Making Cards

Everytime I go to write a post I can't believe another week has gone by!  Does that ever happen to you??  

This weekend I toyed around with one of my digital collages of NYC in Procreate on the iPad.  The original is the bottom photo with the blue and copper tones.  After having altered it to the lighter tones I am not sure which one I like best.  Actually I think it may be the lighter version on top!

Thought they would make cool note cards.  I miss hand written sentiments these days.  I better get to writing out some of these!  lol  

I will also most likely be adding them to my etsy shop.  ;)

Which color tones in these pics to you prefer?  Would love input from you guys too!

xo

Exciting Somerset News!! Part One

Back in the fall last year I submitted some of my NYC digital collage images to Somerset Digital Studio.  I was pretty excited to find out that they would be publishing my art and requested a technique article to go along with the images! If you love digital art as much as I do then this is a must read publication.  What I did not know until I received the magazine was my title "Urban Grunge" is on the cover!  I absolutely love the font used for the title and the digital brush used as its background taken from the original photo.

If you are a follower of my blog then you may recognize these images.
 They are some of my
 favorites!

Hope you enjoyed the sneak peak!  Somerset Digital Studio is on newsstands now so go pick up a copy!  

Enjoy the article and all the gorgeous digital artwork featured in this issue!

xo

Texture Tuesday And More Grunge :)

I am having so much fun combing my photos with mixed media paintings.  For this image I used a texture I created with a piece of my latest mixed media painting (will be sharing the original soon!)  and a photo I shot from the top of the MET in NYC overlooking Central Park.  

I love how the purple tones work so nicely with the sepia in the buildings.  I could play in photoshop for hours!  

Fine Art Grunge is truly an amazing class!!  

Sharing this image today with the lovely peeps over at Kim Klassen's blog!  

Come join us HERE!

A Scene Right Out of My Favorite Show

I was in NYC last week walking down 5th Ave.  One of the things I love so much about this city is the many urban photo ops there are.  You never know what you will capture at any given moment.  With my iPhone in tow I walked past the NY Public Library, the site of a scene from the first Sex And The City movie.  Its when Big ditches Carrie on their would be wedding day.  As I walked past and turned to look back I couldn't help but hold up the camera and click.  

On the train ride back home as I scrolled through the images I noticed that I caught the traffic at just the right moment.  The black Mercedes you see is very similar to the car Big was riding in when Carrie was beating him with her bouquet!  

I love the cars, the people and the timeless quality of the architecture.  Just like NYC, you have to move fast to capture moments along the city streets.  But when you do, they can be magical!

Filters were added with snapseed and pictapgo apps.  

Empire State Of Mind . . .

I hopped a train the other day to NYC.  Its only a little over an hour ride.  I was going to bring my regular camera and then realized that I have my iphone camera at the ready.  

Walking down 5th avenue I passed tons of great photo ops.  Like this slice of grandness.  I pointed up to the sky and clicked.  That was all it took to capture the fabulousness of this building.  

Filters were added via instagram.

Late Night Digital Collaging . . .

Sometimes my creativity hits me late at night.  Most of the time I try to ignore it as I hate to miss sleep.  I have enough trouble in that area that I don't want to press my luck.  However, last night I was playing with photos on my iphone and created this digital collage.  I used 3 images, 2 paintings, and a nyc photo.  

The bad thing is that the iphone is very small and tired eyes do not do well with that!  I woke up this morning with a really bad headache that I have been trying to get rid of to no avail.  

I do love the collage though.  lol

xo

There is Always Photography . . .

I meant to put up a post on Friday as I always do for the Paint Party Friday link up however I haven't painted in a couple of weeks.  Haven't been painting much since I have been sick.  

The other day I was scrolling through some photos and found a cool one I shot a few years ago in NYC.  I put it in snap seed and spent some time altering it.  That sometimes can feel like painting to me.   I get lost in the moment of creating.  

