Free Texture For You

Here's a free texture for you that is a little different.  I made it from one of my acrylic paintings.  The photograph of the painting has been edited in Photoshop so that it now looks nothing like the original painting, but you do get the variations in depth and  texture from the many layers of paint.  I love the painterly, almost old master effect it gives to a photograph.  I have posted two editing variations of the same photo using this texture so that you can see some of the effects possible.

The texture.

The SOOC photograph (BTW, that stands for "straight out of car"!)

In the example above, after applying the texture to the photo I used the Blending Mode "Multiply" and adjusted the Opacity of the texture in that mode to 55%.  "Multiply" blending mode gives a rather dark, stormy look to the piece.  A Layer Mask was used and the brush set at 35% to remove texture from the river (covered in ice and snow) and the landscape.  I then reduced the setting of the brush to 12% to remove a bit of the texture from the sky.  A Levels Adjustment was made increasing the white balance to brighten the photo.

This time the Overlay blending modality is used with Opacity reduced to 80%.  The Overlay blending mode contains a lot of light and therefore requires no Levels Adjustment.  A Layer Mask is used to remove some of texture - brush at 12% for sky, 35% for ice, and 20% for landscape.

This example uses the blending mode "Hard Light", and liking the painterly feel, I left the Opacity at 100%.  A Layer Mask was applied and setting my large, soft brush to 18% and the foreground color to black, made a few swipes across the entire canvas to slightly reduce the intensity.  A couple of extra swipes were made over the landscape and frozen river. 

This texture also looks great using the blending modes of Screen, Soft Light and Luminosity.  The possibilities are endless because of the variations of modes, opacity, levels etc.  The process of achieving the look you want imparts much the same feel as creating a painting - not as tactile to be sure - but certainly an exercise in creative decision-making as you make (and tweek) the choices that suit your aesthetic.

To download this free texture, simply click HERE.

As always, my only request is that, respecting copyright, you not re-gift or sell this texture as your own.  You are free to incorporate it into your creative work for personal or commercial uses.  I hope you produce some amazing effects editing your photos with it.  Please pop back here with a link to share your results.  Enjoy!

Testing Textures

I'm in the final stages of putting together a little collection of fine art textures.  Part of the process is testing the textures on a variety of photographs to make sure they produce the desired results.  Today I would like to share one example of the 'testing' process. 

Those of you who are new to using textures on your photographs might not be aware that the veteran texture designers and users (of which I make no claims to be one) often use more than one texture to get their preferred results.  If you have not been happy with the results you get when using textures you have acquired from the Web, it just may be that you need to be willing to use more than one, adjusting them individually to get the romantic or dreamy or vintage or abstract or dramatic effect you are looking for.  Below is an example of what two very different textures can do to one photograph.  First, the photograph:

This is the photograph I am using to test my textures.  The work is being done in PSE 8, but can be done in whatever version or editing program you use.

This first texture contains its own little border and gives the photo a faded, sepia look.  I did have to reduce its opacity slightly and use a layer mask to remove some of the texture to make sure you could still see her little face and the details in her body and dress.  Note her adorable flip-flops!  (Textures I provide for you will not have the watermark on them, of course!)

The result is a little too yellow/green for my taste so I chose a blue/purple texture from among the new ones I have been creating to apply on top.

While the first texture added a vintage appeal, I wanted a little more drama and a little less yellow.  The above texture was applied right over the first texture.   The opacity of the texture was reduced to 85% and a layer mask adjustment was used to remove some purple color from her face.  To finish off, I flattened my layers and then applied the Filter "Watercolor" adjusting its effects to my eye.  The result is below:

As you can see the border from the first texture remains visible but is now darkened by the blue texture.  To my eye, the addition of the second texture adds more interest and 'romance' than was produced by the first. The first texture may do very well on its own over other photographs - but for this one, I like the more abstract effect produced by the application of two textures.

I make no claims to be an expert in textures or their application.  My goal here is to share what I have been learning and the creative products that have come as a result of the learning.  I hope, too, that you will be encouraged to see what is possible for a novice in the field.  If I can do this you certainly can too!  

Stay tuned - a collection of great (if I do say so myself) textures is on the way!

...I want to know...

Self Portrait

It doesn't interest me if there is one God

or many gods.

I want to know if you belong or feel

abandoned.

If you know despair or can see it in others.

I want to know

if you are prepared to live in the world

with its harsh need

to change you. If you can look back

with firm eyes

saying this is where I stand. I want to know

if you know

how to melt into that fierce heat of living

falling toward

the center of your longing. I want to know

if you are willing

to live, day by day, with the consequence of love

and the bitter

unwanted passion of your sure defeat.

