Playing Around with Textures

Twins Cole and Wilson Taylor, shot with my Canon Powershot G14 in Seattle, in July of this year, below. The end result, above, was modified using various photo texture layers in both Photoshop CS5 and alien skin exposure 7 software.  An enjoyable way to spend hours I was supposed to be spending doing something else!

The Five Autrey Daughters in Santa Barbara - Best in Blue or Yellow?

Cleaning Up Old 1974 scanned B&W 4x5 Negatives shot by E.A. Autrey in the park across from our house on Merida drive.  These oversized negatives are pretty degraded so there wasn't much that could be done with them.
Top photo adjustments:  Photoshop CS5 levels, Alien Skin AGRA APX 25 and Copper Blue Finish filters with some masking.  After and before adjustments.
Bottom photo:  Photoshop CS5 levels, Alien Skin B&W split toning and FSA Red Bleach with some masking

Evolution of a WW II Multi Media Painting

Bottom layer, original watercolor of flower cast shadows, painted at Jean's house, in a family painting session with nearly 96 year old mother and 3 sisters, on Mother's Day 5/10/2015
Next layer, added scratches as a texture overlay using Alien Skin exposure 7
Next layer, added a pattern layer in Photoshop of Korean army boots, drawn in one of the art classes I took with Chester Arnold at College of Marin
Top layer, added photo of E.A. Autrey in front of his army barracks in Oklahoma in 1942, after he was drafted during WW II

Playing with New AlienSkin Exposure 7 Software

A new take (above) on an old photo (below) taken at Limantour beach a few months ago. 

Anatomy of an eBook Part II

Little Cloud drifts away from the Tall Mountains and meets a Blue Jay named Jack, in my Kindle Ebook story for kids called Little Cloud.   So where is Little Cloud going, and what are Little Cloud and Jack up to?  Again, we go to the top of Mount Walker, this time looking south at the panoramic views of Puget Sound and Green Hill, Turner Mountain and Buck Mountain.   On the hazy day in August, 2014, when I took the reference photos, it was difficult to make out much in the distance.  In referring to Wikipedia and the Free Dictionary some interesting facts emerge:  Puget Sound is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean and part of the Salish Sea.  In an unusual precedent, it was explored by Capt. George Vancouver who, rather than name the inlet after himself, named it for his aide Peter Puget.  The illustrations for Little Cloud and Jack surfing the breeze in the sky, had a more high tech birth, requiring a Photoshop filter from Alien Skin’s Eye Candy 7 software, called Motion Trail.  This plug-in was used to illustrate the meteorological phenomenon known as thermal lift, which is used by soaring birds (and Little Clouds) as an energy source.  Despite this energy aide, Jack got worn out playing in the sky with Little Cloud and expressed a wish to return to his home on Small Mountain.  More about this in Part III.

Moving the Twins to Marin County

I wish!  But, if they can't move physically, at least they can be moved digitally.  Here, Wilson and Cole Taylor, in Seattle, July 2013, amazingly show up at North Beach, December 2011.  Added benefits:  a cool fractal from Apophysis, and some great effects from Alien Skin's Exposure 5.