Wet Paint Face Lift

 A facelift!

My blog has looked the same for several years, so I thought it was time to freshen it up.

A couple of weeks ago I was playing around with layout options, and I ended up losing my original! I wasn't actually prepared for that, and was in a mad scramble to get it back. I couldn't find my original Wet Paint artwork anywhere! I put up a couple of place holders for all of 15 minutes each, then in desperation pulled up Procreate and created this one below as a substitute until I had more time. 

I don't know if I've shared any process steps for my digital Procreate pieces yet, but here is how I built up my newest title page/ banner/ header.

I began with this piece of embossed paper (using an embossing folder from Spellbinders). I photographed it and cropped it to the size I wanted.

I then create new layers, playing around with different ideas. Below is one I almost went with.

Here I experimented with the splatter brush in the spray paints. I just threw different colors down and then went in with the smudge tool, and smudged it up a bit here and there. So, below, you're just seeing two layers - the original photo of the embossed paper, and the splatter layer. 

Next came the words (layer 3). I chose my typestyle and size in white. Then, copied and pasted the same text, but positioned it slightly below and to the right of the original. This created layer 4. Using the adjustments, I took the brightness of this second text layer down to black, and positioned it behind the first text layer.

When I had that the way I liked it, I merged layers 3 and 4 into one text layer so that I could do the next step - LIQUIFY. I love liquify! It is also under adjustments. I just "pushed" the text around to distort it a bit. I also dimmed down the brightness again because I wanted highlights to show up.

In the final, top layer, shown at the top of the page, I've added bright white highlights to the letters and to the water droplets.

These are highlights using the flare brush under Luminance. I created them on two different layers so that the second one could be turned vertically. I then moved the vertical flare over the top of the horizontal flare, and then merge them onto the same layer. After that I copied and pasted as many as I wanted. They all ended up on different layers, but that makes them easy to move around, and size-adjust as needed, and they can always be merged into one layer if I like.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Symbol of Gratitude

I came across this a couple of years ago - the universal symbol of gratitude, (with a fun background I created in Procreate). 

I would like to be able to tell you more about the symbol itself but, alas, could find no good information when I googled it. It is considered a modern symbol which as far as I know could mean it was designed in the last 20 to 200 years. It is believed the spiral goes back to ancient Celtic designs. If anyone finds or knows more information, please share in the comments and I will update this post.

I've kept a journal now for many years. Usually, a spiral bound notebook in which I can write all my deepest, darkest thoughts, and then tear into a million tiny pieces and burn when I'm done, as if I fear someone is going to pull the notebook out of my trash can and have me committed, proof that I shouldn't be out on the street. I insist to you that I am okay to be out on the street. As far as I know.

I used to do a lot of venting on the pages. Woe is me. Why me? Why not me? Poor me. I thought that if I wrote down my complaints, they would stay on the page and not in my head. Well, it didn't work like that. The more I complained about anything, the worse I felt.

So, I started practicing gratitude. At first, I wrote down 10 new things each day for which I was grateful. It didn't take long to start to feel different. Blessed.

I still do some venting. I'm human after all. But once my complaint is on the page, I try to counter it with seeing things from a different perspective, solving the problem when possible, or acceptance. Then, I switch courses and write about something good, and I sign off with the symbol of gratitude.

I also try my best to live in gratitude. 

For example: I was very excited about the total solar eclipse that happened right in my own backyard. I lived in gratitude with the the anticipation. The anticipation was a fun and important part of the big event. The total eclipse itself lasted only about 3 1/2 minutes. There was so much more to be grateful for! The weeks, and months, and even years leading up to it. The fact that it was coming! It was going to happen! I was grateful for that too. Don't forget to be grateful for the experience of looking forward to something.

Lastly, our family moment of gratitude:

As the sun came back out, my niece, Tara looked at us and said' "should we do a group hug?"

Hell yeah! and God bless her! - Grateful.

We have this photo because our daughter Ashley, who wasn't able to be with us, suggested a time lapse video and this is a still shot I pulled from it. Grateful.

Thanks for stopping by! Grateful.