Debra Mason Designs

Fun with Photoshop

I actually had a few hours to do some quick experimenting with some of my photographs! What is the world coming to? And it's a workday, too. ALTHOUGH, keeping up to par with all skills on all my design programs is an absolute must.

Here is a photo of where my grandfather's dental practice had been. This is in Colfax County Nebraska (the city of Leigh, to be precise).

I put the photo through a series of effects and layers to give it that almost hand illustrated look. Then I laid in a photo I took of an old hometown newspaper AND a photo of my grandfather when he was a young man. VOILA! By the way, I didn't take the picture of my grandfather. Um. Duh. My parents weren't even married yet. Not that that means anything BUT...whew that's a whole other post on a completely different blog. I'm not rowin' my boat into controversial caves. Not on this here blog o' mine. ANYWAY...

 

Sorry 'bout the double whammy with the watermark symbol but this image is very special to me and I plan on using it in some of my own artwork.

Alrighty then! Off to work I go.

Okay, okay, Mom. I will tell them you were married...by the time I came along. Wow. I think I just heard my mother explode CLEAR across the country. My mother and father got married and then had their babies. AND they stopped when the reached perfection. That would be me. I am the baby, the last born, the perfect one.

Now I'm hauling my perfect a#* off to work. Love you Mom.

 

Cactus Love

I am passionate about cactus and succulents. It's a good thing, too, because my yard is HUGE and in this day and age that means mega bucks on keeping a lawn green. Our water bill is already almost non existent. WOOHOO. It's taking us forever to build this giant work of art known as our yard but boy, oh boy, are we having fun.

What an inspiration all of this is for me as an artist. And an education, too! The above photos are only a fraction of my growing collection.

I'm also having fun planting the collection in interesting containers purchased at garage sales or vintage stores. This urn below cost $2 at a garage sale.

 

I'm not sure what this iron thing below is but for two bucks I knew it would be a great mini-planter for small succulents.

 

And take a look at this beauty below. It is from a very old eucalyptus tree. I bought it for a couple dollars from a man who'd had it for years after helping a contractor cut down the tree. He used it to display beautiful chunks of beach glass.

The three containers up next are very inexpensive and from OSH (Orchard Supply & Hardware). I use them as staging areas until the plants get large enough to transplant to the yard. Plus they look pretty as you walk up to our front door.

And now I'm getting the itch to do some artwork with cactus and succulents!

By the way...hi Mom. I love you.

Uh-oh

I'm gonna do it. Be introspective. Don't run away screaming 'cause I'm sure you all have felt like this at some time. Here comes the buzz word....wait for it:

InTiMIdaTeD

There. I said it. I have been expanding my horizons and reaching out to other bloggers and am amazed at what they are doing. Especially all of you textile and mixed media artists. Ya-huh. You know who you are. Stop being so good! You inspire me and [insert i word here] me. I was a member of your ranks but have not participated in my own art for my own sake for quite a few years. I devoted so much time getting my career up and running. So I kinda, sorta neglected my own personal voice.

Whew. Okay. I'm startin' to break out in hives with all this instrospection.

I am a lucky girl. I am a lucky INTIMIDATED girl. hehehehe. I'm lucky because my day job involves graphic design, repeat pattern design and working with cool clients. I've designed for the swimwear market, medical scrubs, stationery, the gift market, embroidery cards, textiles, etc. Occasionally, I do license some of my own original artwork. And boy does that feel good. Most times, I work with clients who have a specific idea of what they'd like as dictated by marketplace trends. So I have to please them and not me. I've gotten good at what I do BUT I miss expressing myself.

SO. I'm stating OUT LOUD on this blog about my intention of getting back to my voice. I've already started some classes/ecourses. I have ideas of what I want to do. Now you can help kick my hindquarters if you're not seeing me post about my OWN stuff, too.

Here are two links of women who inspire me. The list is growing on a daily basis. So I'll keep posting my inspiration links. To all of you, thank you from the bottom of my heart! Your work calls out to me and makes me want to reacquaint myself with my own artistic voice.

Today's inspiration links:

The Silly Boodilly (great textile arts)

Gathering Up Bits of the World (mixed media and journalling)

More links to come!! I don't want to overwhelm you...go check out these ladies!

