Day82

I shared my "altered ego" with you in a previous post, so now it's time to share the real me with you.  I wish I had a more professional photo to share, but this will have to do.  This represents who I truly am.  A Wife of 42 years, a Mother, a Sister, a Daughter, a Great Aunt, a Grandmother, a Cousin, an Artist, an Author, a Student of Life and a Teacher of the Arts, a Quilter, an avid Reader and a Friend. 

Day 81

Self Portrait is the theme over at PixelDust this week.  I did share earlier some other avatars, but this one is definitely my alter-ego avatar.  She is originally a canvas piece that was covered in Asian script.  A foam wig head was cut in half and applied.  Several layers of stamping, drawing, inking, etc. were done to create the patina collage.  The bulbs on her head are the ideas that are constantly floating around in my head.  While these are not light bulbs, but Christmas ornaments, they created the illusion of light bulbs for this piece.  Of course the glasses completed my look.  So this is me, or I should say, my altered me.  Frozen in time.  You may have seen her before since I use her as my on-line presence.  She's my avatar on Facebook, Pinterest, ning groups, galleries, anywhere that an avatar can be used.  Heaven forbid I would ever have to or want to change her.  Would take me all day! 

Day 78-79

Over at PixelDust this week, Bonnie's challenge was a portrait.  Next week, a self-portrait.  I like to create avatars which represent my alter egos.  I have quite a few of these little thumbnails in my folder now.  This image is a headband that I designed for my Jewelry book that came out a few years ago.  It is a hand painted copper patina, wig head on a wooden base.  I use these wig heads in my assemblage art quite often since I'm not, nor ever have been, a portrait artist.  They allow me to use the human head as a generalized element in my 3-D work.  I wish I was always this peaceful and calm.  Something to work towards this year.  Tai-Chi and Yoga anyone?

 The 2nd image is another avatar that I haven't used yet.  It is of a necklace I made for a competition that required you to have your display for sale.  I made this for myself, so I didn't want to part with it.  It's made using jet black & amber jade which is the perfect accents for the focal element. 

The avatar I use everyday, which is posted at places, such as Facebook, my ning groups, photography groups, etc. will be shown next week for the self-portrait challenge, because I can relate to it more than the ones shown here.

Reflecting on these two avatars, I noticed they are jewelry related which is insane because I rarely wear jewelry other than earrings and a wedding band.  I did say these were alter egos!  I hoard vintage jewelry with the plans to recycle them into something more stunning.  Some day...

Day 60

There is currently a fun photo project happening at:Artistswithiphones

It's quite simple to get involved.  Take your self-portrait using a mirror than go to the website above and click on submit.  You will be directed to an email, where you will attach your self portrait and send it off.  It will then be loaded to the artistswithiphones website for all to see.  Here's one that I submitted a few minutes ago taken using the Hipstacam App.  Have fun!  Then make sure you revisit the website!  It's amazing to see how many people have hidden behind their iphones so you can't get a good visual of their face.  50% of them, maybe.  Have fun exploring.

Day 29

I had to play around with this image again, to see if I could intensify the colors.  These are the two I liked the most after running them through a variety of apps.  I am really enjoying these bold colors and will be adding these vibrant colors of paint to the art studio as well in the days to come.
I am slowly learning what each of these apps can do and quickly developing my own favorites to use.  I have noticed that there are lots of apps that will do the exact same things and they sometimes get pushed out there for the consumer.  "Be aware-compare!"  You want the best app you can get for the $$.  They don't all let you save in high resolution either, so investigate before you buy.  Ask for friends for their recommendations or join an iphoneography group!  (If you google "Iphoneography" you will get a selection of groups that are available and accepting new members.)  Lots of fun, helpful people available to give you their 2 cents! 

Day 24

I'm still playing last night with another app but got the same effect of the Lomo Lights.  This time instead of a streak of light, I got these amazing circles of light.  This image went through about 6 different apps and it looks nothing like the original.  That is the fun of digital art!  You can make multiples of the same image look different each time.  I'll be sharing these images later as each one is truly unique. 

Day 17

Today I want to share a fun new App called "Percolator".  At first I wasn't going to try this app because the previews just didn't interest me.  But, it is the app of the month over at IPA and I love to play.  It really is a fun app.  Reminds me of Klimt's art to a point.  No pun intended.  LOL! 

365 Days of Photos

1-Let's see how far I can get with my new inspirational goals.  I bought a new Nikon Coolpix S4200 that allows me to make adjustments to most of the settings.  Pretty cool and on sale at Target!  Plus I have been adding lots of ipod/iphone apps to play with.  Here is my self-portrait from yesterday.  Taken with my ipod.  The  Snapseed app was used along with a few others.  I think photoshop is much faster, but I'm hanging in there, determined to learn what these apps will do.  Some work with layers, just like photoshop, so the more I use them, the faster I'll be.

2-Today, I stopped cleaning up my studio long enough to grab some photos using the Hipstamatic camera on the ipod along with the etchings app.  Here is today's results: