The First Week of November 2011
Today, Judy I are in Iowa visiting her mother, Mary Stoll, who had her 89th birthday yesterday. She still lives on her own, takes care of her yard, and plants a small garden. She is a true pioneer lady. Living in North Dakota until a few years ago, she is as country smart as anyone. Couldn't say street smart, cause where she started out I don't think they had streets. 30 miles from the Canadian boarder in the middle of the state, I am sure in the early days, survival was the number one thing in Winter. But she has agreed to take on the task of quilting some found, embroiderer squares into a large quilt. One of the block is shown below.
Not only are we here for her birthday, but to start a quilt that MY Mother made blocks for when she was in High School.and the fact that Judy's mom is a master quilter, we ask if she would assist in putting the blocks into a finished quilt for posterity. Here are a couple of images of the work in progress.
some of the embroidered birds.
 |
| Mary Stoll at 89 still makes a tight stitch |
So for the last few days they have been at the quilting boards putting this family treasure together. While very appreciative of the work, my large hands were not meant for quilting, so I have enjoyed the quietness of the days and trying to recover from some sort of chest congestion stuff. But, here we are, having the time to at last make and new entry in the blog.I thought I would share something that I love to do and it is not that hard in Photoshop. At least it is not as messy as working with oil paint. .
Hand Coloring Black and White Photographs in the Digital Age
The following came about sort of by accident. I had been scanning the family slides and in the box was this contact print image from a 120 negative from about 1943 of mom, dad and me at about age two just prior to dad leaving for Europe in WWII. Once scanned into the digital world, I was clear this was a true family memory that had to be preserved in a larger version. I now have an 8x10 over my desk that I can view every day to keep life in perspective. In my words, we are, from where we came.
Just a little time in Photoshop allows one to do a hand color on a black and white old original.
Each color is applied on a blank layer over the top of the background layer, varying the color hue as needed while painting, then adjusting opacity of that color layer to provide the intensity wanted..
An added effect can be achieved by changing you B&W to a brown tone or Sepia prior to starting your painting. This process can be applied to any photograph. A landscape, or candid, it just takes time and patience.
If the original is in color, it might be interesting to made a duplicate layer (ctrl j), then reduce the opacity of that layer, shut of the bottom layer, then use the light version as a guide for color and apply on separate layers.
No comments:
Post a Comment