Tag Archives: Photoshop Elements

Fun with mixed media and photoshop

Posted on by Linda Matthews
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Welcome to another week! I hope your weekend was as much fun as mine!

This is how mine started – a table-top full of fun stuff just waiting to be played with.

Have a Great Weekend

And this is one of the pieces that emerged – a beautiful textural mixed media collage background made using paper, gesso, molding paste, stamps, paint, ink, glazes, stencils, tissue paper, cheesecloth, text. I just *love* the way it turned out.

Mixed Media Texture

If you remember, some time ago I began playing around with paper and paint with – well – not much success. You can see where I began here. I don’t get much time to play around with this kind of stuff, a few minutes here, a few minutes there, but I really think my technique has improved a little since then.

I scanned the collage and combined it with a photo to make this piece of digital art.

Photoshop Texture

But then I decided that I wanted the color to be a little stronger, so I added some more paint, and this was the result which I love even more!

Mixed Media Texture

Then I highlighted it with some gold paint. I must admit it looks better in real life but the highlighting really made the texture stand out which was what I wanted.

Mixed Media Texture

I rescanned it and played around a little in photoshop. I was surprised by the range of colors I was able to achieve.

Photoshop Texture

Photoshop Texture

Photoshop Texture

Photoshop Texture

So what happens now? Check back in a few days.

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Working Intuitively

Posted on by Linda Matthews

Still using the “Last of the Summer Roses” design that I used to make the small shoulder purse that you can see here, this time I’m rearranging the design in order to make a print for a large handbag.

One of the reasons I love using photoshop elements so much, is that it makes reworking the same design so easy by simply moving the layers into position. This time I’ve made some room on one side of the print to allow for some hand embellishing.

Handbag

One of the reasons I love using photoshop elements so much, is that it makes reworking the same design so easy. By simply moving the layers about, the same design can look very different without too much effort.

As you know, embellishing, particularly hand embellishing, is one of my favorite techniques. I find it relaxing and contemplative and I often work intuitively, allowing the design to speak to me and tell me how it wants to be embellished. This can sometimes be challenging; almost like looking at a blank sheet of paper and wondering where to start.

I generally gather some supplies in colors that are complementary to my project and then wait and listen. Eventually the idea is formed and work begins. For this design, some simple hand stitches in a rose leaf design, with a sprinkling of beads that look like little raindrops.

Handbag

Once begun, the process flows. I’m really loving the way this design looks so I can’t wait to see how the finished handbag turns out.

Shoulder Purse

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Get Armed and Dangerous with Photoshop Elements Version 9

Posted on by Linda Matthews

Lindas GardenAs you know by now, I simply love using Photoshop Elements, mainly because I’m such a bad photographer and Photoshop Elements offers a way to … well there’s no nice way to say it, except to say it – I use Photoshop Elements to cover up, delete, hide, mask, crop, cut, erase, and basically camouflage all the bloopers in my photos.

Although there’s no salvaging some photos; take the one on the right for instance; that was supposed to be a photo of my front garden. While I was setting up the shot, I stumbled a little going backwards, the camera went up, my finger pressed down, and presto – a really beautiful shot of the big tree near the driveway. And I still can’t take credit for such a beautiful photo (even if it is just tree branches), because all credit now goes to my – “couldn’t take a bad photo if I tried” Canon Powershot!

I’m sure some of you are similarly photo challenged, but good news ahead!

Photoshop Elements 9I’ve just been testing out the new Photoshop Elements Version 9, and wow! it’s a really long way from the version 6 that I’ve been using up till now. There is now no excuse for printing bad photos, and there is every reason to get incredibly creative with your photos and other images. Version 9 has got loads of lovely features and the best feature (in my opinion) and one which has just been included with the latest release, is layer masks – yayyyy!

For some of you this might not mean much, but if you’ve been itching to try out Photoshop Elements, join me here on the blog over the next few weeks because I’m going to be showing you just how easy it now is to use masks, as well as all the other fabulous features of the new Photoshop Elements version 9.

If you haven’t yet been tempted to try out Photoshop Elements up till now, there is a way to follow along with me on these upcoming tutorials because you can download and try out the latest version of Photoshop Elements for free. Adobe offers a free 30 day trial of the program and it’s fully functioning, everything works. You can find the download link here.

So get yourself armed and ready with the Photoshop Elements program, dig out your worst photos, and join me next week for a photoshopoholic spree! See you then!

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Making Digital Art

Posted on by Linda Matthews

If you’ve been following my blog over at Linda-Matthews.com, then you’ll know that I recently became interested in digital art, using it mainly to print images on fabric using digital grounds.

I often get asked what software I use to make my digital art. For many years I used Paint Shop Pro by Corel, but now I use Photoshop Elements by Adobe which, along with Photoshop, seems to be the industry standard for digital design.

Paint Shop Pro is a program that has similar features to Photoshop but at a budget price. Photoshop Elements is a watered down, although still quite substantial, version of Photoshop. So comparing side by side, Paint Shop Pro is more similar to Photoshop and has more features than Photoshop Elements. For some years I used both programs preferring some of the feature of Paint Shop Pro better than Photoshop Elements, and vice versa. But that just got confusing, particularly when I was teaching and trying to demonstrate a feature, and forgetting which program did what. So I made the decision one day to stop using Paint Shop Pro and use only Photoshop Elements.

I like a lot of the features of Photoshop Elements, and I particularly like that there are so many tutorials and free stuff available for it. Also it isn’t as expensive as Photoshop but you get lots of the same features. Some of the features are hidden a little deeply inside the program and using Photoshop is really not an intuitive process, but with a little practice you can easily become familiar with the program and what it offers.

I’ll be adding some Photoshop Element tutorials here beginning shortly, as well as some tips for how to work with images specifically for printing on fabric. It’s easy .. once you know how ;)

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