2014 END OF YEAR SUMMARY

For several months, my plans for various blogs went well. I had lots of fresh ideas, organized plans, motivation and discipline. These plans were completed on a fairly regular schedule. I am thankful for the period of time when these plans were met.

Then life intervened as it sometimes does. I had a series of failures of many kinds of computer equipment. My scanner went down, and my intention was to use my camera to put images into my blogs. This did not work as well as I thought it might. It seemed that trying each new idea to work around the barriers didn’t go as well as I hoped.

Meanwhile, I  was “blessed” with a bumper crop of apples in the back yard.

I tried to repair the scanner, and eventually got it to work. Then getting my images from one older computer image format onto a newer one failed to work. For a while I was moving images via CD discs, with translating between program versions. I kept losing images using a thumb drive. It seemed to lose and even release information into the biosphere. That eventually seemed to have been caused by a faulty hub, but maybe not.

The next thing that emerged were problems with my newest computer, and strange documents I had not created would appear on my desktop, and finally the computer would freeze up altogether, and would not restart or accept my password. I took that to be repaired, and it seems to be working better now, and the repair place found 9 incidents of attempts to get information off my computer. I don’t leave personal info for anyone to find, other than art, email and internet-related material. The problems caused were irritating but not devastating.

During this time, when I could not depend on my computer as much, I tried to work more by hand. But the frustration took its toll in spite of this. Personally I lost momentum and had much less energy for being creative. I lost touch with the former projects I had started. I am not as connected to the flow of information, and materially lost some documents I had saved. At this point I still do not have all my digital imaging capabilities up to speed. I will need to recover a lot of old art and reorganize the work to make it accessible again.

What I have learned? I guess I must not assume I am in control of everything. Another is to make records every day or so and to save them both on CD and on paper, in the right order. I have learned to be grateful when things do go right. Part of letting go of being in control is to enjoy each part of the creative process. Maybe the last thing is to plan projects that are more short term and spontaneous and that come in their own time rather than on a specific schedule.

I just hope that any followers who keep track of my work will understand and accept my more relaxed philosophy in regard to my blogging schedule, as well as toward my art making.

COMPOSITION; A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS

Watermark 1. This image was made by layering five views of a photo.Unfinished. © by Ruth Zachary

In the last post the above image with a white background was shown. The black background was created by selecting white under the Selection Menu, and filling with black. This left a small outline from the previously white areas, either a mistake or a bonus, depending on how one sees it. The white outlines show in many of the layering experiments I tried later.

Another experiment was to take the different camera views and arrange them differently than just in a horizontal configuration, as can be seen below:

Watermark 4. Vertical and horizontal layering in one composition. Unfinished. ©by Ruth Zachary

I do not find the multiple directions in this experiment as satisfying as Watermark 1. The sharp peaks on the edges looked like fallen and broken formations in a cave, a rather unpleasant image. Rounding many of the sharp peaks still did little to ease the tension and confusion and lack of space suggested by the different directions.

Cropping the whole and preserving the left 2/3 portion of the above image, and turning the remaining part counter clockwise seems like a viable option for rectifying the composition.

Using cutout sections for use in collage might also be very useful.

Watermark 7. (Layering other textures with the Cavern-like imagery using modes.)

I also used layering with the original image. Two other textural layers were also altered by changing the modes, and some of these resulted in interesting imagery for carrying to completion. 

Watermark 7 is quite interesting for its landscape qualities. See the white outlines? Once again, I would try retaining the bottom 2/3 of this arrangement, with modifications before considering it complete. If you are interested, one more image was shown on my montage blog of 07-06-14, Experiments and Accidents, which you can access by clicking on this link. http://rzmontage.blogspot.com.

I would welcome comments by other people on these experiments. Leave your comments at the bottom of this post.

Images and writing are the Copyright © of Ruth Zachary.

EYE FOR THE UNUSUAL

Watermarks. The white residue from overflowed water became the image for layering with modes.

Creating Abstractions with Photography is one more way of collecting imagery to use for layering with modes with Photoshop. (process described throughout the month of June)

Collecting interesting papers and images for collage can also be enhanced by letting your imagination notice imagery in close-up view! Photos of ice crystals on a window, or crazing of old paint can expand your collection. Noticing a spill on a glass tabletop where several plants get light from the south window, led to photographing the pattern, and using it to create imagery. The spill became more noticeable as more overflows occurred, and dried so the residue built up in layers. It looked like wax. I even cautioned friends not to clean it up.(The water mark was cleaned off after photos were taken)

Finally I took four pictures of the watermark, from different perspectives, three with the flash, and one where the flash did not go off. Then I processed them on the computer, copying them into  one Photoshop document. The stains were cut away from the plant part of the image, and included some of the dark of the table, and the negative shadows around the plant leaves.

I forgot that it is important when working on a project like this to keep the background completely open. If the images are merged, they cannot be moved around or changed again, nor can a layer be copied into another document without the solid background coming along with it. I found a way around my mistake, and will show that later on.
Actually, I explained it on my Montage blog today. To see how that worked, use this link to that site, post dated July 6, 2014. 

The four different angles were put into different layers, flipped, up, down and sideways over the open background. One was repeated in a fifth layer. More possibilities remained for placing the shapes in other configurations.

The shapes were arranged, so that the composition could be layered in Photoshop as a continuing experiment for use with modes. The dark forms resulted from the photo when the flash failed to go off. The contrast is dramatic, and seems quite amazing and other-worldly to me. Please Note: The Jpg image below has recorded white where transparent would appear in a Photoshop document.

Watermark Abstract created from repeating a photograph of a water stain, by flipping horizontally and vertically. Unfinished.

More variations from these shapes will be shown on the next Post.

Writing and Images on this post are the Copyright  © of Ruth Zachary.

EXPERIMENTS WITH LAYERS USING MODES PART # 6

Chippewah 14. Unfinished.      © by Ruth Zachary                             

CHIPPEWAH 14 Dancing Around White, Layer 3 in top position, Mode - Darken

            Background Layer, Chippewah, Mode - Normal

            Layer 1, KP Mod, - Second from Top position, Mode- Multiply,

            Layer 2, Pale Blue Dawn, second up from bottom, Mode- Exclusion

Chippewah 15, Unfinished.                                                  © by Ruth Zachary.

 

CHIPPEWAH 15 Dancing Around White, Layer 3 in top position, Mode -  Saturation.

            Background Layer, Chippewah, Mode Normal. Four areas were cut out, and      

            left white. If the background was transparent, the effect would be different.

            Layer 1, KP Mod, - Second from Top position, Mode- Color Burn,

            Layer 2, Pale Blue Dawn, second up from bottom, Mode- Lighten.

Chippewah 16,  Unfinished.     © by Ruth Zachary

 

CHIPPEWAH 16  A new unnamed open layer with rectangular light shapes and black

            shapes was created and left in normal mode in the top position.

            Dancing Around White, Layer 3 in next to top position, Mode -  Multiply.

            A Copy of the Background Layer, Chippewah, Mode Normal was made to  

            replace the former Background Layer, which was locked.. The four white cut out  

            areas were selected, and filled with Slate gray. 

            Layer 1, KP Mod, - Now in middle position, Mode- Hard Light,

            Layer 2, Pale Blue Dawn, second up from bottom, Mode- Multiply.

Completing a Composition involves more than just changing modes to alter it from a previous state. Breaking up the major configuration of the elements into three to five parts, (in this case, two unequal parts) is often effective. Shifting the angle to a diagonal tends to suggest a more dynamic landscape, figurative interaction or architecture.

In the future I will  go into more complicated aspects of composition.

But next time, I will post the last part of this series of experiments, #7 noting some of the observations I have made about working with Layers and Modes.

Writing and Images, shown in progress are the Copyright © of Ruth Zachary.

EXPERIMENTS IN LAYERING, USING MODES, PART 5

Chippewah 12 Continued Experiments in Layering, using Modes.   Unfinished.   © by Ruth Zachary

CHIPPEWAH 12 Dancing Around White  Layer 3 in top position. Mode – Saturation.

            Background Layer, Chippewah, Mode -Normal

            Layer 1, KP Mod, - Second from Top position, Mode- Multiply, Changed right  

                 side edge to balance composition. Note, this layer is smaller with space around it.

            Layer 2, Pale Blue Dawn, second up from bottom, Mode- Exclusion

When using this experimental method to create new compositions by layering in Photoshop, the next step after a promising experiment, is to intentionally make changes in the composition. I think the above image could be lighter, and could increase in contrast, with lighter lights, but probably no darker darks.

Because of the contrast shown above, the blue/ purple oval creates a point of emphasis.

The next change would likely be to take a portion of the design and repeat it in a different orientation, by rotating it, and repeat it again smaller, or with an alteration of shape, someplace else in the picture plane, keeping the three areas assymetrical. Uneven numbers of repeated shapes or colors carry the eye throughout the picture plane, without  becoming static, as frequently happens with even numbers
of interest. This change is not shown here. But there are other kinds of adjustments to a composition to make it more interesting. (Maybe a topic for future blog posts?)

One way is to shift the purely flat geometric arrangement to include dominant diagonals.

Chippewah 13,  With a divided layer, plus rotation to create diagonals in the composition. Unfinished.

 

CHIPPEWAH 13 Dancing Around White  Layer 3 in top position. Mode – Saturation.

