Learning to Knit

Probably everyone who is reading this can knit. I can crochet, weave and sew, but knitting looked impossible. After one lesson I can do the impossible!

It is only a small piece but there are no mistakes and it is fairly even. Thank you to a very good teacher who was patient with me. We sat on the sofa and put our feet up on the coffee table. She turned on the gas fire and served me a cup of tea. And we shared some laughs. I can't wait for my next lesson.

I'm linking to Little Red House Mosaic Monday. Hop on over and see all the other mosaics and take a look at Mary's wonderful photography.

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Purple Hydrangea Montage

I'm exercising two things these days, my brain and my fingers. By experimenting I am learning so much! Here is the latest photo montage. My background here is one I created in Elements using brushes and some text then layering several downloaded textures over it. Then I changed the hue, saturation and lightness until it was the right background for this purple hydrangea.

I added two of the pictures and lowered the opacity level enough to see through them. Next I created a colored rectangle for the hydrangeas and put it in the center.  Using the same color I created a border. I have learned how to use the eyedropper tool so I could choose the purple from the flower and use it for the borders.

Thank you all for your comments on yesterdays dark sunflower in my Learning on the Internet post. If you think these pictures can be improved, please tell me. Since I am self taught, I appreciate the input. It is all part of the learning experience!

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Learning on the Internet

I have been learning about using layer masks in Photoshop Elements 6. There isn't anything you can't find on the internet - with tutorials too! I found an application to download a different mask (Free) than the one already in Elements that lets me adjust it more. 

Also I found a great blog where there are wonderful textures by Jerry Jones at Shadowhouse Creations to download free of charge.

There are two of Jerry's textures in this picture. The words you see on the green strip are a scan from a one hundred year old textbook. This altered photo was fun to do. The color scheme was taken from the flower.

Your comments would be a big help to me. I'm still learning and need your opinions. After I spend a long time creating a piece, I find it hard to be objective.

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Save your favorite jeans!

Don't you just hate it when your favorite jeans start fraying at the seams and the hem? Who wants to go shopping and have to view yourself in the dressing room mirror? Then you have to break in the new pair to make them as soft and comfortable as the old ones.

I decided to repair my fraying jeans and hopefully get two more years wear. Maybe by then I will have lost another ten pounds and I won't have to avert my eyes from the dressing room mirror.

The first picture is the inner thigh seam. I zig-zagged over the frayed area. The second picture is turned sideways. Sorry!

The bottom left picture is the hem after I took out the stitching to let the hem down. My pants always seem to shrink in length. I pushed the two frayed sides together and held them as they went through the machine with a wide and close together zig-zag.  This also lined up with the raw edge that had been inside the hem. So I gained an inch and stitched the raw edge to make a hem while covering the frayed area.  The picture on the bottom right shows both pant legs.

I'm wearing the repaired jeans as I type this. I hope this helps save your favorite pair!

I'm linking my mosaic to Little Red House Mosaic Monday.

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Inspiration from Jo

One of the blogs I follow is One a Day by Jo Reimer. My inspiration for this mosaic came from her post, Piecings, continued. While Jo created her collage with papers, I started from a print I made on fabric. With acrylic paint, I painted the inside of a mailing envelope lined with bubble wrap. Placing the painted bubble wrap on my fabric, I rolled over it with a brayer. This provided the circles for the background. After the fabric was dry I scanned it into Photoshop Elements.

This is composed of several layers over the background. To make the large line in the middle and the rectangles I used brushes and adjusted the opacity. The bird is cut from a photo of mine using the magic extractor of Elements.

I also made some prints on paper. As I was cooking the ground beef for spaghetti sauce, my eye fell on  the styrofoam meat tray. I cut it into shapes and used it like a stamp. My material was a paper grocery bag that I crumpled several times then smoothed out. I will scan those pieces to show another day.

Be sure to check out Jo's blog for a dose of inspiration! Thanks, Jo!  I'm joining Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.


After a critique from Jo, I altered my collage and this is the result. What do you think?

Here you can see the two side by side. Jo suggested the picture would be better with fewer of the circles so they could be an accent. I agreed so I moved up the opacity of the layer with the color blocks to make them solid. I don't like the resulting intensity of color. This could have been done a different way to keep the original color. Jo also suggested moving up the two birds in the lower right.

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Hearts Project

This is my new mystery project. All I'm saying is that it also involves an empty container of Hershey's Baking Chocolate. I created these hearts on the computer. It was fun making the plaids and other bases then cutting them out with the cookie cutter brush.

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Fun with Altering

Yes, it is fun to play around with photos. This is shot of the trees in my yard in Virginia. I love the photo but I thought maybe I could do more with it. So I inverted it and then played with the colors. When the vote was taken at my house no one liked it. "Ghostly," was the comment. But I like it - love the lacy look of it. When seen without the original, it becomes almost an abstract.

So what it your vote? Do you like the altered photo? 

 

Head over to Little Red House and see her new design for this weeks' mosaic at  Mosaic Monday.

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A New Look

This is another crop from the Cookie Cutter Tool in Photoshop Elements. I love to play around and experiment like this. You may recognize this photo from my collage for Mosaic Monday. Here is a new and closer look for you. This stream is just off route 6 in Andover, CT. There is an old stone dam and the stream has detoured around the side of the dam.  Don't you love the lichen and colors on this large rock? I was very satisfied with the look of the water in the photo. My goal was to learn how to get that smoothly flowing look to the water.

