Monthly Archives: June 2019

Pacific Ocean Sunset – Three Versions of Same Capture

The attached capture of a Pacific Ocean sunset is from Carlsbad, California. The coastal location of this capture was just a few miles west of where we lived for 24 years raising our family. It’s located in north San Diego County. Having been gone from area since 2013, my wife and I spent a week on the coast last October and this was one of the sunsets we were treated with.

I wanted to share the process I go through when one of my photographs or art prints inspires me to add an inspirational thought.

The first capture is the original one which shows the relationship between the coastal bluff and the sunset.

Pacific Ocean Sunset

As I thought about using this as a basis for a print with an inspirational thought, I cropped the original shot eliminating the coastal bluff with the exception of the top of plant on that bluff. My next step was working with the message I had chosen, playing with putting it on the photograph using various fonts and font sizes. Upon finalizing (this process sounds simple, but trust me….I tend to turn it into a lengthy process trying a variety of fonts and sizes) this aspect, I then play with positioning. Positioning is another process of centering, not centering…splitting the verbiage up or keep it in one line, etc.

Embrace The Moment

I chose these two sentiments simply because these are the two thoughts that came to mind when I was looking at this capture.

Beauty In The World

Thoughts?

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Welcome Summer

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With the official start of summer today, what would be more appropriate than flowers from a summer garden? The two attached shots are from a beautiful flower garden located on the grounds of the Sharlot Hall Museum located in Prescott, Arizona. Welcome Summer!!!

The Bold And Beautiful Pair

In The Summer Garden

Thoughts?

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Full Moon Rising – Behind The Scenes Layer by Layer

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I have been working on a series of art prints creating abstract sunsets, sunrises and the one I’m featuring today is a full moon rising. The series is a simplistic abstract approach to these subjects.

One of the features in Photoshop I use with creating these prints is layering. I create just portions of the entire subject on each layer and then “lay” them on top of each other for the final look. Todays blog takes you through each step as I layer what totals out to be 8 layers to create “Full Moon Rising”. Full Moon Rising shows the rising moon coming up over a mountain range and is reflected in a mountain lake.

The base layer is called the background layer and is totally white. So starting with the “1st” layer on top of the base, I am creating the sky using a blue tone that I created by drawing a large rectangle filling the top half of the print and filling it with blue. I then used a gradient tool that filters the blue going light to dark (or visa versa) from the horizon line to the top of the page.

Layer 1 Blue with gradient tool

Layer 2 is adding the same rectangle and reversing the gradient tool filling the bottom half of the piece.

Layer 2 reversing the top layer for the bottom half.

Layer 3 is the addition of white stars on the bottom half. The stars are drawn on a “blank” layer and by adding it next over the the previous layer all that shows are the stars.

Layer 3 adding stars to the bottom half

Layer 4 is the addition of the rising moon as a full circle of color. Again, the layer is “blank’ with the exception of the round moon, so when it is layered on top of all the other layers…all that shows is the addition of the yellow circle.

Layer 4 adds the rising moon as a full circle of yellow.

Layer 5 adds an identical circle below the first one to prepare for the reflection in the mountain lake.

Layer 5 adds another yellow circle below the first one.

Layer 6 adds the mountain range as a black silhouette across the top starting with the horizon line. The mountain range was inspired by the view we had from our house in Arizona of the Estrella Mountains using the same cragginess and various peaks of that range.

Layer 6 adds the mountain range

Layer 7 duplicates the mountain range upside down to continue the look of a reflection in a mountain lake.

Layer 7 adds an upside down mountain range.

Layer 8 completes the print with the addition of stars into the nighttime sky.

Layer 8 adding nighttime stars into the sky to complete the print.

End result – Full Moon Rising – a simplistic abstract look!

Thoughts?

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Old World Look to Tropical Resorts

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Seems like kind of a strange thing to create art prints with an old world gothic look using current tropical resorts, but there is a method to the madness or a reason I went down this road.

A number of years ago I toured this old historic victorian mansion in a midwestern town and let me just say it was truly a very large mansion. It serves as a museum with the house furnished as it was in its’ glory years. The decor is very formal and truly stunning throughout. The surprise factor was in the basement. The original owners loved to travel to the tropics and had a large bar (almost cantina in size) decorated in an old world tropical motif. What does that mean you might ask. The furnishings, including the artwork reflected a tropical paradise, but not in bright tropical colors. The color scheme was earth tones reflecting a look you would expect from an era of old worldwide explorers. The art work was all done in a “gothic style” from the middle ages. The whole look worked really well in creating a very subdued, casual and inviting atmosphere. That look really stuck in my head all these years.

So, fast forward to current times and I have taken that same look using a “gothic” technique on scenes from various resorts we have visited over the last number of years. I attached five prints created using this technique.