Another red sphere photomontage

Here's a photo of my two granddaughters, Shea and Ryan Corrigan. I outlined the figures, dropping out the background.


I opened up a new 8.5 x 11" canvas and colored it green, then added the figures.


I begin to add the spheres to the scene.


I crop the image then add a couple larger red spheres.


I resize the spheres and add several more of them, completing the image.

Fun combining photos

Creating a photomontage is an interesting project, here's one that I just finished.


This is a photograph of my grandson Mike Yardley, I like the interesting lighting.


This scene was photographed while vacationing in Lucca, Italy. I felt that it would be a good basis for an interesting photomontage.


I first carefully outlined the photo of Mike and then superimposed it over the photo of the window.


Then I added the red spheres and decided to tilt one of the window panes as if it were dropping, creating a weird scene. I cropped the final image because I felt that the lettering on his shirt was a distraction.

A bad photo turned into an interesting photomontage

This is a photograph taken while Gloria and I were visiting her friend Pam Aguirre, who lives in Mexico. It is a useless photo because of the bad exposure, but it has great possibilities as a basis for an interesting photomontage.


After scanning the photo into Photoshop Elements 2.0 I increased the picture size and painted in the area using the Airbrush Tool. I also airbrush a tone over the printer which could be a distraction in the finished piece.


Then I added several of the red spheres that I often use when creating photomontages. A bad photo suddenly becomes quite interesting.

A couple more photomontages

A you may have guessed by now photomontages are one of my very favorite mediums to explore. The computer makes it fairly easy to combine photographs. No more cutting, no more glue, no more big mess.


Here's a kind of spooky shot of my cat Laura that I took some time ago.


This is a photo of a living room in a villa that we rented in Lucca, Italy. A bad photo that is not even level, but still usable for my purpose.


I straightened the room and combined it with the photo of Laura, adding the red sphere to make an interesting photomontage. The red sphere is actually Laura's ball.


EVE AND THE APPLE
That's really Gloria with the apple added. Try combining photos to create interesting images, it's a great way to hone your computer skills.


Today is my 81st birthday ! I'm still having fun with graphic projects , sculpting and painting. Gloria came down from Grand Rapids and we are going to have a birthday dinner at Soe's, one of our favorite restaurants in Sawyer, Michigan.

More photomontages

The above photo is interesting because of the color combination and composition, but adding the red spheres creates quite a surreal effect. The red sphere is actually my cat's ball which I've used on many of my other photomontages.





A pretty mundane photo suddenly becomes an interesting image by adding the red sphere.





While this is mot a bad photo it becomes much more interesting by adding the floating spheres.

New Craig Smith Gallery poster

Below is a poster that I designed for a dinner party next Saturday. Craig throws a fine party featuring the gallery art as well as delicious food.



Along with the other gallery artist's work my sculptures will be on display...

....as will some of my acrylic abstracts, nudes and a few digital pieces. The larger figurative pieces above are a combination of digital and acrylic paint on paper.


Craig also is exhibiting a few of my digital comic book cover parodies.




Often when I work on the computer this is my view. To say the least, this is somewhat distracting, but Tiff is a wonderful cat that just won't let me out of his sight. I usually set him down on a stool next to me which seems to keep him happy. If you have a cat or two you might consider attaching your keyboard on a sliding rack below the table as I have done.

Some new photo experiments

On this group photo I removed the people's faces to create a surreal effect.


I photographed this spider outside my studio window and outlined it so I could use the image in my photomontages. The other objects are typical of some of the images I also use for these experiments.


A view outside my kitchen window to which I added the image of the spider.


An old graveyard in Newfoundland to which I added my cat's red ball, an egg and the spider image. That's Gloria in the photo, some of her relatives are buried here. Her father Jack Bursey was born in Newfoundland and was an explorer going on three expeditions to Antarctica with Admiral Byrd. Mt Bursey in Antarctica is named after him.


An out of focus photo of Gloria sleeping to which I added mysterious floating objects.

Some more cat photos

Here's Laura sleeping, her head is resting on a metal ball. Must be comfortable.


Laura spends a lot of time on the beams.


A very strange look from Laura.


Sleeping again ? Boy, cats sleep a lot!


Tiff getting ready to snooze. I'll have to dig up some more pix of Tiff, he's a beautiful boy.


When I'm working on the computer, this is often my view.


....or this. I am going to put my keyboard on a sliding rack below the table as I have done on my other computer.


The cats analyzing one of my paintings.

More computer color sketches

Here are some more images that could be translated into large scale acrylic paintings.


Another abstract figure study. I had fun designing the figure and the background shapes.




I like the odd color combination on this image.


This is my favorite study so far. I think that it has great possibilities as a painting.




Another interesting color combination.

Cat posters etc

I have three cats, Jpeg, Tiff and Laura. They are great company and are also very entertaining. Here are some cat posters that I did featuring Jpeg.








Jpeg and Tiff are usually at my side, or more correctly, in front of me when I am trying to work on the computer. They find the moving arrow on the screen very interesting. I should write a book "Working On The Computer With Cats".


Jpeg loves sinks. That's Laura next to her. They all like to drink water from the faucet so I keep it dripping a little bit. Jpeg even likes to take a shower.


My home has beams and they all love lounging or walking on them. I'll dig up a few photos of Laura and Tiff and show them on another post. Gloria has two cats, Schnikelfritz and Blackjack, we are gradually trying to merge them, a difficult task.
Those are a couple of my digital abstract figure studies hanging on the wall.