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Tiny Mushroom

Isn't this an adorable tiny mushroom? The unusual crop shape is the result of my experimenting with Photoshop Elements. This is created by using the cookie cutter tool. After I cut it out in this unusual shape I put it on a solid colored background. I like it. What do you think?

I'm linking to Outdoor Wednesday. Visit A Southern Daydreamer and see the other outdoor photos. 

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Rushing water and mossy rocks.....

This collage is pictures I took in November and early December of streams near home. I love streams tumbling over rocks - the sounds of the water, the mossy rocks. All my life I have wanted to live on the bank of a stream like these. It hasn't happened yet.

I have been focusing on learning how to get that look of silky flowing water. It required a Natural Density filter and knowing how to set the aperture, shutter speed, exposure and type of light. I sat on the bank of one stream for an hour and a half and took numerous pictures. For the photo on the top left I was standing in the stream wearing my gardening shoes when I stepped in a hole and the water poured into my shoe. It was worth it for this shot.

Go over to Little Red House and see the other photo mosaics. Try one yourself!

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Cozy and Inviting

Doesn't this look inviting? I suppose no one was home as there is no smoke rising from the chimney. Maybe I could add some! This picture is the result of time spent playing with filters in Elements (cutout, twice) and a texture on top. Then I searched for a quote.

Picture yourself in a rocking chair pulled up close to a woodstove with the doors open. The logs are snapping and crackling. A book is in your lap and you have kicked off your shoes. Do I smell hot chocolate?

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What next?

I have really been wanting to work with my fabric now that the monkey (my photo exhibit) is off my back. So am I working with fabric? No! I did a macro photo shoot of a stack of old books and a pair of antique eyeglasses on my coffee table. Those are not finished yet but I did get a few good shots. Then I went into the woods and took pictures of tree stumps. Yes, tree stumps. The grain of the wood is so interesting.

Tonight I have been playing around making wild abstract art on Photoshop Elements. What fun. I'm thinking these can be printed on fabric and they can be stamped, stitched and embellished.

This first one is a collage of two pictures. I'm linking to Little Red House for Mosaic Monday. Join the party!

Take my Heart!

Don't you think the next two should be called Lollipop Trees?

 

So many possibilities -  I don't know where to start!

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Photography Show Opening

It was a successful opening. The food was good and everyone was very complimentary about my work.

I was determined to wear my new red shoes (love them!) even if my feet became numb! I managed just fine. My daughter and son-in-law took family and friends out to dinner afterwards. They toasted me and I thanked them all for their support. And I thanked the family for putting up with the mess in the house as I framed 34 pictures. The son-in-law is cooking dinners for a week to give me a break after all the Christmas cooking I did. My next projects will be fabric and I'm planning to submit works to all the juried shows I can.

Today I will watch football with Mr. B while I try to organize things on my computer. My new book is calling me. Thanks family for the Amazon gift cards!   The Best of Quilting Arts: Your Ultimate Resource for Art Quilt Techniques and Inspiration.  Notice in the sidebar that I follow Melody Johnson's Blog Fibermania. Melody has a section in this book.

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"Nature Unscripted" - Solo Exhibit

"Nature Unscripted"

by Nancy Hoffmann

Windham Hospital Gallery

Willimantic, CT

January 7-29, 2012

Opening Reception  Saturday, January 7, 4 pm

An eclectic mix of photographs highlighting the beauty of nature

we sometimes fail to take time to notice. Also included will be fabric sculptures.

Since I agreed to have a solo photography exhibit I have thought of little else. Had I realized how much work was required I would have said no. But all along I knew I would be glad I had done it. January is not the best time of year for such an undertaking unless you are an incredibly organized person.

To make matters more complicated, my son-in-law and I painted some of the kitchen cabinets the first part of December. That involved stripping and sanding and three coats of paint. The kitchen was a mess for a week. Utensils were in boxes in the dining room/studio next to my boxes of framed photos.

I did get all 33 photos framed before I devoted a few days to cleaning the house before the Camera Club Christmas Party was held here on December 13.

Then the family started to arrive and there were numerous trips to Providence and Hartford airports, both a little over an hour away. There was no time to even think about the show until the last guest went home on New Years day.

Suddenly I had to print business cards, name each photo and prepare a list with prices and print info cards for the photos. A Bio had to be printed and mounted on foamcore board as well as a title of show piece. And the bio had to be written! I asked my daughter to do that as I was stumped as to what to write about myself. Boy, did she do a great job. When I read about myself I thought, "Wow, I would love to meet this talented woman." She made me sound wonderful!

 Framing in Progress

Framed photos ready to go

Use what you have, even a laundry basket

 

Partial view of the Gallery. I have to thank Mr. B for naming most of the photos. 

He has a real knack for it. And he named the show -- "Nature Unscripted."

 

My Bio mounted. The basket holds business cards. This is first time I ever cut foam

core board. It was not as difficult as I had feared. The secret is a very sharp blade to

get clean cuts. Spray adhesive ( great stuff) was used for mounting. I taped wire

on the back for hanging.

 

Tomorrow I go and hang my fabric art. I have sent emails through all the organization

I belong to and there are newspaper notices as well. The hospital is providing refreshments

for the opening on Saturday, January 7 at 4 pm. I think I should do some baking to supplement.

THIS IS EXCITING STUFF!

Can I call myself an artist now?

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