Art for Mommy

I always loved art.  From a very young age I tried to draw and perfect my ability.  I also always remember struggling with art.  I wasn't naturally talented at it.  I enjoyed it and found it soothing for me, but also frustrating because I had friends that seems to do it with ease.  In high school I went to an evening art school and took a watercolor class.  I really felt like my art was starting to take off, but found I couldn't draw people as well as landscapes.  Then I had kids and drawing stopped.  I haven't done much for myself since.  I think because I loved art so much and because I enjoy the expression of it, I really appreciate seeing art in museums and homes.  I don't think you need to be a talented artist to keep drawing and enjoying it.  I look forward to a time that I can take up art lessons again and further develop something I enjoy doing.  Are there things in your life that you like doing, but not necessarily something you are good at?  

One way I have found to do art, but not actually draw is to use my camera.  I love taking pictures.  I don't feel I am great at it either, but love trying.  On our hikes and walks I try to see something differently and take a picture of it in an artistic way.  I also find using photo shop to be a fun way to make my photography more artistic.  It isn't something I think I have mastered, but I play around with it some.

I had a few comments asking how I did this picture of my daughter Ally.  One person even asked if it was my  own artwork.  I wish I could have sketched this, but it was all done in photo shop elements.

I am sure most photo editing software has something similar.  To do this photo with elements,  I opened the picture in Photoshop and then converted it to black and white.  I then upped the contrast of my photo a little to make the dark stand out a little more.  Then I clicked for Photoshop to make a pencil drawing of the picture and WHALA!  A sketched drawing.  I think I played around with it more in terms of mid-tones, highlights and contrast to get it to look just right to me, but most of the work was all done by Photoshop.  I wish I was better at doing tutorials if you want to see more how to do this, but my advise with Photoshop is that the more you play around and just experiment the better you get at it.  Try not to be scared.  You really can't mess anything up.  If it looks bad in the end who cares?  You will learn as you try.
 

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