Painting Flowers (the hard way)

(Note:  These are now available here.)

I was ambushed by a project! I've been missing for a few weeks. I wasn't really gone, I was painting. I made some digital brush strokes and put them up at ndisb a little while ago, and then I had another brilliant idea, which just kind of expanded and grew and took over the apartment. So I've been playing with paint, on large sheets of watercolor paper spread across the kitchen floor (when Kate was sleeping or otherwise occupied), covering them with brush strokes of green acrylic paint (why green? I don't know, it was just what I grabbed. And I like green), frequently filling entire sheets with the same stroke, over and over, till I got some that I liked. I scanned the paint strokes (after waiting for them to dry, of course), and turned them into Photoshop brushes. And then I did it again. And again. And then when I started actually using them to make things, I realized where my gaps were, and then it was back to more painting and scanning.

Here's the final product--83 different brushes (I honestly didn't know there were that many till I finished up and counted them all). My approach changed a bit as I went, so I ended up with a couple of different styles that don't really match, but I just kept them all together anyway. And then there was all the organizing and indexing and packaging, which always takes a while. But I finally got it up in the store yesterday, and announced it in a post at digishoptalk that was well received. I'm excited and pleased with the way it turned out. (Yay!)

Here are my painted flowers (and bamboo! Well, it's a grass). I gave my brushes a good test run and was able to make a bunch of different kinds of things, which was fun. I put all of these examples into a free sampler pack at ndisb (as png files, with transparent backgrounds), to show off my brushes. I think I like the apple blossoms best. Or the fushia.






Now it's finally done and I've got a bit of that post-project stupor, while I'm trying to get my brain on track and refocus on life without paint strokes. I've still got some brushes in a cup of water by the sink that I haven't washed out yet, and all these large sheets of paper that I shall have to find a home for. Then on to the next project!