Themed Feature: High Key “Objects” Challenge
The lastest and greatest High Key group’s challenge was Objects. I figured, since we’ve done animals, children’s portraits, and flowers, objects was the next best subject matter. It is quite fascinating to see what people will photograph with a broad subject matter, such as objects. So on to the top 10!
Listed from 1st place to 10th place. If you would like to see all the entries, click here.
Ballet Shoes by Francesca Rizzo
Death of a Light Bulb by Karri Klawiter
Perfectly Orange by Jen Cannella
Candy Cane Heart by Tamara Brandy
Don’t forget to check out these great artist’s other work!!
I can’t cut a mat!
If you recall, I mentioned before that I recently ordered a bunch of prints to get ready for some shows/competitions.
I have been trying to get everything put together. Frames, backing, mats, etc. The first thing I am entering is Festival of the Arts here in Grand Rapids, Mi. Entries are due this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. This is my very first juried competition, and I’m SO nervous! I don’t really care about winning anything, I just want to get accepted. I have four pieces picked out to enter. Although, I am still questioning one of them. I’ve got my frames and everything I need to put them together, but I can’t seem to cut that mats! I really only have one I need to do. It is a double mat for a 20×30 image, matted to a 24×36 frame. I went out last week and purchased the mat board and a hand held Logan Mat Cutter 2000. I can’t cut a straight line if my life depened on it. So my first try on the first mat was awful! Just cutting the mat board to the 24×36 square turned out bad. I was trying to do it, on the floor, with a 24 in framing square for a straight edge. HA! The inside cut ended up slightly crooked and jagged because I had to stop, move the ruler, and start again. Or the stupid mat cutter would slide under the ruler. Not good. So the top mat ended up being pretty much useless. The bottom mat wasn’t too bad after getting the hang of it a little better, but I over shot (yes, even with the little line guide) the corners, and it’s really obvious looking at the front. So there went the second mat.
I went back to the store Saturday and bought 2 new mat boards. My husband asked me to wait for him before I try cutting them again. Well today we got around to attempting it again. LOL He had just as many problems as I did, only opposite issues. I couldn’t cut the straight line, even with a ruler to guide, but he could even without one. (by the way, he pulled out a longer ruler, moved the mats up onto a table and used clamps to hold it in place, ‘duh! I should have thought of that in the first place!) My cuts were crooked, but they were smooth. His kept getting frayed. I should have just paid someone else to do it!
I was able to get the second bottom mat, and so far I don’t see any obvious flaws. I really don’t want to go back to the store and buy a 3rd top mat. So my choices are to either figure out a way to fix one of the 2 that got messed up, figure out some creative way to cover up the mess ups, or go without the top mat. I really don’t want to go without it, but that’s looking like my best option. We were discussing, purposesly fraying or ‘roughing up’ one of the ones we screwed up, to give it an aged look since the image was done as an aged image. But I am not sure how to go about doing that, and keeping it looking nice. Any suggestions?
Anyone out there know how to fix/prevent the frayed edge problem?
New Work 🙂
It must be the weather. We’ve finally gotten out of the dreary Michigan winter, and spring must bring forth some creative juices. I have a couple new pieces to share! Yay! So here they are:
Preconcieved Illusion (the last one if you can’t read the title) has become an instant fav of mine.
All of my work can be puchased as premium art cards, and most are available as matted prints, laminated prints, mounted prints, canvas prints, framed prints, and posters. All in varying sizes. To see more work and/or purchase click here. (or click on a particular image)
And don’t forget to check out other great products featuring these images at Karri’s Zazzle Store!
What’s New?
I haven’t posted in a while, so I thought I would do a quick post on what’s new and going on with me. I haven’t gotten out with the camera much this winter, but I did set up a couple floral shots. Hopefully, with the weather warming up, and grass getting greener, I’ll be able to get out and get some new work!
For more Zazzle products featuring these images click here.
And one candle image, that is only available on Zazzle.
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I also worked on a new photomanipulation. This was intended to be the ‘sequel’ to Ephemeral Partings, but it seemed to get away from the oringal design a bit.
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There are also a few new digital abstracts.
For Zazzle products featuring these images click here.
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I also have a few new t-shirt designs on both Redbubble and Zazzle.
Of course the designs are available on other products too.
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I was also asked to illustrate a Fire Saftey coloring book, which is in progress, and was able to create some products featuring 2 of the characters.
For more of my firefighter Zazzle products click here.
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I also started making business cards designs on Zazzle. You can view them all here, but here are a couple examples.
As you can see, I like the black cards. All of them are customizable, and the colored ones in the middle can have their background colors changed.
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Geesh, I guess I have been busy! But I have found time to take my kids to the park.
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Additionally, I just sent out a bunch of images to be printed. I hope to be hitting the art show circuit this year. I already have a few lined up. Wish me luck!!
Arachnids Challenge: “Hairy Little Beasts”
The Arachnids Group at Redbubble just finished off their latest challenge. With the theme of the challenge being “Hairy Little Beasts”, the turnout was spectacular, and the images incredible. But alas, only one image can be crowned 1st place. If you would like to check out all the entries, click here.
Now onto the show! The top 10 are as follows in order from 1st place to 10th.
