This is the piece Lori and I finished for the “Art to Gogh” benefit for Mental Health America in Allen County yesterday. It is entitled “News from Home” and has a collage of the local newspaper on the left side and a Threadography of the Fort Wayne skyline on the right. The tattoo stencil on top in Earth Safe Finishes copper Shimmer Translucent pulls the sides together.


It was really exciting to be in the room with so many local artists. Here I am stitching away on the panel. The canvas with the collage is on the floor to my right, just waiting for the finished panel.


Once the Threadography panel was secured to the canvas, I stenciled a swirly tattoo design to pull the sides together. Translucent copper Shimmer was perfect because it drew the color out in the stitched panel without overpowering the composition.


This is a detail of the tattoo on top of the stitched panel. You can see white thread in the clouds and the texture of monofilament thread in the blue sky.


Jay painted a still life from actual tomatoes. Other artists around the room painted from photographs, pictures in magazines, illustrations in books, and some from memory. It was an education for me to watch the painters in action.


Justin is a law student, who works in acrylics. He has sold more than 300 paintings to help put himself through school!


This is one end of the room at Moore and Associates (Thank you to Chris Moore for providing a venue for the event.) There are two gourd artists, a wood carver (amazing work), as well as artists working in oils, acrylics, pastels, and spray paint.


This young lady was working in pastels, creating a hauntingly beautiful piece in a children's theme.

The fanciful work of this acrylic artist was very popular during the bidding yesterday evening.

The mayor was on hand at the dinner and live auction last night to raise money for Mental Health America of Allen County. What an interesting mix of people, music, food, and lively bidding. In spite of the fact I found a chunk of pottery in an egg roll, it was a delightful evening—and once again I'm honored to participate in this small way.

Janet Hartje wins the pendant!

Thank you to all who posted about the dichroic pendant to help breast cancer research. Janet Hartje wins the drawing! Janet, please e-mail me with your snail-mail address—and congratulations! In my opinion, as we work together to battle breast cancer, we all are winners. DS says this sounds corny, but I don't care. :-)



November 10 and 11 I've been invited to speak to RiverWalk Quilters in Naperville, Illinois. Sharing the adventure that has resulted in Next Steps in Altered Photo Artistry and Altered Photo Artistry is always a pleasure for me.

I always send or take a small Threadography piece to be given away as a doorprize. The photo above will be taken home by someone at the meeting that night. If you're in the area, I hope you'll join us!


This is the original photo. Hard to believe, isn't it? In the workshop on Wednesday, the 11th participants will work on their OWN altered photo, stitching it and turning it into a fascinating altered photo panel ready to be framed or finished with binding.


Doesn't this just beg for beads? I love the stitching and have been including collage and mixed media techniques more often.

The drawing tomorrow for the beautiful dichroic-glass pendant to benefit breast cancer research will be tomorrow and there are only TWO names in the hat!!

You could have a really good chance to win it! Just leave a comment and the name will be drawn tomorrow.

BTW: Art Now For Autism is over and raised more than $4,000 for the cause. Claudine Intner did a wonderful job of organizing the auction and I would like to thank her for the opportunity to contribute to the cause in some small way.

I'm getting ready for a benefit auction on Saturday for the Mental Health Association here in Fort Wayne. 27 artists have committed to creating pieces on site during the day. The pieces will be auctioned at a gala event in the evening. I'm so blessed to be able to contribute in this way!! Stay tuned; background tests are being conducted today, the focus composition is complete, and a test print has been made. Can't wait to see it all come together!

Padfolio Instructions

The padfolio instructions have not been published yet on either C&T's blog or The Quilt Show's newsletter. So many of you have asked about them, I'm including a link to a pdf file with instructions and photos.

http://www.quilterskeeplearning.com/beth/Funky%20Padfolio-1.pdf

If it doesn't appear as a link, copy the URL and paste it into your browser window. The download starts automatically.

If you make one (or several), please send a photo. I'd love to see what you do with the displacement maps and the instructions!

Enjoy!

Are you enjoying the displacement maps? Aren't they fun?

This delightful altered zinnia is from Gigi Kandler. Gigi and I met in an online class two years ago. Two photos of her altered-photo quilts are included in my new book Next Steps in Altered Photo Artistry.

Gigi surprised me this morning with a photo of a zinnia she altered using the displacement map feature in Photoshop Elements.

If you'd like to share your photos altered with displacement maps, please send a copy of the original and the altered version. It's so much fun to see the before and after!

There is a link in yesterday's post that will take you to a video showing where to find displacement maps (don't worry, few know where to find them) and how to apply them to a photo. Hope you enjoy!

Displacement Map Video!!!

Yes! Yes! I know I'm suppose to be working on taxes, but the thought of making a video about using displacement maps has been flooding my head and I just couldn't wait any longer!!

Here is a link to a Jing video I just made, showing where to find and how to apply displacement maps in Photoshop Elements and Photoshop.
http://screencast.com/t/lxrsFDBXzO
The image in the video is the same one used for the padfolio in the photo from yesterday's posting.

Just click on the link, or copy it and paste it into your browser, and it will take you to Screencast, where the video is stored. Click on the arrow and you should have audio as well as video. If you're on dial-up, there may be occasional pauses as the file is accessed slower than if you're on cable or DSL.

There have been so many comments on C&T Publishing's blog, on this one, and questions from various discussion groups about the displacement maps, I just HAD to share this with you! Displacement maps don't seem to be a popular feature in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Even some graphic designers don't know about them, let alone use them.

Hope you enjoy the video. Let me know if you have questions!

I am now the proud owner of a bright and colorful padfolio. Step-by-step instructions are available in the newest newsletter from The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims AND on C&T Publishing's blog this weekend. This is to celebrate the release of my new book Next Steps In Altered Photo Artistry.



The padfolio outside features an altered photo (what else?), printed on fabric, and heavily stitched with free-motion stitching, using lots of glorious threads. Inside is a 5" x 8" junior legal pad. The whole padfolio fits neatly into my purse!

The photo is altered using one of our exclusive displacement maps that are on the CD inside the back cover of the book. In my opinion, displacement maps are the best-kept secret of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements! This alteration included multiple applications of the same displacement map, until the image was quite abstract. The final touch was applied with an artistic filter to define the edges.

By the time the image was wrapped around the notepad, the effect is quite abstract—just what I was going for!


This is the photo before altering. I took it in the garden next to the courthouse in my home town this spring and have been saving it for something special. Since I won't be traveling to Houston for the book's release at Quilt Market, this cheers me up and helps me focus on paperwork this weekend.


Inside is a pocket for pens (on the left), the notepad in the center, and the flap on the right. Because of the shape of the flap, it required two Velcro dots to keep it flat while closed.

Inside the padfolio rust-dyed fabrics add depth, interest, and variety. You can see the pocket on the left has a scripture verse printed on the fabric.