Thursday 10 April 2008

Let the panic begin!!

It suddenly hit me at the beginning of this week that we're in the second week of April and I'm still no further forward regarding selecting/making work for our exhibition in May, so today I started my inspiration wall.
This is just a posh way of saying that I just throw everything on the pin board that might possibly have a link to what I'm trying to achieve.





If you look very closely at the top of the pic above you can see all my lovely exchange PC's,(nothing to do with the poject of course, just lovely to look at!)

Anyway having got confused with the dates of this event, I thought we were doing the Rural Life Show , but no , we're doing the Countryside and Wildlife Day. Just a small hiccup as I'd been madly collecting images for the former, still I suppose it's all connected.

Anyway my first effort has involved making a start with the heavy horses slide I discovered in my OH's archive, dating back to the late 70's, I should think. It was taken at a steam fair in Dorset.



Needless to say I didn't want the fair paraphernalia in the back ground so I pasted a nice sky over it and bought up the colour of the dry clay that they were ploughing that day.

Now this is one of my shots.



Sorted!!




In this first composite (which is still a WIP) I tried incorporating all sorts of elements, including this lovely hay bale shot that was so thoughtfully offered to me by Diedre

As you can see the hay rolls are too big, something my friend kindly noticed, as it had completely gone over my head!



Having failed to sort this one out the way I wanted it I went on to the next idea, and this was to incorporate a frame of poppies from this image.



With much fiddling about in PS and a nice bit of frivolous playing, (the birds and the extra poppies) in Painter, I came up with a finished piece.



I'm now planning a textile version of this and have been dying fabric and coating other pieces ready for printing, so will update on this next week, when I have my 2 DCD's

13 comments:

Julie said...

Great to see your process, Sharon. I did like the pic with the hay bales, shame they were out of scale :(
Your WIP looks good too and quite crisp and uncluttered. I will watch with interest for the next step.

Joanna said...

Very exciting! This is great what you've done with photoshop.

Aussie Jo said...

This is a great composite Sharon, the horses would look great 3D, maybe padded out???
Thanks for your comment on my blog.

Unknown said...

I think it's great how you incorporate one picture in another. I see so many possibilities, I am very curious about your development..

Purple Missus said...

I love what you have done with this photo Sharon. Taking the background out has made you focus on the horses more. Very clever stuff :)

Anonymous said...

A while ago you said to me that you felt you should be moving on from using photo manipulation as a basis for your work - but this piece shows me why you should carry on using it!

I love the movement you've created in the photo(as opposed to the frame section) from added poppies through the tracks into the birds.

I also know that you will add more of your own persona when it comes to translating this into fabric.

Keep up the good work and don't panic too much. Can't wait to see the finished piece.

Hannah said...

I love it - It's VERY original and I think the words work really well too.

hippopip said...

Great work, it is your work that has given me the urge to get creating with photoshop, I am desperately reading through all your old blogs to see what you do with your photos.Have you ever thought of writing a book on the subject? the book that came paintshop pro is useless you could really get people interested with your ideas. Pippa

hippopip said...

Great work, I am now avidly reading all your old blogs to find out how to use paintshop, I do wish you would write a book on the subject it would make my life a lot easier, best wishes Pippa

Shirley Anne Sherris said...

Like the frame. Look forward to finished piece - quite a challenge.
I'm sure you will be ready for the exhibition - nothing like a deadline to get things moving and back on track.
Cheers

sharon young said...

Thanks so much to all who have left such encouraging comments on this post, it's very helpful to have such an interesting input when I'm working on stuff that's pushing my creative boundaries.

Just so there's no confusion , I always use Photoshop and not Paint Shop Pro, but it can be confusing as I use the initials PS when writing my posts, so I hope I haven't mislead anyone :-)

Becky Mairi Farrell said...

Interesting to see the different elements come together. I'm looking forward to see how you take this into textiles.

Ro Bruhn said...

What a great result Sharon, I like the way the curves in the furrows at the bottom of the picture, and the birds at the top, take your eye around the whole image. Great composition