“Don King” Jumping Spider by robkal
Wooly Predator by Frank Yuwono
Garden Jumping Spider by Andrew Trevor-Jones
Don’t forget to check out these great photographer’s other works!
Plant a Tree – Earth Day
Earth Day is coming up, and what better way to celebrate this glorious planet we call home, than planting a tree. Remember the days when you were sent home from school on Earth Day with a tiny pine tree to plant? Mine never survived, not to mention there really wasn’t room in the yard for another tree. So if you want to help contribute by planting a tree, but don’t have a place to plant one, buy a T-shirt!
A T-shirt? What the heck does a T-shirt have to do with planting trees? Well, I will tell you…
Zazzle has gotten together with American Forests to create “Tree-Shirt Releaf.” This will give customers the opportunity to have a tree planted for every T-shirt they buy between April 16 and Earth Day on April 24! At check-out use the offer code “plantatree09”.
Personally, I think this a wonderful idea! You get a great new shirt, and help the planet! If you want to go a step further, Zazzle offers organic T-shirts! (The all-organic cotton classic t-shirt. 100% organic fine jersey cotton, combed for comfort. Flattering, stylish fit on virtually any body type. Made in the USA by American Apparel.) When you find a shirt you like, just look through the shirt options!
Additionally, in celebration of Earth Day, many of the Zazzle contributors have created some great designs. Check a few of these out!
For more Earth Day designs click here.
Even if you don’t buy a T-shirt, GET OUT THERE AND PLANT A TREE!!!!
High Key Themed Challenge: Animals
The lastest challenge in the High Key Group on Redbubble was Animals. There was a lot of great work submitted. Check out all the entries here.
The top 10:
1st place
2nd
3rd
What’s 4 Dinner Mum? by Cindy Perrinjaquet
4th
Heavy Traffic by J.Harris Blacklist
5th
Sweet by Ken Boxsell
6th
Come Make a Snowdog With Me! by Johanne Brunet
7th
animal instinct by Angel Warda
8th
Pure by deannedaffy
9th
10th
Don’t forget to check out these great photographer’s other works!
New Product Line – Fire & Rescue
Once again, I was slowly building up enough images to blog about it, but I now have a new product line at my Zazzle Store for Fire & EMS. Each design is offered on several different products, and I’m still working on expanding the product lines.
FIRE:
Paramedic/EMT:
FIRE EMS COMBO:
Just a reminder, each design, and variations of them, are available on several other products such as: Cards, Posters, T-shirts, Postcards, Mugs, Stickers, Stamps, etc.
Themed Features – Flowers in High Key
The latest High Key challenge was Flowers. Check out these beautiful works of photography!
The Top 10:
lots of fun by gompo
Protea sugar and spice by Barb Leopold
Heart of a Magnolia by kilmann
Don’t forget to check out these artists’ other work too!!
Photomanipulations
I thought I’d do a post sharing some of my photomanipulations. If you’re wondering what a photomanipulation is, it’s just what it sounds like, manipulation of a photograph. Now granted, most of my work would technically be considered manipulated because I did manipulate it one way or the other. Some people can get picky with that, but most consider photomanipulation a style or category of art in which the artist generally takes more than one photograph, combines them and “photoshops” them to create a totally new image.
There are a lot of photographers who offer up their images to be used as stock for photomanipulation artists, as long as they get credit, and the end product is a completely different from the original image. Personally, I’m still not terribly comfortable using other peoples images for my own work, then taking credit. I don’t know why, it just feels weird, so I try to use as much as my own stuff as possible. However, that is not always possible, especially when it comes to models. I just don’t have anyone, nor the costumes for my own models. Recently, in my attempt to combat the winter blues, I have created a few images that are all stock, and I have to say, the results speak for themselves. Sometimes you just have to give in and go with the flow. Using stock is just so much easier. There is anendless amount to choose from, if you have something specific in mind, you can usually find it, and lets face it, using stock from photographers across the world opens you up to locations you could only dream to visit on your own. So let me take a minute here and say THANK YOU TO ALL YOU STOCK PHOTOGRAPHERS that allow us couped up, sun depraved, bored artists to create something we never could without you!
I suppose I should get on with it huh? A few of these I have had around for a while. The first 3 are my newest.
STOCK CREDIT:
Model: mizzd-stock Background: cave- steppelandstock combined with one of my own images.
STOCK CREDIT:
Models: woman- mizzd-stock, man – dragon-orb, wolf – breedstock
Background: nomuh
STOCK CREDIT:
Model: faestock
Background: all mine, that’s actually my front yard LOL!
The rest of these are a little older, you may or may not have seen them before.
No stock credit, all images were mine. Except for the brushes used for the butterflies. Unfortunantly, I don’t remember where I got those.
STOCK CREDIT:
Model: faestock Foilage Brushes: LadyVictoire Background: mine
STOCK CREDITS:
Model: faestock Background: mine
I hope you enjoyed!!
All of my work can be puchased as premium art cards, and most are available as matted prints, laminated prints, mounted prints, canvas prints, framed prints, and posters. All in varying sizes. To see more work and/or purchase click here. (or click on a particular image)
Example Card:
And most are avaible as various products at Karri’s Zazzle Store Front!