 

Sqeezin' in some time for fun...

...which is not the easiest thing these days. Darn work. Gets in the way. Oh wait. That's a good thing. Work good. Help pay big Southern California mortgage.

ANYWAY. I saw online about another kind of journal called a Junque Journal. And it's all about destroying a cheap composition notebook. The school girl in me LOVED this idea. Tangie Baxter has some videos on Youtube I stumbled across and I thought "oh, me like, me want to destroy, me make junque art." Take a look at her first video and then hop on over to Tangie's YouTube channel and check out the others.

 

Here's what sold me on these. THE LITTLE POMPOMS. As you'll see, I unabashedly copied the whole pompom routine on mine. Thankyou Miss Tangie! 

Biggest problem with these journals I'm making (remember my previous post on the other journal) is I now have to start hording scraps and things. AHHHH! I'm all about throwin' the stuff out. Already the scraps are making me reach for a paper bag...breathe, deep breaths Deb...it'll be okay. Buy tupperware thingys and store it neatly.

TADA! Here's my destroyed beginnings.

That thar thing on the left is one of my package designs. Or I should say a sneak peek. Oops. Not in stores yet. But folks, that's the kind of "junque" I have right now...test prints off of my Epson printer.

Yup. The big ol' bold print on the left is a textile design of mine. Love that wine label. Not that I drank that bottle of wine. eh-hem.

 

Yahuh, that is a package design print on the right. I made it into a pocket to store wine labels...of which there will be many due to my heavy workload.

I love these journals because this is one case where FAT is GOOD. The fatter the better. I've got a long way to go and I'm trying not to hyperventilate over all the junque I have to collect to put in that bad girl up there.

Dear Mom: I know you have made it clear to the bottom of this post. You've read every word, poured over the pictures and would paste the blasted journal on your refrigerator if you could. This is why I love you. You are my #1 fan. Insert sigh here. Mom's are great that way.

Catberry Tails Quilt & Chair

Awhile back I licensed a collection of textiles with Robert Kaufman Fabrics. This collection was based on cartoon drawings of my cats. And then along came embroidery cards with OESD (Oklahoma Embroidery Supply and Design). I really got a thrill seeing one of the prints on George Clooney's head when he was on ER. Medical scrubs people! He was up in the children's ward, the camera swings around to the side and WAAAAA! I about fell off the sofa when I saw it.

ANYWAY...I bought this quilt made by Priscilla Williams, a quilter in North Carolina. It was part of a competition featuring my Catberry Tails fabric. I would have bought all the quilts but I'm not that rich...yet.

I apologize about the quality of that photo. Sunny Southern California is having a foggy, drizzly day AND the overhead light in my office bit the dust.

Here's a closer look:

I think part of what appealed to me about this quilt was the sense of whimsey she used in the detailing around the flowers and leaves and such. The fabric she used was Opie's Dream Garden (Opie being one of my cats or I should say The King of our household).

Okay WARNING. There's cat fur on the following images. That's because it is the cat's chair. Sue Correll (who lives part time in N.C. and part time in Southern California) made this chair and I, of course, had to buy it from her.

Some detail shots for you:

Yup. Fur, fur, and more fur. Remember...it's their chair. And they love it.

 Purrs everyone! Have a great weekend!

It's that time again!

INSIDE WALLE'S TOYBOX! Wooooo. Episode 2. Weehaw. well.

Uh...not so fast. Here's the newest toy.

Here is where the newest toy has been for two days:

No kidding folks. In the middle of the bed. For two days. I've insisted it stay right where we last tossed it. It holds its place well I must add, because my husband tosses around a lot at night. Still...too big for a book mark. So....

Here is what the newest toy is good for:

AND

AND

Okay, okay...I know...not nice. But at least I should get some sort of entertainment out of it.

Here is where Debra's flip video is instead of being used to film Walle playing with his new toy.

I don't even want to show the packaging or name the folks who make this toy.I'm just not that unkind.

