…flowers! Our city lot isn’t very big but I managed to get all this in it–and more! I’ll be featuring another set sometime soon as more plants come up and mature. Until then, enjoy!

DeMya, Denny and I pulled out an old bush and planted a couple new bushes this weekend. They’re called Scotch Broom and they have a profusion of colors and buds. They will grow approximately 4′ x 4′. We also pulled the Hawkeye stone from an obscure part of the back yard and featured it in the new bed.

So what do you do until the plants take off and the trees fill in? Try this with Paintshop Pro! Some tubes, some shadows, a little dodge and burn and some color correction!

Before

After

Have fun!

I won the monthly gallery for my magnolia! There’s no object or topic to create from. You just post whatever you want to this forum. I was on a kick trying to learn to “paint” flowers and this is what I came up with:

Thanks everyone for your vote!

I think I like the background the best, actually. I started with a black canvas, added a new layer and then sprayed blobs of color and drew dark vertical streaks. I then used dodge and burn to highlight certain parts. The pansies came mostly from memory, although I did have to get out an old gardening book and consult it to be sure…. I used the airbrush, warp brush and smudge tools mostly to get the petals, stems and leaves.

I took some artistic license with this one, drawing my own style of leaf and petal arrangement. There are so many types of dahlias, this one could exist somewhere….

I got brave and decided to try a rose. I found a Donna Dewberry video on YouTube and gave it a try. Mine is a very loose interpretation but hey, it’s my first rose. I’ll get better….

I’ve been trying to create digital flowers for sometime, without much luck I might add. I just didn’t seem to have the right inspiration.

Then I discovered this wonderful show on the PBS “Create” network called, The Beauty of Oil Painting, hosted by Gary and Kathwren Jenkins. I went to their website and found a beautiful painting of a magnolia created by Kathwren. I didn’t want to recreate it exactly, I just wanted to look at it while I created my own.

I used Paint Shop Pro with the following filters: Oil brush, airbrush, dodge, burn, smudge, blur and warp brush. I am using Mrs. Jenkins’ copy with permission to show you what I was looking at (click on thumbnail to view larger image):

Jenkins’ Magnolia

My Magnolia

I have to admit that I’m rather pleased with my first attempt! I’m thinking about getting back into oil painting and I have a feeling I’ll be making a purchase or two from their site….

I wasn’t going to enter a second image becasue I had a little bit of a block when it came to the challenge object:

The only thing I saw was a splat! So, I went for it!!

It won! I received this beautiful award:

FYI: Our very own Donnab created this beautiful award image, too! Thanks, Donna–I love it!!

Here’s a link to the Star Gallery! Visit and join the fun!

This could be you!

The theme for the Just For Fun Gallery was “create a book cover for either poetry or a mystery novel.” I entered this:

It won! I received this beautiful award:

FYI: Our very own Donnab created this beautiful award image! Thanks, Donna–I love it!!

Here’s a link to the Star Gallery! Visit and join the fun!

Last week’s challenge object was this:

I had been playing with making piercework china earlier that week and really wanted to use my new plate. So I used the challenge object for cookie frosting and came up with this (that’s my own beautiful swiss dots background, also!):

After I posted it at Plus, someone requested at tutorial on the plate. I happily put one up. It can be viewed here.

Now, you know practice makes perfect. So I played and played and then played some more. I experimented with different brush heads, filters, etc., and ended up making about a dozen different plates. This is my favorite!

I also made the napkin (with, what else? my swiss dot fabric!) from scratch! I added a shadow effect over the entire image to add a dramatic element. Have fun at Plus!

Wow, I won two weeks in a row! Now, I don’t expect to do this very often, as there are some really talented people playing at Plus! But that doesn’t mean that only the most talented one wins, either. Members who participate are allowed to vote for that week’s winner. They choose the one that “sings to their heart” and not necessarily the most perfectly executed. So, regardless of your level of talent, you stand a chance to win.

But winning isn’t everyting at Plus. It’s just a really fun place with lots of friendly people. It’s fun to see how people use the week’s challenge object differently and delightlful to see who actually wins!

You’ll make some new friends and learn things you didn’t even know were possible with Paint Shop Pro. Come on over to Plus today and see for yourself!

This was the challenge object:

Here’s the one that was chosen and my award (click on thumbnail to see larger view):

I entered my first challenge in months. DonnaB put up a stocking sillouhette as the challenge and it really looked fun. I had rare free time and decided to participate. I actually put up four entries!!

The fourth one won! Here’s my award:

Thanks for your votes, everyone–you really made my week! And if you would like to join in on the fun, come on over to Plus today!! You won’t meet a nicer bunch of people to play with!

Don’t buy from GameHouse! Don’t download free trials! It’s probably not even safe to play their online games! Why? Because they claim:

But is that true? NO! This is what my firewall found (click on thumbnail to view larger image):

This virus is a keystroke logger and an email address harvester. It can be very dangerous. Thank God my firewall caught it! Imagine the people out there downloading from this site that they think is nice and friendly.

I have contacted the company over and over and over and I haven’t received any response. I’m not surprised, though. I’m sure I’m not the first to bring this to their attention. And they are going to continue to ignore me.

I’m not sure what my recourse will be. It starts here, though. Beware, beware, beware. Just because they say their product is virus-free doesn’t mean it is. Stay away from this site. They are evil liars. If you’ve had a bad experience with GameHouse, please share it!