Create Abstract Work In the Studio

As the doldrums of summer set in I am once again in the studio. Today I am experimenting with macro work and combining water and oil. I have worked in this medium before and find it to be really helpful for creating abstract work. In addition, it also strengthens my technical skills.

The set up first requires the mixture of water and oil in a glass container. This container is then situated on plexiglass, elevated around 12 inches. Below the plexiglass is a multi- colored cloth or paper to create the colors in the water and oil mixture. To create the bubbles, the mixture needs to be gently agitated by either moving the container or stirring the mixtures.

My camera is on a tripod and a fast shutter speed is used to freeze the moving water and bubbles. Conversely, a slower speed creates more blurred or abstract images that can be very interesting also.

Thanks for visiting and happy shooting! More of my work can be viewed at www.susanmcanany.com.

Show Your Art In Room Setting

Showing images of your art displayed in a room setting is a very useful tool for on line sales. By placing your art in different room settings, you give a potential buyer a visual representation of how your art could look hanging in their home or office.

After doing a little research, I was able to achieve this with several on line sites where I sell art prints by using free and purchased room “mock up” images. Here are some quick and easy ideas for creating images of your art placed in a room setting.

  1.  Find some free stock images of interior room or room mock ups. Do a quick Google search and you will find many websites where interior room images can be found and downloaded. It takes some searching to find sites that are offering free images, but they are there. Often the author would like recognition for use of there image.
  2. Purchase some images on line. There are stock images sites such as Fotolia, iStock Photo and others who offer images for purchase. Often the images from stock images sites require a subscription I wasn’t interested in or the per image price for me was too expensive.  A good resource for per image purchase is Etsy. I found several sellers that sold interior room images or mock ups for a very reasonable price. Again, just search Etsy’s site for “interior room images” or “room mock ups”.
interior room mock up stock image

Interior room mock up image from Etsy with blank wall.

Once you have secured photos of stock images room interiors, you will need to use a photo editing software to place an image of your art on the wall and size it accordingly. I use Photoshop for this process and also I often place my art in a frame prior to placing it in an interior room stock image.

Mushroom fine art photo print

Interior room image with art on wall.

3.  One last resource that is helpful is the website Oh My Prints. This site allows you to place an image of your art into a variety of room settings and save them as jpeg files. The only downside to this program is the image size the program generates. It is often smaller than recommended gallery sizes on several sites. But they do have a variety of great looking interior room images.

Thanks so much for reading and seeing just how easy it is to display your art in a room setting. View more of my work at my website, my Etsy Store or Saatchi Art.

Easter Stock Images Available

Easter is fast approaching and if I have some wonderful Easter stock images. These are high quality jpg images photographed in studio. The images are instant downloads and available as soon as your purchase is complete at my Etsy store. There are both religious themes and commercial bunny and egg themes.

Here are a couple of examples:

Assorted sizes and colors of eggs in Easter green grass

Multi-colored art glass in various shapes.

Downloaded image will be free of all watermarks. Because they are digital downloads here are my Terms of Use:

The image is a high quality Royalty Free jpeg (.jpg) file and may have the following uses: on your website, blog or in a creative or personal project. You may resize, crop, print or manipulate the image and sell it as part of a new product you create. You may not sell, resell, give, loan, share or transfer the image or jpeg file to any third party. Susan McAnany maintains the original copyright and is the sole owner of the image.

If you have any questions be sure to contact me.

I you get a chance, hop on over to my Etsy store and check out all the Easter stock images and other stock images available via digital download.

As always, thanks for stopping by. More of my work can be viewed at my website or at my Etsy or Saatchi Art sites.

Above all, have a wonderful Easter holiday and break!

How to Draw a Straight Line in Photoshop

Recently I had the need to create a straight line in Photoshop CS6. I wanted to see how outlining an entire image would look. So of course after pouring through the tool bar looking for a line tool, I finally found one under the box tool. Graphic artist are probably much more familiar with vector files and how to create lines and shapes in Photoshop. As a photographer, I am usually more concern with exposure, colors and composition. However, for this application I needed the line tool and found that in the tool palette.

line tool in Photoshop

Once the Line tool is selected you have the option to adjust the width, color and weight of the line. You could also assign the width and height. For my application I changed the color or Fill to black, used a 3 pt, and Weight of 05 cm.

tool bar for line tool

Once you have your parameters defined you are ready to draw the line. Photoshop will automatically create a new vector layer and place your line on that layer. This is great because chances are it will take a couple tries to get it looking like you desire. With the line isolated on it’s own layer,  it is easy enough to delete the layer and try again.

To draw a perfectly straight line in Photoshop CS6, just simply hold down the shift key while drawing the line. Again, Photoshop will create a vector layer and place your line on the layer.

As you can see this is very easy and soon you will be an expert at drawing a straight line in Photoshop CS6.

Thanks for stopping by. To view more of my work, visit my website!

