What I learned from The Grid

Our last week in Composition for Collage we reviewed the Grid, aka My Nemesis! I had the hardest time with this style. Collage, to me, implies blended, combined media that tells a story or expresses emotion. The Grid (sounds like a super villain doesn't it? Beware The Grid! Ha, ha), anyway, the Grid seems to be the opposite of collage.


The top picture was my first attempt. Still trying to blend and tell a story. Some of it works, but the Grid part isn't really working.

The second collage is after I just let my hangups about The Grid go and had some fun. I compulsively take pictures of clouds. This year alone I've already taken 56 pictures of clouds (thank goodness for digital!). I picked some of my favorites, converted them to posters and then merged them to create the grid.

The Grid started out as my enemy. Having to work through my issues and embrace the style has been more than a composition lesson. The Grid helped me "Go with the Flow" and just enjoy the act of creating.

I hope you have a chance to create today! Thanks for stopping by.

Blurry Photos Can Be Scrapped and Not Forgotten

We all have them, those pictures that would have been perfect if the subject hadn't moved just then, or the lighting had been better. Those pictures that can't be salvaged in a photo editing program ususally end up alone, gathering dust in a photo box if already printed, unloved and unwanted. Or even worse, if it's a digital photo, it doesn't get marked with a star in the photo organizing software. It's doomed to never be pulled when a photo search for favorites is done. Well, blurry photos have rights too.

We took my son to see STYX. It was his first rock concert so you know I was a shutterbug! Almost all of the photos were blurry. Apparently indoor stadiums with laser light shows and spotlights aren't conducive to great pictures, at least not for me and my simple point & shoot digi camera. If I wanted to scrap the event with pictures then I was going to have to embrace the blurry photos. So I did. And you know what? It worked great. I enlarged some of them, distorting them even more. I played with colorwashes on others. The end result was a fun storybook we can all enjoy.

Thanks as always for stopping by. Happy Scrapping!

The Story of the Orange Wedge

Over at Soul Scrappers is a challenge to make a LO using black, orange and a little bit of white. I went the digital route for this one as I don't have a lot of orange in my paper stash. This year my son became a teenager and I've been noticing little differences in behavior. This LO is about one of those little changes that means he's growing up.

Thanks for looking and Happy Scrapping!

Fascination-Digi Vignette Collage

HAPPY FRIDAY!
For week three of Claudine Hellmuth's Composition for Collage class I decided to try creating the collage digitally. Oh my gosh, it was so much fun! I think I'm addicted to cutting out images! I admit there was a gleam in my eye as I was clicking my mouse maniacally around the images-BWAHAHAHA.

OK, enough of that. Here's the picture of my very first digital collage. I hope you have a chance to be creative today in whatever medium you choose.

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Scrapping!

The Morning Dew

One of my goals this year is to learn to use the tools I have. One of those tools is my simple point & shoot digi camera. I've been trying different settings. This photo is of a flower that blooms near our fish pond. It was early morning and the petals still had dew drops. I was so pleased that the drops can be seen in the photo.

Enjoy your day and Happy Scrapping!

Negative Space=Fabulous Page

Those that know me know that I have a hard time with negative
space (white space) on a LO. I have a compulsion to fill the gaps.
Soul Scrappers has a great sketch challenge using lots of negative space so I gave it a try. I have to be honest, I struggled with this at first. As I searched my photo gallery I came across this picture of my grandmother and all of the sudden the challenge wasn't so hard. Amazing how the right photo can get the creativity going.

Have a great day and Happy Scrapping!

Shopping with Friends-Collage Class Week Two

This week we learned about horizontal horizons.

I used a street sign from a Tim Holtz paper stack and hand painted the background. The 3 mannequins are from my collection. I took their pictures, printed them on card stock and cut them out. The woman and cat are from Claudine Hellmuth's image collection.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Scrapping!