UNDER
Ilona Abou-Zolof - Broadbeach Morning
DOWN UNDERartists
Australia and New Zealand
Hello everyone, welcome to our February edition of Artists Down Under.
Our last month of summer is with us, which means a very Happy Valentines Day to our viewers from all the members of the Artists Down Under group.
January was a tough month with half of Australia sweltering in the heat and the other half being drowned in torrential rains, you have got to love Australia don’t you!
This month our team has excelled themselves bringing together the magazine, it is full to overflowing with interesting articles, friendly challenges, coffee get togethers, but more importantly, amazing art. Our Featured artists this month are Pam Henderson (editor) and Christina Brunton who have put together some awesome art for you, so sit back, grab yourself a drink and relax while you browse through our wonderful magazine
Stay safe, enjoy life and look out for one another.
Backgrounds: Foxy Squirrel Laitha’s Designs - Jai Johnson - White Lane Studio
Pam Henderson
Hemant Kogekar - Protea
Ilona Abou-Zolof - My Creativity
https://www.facebook.com/dean.hohn/photos https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-2/dean-hohn/
WEDGE TAIL EAGLE
https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artists-1/bev-terawskyj/
https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artists-1/al-bamass/
REFLECT LAKE
MARBLE PLACE
https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-3/kim-ricci/
artists Achievements monthly down under
artists down under facebook page
The Artists Down Under Public Facebook page has been set up to allow the artists in the group to showcase their work and to enable them to share promotional information about themselves, e.g. exhibitions, awards etc...
You can find the Artists Down Under Public Facebook page at this address; https://www.facebook.com/groups/ArtistsDownUnder/
So, if you are an artist in the group, don’t forget to regularly share your work and information here, and to let your friends and family know about the page if they are interested in viewing the latest art and news from the group.
If you are a reader of the magazine who does not have access to the page, please click the link above and request to join. When you request to join you will be asked to answer three simple questions that will allow us to determine if you are an eligible artist who may wish to join the group and therefore be able to post on the page, or a member of the public who can view, comment and like the work on the page. It’s a great place to see some great art from this vibrant group every day!
Three ADU members receive a special gift
Our very good Awake friends Katherine Zdonczyk of Magical Reality Designs and Diane Stafford from WhiteLaneStudio continue to give gifts as a reward for members of the Artists Down Under group who contribute to the ADU Facebook page by regularly posting their artworks and supporting other members with their comments.
Katherine, is well known for her fantastic sets of digital designer backgrounds, masks and all kinds of wonderful elements ready for designers to add to or build a wondrous creation.
Katherine Zdonczyk can be found at @ Oscraps http://bit.ly/3tTMUfM @ Etsy https://etsy.me/3RWjmpU
Diane Stafford from Chester, UK, designs Photoshop textures and overlays for photo artists and photographers to use in their digital artworks. Diane has created another special kit just for Artists Down Under for the month of FEBRUARY.
Two artists will receive a Diane kit each.
Diane Stafford can be found at https://whitelanestudio.co.uk/biolinks
The FEBRUARY lucky winners are
Magical Reality Designs Gift Voucher
- Lynsey Stirland-Mitchell
Diane Stafford (WhiteLaneStudio) Texture & Overlay Kit
- Margaret Kalms
- Micj Rooney
https://shiftart.com/shift-art-photoshop-challenge-results-january-2025/
Bev Terawskyj
LIVING THE PHOTO ARTISTIC LIFE
https://issuu.com/thephotoartisticlife/docs/issue119-final?fr=sMzBmYjY0Mjk2MjQ
Congratulations to the following artists for having their images chosen to appear in the International magazine “Living The Photo Artistic Life”.
Kim Ricci
- Always In My Heart
Rosa Perry
- Midnight
Penny De Jong
- Portrait Of A Peculiar Family
Helen McLeod
- Daisy Dudes
- Pulling On The Heart Strings
Christina Brunton
- Diva Dance
- Expressing Elegance
Maureen Maxwell
- Strolling In Paris (Series)
Ilona Abou-Zolof
- Moonlit Hope
- Shadow Diva
Sonia Pusey
- The Balcony
Louise Smith
- What’s Cooking
-
Of A Peculiar Family
Penny de Jong
Portrait
Helen McLeod - Pulling On The Heart Strings
Rosa Perry - Midnight
Kim Ricci - Always In My Heart
Sonia Pusey - The Balcony
Helen McLeod - Daisy Dudes
LIVING THE PHOTO ARTISTIC LIFE
Christina Brunton - Expressing Elegance
Ilona Abou-Zolof - Shadow Diva
Maureen Maxwell - Strolling In Paris (Series)
Christina Brunton - Diva Dance
Ilona Abou-Zolof - Moonlit Hope
Louise Smith - What’s Cooking
LIVING THE PHOTO ARTISTIC LIFE featured artist
Sailing
Percy Panda A Storm Within Struggle
Sandra Dann
LIVING THE PHOTO ARTISTIC LIFE featured
artist
Time Gone By
Anguish
Invisible
light space and time
“All Women Art Exhibition”
“All Women” Art Exhibition – January 2025 | Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery
Congratulations goes to
Overall
9th Place Julie Powell “Silhouette”
Photography & Digital Artists
5th Place Julie Powell “Silhouette”
Special Merit
Julie Powell “Inner Strength”
Julie Powell - Inner Strength
Julie Powell - Silhouette
whats on
Meraki Artists “Artistic Perception”
Exhibition Dates: 27th February to 2nd March
Opening Hours: 11am to 5pm (except Friday)
Location: Cnr of Myrtle and Percival Road, Stanmore NSW 2048
Come and meet the Artists
Friday, 28th February from 4.00pm to 6.00pm
Sunday, 2nd March from 1.00pm to 4.00pm
https://andrewhaysom.myportfolio.com/ https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artists-1/andrew-haysom/
https://www.zolof.net/ https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-2/ilona-abou-zolof/
http://www.artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-3/maureen-maxwell/
FASHION BLUES
DENISE CAUCHI ( AUSTRALIA )
‘COFFEE and PIXELS’
by Maureen Maxwell
The Artists Down Under admin team regularly look for innovative ideas to keep our environment interesting, inspirational, inclusive and motivational for our members.
