Saturday, January 29, 2011

painting with textures

painterly tulips by tammy lee bradley

It continues to amaze me how textures can add such depth and richness to a simply composed photo.  In my experience, not every photo benefits from adding textures and using a minimalist approach yields the best results.  With that said, I chose to apply a texture not so subtly to my photo of tulips.  I love how this canvas texture by Jerry Jones of shadowhouse creations (skeletalmess on flickr) transformed my photo into a new piece of artwork.  You can almost feel the rough surface canvas and it makes the tulip pop off the screen.

As an escape from the winter doldrums, I chose my companion photo by Design by Nicola for it's wonderful spring colors, perfect composition, and painterly feel.  I had to giggle when I read this note in the comments... "It was my first time trying texture and clipping masks, so I'm pretty pleased with the result."  Yes, indeed. She should be pleased. It is truly lovely.

Make sure to visit the More Musing page today for some texture fun.  I am creating silly textures from household objects and a scanner.

♥ tammy lee of bliss and folly

Little Yellow Bug
Little Yellow Bug by Design by Nicola

13 comments:

Jen said...

Wow! Gorgeous Colors and texture.

me again said...

BEAUTIFUL! So lovely......and that little yellow bug (ladybug??) is adorable!
==lenore==

The Charm of Home said...

I did a post on textures today too. I used Picasa, don't have Photoshop. It looks like you used Photoshop. The texture is much more blended and realistic looking in your images than in mine. That tulip looks like painted oil on canvas. Just gorgeous! Thanks for showing me more textures I can't get enough of them!
Sherry

Unknown said...

ohhhh you are tempting me to put all my domestic duties aside and lock myself in my office to give myself a crash course in textures!!

Kat Sloma said...

So nice to have these flowers to cheer a cold winter day. Thanks Tammy!

Kirstin said...

Oh Tammy, these are such glorious colours!

mosey (kim) said...

It's a dreary damp day where I am, but not here! What lovely colours and I'm starting to come around to appreciating textures - they add a richness and illustrative quality to photographs that is beautiful. Lovely pairing.

Anna said...

Wow, what textures can do! Amazing - lovely photos. A spot of color is appreciated on this grey winter day.

blue elephant photography said...

these photos are beautiful! i have a similar shot of nicola's cone flower and bug photo except mine is cone flower and butterfly =) how lovely!

Nicola said...

Wow! Thanks so much for selecting my photo. I'm very flattered. It truly was my first attempt and I feel I may have had more than a little beginner's luck as none of my more recent efforts with texture have even come close. Your tulips truly do look painted - very impressive.

Chelsea said...

These both are so beautiful, great job ladies!! I love the canvas look Tammy, totally changes the look!

Unknown said...

So pretty! I am ready for spring. Love the pink petals! Gorgeous!

Maureen said...

love the bright colors and love the textures used on both photos
beautiful work.

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