Good week at school, and I was able to sew each night this week. That’s got to be a first!! I was ahead enough in planning and marking papers that I didn’t have to do anything – and what I did I bribed myself with treats to get it done. I do want to continue this weekend, but there is serious bribery ahead for me – quizzes to grade and papers to update. Plus an order of operations game to make….

In the meantime I decided to play with one of the shapes I have downloaded in my Photoshop. I’d used a couple earlier, and I enjoyed what I have been able to do with them This time it was more a lesson for myself in layering and shadows. What’s on the left is the original shape – a decent doodle, which by the time I was done gave me ideas for my own doodles….

This is my first attempt with the shadows and gradients. I save all my layers, and then I can turn them on and off at will, if I want to try something new.
Delicate, fragile, to my mind very Asian….the small pic really doesn’t do the vibrancy and justice. Here’s the second layer:
Lots of texture to this one, a totally different take on the same shape. There is a lot of manipulation of shadows in this one, just to see what they will do. Again, way more detail in the larger one than here.

I was staring at this for some time, intrigued with the center shape that is quite visible. So I went to my brushes, figuring I could add a tree….and then more brushes….and finally I have this year’s Christmas card……
Productive evening of learning, good week at school, great momentum, a weekend ahead with a trip to a fiber gathering in St. David, lunch at the Copper Queen in Bisbee, and more sewing….will try for pics!