This year we are introducing ‘COFFEE and PIXELS’. We cover many time zones between our two countries, so it is impossible for us all to meet at a local coffee shop and throw around creative ideas. From this month, and in addition to our regular evening Zoom meetings, we will now share a ‘virtual coffee and chat’ during the daytime each month.
The people running the group are Penny de Jong, Julie Powell and myself. We’ve developed a lengthy list of plans, challenges and collaborative ideas to introduce over time. However, our primary reason for this initiative is to create an opportunity where our members can share ideas, ask questions, get technical advice and to ask for constructive critique, if desired. Or, just have a lively discussion about art, trends and creativity.
To get Coffee and Pixels started the three of us decided to challenge each other with an artwork to be revealed at our first meeting.
THE BIG REVEAL!
Julie contributed her portrait of ALEXI (a male model) for the three of us to create an artwork with. Shown here is Julie’s original portrait from a photo shoot she conducted. We’ve not seen what each other has done with Alexi, so it is all still a mystery.
We will each reveal our final artwork at the first meeting, talk about it and answer any questions our members may have. Julie will then contribute the image of Alexi to anyone within the group who wants to have a go at it.
The completed images will be posted on our Facebook pages, and in the next edition of our magazine.
This is just one of our ideas to introduce more initiatives for Artists Down Under Members. There will be many more throughout the year.
We are very excited to introduce ‘COFFEE and PIXELS’ for our members.
Original Portrait Of Alexi supplied By Julie Powell
DENISE HUNTER LOGAN ( AUSTRALIA )
https://www.facebook.com/lksmithphotography/ https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-3/louise-smith/
ANN ALCOCK ( AUSTRALIA )
https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-3/margaret-kalms/ http://artofwoman.com.au
art by PAM HENDERSON
DANCE LIKE NO ONE IS WATCHING
GOODNIGHT MY SWEET
http://www.artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-2/george-koncz/ http://georgekonczphotography.com/
MARINA HOBBS ( AUSTRALIA )
DOWN artistsUNDER
Australia and New Zealand
DIGITAL ARTISTS GROUP A
COLLABORATIVE GROUP OF PHOTO ARTISTS
CHINESE WHISPERS #87
“THE
EXPLORER”
STAGE 1 STAGE 2
Pam has done an excellent job in providing our young explorer with everything necessary to explore the world. here will be exciting adventures to explore the oceans, then up to the moon, and everything in between. So much fun!
Maureen Maxwell
Maureen Maxwell
Pam Henderson
ROBYN MCLAUCHLAN ( AUSTRALIA )
I TOLD YOU IT WAS GOING TO RAIN ...
http://www.artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-4/penny-de-jong/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/88165766@N05 https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-3/karen-waalwyk/
SATURATION MASKS artists
DOWN UNDER
Australia and New Zealand
SOME PHOTOSHOP INSPIRATION
By Andrew Haysom
Did you know you can easily create a layer mask in Photoshop based on the saturation of pixels in your image?
This allows you to create adjustments to your image based on the saturation levels in your image. So, you could increase the saturation of less saturated areas, decrease the saturation of over saturated areas, or use the saturation levels for any other type of adjustment.
To create a Saturation Mask, follow these steps;
- Create a Selective Colour adjustment layer.
- Make sure Relative / Absolute is set to Absolute.
- For each of the six colors (Reds, Yellows, Greens, Cyans, Blues and Magentas) move the Blacks slider all the way to the left (-100).
- For each of the three neutrals (Whites, Neutrals and Blacks) move the Blacks sliders all the way to the right (+100).