            Background Layer, Chippewah,  Mode -  Normal

            Layer 1, KP Mod, - second fromTop position, Mode- Difference,  rectangular  

                  shape cut in two parts, rotated  each somewhat, so lines are more diagonal,

            Also Cut out curved openings in several shapes,  to show through to the next layer.

            Layer 2, Pale Blue Dawn, second up from bottom, Mode- Luminosity

The above version is likely one I would complete, with a likely satisfactory outcome.
I like the colors and the dynamic created by the diagonals.

Not shown: Probably I would repeat shapes in the "almost margins" to create irregular extensions in the completed composition. I might also create the finished composition in collage, with possible variations from what is shown here.

Another way to vary the composition might be to cut out organic shapes, as open spaces or as shapes cut out of the image layer showing... in this case, Layer 1 -  KP Mod, shown below

Chippewah 15, Altering the design to improve Composition. Organic Cut-out Areas. Unfinished.

 

CHIPPEWAH 15 Dancing Around White, Layer 3 in top position, Mode -  Saturation.

            Background Layer, Chippewah, Mode Normal. Four areas were cut out, and 

            left white.  If the background was transparent, the effect would be different.

            Layer 1, KP Mod, - Second from Top position, Mode- Color Burn,

            Layer 2, Pale Blue Dawn, second up from bottom, Mode- Lighten.

This is for demonstration only: I would change the color scheme of this arrangement, perhaps add a light valued texture to the white areas, plus add one more organic cutout to this image. This might be a dark shape that intersects the two large cut out areas, creating a point of emphasis. Since it is not finished, and I cannot plan further until more steps are executed, please consider this as an example of how experimentation works, one step at a time and not pre-planned from start to finish. It really is an exciting way to work, and involves risk, because some attempts never work out.

SUMMATION- PART 6 -  NEXT TIME 

Please note: My spelling may not be the best. Since I lost some visual ability a few years ago, I cannot see some letters clearly, and they run into each other, I tend to add or leave out some letters.

Writing and Images on this post are the Copyright © of Ruth Zachary.

LAYERING EXPERIMENTS IN PHOTOSHOP

Chippewah, Used as Background Layer for Series. © by Ruth Zachary

-->

A SERIES OF ABSTRACT LAYERING EXPERIMENTS IN PHOTOSHOP

The Series name, Chippewah, came from a nearly disintegrated year-book cover from 1920. The flaked texture and color appealed to me, and is the background layer in this series. This scan has been used  many  times. 

            KP Mod was created in Kid Pix. Pale Blue Dawn was another piece made in another Photoshop series of experiments,  named Where Visions Gather. Dancing Around White was another piece generated in the same kind of process. That piece was completed as a collage on a Masonite panel, and no longer looks like the Computer design-study.

Going through the process step by step may help the viewer to see how changes are achieved on the computer, using modes and other techniques, with many possible versions.  Sometimes the process seems easy, but sometimes I spend a whole day experimenting, with nothing to show for my time. In the explanations given below, I have recorded all steps I have tried myself.

I will continue posting these steps on this blog until they are complete.

KP Mod, Used as Layer 1 in this Series. It Was Also Used in the Imagery of the Previous Post. © by Ruth Zachary

The series began with three layers. Layer 2 was named Pale blue Dawn, shown below.

Pale Blue Dawn. Layer 2 of this Chippewah Series. © by Ruth Zachary

Chippewah Series, #4, Bright Sunshiny Day, First Result of Series,  Using Modes with Layers in Photoshop. © by Ruth Zachary

-->

CHIPPEWAH 4 – layer1- Chippewah  as Background, Mode- Normal.

            LAYER 1, KP Mod, - Top position, Mode -Saturation

            Layer 2 Pale Blue Dawn. Middle,  Mode Normal 

You will see in the nexr few posts, that a great many of the resulting images from this process are extremely varied and in some cases do not resemble their parents much at all. 

Most of the images measure about 14x17" and are 300 dpi in Photoshop.

From four finished pieces to begin with, a total of seventeen images resulted. Although I would not accept some of them as works to display, all the same they do demonstrate the variations adequately to use as an example of How to. Of course you will want to gather your own textures so the results from your own experiments are completely your own.

Images and Writing are the Copyright © of Ruth Zachary.

COMBINING REALISM WITH ABSTRACTION

RUTH ZACHARY MONTAGE

Polkadot Pig. 8x11" Computer Composition.  © by Ruth Zachary

Ultimately, I think my goal as an artist is to be able to combine recognizable imagery and abstraction.
After years of combining realistic images in a montage presentation, I felt my work lacked spontaneity, but I found it hard to return to present the images in any approach but realism. I have struggled a long time to be able to be able to express my art in a the way I would wish.

