'If you make happiness your goal, then you're not going to get to it… The goal should be an interesting life."

Dorothy Rowe

Wednesday 16 February 2011

And now for something completely different…

I’ve discovered a new [to me] program – PostworkShop. The basic program is free, although I’ve been having such fun with it that I'm thinking of upgrading to the ‘Artist Edition’, which gives you access to a lot more ‘styles’ [effects/filters in my terms].

So far, all I’ve done with it is explore the different styles. The helpful ‘Help’ section [not all Help sections are helpful, as I’m sure you know] suggests that you start by uploading a photo and then click on the die at the bottom of the screen which lets you try random effects.IMG_4442

So I started with this image of Bournemouth, and began to play.

 

 

 

 

darkchalk and pencil

This is ‘Dark Chalk and Pencil’

 

 

 

 

 

 

fauvismjpg

‘Fauvism’

 

 

 

 

 

 

abstract

‘Abstract’

 

 

 

 

 

 

dreamworld

‘Dreamworld’

 

 

 

 

 

 

in the dark

and ‘In the Dark’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also played with this picture of Babybel from last summer.IMG_7242

I’m a member of the group blog ‘Ideas of Inspiration’, where the current prompt is the letter ‘N’. Well, I went through all my photos – and the only N word I could come up with was ‘nappy’. [Sorry!]

You can see the version I chose to post over on the other blog, but these are some of the rejects -

andy's pop

 

 

‘Andy’s Pop’

 

 

 

 

expression

‘Expressionist’ – I really like this one -

 

 

 

 

 

 

grandparentsphoto

and one called, appropriately,  ‘Grandparent’s Photo’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can adjust some of the styles but not all of them – for some reason the one called ‘Caravaggio’ just produces an unalterable image in shades of brown [not what I associate with Caravaggio]. You can, apparently, combine styles, but I haven't got that far yet. I could also have done with an ‘Undo all’ button – although there may be one which I haven’t found.

You can’t ‘paint’ over the images as you can in Painter Essentials, but if you just want to play around with photos, it’s worth trying out the Basic program.2011-02-16

When I wasn’t playing with PostworkShop [well, there was nout on telly last night], I carried on tackling the UFOs in the work room. 

This is something I started when we were doing the 3D samples, but for some reason didn’t finish. It is one of my first pieces of Cas Holmes fabric, with added hand and machine embroidery, on an armature made of old CDs and a rolled up magazine page – although you can’t see those.

The pattern wasn’t quite right, despite my careful measuring – too short, too wide at the bottom and too narrow at the top – and the head and neck need work – but I’m quite pleased with her. [She is not an angel, despite what Wensleydale says. I don’t do angels.]

Oh – and I did remember to make the soup – Jamie’s tomato bean and pasta soup, in the electric pressure cooker we gave ourselves for Christmas. [You may think an electric pressure cooker is an unnecessary extravagance, but it wasn’t much more expensive than a non-electric one. It has the great advantage that it brings itself to pressure, turns itself down, and in due course turns itself off – and it is a lot quieter than my old pressure cooker.]

And to Carole who laughed at yesterday’s tale of forgetfulness – good! I try to cultivate my ‘talent to amuse’.

Just Googled that – and it is amazing how many people have recorded it  - it’s from Noel Coward’s ‘If love were all’, in case you are wondering.

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