I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even

the gods speak of God.

~ David Whyte

Fire in the Earth

1992, Many Rivers Press

...check out Deborah's post...

For a much-needed, inspiring perspective on the tragedy in Japan you must make your way over to Deborah's blog, "The Temptation of Words" and read her post of Thursday, March 24th entitled "The Other Side of Japan's Agony"!  You can do so instantly by clicking HERE.  What a fresh, positive outlook to carry with us into the weekend.  Have a good one!

...mirage magic...

Allow me to share another example of saving a photograph by applying a texture.  Because of the pain and relative immobility in my left arm, I have not been driving since last October.  Being in the passenger seat allows me to snap a few photos through the car window - hardly the best way to get a good photograph.  This is one from last fall - one that clearly needs a lot of help.  Hmmm, what to do ... Ah yes, make a texture, apply it to the photograph in Photoshop Elements 8, tweak it with different blending modes to get different results, save the ones you like.  Easy peasy.

Below is the texture I created in Photoshop Elements using several different Brush Tools.

The Blending Mode "Linear Burn", a little adjustment in Opacity, and removing some of the texture's effects with a Layer Mask produced this result!

A mirage is created by thirst

and that is what desire is.

We are seeing imprinted on the world outside

the qualities that would satisfy our basic longings.

The qualities are not actually there;

we project them, as in a mirage.....

The illusory nature of the world is best understood

 as the projection of our longing,

and trying to find in phenomena

things that will satisfy us.

~Mu Soeng

Indian Zen Teacher

Same photograph and the same texture, but in the Blending Mode "Overlay" with

a slight adjustment in the Opacity.  I then flattened the layers in order to

apply a Watercolor Filter, and ... eh, voila a nondescript photograph

transformed into a nice little piece of digital art.

I am working on a collection of textures that I hope to have ready to present here in a couple of weeks.  I still have to test them on different types of photographs to make sure they produce great results for you.



...for a friend...

For A Friend On The Arrival Of Illness

Now is the time of dark invitation

Beyond a frontier you did not expect;

Abruptly, your old life seems distant...

...Nothing before has made you

Feel so isolated and lost.

When the reverberations of shock subside in you,

May grace come to restore you to balance.

May it shape a new space in your heart

To embrace this illness as a teacher

Who has come to open your life to new worlds.

May you find in yourself

A courageous hospitality

Toward what is difficult,

Painful, and unknown...

...May you keep faith with your body,

Learning to see it as a holy sanctuary

Which can bring this night-wound gradually

Toward the healing and freedom of dawn.

~John O'Donohue

To Bless the Space Between Us

I just recently learned of a blogging friend's challenging medical diagnosis.  This post is inspired by her courage and grace.  May the excerpts from John O'Donohue's blessing For A Friend On The Arrival Of Illness encourage and inspire her, and any of us dealing with unexpected illness at this time.  The image chosen is in honor of her favorite color, blue. 

You all have my permission to take the image.  I hope you will pass it on to someone whose grace and courage inspires you.

...texture me...

For a while now I have understood that my love of texture, whether in painting, mixed-media art, photography or digital editing, says something about my life and how I live and experience it.  Recently I stumbled upon the excerpt below in Freeman Patterson's lovely book Photo Impressionism, and felt the warm inner glow of recognition - that 'ah, yes' feeling.  Since he has captured my understanding of texture, not only as beauty, but as metaphor, I will allow his words to speak for me:


"As I opened a door onto my deck, I was struck by the integrated pattern of beaten-down brown grasses, their tiny black shadows, and a scattering of snow in the field behind my house.  I ran for my camera and tripod and for nearly an hour made images of the field, images that contained no dominant lines or shapes, nothing whatever that would pass as a center of interest.  Then, feeling euphoric, I made a cup of tea, sat down on the deck, and asked myself why I was so excited.  After a few moments I realized that, in abandoning the use of shapes and lines, I had focused entirely on texture, the weave or fabric-like nature of surfaces.


"More important, I realized that this change mirrored my life.  When I was younger I had goals in mind (shapes), and visualized roads or pathways leading to them (lines).  But as I grew older I accumulated a wealth of memorable personal experiences and significant relationships, and my life became less the pursuit of a goal than the appreciation of a richly woven tapestry.  The threads of all these experiences and relationships were like a texture ...