The Beauty of Simplicity to Improve Your Images

Embracing the beauty of simplicity in today’s world is a much need. In my daily life for 2019 I started by reducing my internet time starting with the number of google searches, twitter feed reviews and Facebook contact. My personal life goal is to reduce the number of plastic bags I use. I know this is a small step, but very important for the environment. Now, I am taking it to my art.

How to make something simpler and find the beauty of simplicity? Many options are available with photography beginning with zooming in on your subject.  Yes, fill the frame with your subject!! If zooming is unavailable or you want to simplify an existing image, you may try cropping the image. So many sensors offer incredibly large files and frames, that cropping is easy to do and you still have a big, beautiful file for posting on line or printing.

Removing lines from a composition is another option for simplification and finding beauty in the simplicity. Also, this will allow the image to take on a more abstract rendering. Moving from subject reality to a surreal rendering.

Another option to simplification is to reduce the variety or magnitude of color. This can be difficult, especially of me, when vibrant colors are one of my signature traits. But it can also be a way of seeing differently. It will also help you find the leading line or composition high point you want to stress in your work. I have seen this work very successfully with some beautiful black and white work.

For me, finding beauty in simplicity required I combine all of these techniques; zooming in, reducing lines and eliminating color.  I started with looking at the human body and here are some pieces that are in my pipeline.

Untitled Female Nude

nude in black and white

V Shapefemale nude in black and white

Thanks so much for stopping by and heres to looking for the simplicity in life to find beauty! More of my work can be viewed on my website.

Valentine’s Day Photo Clip Art

Active now on my Etsy store are some new and exciting Valentines Day photo clip art. I know you may be still recuperating from the December holidays, but finding photos and clip art for your February Valentine’s Day projects is just a click away. These Valentines Day photos and clip art are terrific for enhancing your website and allowing you to bring in the romance, friendship and love spirit alive. In addition, they are also great as artwork for making your own cards or invitations, especially those sent electronically.  They do, however, print wonderfully.

Shot in studio the photos and clip art images are sharp and colors are vibrant. There is nothing like a splash of red to liven up your webpages or projects and, in addition, provide an overall happy and positive feeling for the viewer. Delivered via instant download they are ready for your use immediately.

Valentine Day Clip Art Photo

TERMS OF USE
The Valentines Day photos and clip art images are high quality Royalty Free jpeg (.jpg) file. It may be used on your Etsy shop, website, blog or in a creative or personal project. You may resize, crop, print or manipulate the image and sell it as part of a new product you create. You may not sell, resell, give, loan, share or transfer the actual image or jpeg file to any third party. Susan McAnany maintains the original copyright and is the sole owner of the image.

image of heart shaped candy box surrounded with red roses

You can check out more Valentine’s Day Photos and other stock images and clip art at my Etsy Store.

My fine art prints can be viewed on my website and at my Etsy or Saatchi Art sites.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Happy New Year – 2019

fireworks clipart

As we say goodbye to 2018, there are so many things to be thankful for and happy anticipation for the projects and events awaiting this new year!

So thankful in 2018, I was able to travel on several occasions not only to capture some great images, but I am also grateful for the experiences that travel provides. Any trip whether international or domestic gives opportunity to open up to world different from the one we work and live in everyday.  And if you are taking pictures, like I usually am, it is a delight.

I am thankful for the love and support and sales I received for my art this year. Nothing validates an artist more than sales. And when they are not there, love and support keeps me going. Thank you to my family, friends and of course clients!

I am thankful for my health and the health of my loved ones. I keep loving and positive thoughts for friends and family not doing so well. May this year be better for you.

I know 2019 will bring a host of new opportunities and experiences for me and hopefully you. And along the way, lets make some great photos!

Happy New Year!

Susan

Check out more of my work on my website.

Textures from Tuscany

Along with the beautiful scenery, outstanding food, wine and friendly people, I was happy to find great unique textures in Tuscany and not your regular brick walls and peeling paint. These were old; definitely vintage in nature if not historic and gave added to the ambience and richness of the area.

Now you may be asking what I want to do with photos of textures from Tuscany? Texture photos are great for using in Photoshop as an overlay to create more depth and interest. They are also a terrific addition to a dull sky and allow you to put your individual touch on an image. Another idea is they are helpful creating a unique vignette.

Textures can also be used in Photoshop when working on a composite image. Compositing an image is a Photoshop technique where multiple images are brought together with layers and masking to create a new image. Using textures, layers and masking will help you develop your unique vision and style for an image.

Lastly, if you are a Crafter, texture images are useful in a variety of ways from scrap booking to decoupage and will help to stimulate creativity on a project.

Here are a couple of textures from my trip to Tuscany:

 

texture for photoshop overlay
Rust, Yellow, Brown Texture
gray texture for background
Gray Texture

Check out more of my textures at my Etsy Store.

Also, check out more of my fine art prints at susanmcanany.com.  Thanks so much for visiting and keep creating!