[Figure 1 – The Selective Color adjustment layer]
SOME PHOTOSHOP INSPIRATION (CONT
These adjustments result in a greyscale image that is effectively a saturation mask, white in the completely saturated areas, black in the completely desaturated areas and varying shades of grey depending on the saturation levels in between.
To convert this into a Saturation mask, follow these steps;
- Press Opt+Cmd+2 (Mac) or Alt+Ctrl+2 (Windows) – this will create a selection based on the greyscale image created by the Selective Color adjustment layer.
- Now that you have the selection active you can turn off the visibility of, or discard the Selective Color adjustment layer.
- Create whatever adjustment layer you want to use (in the example a Hue Saturation adjustment layer) and it will be created with a layer mask based on the active selection.
If you want a mask that protects the saturated areas and selects the desaturated areas, you can simply invert the mask. Clicking on the layer mask and pressing Cmd+I (Mac) or Ctrl+I (Windows) will invert the mask.
3 shows the example photo used, the saturation mask and the inverted saturation mask.
Figure
[Figure 2 – Creating the selection and Saturation Mask]
SOME PHOTOSHOP INSPIRATION (CONT .....)
3 – Original photo and saturation masks]
As with any layer mask you can adjust the intensity of the blacks and whites to increase or decrease the selection or protection of the mask. The easiest way to do this is to Opt-Click (Mac) or Alt-Click (Windows) the layer mask which will display it in the image window. Then Press Cmd+L (Mac) or Ctrl+L (Windows) to bring up a Levels adjustment and move the levels sliders to create the desired mask.
If you think that this is something you might use frequently, I’d suggest creating a Selective Color adjustment layer preset that you can use in the future rather than having to move all the colours and neutrals sliders each time.
Before discarding the Selective Color adjustment layer, select the layer and click the menu icon at the top-right of the Properties panel, then choose Save Selective Color Preset. The saved preset will appear in the Presets drop-down for future use.
[ Fig 4 – Saving a Selective Color adjustment layer preset]
Using masks to target and control adjustments is very powerful, and being able to create a mask based on saturation is another weapon in your Photoshop arsenal.
Andrew Haysom
[Figure
https://trish-hoskin.myportfolio.com/ http://www.artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-4/trish-hoskin/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosa_perry https://rosa-perry.myportfolio.com/artwork
MOONLIT GUARDIAN
https://www.sandradimagery.com/
art by CHRISTINA BRUNTON
CYANOTYPE MAIDEN
GODDESS AND WOLF
FISHING BY THE STARS
TREE HOUSE
https://www.juliepowellphoto.com/ https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-2/julie-powell/
SUMMER HARVEST
OLD CAMERA I
https://photos.kogekar.com/ https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-2/hemant-kogekar/
FORGOTTEN II
https://colincampbell.myportfolio.com
https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artists-1/colin-campbell/
https://www.artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-3/mick-rooney/
DOWN artistsUNDER
Australia and New Zealand
A COLLABORATIVE GROUP OF PHOTO ARTISTS
QUOTE CHALLENGE
A bit of background first:
We are a small group of ADU members from around Australia. We met in a digital painting group, Art Buddies and are all members of the Artists Down Under. Our members, Christina Brunton, Denise Cauchi, Ilona Abou-Zolof, Marie Helyar, Marina Hobbs, and Robyn McLauchlan.
We meet regularly via Zoom meeting every week and take turns to choose our challenges. We post our images every Sunday at 5:30 p.m. At the moment, the challenge is a quote. In our Zoom meetings, we give each other feedback on ways to improve.
Quote:
This month, Marie Helyar chose the quote: “ Let the beauty of what you love be what you do” – quote by Rumi.
Seeing as we were doing this challenge leading up to Christmas and we were taking a break for Christmas it was decided to do just one image.
Our Art pieces:
Our diverse art pieces are all inspired by the same quote. We hope they inspire you to try it yourself and see what you come up with from the quote. We would love to see it on the Artists Down Under Facebook page.
Christina Brunton - Art That Speaks To The Heart And Soul
Denise Cauchi - You Can’t Always See Angel’s Wings
Ilona Abou-Zolof - Create What You Love
Marie Helyar - Let The Beauty Of What You Love Be What You Do
Marina Hobbs - Happy Days
Robyn McLauchlan - Doing What I Love
artists EYE CATCHING photographic challenge theme: monthly artistic down under
Ilona Abou-Zolof - Eye Catching Eye
Karen Waalwyk - Eye Of The Sunflower
Denise Hunter Logan - Eye Didn’t See That Coming!
Penny de Jong - The Quantum Eye
Robyn McLauchlan - Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder
Rosa Perry - The Watchful Eye
Pam Henderson - Valley Of The Eye
Marina Hobbs - The Eye Of The Storm
Andrew Haysom - Paranoid Eyes
Catbeagle Creations - The Curious Cabinet Of Collected Eyes
Prue Wright - In The Eye
Maureen Maxwell - The Blue Eye
Christina Brunton - Crazy Eye
Bev Terawskyj - Floral Eye
artists
DOWN UNDER
Australia and New Zealand
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