"The adage that your art precedes your understanding of it by at least a couple of years seemed very apt . . . now aware of what I was doing made me seek out and explore a variety of textures.


"Then one day I thought, "I'm looking for existing textures, but surely I can create textures too.""

~Freeman Patterson

  Photo Impressionism

And so, I too, find that I have texture within that clamors for expression.  Perhaps it is the texture of all that I repressed in my younger years (and beyond).  I was schooled in repression and came to it from a long line of repressors.  Lucky me, I was sent to l'Ecole de Beaux Arts of Repression and acquired a Ph.D. in the art.  Finally having left my repressive environs, over the years I tentatively entered the languishing labyrinths within and became acquainted with many of the feelings and reactions I unconsciously rejected - the good and the bad.  It's actually much easier than one might think! 

I have learned that while acknowledgement and expression are required to feel whole and healed, understanding and meaning do not necessarily have to accompany the expression.  If understanding comes - fine.  If not - expression is enough.  Recognizing repressed emotion lies within and giving it some form with expressive arts is one way to experience what almost feels like the liberation of 'en-light-enment'.  And so one way that I lighten my old, unconscious, repressive 'load' is by creating textures.  Why I'm almost floating!  :-) 

Perhaps you are doing the same with other expressive arts - dance, journal art, poetry, painting, sculpting, expressive writing, blogging, gardening, crafts, culinary arts, etc. etc. ... Do tell me how you express the texture of experience, and how it may be a metaphor for your life. 

...save a photo...

To again illustrate my little motto "save a photo, apply a texture", I have another example of the digital transformation of a plain old, plain old photograph with a studio-made texture.

A drab photograph with little of interest apart from the line of birch trees and lamp posts gets a vintage, romantic feel with the addition of one of my new textures and a little work in PSE.  Ta da:

With the simple addition of a texture we now find depth and an aged vintage look which add intrigue and interest to the photo.  With a little more work, a figure could be added on the path, but I like the beckoning call of a lonely, empty path at day's end.  The texture that performed this magic, and that can be yours for free, follows.

I made this texture, entitled "French Toast", with a free form paint exercise in the studio, scanned it into my computer and did a little more work on it in Photoshop to give it some finishing touches.  To achieve the look on my run-of-the-mill, ready-to-be-deleted photograph I took the following editing steps:

*  Applied the texture to the photo adjusting it to fit with the bounding boxes.
*  Set the Blending Mode to Hard Light and adjusted the Opacity to 75%.
*  Made a Levels Adjustment increasing black balance just a bit.
*  While still in the Levels Adjustment, I moved the Output slider to 60 to achieve a  faded look.
*  Added my initials signature.
*  Used my crop tool to give the photo a small white border.
*  And finally, added a watermark to protect the digital art from being 'borrowed' without permission.

Please feel free to use this texture, French Toast, for your personal or commercial projects by employing it as an element of your work.  My only request is that you not re-gift or sell the texture itself as if you created it. 

You can download French Toast for free by clicking HERE.   Enjoy!!!

"...a diamond-thought of light..."

For Courage

When the light around you lessens

And your thoughts darken until

Your body feels fear turn

Cold as a stone inside,

When you find yourself bereft

Of any belief in yourself

And all you unknowingly

Leaned on has fallen,

When one voice commands

Your whole heart,

And it is raven dark,

Steady yourself and see

That it is your own thinking

That darkens your world,

Search and you will find

A diamond-thought of light,

Know that you are not alone

And that this darkness has purpose;

Gradually it will school your eyes

To find the one gift your life requires

Hidden within this night-corner.

Invoke the learning

Of every suffering

You have suffered.

Close your eyes.

Gather all the kindling

About your heart

To create one spark.

That is all you need

To nourish the flame

That will cleanse the dark

Of its weight of festered fear.

A new confidence will come alive

To urge you toward higher ground

Where your imagination

Will learn to engage difficulty

As its most rewarding threshold!

~John O'Donohue

To Bless the Space Between Us

Yesterday I visited the blog of Cait O'Connor and was heartened to find a poem/blessing by my beloved John O'Donohue in her post.  Reading his words of comfort and inspiration, I was moved to pull a couple of his books off a bookshelf so that I could realign my thinking with his wisdom.  I found the above 'blessing' from his book "To Bless the Space Between Us", and find it to be an appropriate follow-up to my previous post of March 16th.  I hope you find en-courage-ment in his poem too.

Have You Felt It?

