Thursday, August 30, 2012

All at sea






Our most recent game of Connections was entitled Boat. Jenny provided the starting image and gave general guidance for us to follow as the rounds progressed. Jenny, Pat, Erica, Linda, Liz and I took part and we were pleased Lesley could re-join us from Round 4.

Jenny asked us to combine Boat with an image of own choice in Round 3.  I added a lightship (see above top right) and admittedly became a bit obsessed with the cabin windows for a couple of rounds!  Seagulls, buoys, a street lamp in the shape of shells and two men in a boat were also used by other DOT members.

In Round 4 Jenny wanted to see some evidence of the original boat in our images (lest it had disappeared completely) and in Round 5 we could introduce nautical equipment, hence netting, rigging, floats, anchor, lighthouses and compasses were added.  This produced some interesting results and kept the game alive. In Round 6 we included words or poetry on a nautical theme which gave us a chance to do some research, manipulate text and play with words.  The final round asked for an impression of waves or water in our images so Erica was creating sea spray using text, Jenny used the paint brush tool and Linda added an image of choppy water. Pat, Lesley and I all used distort (liquify, twirl and wave) and Liz used rotation.

Many thanks to Jenny for her good choice of design criteria. Here are some of the images I produced this time around.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

All steamed up









Beginning with a black and white image of a traction engine provided by myself, this game was entitled "Steam" and used the same principles as described in Rickshaw (our previous blog entry).

After 3 rounds I provided the instructions for guidance which included making good use of the rivets, nuts, bolts, wheels, name plates etc in the original image and to add a stitch or stitches using Photoshop Elements by the final round.

Pat couldn't resist adding colour in Round 2 where as others remained in black and white for longer. The essence of steam was suggested in some images, others emphasised the metallic nature of the subject or the power and might of the engine. The original image or parts of it were re-introduced throughout the rounds to keep the game in motion.

The rounds started by Ruth and Ros produced the most follow on images whereas others fell by the wayside if there was nowhere to move the image on to or they were complete as they were.

Liz used hand drawn stitches in Round 5 which were put to good use by those who followed on in Round 6. Erica used filters and stroke outline to produce textures which looked like stitching. Ros used the eraser tool and pattern stamp to create stitch.

Here are some of the images I produced in this game of 'Steam'.