Book Review: 'Digital Expressions: Creating Digital Art With Photoshop Elements' by Susan Tuttle

I'm an old fashioned photographer in that I know a fair amount as to how to manipulate a camera shot, but place me in front of Photoshop & I'm sunk even with the aid of the doorstop of a manual that I bought to help me negotiate the programme. I get a pain in the neck just lifting the manual up so Photoshop & I have remained strangers up until now. With the arrival of 'Digital Expressions: Creating Digital Art With Photoshop Elements' by the highly talented Susan Tuttle, all this has changed.

Susan's intention is to teach us how to create beautiful digital art, something I've yearned to learn about as I want to incorporate such images into the art journals I keep. But hold on for one tiny second. In her introduction, in a lovely, lucid format, she has taught me what I've been looking for a long time - how to start working with Photoshop Elements! My days of a pain in the neck are over. She then proceeds to take you deeper and in thoughtful, step by step detail & with clear, luscious illustrations, shows you how to create digital art with chapters devoted to manipulating images, painting & drawing, layering elements to create digital collages, merging images to create montage art and incorporating traditional art into digital works. There are 25 projects to follow and a bonus CD with goodies for you to play with.

This book is lavish - information, inspiration, techniques & ideas abound. This is the perfect introduction & springboard for those of you who want to learn how to create digital art. Read this book and then run with it. Susan is giving you the key to the door and is the perfect companion to usher you into the world of digital art. I'm enjoying playing with this book so much & would heartily recommend it.

May I offer you a delicious serving of eccentricity?

Courtesy of the BBC, a televisual offering can be found here: 'Behind The Scenes at the Museum'

This film is the epitome of all that beautiful BBC2 & BBC4 do best. It's one man's look at the community who oversee the running of the Freud Museum in London. It may sound dull, but I can assure you it isn't! From the developing 'atmosphere' between upstairs & downstairs to the organisation of the dating evenings - yes, you really could meet the partner of your, ahem, dreams ( joke? get it?) and the delightful Freudian slip-pers in the museum's gift shop, this is an hour full of gentle delights.

Fancy making friends with the museum's official dog? Or does finding a lost painting by Lucien Freud appeal? If so, please watch and enjoy. Because you're worth it :-)

The Perennial Question?

I'm a person of extremes and much as I adore succulent colour & a clashing contrast, I'm also a sucker for the pretty nudes & blush pink dresses that are currently walking down a High Street near you. And here is my solution to the 'What Should I Wear With That?' question; one that I hope would stand out in a crowd.

My fingers tiptoed through my bead trays until I alighted upon this set of beads by Dora Schubert. 'Parfait' as the French say, and then I went scurrying off to sift through my collection of pearls because nothing enhances skin tone better than the oyster's greatest gift to the world.

So here is 'Neutrality'. Could this be an answer to the question?

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Jean Yates kindly reviewed this necklace in this post from her blog.

Laura Sparling's Lonelies Prize Draw

Would you like to win these beautiful, top quality 'lonelies' by the renowned UK art glass beadmaker, Laura Sparling? Then head on over to her blog, read this post & add a comment in order to enter her prize draw.

As they say, you've got to be in it to win it, so off you trot and may I wish you 'Good Luck!'

'The Faces' Jewellery Challenge: so what would you make for...

I'm reminded of the 'Faces' jewellery challenge that I referred to earlier this month. My impetus is eluding me at present and my sketchbook of ideas for Ellen Terry ( please see this entry) is a staccato mess. Nevertheless, I have another face for you; a photograph of Virginia Woolf whom I mentioned yesterday.

Both this photograph and that of Ellen capture them before the originality & true colours of their lives had unfolded. Perhaps this is why I find it difficult to pluck out inspiration from these youthful photographs; I know what is to come and it is not yet a highly visible seed in these innocent portraits. Methinks I must bear in mind the character & experience of these extraordinary women and celebrate the beauty of maturity. Perhaps I should challenge myself with a photograph of the poet, Dame Edith Sitwell instead.

But ah me no; Dame Edith had more style in an elegant finger tip than I would ever dream of addressing. I dare not presume!

My search for a face continues...

The Art Journal & Creativity Bookshelf: The Long List!

Our house groans with books. Literally. Walls have been scaled by carpenters & cabinet makers ( being married to someone in the antiques trade has its perks - Bushwood Antiques, I thank you) and shelves have been adhered to any wall not suitable for paintings. I love peering into books & sniffing out their treasures. And my books are more informatively interactive than Kindle. All book lovers should look away right now because I hereby confess to the sin of writing in the margins of my paperbacks. Indeed I have paperback copies of some of my hardbacks purely so that I can carry on a written conversation with the author. Remember the quote from my last blog entry,

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You, too? Thought I was the only one."

Well this is just one of the reasons why I write in my books; the magic spell of recognition.

My little addenda add an extra dimension to re-reading old favourites. 'Did I really think that? Oh shallow youth!' ( I rather enjoy feeling pompous about my younger self; it shows I may have actually learnt something as I've travelled through life and that all is not necessarily lost!) In fact my long standing loves which I refer to again & again, such as Virginia Woolf's diaries or Carrington's 'Letters & Extracts from Her Diaries', have special journals devoted to them which stand by their sides on the bookshelves. Carrington's paintings have always beguiled me, but when I read her enthralling letters & saw the illustrations which she added to them, I fell under her thrall & have remained her slave ever since.