Have you felt it - the global shudder?  Are you, like me, feeling just a little off balance, a little off-kilter, like the axis of your world has suddenly shifted?  I cannot seem to shake the malaise, as if a permanent fault line in my thinking has been unearthed since the events of last Friday.  I thought I could count on the ground always being there to meet my feet.  I thought the air I breathed would always bring vitality. Despite centuries of evidence to the contrary, I somehow trusted Mother Earth to be a place of succor not a place of  terror. 

But Mother Earth has become moody and mercurial.  Perhaps she is justifiably reacting to the way we have abused her.  Why do I insist on personifying Earth?  I heard someone in desperation and compassion suggest we beseech Mother Earth to take care of the people swept away, homeless, terrorized, radiated, shuddering down to their core.  Does it not seem ironic that we look to the very thing that has traumatized us to then safeguard and heal us?  It seems our needs, illusions and delusions are strong.  We need to believe there is someone, something out there that we can rely on, turn to, trust.  And so we personify the universal elements around us, - conferring on them human sensibilities - hoping they might care and intervene.

I feel off balance because my hidden illusions have been swept away by these vivid, harsh realities.  The universe, the earth, life itself does not care about my length of days, my creature comforts, my search for meaning, my dreams, my accomplishments, my constructions, my security.  I, you, we are confronted by stark proof that ultimately we are inconsequential, insignificant, not special, and not exempt.  The universe does not seem to intervene for any of us on a personal basis.  How many prayers were uttered as lives were arbitrarily swept away?  And yet we persist in hoping to be plucked from the yawning jaws of danger.

So...have you felt it?  The creeping, ubiquitous, global depression resulting from a such a close encounter with  powerlessness and helplessness?  It seems we are all quaking with fear - inundated by doubts - leaking confidence - exposed and reacting to the brutal realities the catastrophe in Japan is forcing us to face.  As so many struggle to survive, they find the only respite lies in service, in sharing, in sacrifice, in the human qualities of love and compassion.  That is all we really have to offer ... and it is everything.

Life does not seem to care whether any one of us persists, but life does care about life.  And so with each breath it seems all we can do is care about life and do what we can to serve life.  We are not here to be made comfortable.  Life is given with no promises.  While we have the mysterious gift of life, we are called upon to make sure life in all its forms continues - to serve life itself.  As I face the harsh realities I see in Japan's horrifying predicament, I find my only consolation is in knowing that while I have breath I can - I will - serve life.

(I apologize for the stark tone of this post.  I know the unstated norm here is to be upbeat and positive - but not today - not at the expense of truth.  These feelings of helplessness are pervasive and I have been noticing them in every person with whom I interact.  I hope you will feel free to express yourself on this issue in the comment section.  I would love to be shown the fault-line in my thinking.)

...and the winnerS are...

Thank you to everyone who entered this giveaway!   The winners (determined by Random.org's 'Random Sequence Generator') are:  Katherine Wall and Vickie.  (There were 3 Vickies who commented, but each spelled their name differently.  It is the the Vickie who spells her name with the "ie" who was selected.)

I will be in touch with both of you soon to firm up arrangements to get your photographs.  If the winners consent, I will post their photograph and the transformation after editing with my little Pixel Dust technique.  Of course, they do not have to agree to display their photograph here ... but I will ask.  :)

Many thanks again to all who entered.  More giveaways will be coming soon.

"Your Photo As Art" Giveaway

Spring is almost here and I am in the mood for a giveaway!  How about you?  So here's the deal:  I would love to transform one of YOUR favorite photographs into something that looks like a classic piece of impressionist art.  There is no risk to your original photograph IF you are careful to send me a copy that I can give a 'painterly' feel.  I want to offer this opportunity to TWO of you.  All you have to do to enter the giveaway is:

1.  If you are not already a Follower become one, and tell me in your comment that you have.  (If you are already a follower simply mention it in your comment).

2.  In your comment leave an e-mail address where I can contact you if you are one of the two picked by the random sequence generator, Random.org.

You have until March 15th, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. to become a follower and leave your comment and e-mail address and qualify for the draw.  The two recipients of the Pixel Dust PhotoArt service will be announced here on March   15th, at  8 p.m.   I will contact the winners by e-mail to firm up the arrangements for sending a copy of your high resolution digital photograph to me by e-mail.  After it is sprinkled with the magic "Pixel Dust", I will return it to you by e-mail.  Easy, peasy!  BTW, I do not do apply this technique to portraits.  If you neglect to leave your e-mail address in your comment, your entry will be void and I will move on to the next person on Random.org's list.

