Saturday, September 30, 2006

tooting my own horn

Studio Friday's challenge this week is to show off one's favorite work. This is my first Studio Friday post.

My work tends to be very spare. I can appreciate more complicated layered work, but I can't seem to *do* it.

Here is a fused-fabric ATC. I love this tiny form. Not only can I complete lots of finished work in a small period of time, but I can cut a 2.5"x3.5" piece out of almost any cloth or paper -- some things are "precious" and hard to use, but on these small pieces......

I made a whole bunch of ATCs last weekend. This is my favorite. I had been thinking of doing this sort of leaf shape for a while, and this is the one that is what I wanted to make.






















What I've been doing mostly, for the last several months, is photography. I've been taking hundreds of pics (love digital!!!), and then have been playing with them in Photoshop Elements. I love that my image is not finished when I click the shutter.

I like being able to boost the contrast and saturation, and I love the "poster edges" filter.....

This flower (don't know what kind of flower!) is basically unmolested. I cropped it, and removed a leaf that I thought was distracting, and that's it. No extra saturation; no filters....

I love the curve of the stem.....

10 comments:

Rowan said...

Thank you for stopping by my blog - I have some photos up nowif you'd like to see them but I'm only a beginning photographer whereas you obviously know what you are doing - there are some wonderful images on your site. Thanks for the advice you gave me as well - my husband has helped me with the Mozilla Firefox stuff and that seems to have done the trick. I'm useless on the IT front but fortunately he isn't!

I need orange said...

Your pics are fine. They do an excellent job of documenting not only what people were doing, but the conditions (dark!) in which they did them....

Thanks for the compliment -- I think it's the old "practice is nearly everything" routine. I've spent a lot of time messing with pics after I take them. I crop everything, and often do a lot more, to remove distractions, etc. Being able to improve my images after they leave the camera is one of my favorite things!

Rowan said...

Glad you went back to look at the photos and that you think they are OK. My DH has put Photo Filtre I think it is on my laptop and has started to show me how to do some things. I can crop and cut sections out now but I'm a slow learner so he has to do bits at a time and move on when I get the idea. I was blown away when he showed me how to make a photo look like sepia - they've alweays been my favourite.
A cold rise is just the dough being left overnight at whatever temperature the room happens to be - in Tudor times that would have been pretty cold in winter! The dough will rise eventually,it just takes longer without the warmth to accelerate it.

Kerri Jean said...

lovely & simple - don't be afraid to stick to your clean style. there's so much collage (and I do some of it!) but I love simple & clean designs. great work. I have never done fusing, but am curious.

Anonymous said...

Great blog, Vicki! I am glad your comment brought me to your blog. Beautiful peppers.

Debbie said...

Absolutely lovely style! Definitely less is often more. I tend to just overdo everything so I love simple clean work as yours. Love your photo and I agree - digital is so wonderful. I have been slowly taking better pictures because I can takes lots without going broke and I immediately know if they suck when I take them! Thanks for the great post! Have a great weekend!

Laura Williams said...

lovely work! thanks for joining Studio Friday! i look forward to seeing more from ya!

Anke Martin said...

Oh yes, ATCs are fun! I did about 300 so far. Started last year in August. Digital fotography is another great thing! Have fun exploring!

Anonymous said...

Nice work, very pretty design.

I need orange said...

Thank you all for the kind comments!

As many have said about this Studio Friday challenge, it wasn't easy to post my favorite things. I was a bit surprised -- I would have posted those images without difficulty, but to stand up and publicly say they were my favortes was more difficult than I would have predicted............

I'm not sure why.

I'm glad I went ahead and did it. Some things that seem risky (especially when one can't actually *identify* the supposed risk.....) should just be DONE rather than fretted over.