I went for vintage and grunge on this one.  And it just works.

Hope you are all enjoying the long weekend.  I am soooo looking forward to fall and the crisp weather that hopefully is on its way soon!

xo

More Love And NYC . . . New Collaged Canvas

Haven't collaged a canvas in awhile so I thought that since I had some photocopies laying around of my NYC photos I would use them for collage.  I reused a canvas panel I had with an unfinished WIP.  It is a 16x20.  I am enjoying creating larger.  

I used matte medium and quickly glued the papers down not really paying attention to where I was putting them or which images they were.  I used payne's gray and raw umber to add color.  I tried to keep a few images exposed like the cab and some of the buildings.  I stenciled letters with some black paint.  Finishing touches were added with white out pen and black sharpie.  

Thought you might like to see the collage before I went crazy all over it! 

I liked this image so much I printed it out as a photo.  You can read all about that in this post HERE.

Sharing this piece today over at Paint Party Friday.  

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

xo

Turning a WIP Collage Into Cool Photo Art

I started collaging an old canvas board with torn up pieces of my NYC photography.  Typically I do not enjoy collage.  It frustrates me.  But for some reason I really got lost in ripping and gluing these pieces down with no thought to placement at all.  I try to remember to take photos during the progress of my pieces and did so with this.  What I did not expect however was to find a really cool image.  I shot this at an angle just playing around with my iPhone and loved what I saw!

I then took it a step further and put the image in the 'be funky' app which has some cool borders.  I also grunted it up a bit so it would have a more distressed antique look.  

Yesterday I printed it out and think I will hang it up!  You never know where an image can take you.  Even something as simple as a photo of your WIP.  Try it sometime!!  I would love to see what you create!!

Wordless Wednesday . . . City Blur

                              

Empire State Building . . . A Before And After

As you can see I am on a photography kick.  Thanks for all the great comments on my orchid post!  Today I thought I would share another before and after this time using one of my NYC photos.  

I took shot this image of the empire state building a few years ago.  I loved the composition of it.  Lou and I were in the city celebrating my 40th birthday and on the way from the restaurant I happened to look up and saw this.  I was glad to have had my camera with me. 

I processed the image in snapseed.  Love this app!  

Here is the original image below . . .

Which one do you prefer?

I will be back tomorrow with a new abstract painting!

xo

Blog Giveaway! NYC Prints!!

Monday I had my stitches removed and found out that the biopsy was benign!  **Big Sigh of Relief** It feels good to have them out.  My arm is still sore but I suppose that will take awhile. 

 So, I thought as a thank you for the wonderful support through all of my trials lately I would giveaway a set of 2 NYC prints.  The set includes the above image of the Chrysler Building and the one below titled "City Traffic".  As you can see both of these images are textured which I think gives some really cool effects and kinda goes along with the grittiness of NYC.  Size of each print is 8x10 printed on 8.5x11 matte paper.  Watermark will not appear on print.  

I will be picking one lucky winner who will receive this set of 2 prints.  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post.  If you want to increase your chances of winning then you can share this link on your blog and/or  share it on facebook.  Then stop back here and let me know in the comments.  This is not required to enter.  

I will announce the winner next week on Wednesday May 16.

Good Luck!!

xo

Digital Collaging . . . Love And NYC

I knew it wouldn't take me long to get back into photoshop. Early this morning I created this digital collage. At first I really didn't like it. But then I tried to invert the image to its negative. Well, that is when I fell in love (no pun intended!) :)

I started out wanting to use my latest mixed media painting. I had so much fun creating this painting with layers of collage, paint, stamping, and molding paste for the heart! I really love the contrast between the red and blue!

available on etsy

And I felt like it would be cool to layer it with this image I shot in NYC and altered in snapseed. Its a grungy view at the corner of 42nd and Park Ave.

Feeling as though it was just missing something I layered this azalea up in the top right corner. And it just seemed to fit.

