It just so happens that we've visited several beautiful gardens this summer. This has given me much food for thought and some hints on new work, perhaps this time involving colour.
This afternoon, since our return from Scotland yesterday, I've downloaded my (many) photos and begun playing. I consciously sought out individual speciment flowers and architectural features but there were many other things that caught my eye. In the short amount of time available today, I worked especially on individual flowers or pairs, selecting parts of the images and applying layer by copy and layer by cut in Photoshop Elements.
First of all come two images of individual sunflowers photographed in the gardens of Crathes Castle, Aberdeenshire. In these, I've played mostly with cropping and cutting the images and filling almost the whole page with the image.
The other images are of Inula hookeri (commonly known as fleabane, I believe). These I found in Biddulph Grange Gardens, a delightful National Trust property near Stoke in Staffordshire. Here, I selected, cropped and adjusted colour somewhat.
And last of all, a single fleabane, with colour greatly enhanced.
This afternoon, since our return from Scotland yesterday, I've downloaded my (many) photos and begun playing. I consciously sought out individual speciment flowers and architectural features but there were many other things that caught my eye. In the short amount of time available today, I worked especially on individual flowers or pairs, selecting parts of the images and applying layer by copy and layer by cut in Photoshop Elements.
First of all come two images of individual sunflowers photographed in the gardens of Crathes Castle, Aberdeenshire. In these, I've played mostly with cropping and cutting the images and filling almost the whole page with the image.
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Like the sunflowers, the fleabane has the merit of being a circular and fairly robust flower with a clearly defined shape. It seems so far that these work best when the aim is to fill the whole page with the image. They are also presumably the same plant family as the sunflowers (Compositae), though Google refused to confirm this for me. Perhaps there is something of a tentative theme emerging already ...
However, this is very much feeling my way. All so far is very representational and I have done almost no abstraction. This will come later no doubt. It usually does.
It seems that the more I work with a theme, the more abstract my work becomes.
mmm, what an interesting way to "deal with" ragged flowers - with that bit of contrast of the background peeping through, or even added. And the large scale.
ReplyDeleteYour question on my blog about the circular punch - it's a dressmaker's pattern tracing tool. I've had it for years - it looks very old-fashioned when you see the new streamlined versions! (https://www.stoffstil.co.uk/sewing-accessories/tools-and-sewing-accessories/tracing-wheel-prym-ergonomic-15cm)
Thank you for commenting, Margaret. I used a very useful feature of Photoshop Elements (Layer via Copy) to select and isolate the individual flowers and place them on a simple background. There is lots to play with - how much background to include, the overall shape of the image and how much to enlarge.
DeleteThank you also for the details of the circular punch. I will follow this up when my eldest granddaughter has gone home (following an intensive stitching session) and quiet is restored. Between visits, I always forget just how much 8 year olds talk!