t love the old one but I think it’s time to retire “phat bird”. I went through lots of fonts and ideas then came up with this as my final one. I have 3 samples for my final and I’d love your opinions on which one you think I should use for my new logo. Here are the samples.

Fun With Photoshop

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It’s been a while but here is my latest Photoshop painting. For this project I found a pattern that tweaked my interest in Filter Forge and used it through the entire painting. I made several different shapes in a number of sizes, then added textures, shadows and reflections. I also made use of the 3D plugin that’s Photoshop CS6.

All in all it was a fun project that took several hours  of time that I should have been using doing house work. Which do you think is more interesting and fun. Hmmmm! Enjoy.

Lines, Colours & Swirls

 

Fairy Book Samples Part 3

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Fairy book continued:

For this post I have made up another sample page for my fairy book. This was done in the same way as the previous drawing of  the Fairy Queen… using a pencil drawing, then shading with different pencil types (HP, 2B, 6B, 2H, etc.) then scanning to paint in Photoshop. I’ve changed the background and frame from the last entry, so I’m showing the two sets of pages including the Fairy Queen and the new pages of the Fairy Keeper to show how the new background and frame look with both. Please keep in mind that the text on both pages is not the actual story, they are just faded words I added to show how the fonts will look in the finished product.

I am still working on many more drawings and I’m sure they’ll take quite a while to complete. Hopefully I’ll be able to share with you one new  page set a month until I’m ready to write the actual story for each image. Anyway I hope to enjoy my latest creation. Cheers for now!