The red mask started out as a search for an interesting subject. I decided to search the local craft shops and came across a polystyrene head. First of all I painted this a chocolate colour and took some photos in my loft studio, looking at different angles and lighting set ups. In this case I settled for a close up of the nose and eyes, the mask if you like. From there I adjusted the colour in photoshop to get the striking scarlet effect. You can see if you look closely the shapes of the polystyrene balls, almost hexagonal. Over the top of this I laid a pebble filter. The pebble pattern was extracted from a photograph taken of the beach at Brighton. I often use this pebble pattern as I like the rounded shapes and the patterns it can make.
As with the Green Sand, this scarlet mask is striking when printed on the High White Smooth paper and, depending upon the size, makes an eye catching feature on any wall.
I have to say that I find this image with its curves and emerald colour just stunning. It is the purity of the colour on the quality of the paper that has the impact with me. The photograph is taken on a beach in Northumberland, the beautiful and expansive sands of Beadnell Bay. In photoshop I have added a green filter to this and that pretty much made it for me. I do have variations on this, but if emerald is your thing then you will love this.
In a similar vein to the Banana Battleship, this image looks towards my naval heritage and my actual service onboard HMS Ark Royal. I took the base image in my loft studio using a model of the ship and a background lit with a yellow filter. I took a number of pictures from different angles, seeing which presented the best silhouette and lighting. In this case I have lightened the ship enough to see some of the features. The foreground is made up of the section of sea taken from Brighton and then with a rich blue filter added. The sky texture is also taken form Brighton providing some slightly moody clouds. The aircraft is from an image taken at the Trafalgar 200 commemoration in Portsmouth and are a pair of Sea Harriers that I have made into a print and duplicated.
The image evokes personal memories for me and in addition the yellow of the background reminds me of many a night spent watchkeeping on the bridge.
In this case my base image was a fishing boat that was out of the water and on the harbour in Seahouses. Although I do call this Beadnell Boat, Beadnell is a 5 minute drive from Seahouses, both lovely places to visit in Northumberland.
I took the image and started to divide it into sections, adding the pebble pattern and different filters to achieve the red and black backgrounds. I recently adapted the colour of the background to grey for a customer. It is striking the difference changing just one or two aspects can make.
The Sandy Liner is a variation on the Liner. Using a photograph of a sandy beach from Beadnell, I changed the texture and colour. Although the end result is a harsher image, I do like the connection between the sand, the sea and the natural curves and shapes of the print.
The liner is a clean, elegant and curvy design. In photoshop there is a transform feature that you can use to change the shape and perspective of objects and photos. In this case I started off by marking and filling a rectangular shape, then taking that and stretching it to make the different components of the image. The emblem is taken from another design made using the transform tool.
What I like about this image is the simplicity and the colour tones. When printed on high white smooth paper, the quality of the print is something to see, it seems pure.
Here is a self-portrait, a shot taken in my loft studio. I wanted to capture the shapes and skin tones of my arms and hands. In this case I took it further by adding the pebble pattern and purple filter. For me this image is very comforting. I like the soothing purple, one of my favourite colours and I love the way the pebbles seem to accentuate the form of the hands. I think if I recall correctly I was thinking about a tattoo effect, but the image evolved as I carried on editing.
I chose to isolate the subject in the darkness to make sure the focus was very much on the subject.
In 2019 I was lucky enough to go out to Japan with my best friend, we went out to see the Rugby World Cup, which was amazing. What is more so, Japan is a fantastic country to visit if you ever get the opportunity.
The image here is of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, I started this as an exercise in firing up my imagination and, in doing so, vibrant colour was the main driver! It was almost a case of colouring in the different sections and choosing which patterns and colours I liked. On the towers I did use a pebble print to make a pattern of the plain white part of the tower and wall.
I like this image because of the colourful nature of it. It is a loud picture, which in some ways reflects the vibrancy of Tokyo!
I started this image out as a lesson in how to transform and combine some photos in photoshop. On a recent trip to Waterloo in Belgium I took the photograph of this quiet lane. I then thought about how I could make it a bit more interesting and so I took a picture that I had taken of a plain brick wall, face on. I copied a section of this onto the base image and then set about using the transform feature to stretch and twist the wall to meet the dimensions of the road. From there I started to adjust the brick layer by applying a filter, playing with transparency until I was happy with the final image.
It is interesting that, for me, this image does not hit me, whereas those who have passed the stall and others that have seen it are held by following the path to the end and wondering where it leads. The trees encroaching also seem to draw in the viewer.
This image was shot from a very low viewing point to deliberately isolate the poppies against the sky and de-clutter the background. Taken near the Grand Union Canal close to Northampton, it is a little bit of wild flowers reaching for the sun.
An overcast day is the best day in my opinion for taking pictures. I prefer the even light distribution that good cloud cover gives, the drawback being that sometimes there is not enough light to properly expose the image. In this case an apparently cloudy white sky can reveal a deeper and richer texture and, combined with a gradient filter can give a much more relaxing image.
In this case I took a photo of the patch of cloud and applied the orange gradient filter. I use this particular image as my screensaver.
Publishers and advertisers can decide how to present their content and what technology vendors to use, all while maintaining and improving key performance indicators.
With this piece it reminded me very much of the 1980s, with the colour and design. Again, the artist is unknown to me.
I had to re- compose this image to exclude a wastebin that, in my mind, intruded on the work.
The work is in the same narrow lane off the market square in Northampton.
At Castle Ashby near Northampton, there are some lovely gardens and a few enclosures with some interesting animals. In this case Meerkats. To me this image remined me of the aftermath of family Sunday dinners as we sat to watch the matinee.
In this case I think the female Meerkats were all on watch or out and about!
The Holy Island Boat is my favourite print at the moment, in the main due to the rich and soothing tones of the green and orange sky. I took this photograph in the beautiful surroundings of Holy Island off the Northumberland coast. The upturned boats are used as sheds by the local fishermen and are often photographed by visitors. You can access the island at low tide by crossing a causeway. On the island is Lindisfarne castle, abbey and a nice pub too.
In terms of getting to the final image, I enhanced this using photoshop to add a gradient filter, which transformed the sky into something even more dramatic than the original image.
Northumberland is a beautiful county bordering Scotland and with some spectacular beaches and castles, including Alnwick castle, a location used in the Harry Potter movies.
When I took this image I was following the inspiration of a friend, he took this particular angle and I liked it so I did the same. The boat was sitting on the beach at Selsey and as a base image I saw the clearly defined sections as something I wanted to play with. For the sky and sea/land element I wanted to reflect the nautical colours of green for starboard and red for port. The boat itself was a white and blue plain canvas. During an earlier piece of work I noticed a lovely effect of applying the sand texture with the ice blue effect using a filter. In this case the sand represents the sea.
This is a section from a much larger piece. The framing can be a challenge as the original artist has a composition in mind and often has put some thought into the components. In my case I like to re-compose the shot to change the focus of the image. In this case the features of the skull and beard have been made central.
There is a tag but otherwise the artist is unknown to me.
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