Here are a couple of examples of my Pixel Dust PhotoArt - the befores and afters - so that you can see exactly what I am offering you:

Photograph of a path through a park in Spring.

Same path as above, but with the Pixel Dust treatment, it now looks like a  painting.

A photograph of a building and courtyard in Spain.

The same photograph as above, now looking like an impressionist painting with the application of my Pixel Dust treatment.  To view other examples go to my standing page "Your Photos As Art".

I can't wait to try some Pixel Dust magic on your photographs!  Here's your chance to win an opportunity to try out the process for free.  (Please note:  I will count duplicate entries from the same person as only one entry.)

Save A Photo, Apply A Texture

This was a lack lustre photograph taken on a rather dark, dreary day.  I used the Pixel Dust PhotoArt technique (see Your Photos As Art button beneath my header) and some textures to give it the look of a painting.  This, previously, would have been a photo doomed to a close encounter with my delete key.

Another photo taken on a drab winter day - this time through the car window.  The photograph was dull and on my delete list, until ....... the application of my texture Dark Navy Night and the Pixel Dust PhotoArt technique gave it a reprieve, some color, depth and a painterly feel.  What is that rather unsavory country/western song title - "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy"?  Well why not consider saving a photo by applying a texture! 

That's my new motto:  "Save a Photo, Apply a Texture".

This is the texture Dark Navy Night applied to the above photograph of train tracks.  Please accept this texture as a little offering of appreciation for your visits here and your always interesting comments.  I want you to know that I never take any of your visits for granted. 

If you wish to download this texture you can do so by clicking HERE.  (My only stipulation for the free download is that you not re-gift, sell or claim it as your own.  Apart from that feel free to use it for any of your projects.)  I would love to see how you use it!

Don't forget:  Save a Photo, Apply a Texture!

(BTW, I'm making many more great textures for you.  :)

... loving what is ...

The three little words "loving what is" are ones that I still wrestle with.  However, with persistence, with trust that if I tried to live them I might eventually come to understand them ... I am now more able to embrace them.  Don't get me wrong, 'loving what is' does not come naturally to me.  My 'default' position toward the challenging realities of life is to resist them.  All of my education and early life experience has groomed me to want to make things better ... to smooth things over ... to develop ... to grow ... to heal.  And while an argument can be made for these impulses to struggle against reality (which are ones we all share), I have found they do not always allow me to live as skillfully as I do when I am able to love/accept the reality of what is.

If you are like me your first response is probably, 'but how can I possibly love that my home is threatened by flooding?', or 'how can I possibly love that my child is sick?'.  As a therapist who has heard about much suffering over the course of the years, I could not fathom how I could possibly 'love' the 'what is' of my clients' lives. 

With time I have come to understand that loving what is does not necessarily mean enjoying or celebrating what is.   For me it means accepting the reality of what has happened, that I cannot change it, and therefore, going with the movement of life from there.  And THEN, I have discovered that I can love the next impulse that arises within me - to be present to, to serve,  to want to work together with others affected by the 'reality' on how to resolve the problems it presents, etc. etc. 

Our next impulse - is the next 'what is'.  So if I have a toothache, I do not say, "I love what is so I will not go to the dentist.  I will go to my deathbed with a toothache."  No, with present moment awareness, I notice my impulse to make an appointment with the dentist and I love that impulse as the next what is.  If the dentist cannot see me for three days, I try to 'love' (accept) that as the next 'what is', and see what unfolds from there and 'love' (accept) that.

All the great healers know that pain exists for us all, but that we turn our pain into suffering by our very resistance to it.  Resisting what is is stressful.  It is hard on our body/mind/heart/spirit.  A stance of resistance literally means that we view life itself as an on-going threat.  Living with the specter of threat means our body/mind is always geared up for fight or flight - that we are emitting chemicals and hormones in response to the 'threat' that are not good for our immediate well-being or longevity.  Another way of interpreting 'loving what is', is letting go of our resistance to life as it presents itself.

When I catch myself  resisting what is, I try to use Byron Katie's sweet, simple system of inquiry and use her four questions.  Invariably I find that my resistance to what is, is based in muddled, misguided thinking.  You can read a previous post about Byron Katie and her four questions HERE.

Life is not static - it is movement and change and this Taoist concept of 'loving what is' is not static either.  What I cannot love, I try to accept - and with acceptance movement to the next thing occurs and I love that.  I love that I needed to shed tears when my daughter was diagnosed with cancer.  I love that I needed to figure out how to help without being intrusive.  I love that I was given an opportunity to walk into the middle of my deepest fears.  I love that I learned to live with so many unanswerable questions.   All that to say, you do not have to remain stuck 'loving' or 'accepting' what our ego-mind interprets as suffering, because there is always a next thing emerging and our task is to move with the flow of life and love (be with) the next thing that is.