Indeed, many, many years ago, it was Virginia & Carrington who first inspired me to keep a journal of my own. At first it was just a diary, but this one volume has blossomed into many. I now keep a diary, a reading record ( for thoughts I dare not expose in the books themselves!), an art journal, as well as a multiplicity of sketchbooks ( which, to my mind, are another form of journal). The latest addition is a more formal illustrated journal whose shape still hasn't comfortably settled in my mind.

But I digress. The reason for this post is that I've been 'editing' my art journal resource shelves. Not because I'm divesting myself of any of the books which have helped me along the journalling path, but because some seem more pertinent to the shelves in the Shack where I paint & make a mess whilst others seem more suited to the calmer climate of my study.

Now that I've finally finished dusting off & restating the bookshelves, I thought I'd list a selection of favourites books which I've referred to as I've mined my way through my own particular seam of journalling life. They are of particular help in the bad times, but also nourish me in the good. In other words, they are Battle Books!

Here goes...

Firstly the greats. You can treat yourself to books by any of the following authors and each & all will hold your hand and delight, inspire & inform you. Make space for:

Lynne Perella, Gwen Diehn, Danny Gregory, Maggie Grey, L.K.Ludwig, Ricë Freeman Zachary & her wonderful interviewees, Sark, Alan Fletcher, Dan Price & any of the volumes of 'Illustration Now'.

And now, in no particular order, here comes a lengthy selection of my favourites. I've added links to Amazon, not because I'm on commission ( because I'm not) but purely so that you can read a little more about each particular book.

'Kaleidoscope' by Suzanne Simanaitis
'Exhibition 36' & 'Digital Expressions' by Susan Tuttle
'Celebrate Your Creative Self' & 'The Creative Edge' by Mary Todd Beam
'Art Escapes' by Dory Kanter
'Collage Sourcebook' by Holly Harrison, Jennifer Atkinson & Paula Grasdal
'Mixed Media Collage' by Holly Harrison
'Journal Spilling' by Diana Trout
'Life is a Verb' by Patti Digh
'1000 Art Journal Pages' edited by Dawn DeVries Sokol
'1000 Journals Project'
'Complete Guide to Altered Imagery' by Karen Michel
'Exploring Colour' by the late Julie Caprara
'Handmade Prints' by Anne Desmet & Jim Anderson
'Drawing & Painting People: A Fresh Approach' by Emily Ball
'Painted Paper' by Alisa Golden
'The Artist's Sketchbook' by Lucy Watson
'Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art Of Designers, Illustrators & Creatives' by Richard Brereton
'Mixed Media Self Portraits' by Cate Coulacos Prato
'The Nature Diary of an Artist' by Jennie Hale
'Art Stamping Workshop' by Gloria Page
'Printmaking + Mixed Media' by Dorit Elisha
'Drawing From Life:The Journal as Art' by Jennifer New
'Journal Bliss' by Violette
'Drawing, Seeing & Observation' by Ian Simpson
'Sometimes I Think, Sometimes I Am' by Sara Fanelli
'Experimental Drawing' by Robert Kaupelis
'Creating Sketchbooks for Embroiderers & Textile Artists' by Kay Greenlees
'Making Journals by Hand' by Jason Thompson
'Artist Trading Card Workshop' by Bernie Berlin
'Mixed Emulsions' by Angela Cartwright
'Practical Printmaking' by Colin Gale
'Creative Awakenings: Envisioning The Life of Your Dreams Through Art' by Sheri Gaynor
'Taking Flight' by Kelly Rae Roberts
'Collage Unleashed' by Traci Bautista
'The New Creative Artist' by Nita Leland
'Keys To Drawing With Imagination' by Bert Dodson
'Creative Paint Workshop' by Ann Baldwin
'Drawing Matters' by Jane Stobart
Jim Krause's Colour Index Volumes I and II
'Sources of Inspiration' and 'Pattern, Colour & Form' by Carolyn Genders
'Connecting Art to Stitch' by Sandra Meech
'Acrylic Revolution' by Nancy Reyner

There are more, but I fear I may have exhausted you and that, dear Reader, will never do.

PS, I'm avidly awaiting the arrival of 'The Journal Junkies Workshop' by Eric M.Scott & David R. Modler which is available in the States, but not here in the UK as of today. Help! I'm not known for my patience! I have discovered Eric's blog though for which I shout 'Hurrah!'

On friendship...

My sweet friend, Jean Yates, the Rock CHICk™ shared a lovely quote with me about friendship.

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You, too? Thought I was the only one."

At this point in my life, as I emerge out of a bipolar exile and meet up with old friends and exchange smiles with new ones, it seems entirely pertinent to share C.S. Lewis' fine words with you.

I also liked his quote about the soul; it's delightfully loud & proud! We are each of us so much more that can readily be perceived, but do we always remember that about each other?

Shine your light, dear Reader! And shine bright!