I finally managed to get my painting stuff out and produce a hand made, painted texture, rather than a Photoshop one. It's fun to do and I've learnt a lot of great techniques and tricks from my fabulous painting teacher in the last 15+ years and I got a lot of inspiration and a few new tricks from the texture e-course (where I'm slowly catching up and am hoping to get through all the remaining lessons before the classroom closes next week). So, now I just have to start making more textures :-). It's good to take out those paints and brushes and use them for something a bit different.
What is quite new to me is the size of the paper, canvas, cardstock etc. I'm working with. I'm so used to a rather big canvas or sheet of paper, but for textures, that's no good. If it's too big, it won't fit on to the scanner. So I'll have to get used to working with about an A4 size now. The advange is that it takes a lot less working space, which is good as I have to work in my study/library/studio and have to be carefuel all the time not to splash any paint on the walls or carpet of a rented flat. I so wish to have my own proper little atélier one day...
So that's what I've come up with on a productive Sunday:
Not sure yet, really, if it's any good as a texture and with what kind of pictures to use it. It might actually be a bit too "strong" in its own way. Well, I'm still learning :-). But it sort of seems to work with this:
Feel free to download the texture here (or click on the texture image) and give it a try. And if you like, let me know if it's any good or not :-).
While working away at the texture, I've been listening to a CD which I rediscovered the other day and which is just perfect to listening to while getting creative with brush and paint: Choose your boots by Fredrik Lundin Overdrive. I discovered jazz relatively late and usually prefer the old jazz stuff along with any music from the 1920s and 30s. But there's some modern bands I really like.
My favourite track is "The long haul", but I couldn't find that on Youtube.
I've been racking my brain trying to find a suitable name for the texture, and finally, I've come up with one - I'm just going to call it "jazz" :-)
I've just been playing with this texture and it's very good, really. Not too strong at all and some nice flecks of colour. Jazzy! I'll post one on Flickr tomorrow. And talking of Jazzy, love that music. Perfect to chill out to. If you're ever in London you could spend a very pleasant evening at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club near Charing Cross Road. It's a great atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nigel. I'm so glad it works. I'm looking forward to seeing how you used it :-).
ReplyDeleteI've never actually been to a jazz club but it sounds like a nice place to go. I'll be spending two weeks in London in summer so I have to make sure to check it out :-)