Because, as you see, I have not yet mastered this mode of being, I often need little visual reminders such as the image above, that I can print and pin to a bulletin board.  My little ego-mind often wants to push this concept aside and condemn and fight with the reality of what is.  Then I see my visual reminder and I breathe a sigh of relief and have the opportunity shift my perspective.  Every cell in my body seems to relax when I embrace this perspective.

Perhaps those of you with more experience living from this enlightened, skillful perspective would be willing to give words here to how you interpret and live the concept of loving what is.

If, you too, would like a visual trigger to help you recalibrate your thinking you can download the above image HERE.  (I ask only that you not regift or sell it as your own, and that if you use it on your blog that you make a link back to where you found it.  :)

P.S.  We can use the the earthquake and tsunami in Japan as an example of a reality that our first impulse is to resist.  However, rather than becoming stuck with the resistance to what is, we can accept the reality of what has happened and that we cannot change it.  Then we can move with the flow of life and notice our impulse to want to help and love the 'what is' of that.  Railing woefully about how awful everything is keeps us stuck.  Moving with the flow of what is and our ensuing impulses, serves life and what is...while it is...until the next what is...

...faith...

Faith

I want to write about faith,

about the way the moon rises

over cold snow, night after night,

 

faithful even as it fades from fullness,

slowly becoming that last curving and impossible

sliver of light before the final darkness.

 

But I have no faith myself

I refuse it even the smallest entry.

 

Let this then, my small poem,

like a new moon, slender and barely open,

be the first prayer that opens me to faith.

 

~~ David Whyte

Where Many Rivers Meet, © 2007, Many Rivers Press

Diamonds, Scallops and Ribbons

Yesterday, Nature blessed us with its best winter finery.  Feathery white blessings tumbled down from the sky presenting us with a Designer wardrobe collection fit for a Grande Ball.  First, dazzling diamonds were offered to drip off of our outstretched extremities:

Next, our rough, exposed edges were caressed with lacy scallops:

And with a final flourish - an array of silken ribbons as the perfect finishing touch:

(The above photographs were all taken through the rather dirty windows of our home with a Canon point-and-shoot.  But I had to show you Nature's magic regardless.)

... an almost impossible task ...

Well it seems that I under-estimated the degree of difficulty of the challenge handed you in my last post (March 6th).  Perhaps because I had been gazing at the images for so long while editing them into abstract digital art, I became blind to the fact that it was hard to see through the abstractions to the real thing.

Some of you were close, guessing "grating", "stairs", but only Brian of WaystationOne produced an accurate guess of a playground apparatus.  Congratulations Brian!  There are stairs and grates in the apparatus, but the whole of the parts is a playground monkey bar set.

Here is a similar (non-edited) collage as in the challenge, so that you can see the original photographs:

It is very clear that it was not an easy task that I assigned you!  My apologies.  Below is another collage showing more easily identifiable parts of the playground slide and bars:

Now in this grouping, with fewer close-up shots, it is easy to see the playground apparatus!

Because I inadvertently set you up for an exercise in frustration, I am going to offer all of you an opportunity to download the abstract collage!  (Hope that is alright with you, Brian!)  I am also making one of the individual abstractions available to you.  I ask only that you not re-gift, sell or claim the work(s) as your own and that if you post it on your blog, you make a link back to Original Art Studio.  Thanks.

So here are your free downloads:

To download the above abstract collage, click HERE.

To download the above digital art abstraction, click HERE.

What Is This?

Your challenge, should you care to accept it, :) is to guess what these images (manipulated in Photoshop Elements to give them their abstract appearance) are a part of.  They are parts of a whole and I am asking you to guess what 'the whole' is.  To be fair, you must know that every part of the whole is not represented by these images - but there should be enough of them for you to guess what these images are a part of.  As well, the images in the collage are scrambled and do not necessarily link up to each other.

You will have until  Monday, March 7th at 6:00 p.m. EST to leave your guess in the comment section.To give everyone an equal chance, I will not post any comments until the time period for guessing is up.  Those who guess correctly will receive a free download of this collage.  (The only stipulation is that you not claim it as your work, regift or sell it.  It would be for your personal use only.)

I'm hoping that the surprise is on me and that you all are able to see what the images are a part of and leave the correct answer.  Have fun!