EPIPHANY WITH A POLKADOT PIG

In the previous Post and Abstract experiment, I had just discovered that a cut out subject transplanted into a composition could be integrated into the character of the previous work by layering it into the background by applying different modes.

Recently I have also been working to create more realistic work with a bicycle theme, and had already cut out a bicycle in great detail, with a blank background. I moved the bicycle to a new document, and adjusted the size so it would fit into Scribble Paint 9. (Layer 1)  The  realistic bicycle worked pretty well without changing the mode because of linear qualities in the abstract background.

I liked Scribble Paint 9 as an abstract piece, but I could also envision a pink pig, riding the bicycle, outlined in yellow, painted in the splashy style of the abstract Apple Works paint strokes. Layering, using modes on the pig could make the pig consistent with the rest of the composition. I created the pig twice before copying it into the composition. Then I tried all the modes available on the pig cut out, some of which worked and some that didn’t. I adjusted the pig to 90% opacity, so some of the paint strokes beneath showed through, which helped a lot.

What  I learned in that moment was that I had been painting my subjects so realistically, that the subject or the background were no longer consistent in character. I want to maintain an image that is true to the realistic form, but not necessarily photographically detailed, as in my Bicycle Café painting, shown in sequence on my Montage Blog. I need to paint in a manner consistent with the surrounding impressionistic elements of the painting. It requires seeing the whole in a different manner.

ANOTHER EPIPHANY

The act of putting a cut out object into the abstract setting, could have ended with the same sort of inconsistency, not integrated into the whole. But using cut out shapes with Layers in Photoshop offers infinite possibilities for integrating realistic images into an abstract composition. And what is learned can be applied to hands on painting! Or not. The choice is up to the artist.

More adjustments were required.When the pig cutout was copied into the image, I needed to adjust the size and perspective of the happy little creature. When applying different modes, the pink pig with yellow outlines was changed to pink and purple with white outlines, but the new colors still worked with Scribble Paint 9. In one part of the  pig’s surrounding area (a semi transparent apricot tone) was  cut out, copied back in as a fourth layer, and flipped vertically and horizontally so it dominated the top of the composition, with the intention of seeing if the modes helped.

The original orientation of Scribble Paint 9 (layer 1)was flipped horizontally, as was layer four.  I tried different modes on the top two layers. Eventually, I deleted small areas of the top layers so the composition retained some of the original color and character of the background retained in the normal mode. I decided eventually to change the mode of the bicycle, which in this variation, picked up the other colors of the composition.

Eventually I rejected the pig composition, as too busy, which is the price of experimentation, and yet the rewards are so many, I can't complain. Finally I took another Abstract, Scribble Paint 8 and layered the bicycle into that.

Scribble Paint 8 with Bicycle. 8x11". © Ruth Zachary

To see the bicycle paintings and another version of this post, follow this link to 

Ruth Zachary Montage. However, blogger adds a %20 to my Url, and it will not take a viewer
to the correct site. Every time I re enter the Url, it does the same thing again. I don't know why.

Writing and Images on this blog are the Copyright © of Ruth Zachary.

LET YOUR INNER CHILD OUT!

Scribble Paint 9, Computer Study, Size 8x11"                     © by Ruth Zachary

This composition evolved out of the layering methods previously described, using different layer combinations. The Scribble paint textures from low resolution paint programs were then copied into Photoshop as a means for designing, discovering color combinations and for stimulating freedom and play into my process, and shared with viewers in hope that others will enjoy the approach as much as I do.

I have just discovered a new technique to use with this methodology, which I plan to share next time.


Writing and Art Images are the Copy Right © of Ruth Zachary.

EXPERIMENT IN ABSTRACTION - How Much Can Be Taken Out?

Laundry Day (Image 12x17" Approximately)                   © by Ruth Zachary

It seemed that when artists abstract a subject, they take out areas of a scene that gives it a new character - that of brush strokes, droplets, change of character, etc. As an experiment, I set out to see how much information could be removed before you could no longer "read" or recognize the realistic objects in the scene. I took out a lot of backyard junk, but left the clothing, which seemed bright and playful on this barely leafed-out spring day. 

The mood was retained, with bright colors, but the means of painting little squares over the landscape, did not produce the active brushstrokes and freedom of expression that I looked for. I did, however, learn a lot about how much can be taken out and still see the subject. Also notice how the rectangular emphasis removes the illusion of depth.

In many of these small pictures, I painted the rectangular motif with metallic paint, using a very small brush. No collage. No stamp printing. A stencil would not work, as the metallic paints were in similar colors to the background, and have to be placed precisely, so that when the viewer moves, the details and the light seems to change. After I had created a dozen or so of these (mostly landscapes) I was eager to move on to something else. 

Sometimes I revisit a theme or series. People seemed to like them, and many of them have been sold.

If I ever do more, I may try collage papers.

by Ruth Zachary.