Each time I get away from my other art and head for photoshop I always get scared. Its weird how I feel that way. Its as if I will never return to the other mediums. And yet somehow I always find my way back!

I am sharing this image today over at Paint Party Friday. I just couldn't miss the First Anniversary party!! It is sure to be a fun one! Thank you Kristin and Eva for hosting this amazing party each week!

xo

Mystery at 42nd and Park

"42nd and Park"

prints available on etsy

One of the things I love about digital collage is the mystery. All the layers create these hidden spaces where anything is possible.

Yesterday afternoon I meant to paint but as soon as I opened up my iphoto I began a search for images to create a story. My favorite images are of NYC. I used one of those that I shot of city traffic on the corner of 42nd and Park Ave combining it with one of my mixed media paintings and a sketch I posted a few days ago.

A couple of the things I love about this piece are in the details. The taxi cab in the bottom right has the words 'love today' written on the windshield. And then there is the street sign popping through on the top left. The buildings create depth and the eye on the upper right is so mysterious. I wonder where she has been.

I am really learning to love creating this way. Its like painting for me. I hope I won't ditch the real thing for photoshop!

As you can see I am trying to change things up a bit around here. I finally figured out how to make a proper size blog banner. I used a cropped image from this collage. I feel like it represents pieces of what I am about as an artist. I am pretty fickle though so we will see how long it stays there!

So far I am liking it . . . although it may warrant a background color change.

See what I mean?! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Sketches . . . NYC Skyline

I spent some time playing in my journal this weekend. I was inspired by a photo a took of the NYC skyline and wanted to try a sketch. I loosely sketched it out and added gray and pink watercolors with a bit of yellow for lit windows on the buildings. I am really loving watercolors when I sketch.

I took a pic after I first laid down the colors over the sketch and I also like it this way. It was fun though to go back in with my black pitt pen and outline, scribble and sketch it back in. Although I am not happy with the bold letters at at the bottom it was how I was initially inspired to write them so I just went with it.

I am sharing this today over at Sunday Sketches hosted by the lovely Sophia.

Hope you will join us!

xo

Texture Tuesday . . . NYC

click image to view larger

I am sharing this image today for Kim Klassen's texture challenge. I shot this in NYC and I had fun processing it with Kim's "the ladder" texture. This one gives a great grungy distressed look and I thought it worked well with this urban photo. I used one layer of "the ladder" at multiply 80%. Initially it looked like too much texture but I do love it!

Here is the original image. . .

Come on over to Kim's blog and see all the texture loving being shared today!

Click HERE!

xo

Wordless Wednesday . . . A Moment In NYC

click image to view larger

Channeling Ferris . . .

click on image to view larger

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."

~ Ferris Bueller

NYC . . . We Will Never Forget

NYC skyline as seen from the Brooklyn Bridge

11/09

We finally had a cool morning here in NY today and I headed down to the walk trail. My favorite season is just around the corner. I am still crying over my pup and felt the pain as my feet touched the path. I hadn't been down there in a few weeks. I missed having him trot beside me. As I listened to the first crunch of a leaf under my shoe I thought about how no matter what happens in our lives somehow life moves on with or without us.

Every year on this day I think about that moment, the one none of us will ever forget. I am a NY'er and live less than an hour from the city. That morning I was laying on the couch in pain, feeling sorry for myself that I had just had cancer surgery. As I watched the horror unfold on television I felt stupid for feeling such self pity. I realized how grateful I was for my own life. I remember feeling scared as we waited to hear from my brother who was only 40 blocks from the scene. Then I felt such relief knowing he was ok. Loved ones were all that mattered. Having just suffered the loss of my pup and on days like today I am reminded of how precious life is.

I captured this shot of the skyline a couple of years ago when my husband and I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time. Although the skyline will never be the same what is left is a reminder of the resiliency of NYC and all who survived. . .