I call this one "Dreaming of the Bower on a Cold Rainy Night." It is a digital collage with some of the images transformed into digital paintings and others layered with multiple effects in Photoshop. It's been fun going through my stash of bird photos I haven't known what to do with. I'm enjoying this new series very much.
Prints and prints on canvas, metal, and other materials are available on Fine Art America.
"Raven Greets the Day." This is a digital collage with pieces layered with multiple effects in Photoshop. I'm combining images altered to be digital paintings with maps and unaltered photographs including the trees outside my bedroom window. I'm not sure whether that's the moon behind the raven or the sun coming up in an overcast sky. Dark and mysterious for October. Prints and prints on canvas, metal, wood and other materials are available on Fine Art America.
Well, I finally got sick of doing art based on what most people call weeds, at least for now. But then I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to do! I do have a thing for ravens and crows, however, so I have been playing around with ideas based on that. But I haven't wanted to follow through. Finally, last night I decided to composite several of my less exotic ideas together and I did like that. So here's an introduction to what might become a series of art pieces featuring more than just weeds! (Who knows?)
Prints and prints on canvas, metal, etc. are available on Fine Art America.
This mixed media piece is another progression of the piece I did in my last blog post. It combines a drawing I did in oil pastel combined with digital effects to mimic conte crayon, in this case with a wider variety of colors but still a conte crayon like result. This is possibly my favorite rendition of this image. Again, for people new to my blog, I've been working on and off on a long-time series based on close-up views of low to the ground plant life. Instead of simplifying my images I increase the complexity to emphasize the diverse abundance of nature allowed to run wild.
Buy prints of this piece on various surfaces on Fine Art America.
This mixed media piece combines a drawing I did in multiple colors of oil pastel combined with digital effects to mimic conte crayon. I keep revisiting my long-time series based on close-up views of low to the ground plant life. This is a subject I can remember fascinating me since I was a toddler plopped on the grass and allowed to entertain myself. There's a whole world going on down there! But I don't really depict it realistically. My reference photo is actually multiple photos I took layered together. Instead of simplifying my images, I increase the complexity to emphasize the diverse abundance of nature allowed to run wild.
Overgrown Path in the Woods, © Sheryl Karas 2024
It's been a long time since I've done any original art. And this piece represents a new evolution where I've taken one of my hand-done pieces (oil pastel and oil pencil), scanned it into my computer, and combined it with other images in multiple layers, using multiple digital effects. So it's mixed media but the final result is digital art, available as a print.
What I like about this piece is its ethereal, magical, quality. It reminds me of dense overgrown paths in the New England woods where I grew up. But the light coming down from the trees makes it seem like there's a fairy grove somewhere in there with elves and magical creatures just out of view.
This piece is available as a print on various surfaces and products on Fine Art America.
I've been in a bit of a creative lull (creative slump?). This piece helped (although I may not continue in this direction). I decided to try something quite different than I usually do in my digital art using similar techniques: multiple images and digital painting combined with multiple layering effects.
The idea here is Kuan Yin in the Lotus. In China, Kuan Yin is as known the Goddess of Compassion. She is often depicted sitting cross-legged in a large Lotus flower.
This piece is available as a print on various surfaces and products on Fine Art America.
I am exploring the multiple dimensions of reality by layering multiple photographs showing different elements of the same scene all at once. There is more going on in a single moment than a simple snapshot can capture. But we record these impressions on a conscious or unconscious level whether we know it or not. This scene is created from photographs I took at ground level. The color shift is to make you look at something most people walk by without seeing: foxtails and native grasses.
This reminds me of the mood of the nation this autumn—grey, foreboding. It's really a multilayer digital art piece using my photographs of the sidewalk and autumn leaves along the edge of "landscaped" area of my apartment complex. I like the abstract quality of this piece. Available as a print, framed print, or print on canvas, acrylic, metal, etc. on Fine Art America.
Also from the Dead Flowers in a Vase series. This is Number 11. In this case it was made from layering several shots of the same scene using a variety of layering effects. Prints, framed prints, and prints on canvas, metal or acrylic are available on Fine Art America.