Sunday 8 February 2009

Snow Designs

Thanks for comments - I think we are enjoying the snow at the moment but that may be short lived.

fibrenell, it seems unbelievable that the sun melted your hosepipe. I'm so sorry about the awful fires in Oz - such a worry for you all and we're thinking about you.

Clive was forced to go to Bournemouth to do some banking on Friday so I went with him as I am fed up with my clothes and needed new jumpers. On the way, the rain turned into a howling blizzard and, even on that short journey, the roads were getting slippy. We agreed to press on and C left me in Marks, saying that he'd be back for me in twenty minutes and I had to be all paid up and ready to go. Well girls, it was like a trolley dash, the time limit went to my head and turned me into a shopaholic, throwing all manner of unsuitable garments into my trolley, on the grounds that I could change them later! I spent a fortune - and having got them home haven't even tried them on yet. A form of insanity, obviously.



It was a horrid journey home but we followed a gritter for some of the way. Our county is supposed to be using table salt, having run out of the rock variety. I have a few large pots 'salted' away in the workroom, perhaps I should flog 'em to the Council, and get my M&S money back.


Jane said it was wonderful being snowed in at Urchfont and I quite wished I'd gone. She is home safely now.



I have a new camera - a tiny little Nikon Coolpix S210. It was very cheap and I needed a new handbag snapper. Trouble is, it is so tiny I can't pick it up without pressing strange buttons by accident.


So - out in the snow looking for marks that I could turn into backgrounds. The snow was at the icy stage of being part thawed and then frozen.


A strange creature kept popping into the viewfinder.








Footprints with a top layer of pastel colour are quite fun.







This area of lawn was duplicated in the Layers mode and then had a pale gradient on the top layer. The gradient was in bands which gave the result below. I used a Coloured Edges filter to give a little definition.








The ice on the decking was quite spectacular as you can see below

It was coloured with a stripy gradient, as before.

And then displaced with a Celtic motif.

Loved this effect, so just gently coloured the same image - see below.

To give this result.



Used the same Displacement Map and grabbed a Selection to make a design for a cuff, below. I have several talks booked on 'Designing and Making with a Celtic Theme' so I will try to turn this into stitch.







7 comments:

Frances said...

What a beautiful cuff design, can't wait to see the stitched version.
I've also had fun today with a couple of small paper casts.I was so pleased with the results of following your tip about using Golden acrylics on low relief paper casts that I tried to make two quite deep ones. I made them with paper pulp and because they were so deep I was afraid that they would go mouldy so I dried them very quickly. They shrank alarmingly and when I got them out, they were like two frightening, shrunken heads! I pressed on and painted them anyway but they certainly look nothing like yours!

Sandra Wyman said...

Great minds thinking alike, Maggie? Or am I just being obvious? I have chosen to do mine and my cats footprints in the snow for my Feb Journal Quilt for the Contemporary Quilt Group! I didn't copy your idea honest!

Genie said...

lovely designs Maggie,
snap re footprints in the snow, although have not done anything with mine yet.

RosieK said...

Ohh I have some photos that I can try this with - thanks Maggie - I have just ordered your book and am excited about receiving it!

Heather said...

The Celtic designs just make me ooh and aah! I would really fancy myself wearing a pair of those cuffs. Hope your M & S stuff is still to your liking when you try it on - how can you make a wise choice in just 20 minutes? I like the strange creature who appeared in your camera shots - the only things that kept getting into mine when I was trying to be artistic with snow shots were my two big feet!

Julie said...

Glad you got back from Bournemouth safely. Your cuff design is beautiful. Footprints in the snow are very interesting for design, aren't they? I've taken a few photos myself but haven't got round to playing yet - been too busy snow dyeing!

Anonymous said...

Hi Maggie,
found your blog by accident - gorgeous pics. I find the snow a good excuse to stay in and stitch - and take some good photos as well.
Too much inspiration at times.
Will be following you!