Creating from photos

This weekend, I turned a log of wood into a series of patterns that I might upload to Redbubble and two book covers – already loaded onto Magic Owl Design. Why? Well, because I could, really. It was fun. That’s what art has become to me lately – simply fun. I find myself racing from one experiment to another, becoming happier and happier as I go along. Whether others think they’re wonderful doesn’t really cross my mind, unless the art is a commission, of course, in which case I slow down a bit and concentrate on what they want.  Otherwise, I’m simply rolling with the flow of whatever happens and enjoying every second of it.

So how does a log of would become a piece of art? This way, basically... 

Start with a photo of an interesting log of wood.

Smooth the texture out so it looks painted.

Lay the result in various patterns – reverse the image,  maybe overlay it here and there and then mess around with the colours and blends. Photoshop is full of surprises when you play around with it.

 With these particular results, I saw possibilities for book covers. If you look closely you can see a man in the first picture. That's what inspired the first cover. The second, I cropped, stretched and added all sorts of filters and gradients to it. 

Voila! Two more pre-made book covers for sale.

And sadly, I now have to stop and go and live real life. My family do need to eat after all.