Let's be all "michael-row-your-boat-ashore" here.If you see anything that looks like...well...giant orange sperm in a package...your cat probably won't like it. You could do what I did and whip it ruthlessly in front of your cat's face but the toy is only 3 inches long and well...cats can draw blood. My finger is still throbbing. So...don't flush those four bucks down the pooper. Go buy somethin' instead at Play N Squeak. That's the toy that wakes me up at night when Walle drags the little squeaky mouse onto the bed for some rompin' good times at 4 AM.

And remember...this is NOT a good sign:

Sorry little wiggly, orange, sperm-like toy thingy but FOUR PAWS DOWN. 

 

Client and Journal Bliss

Onward with the Shanghai Girls for one of my favorite clients. I mentioned these vintage images here and here. Now I'm working on notepads.

As you can see, I'm reusing a lot of the same artwork as with the storage boxes. 

Clients really like to get the biggest bang for their buck by producing multiple products with the same images. And you can't blame them. Everyone is trying to save money and it helps keep costs down for my clients.

On another front...I've been taking the most wonderful ecourse from Mary Ann Moss over at Dispatch From L.A.  She makes these fabulous journals and because I'm taking the course I get to hop onto the Yahoo group of her class members. Let me tell you...these ladies have talent! I'll post links to some of their websites in the days to come.

I will humbly offer my beginnings of a journal. This is the jacket. I haven't gotten to the guts yet. Head on over to see Mary Ann's journals and how she fills them. They are to die for.

Journal cover...minus its tie closure (ran outta time! hope to do tomorrow):

AND here's the backside of the jacket:

Today I'm designing more vintage things but not with Shanghai Girls. SHOCK! Now I get to work with vintage peacocks.

Fun with photography

Crazy about cats. Crazy about photography. Crazy about texture. Time to play.

And here is the picture before:

Not sure I'm as crazy about the texture on the one above. However, it does give that look of a photo carried in a wallet for a long time.

Here it is before:

This next one I love just the way it is:

I've been researching a technique called TtV (stands for "through the viewfinder"). This is when you use your digital camera with a macro lens to take a picture through the view finder of another camera. Specifically, an old camera. It doesn't even have to work.

I picked up this baby at a garage sale for $5.

Yes FIVE BUCKS. The guy said it still works but I'm more interested in playing with the TtV technique. I'd post a link for you but there are so many. If interested just google TtV photography and browse through all the photos taken.

BUT!!! Here's the rub. I don't have the kind of digital camera that I can attach a big, bad macro lens to. I'm still playing with the technique and I might be able to pull it off.

DON'T LAUGH...but since I'm a photoshop/illustrator kind of girl...I found a flikr pool for folks who don't have one of these older cameras but want to reproduce the TtV look. OR, they may not have the kind of digital camera necessary.  Check it out folks.

I love human ingenuity. So here's a look at a digital photo of an old viewfinder laid over Opie. Did you follow that?

This is a very nice technique to have in my bag o' tricks. Now off I go to design some notepads for a client!

 

Full steam ahead!

I have designs in all different stages of production right now. A couple more of my designs will be coming into stores in a week. I'll be sure to post details. In the meantime...I'm keepin' on with the Shanghai Calendar Girl theme for one of my clients. As I mentioned here, these girls have been popular in the marketplace this past year. Very vintage...which is a big trend.

The designs above are still on their dielines which is why you see some numbers and words like "Lid". 

I've also been out trend spotting and shopping for clients. That's another post coming up soon. In the meantime, I LOVE seeing this sort of trend on the shelves:

Minimal packaging, folks! All recycled. Simple, lovely design. Wonderful. I'm seeing these colors quite a bit in the marketplace. I think we're all tired of too much cellophane, plastic, twisties, staples, etc. Nice!

Shanghai Calender Girls

These ladies from the 1930's are quite the rage in packaging right now. I'm working on numerous packaging styles and products involving 3 different Shanghai Girls for one of my clients. Here's a sneak peek at one of the round hat storage boxes:

The center image and bottom image will be the rim and body of the box. The client has requested a change to the rim, which will be no problemo. (Have I mentioned how much I love Illustrator?) The biggest challenge was cleaning up and restoring the woman/vintage image. (Have I mentioned how much I love Photoshop?)

Enjoy! I'll post other glimpses soon!