Artists Down Under - Australia and New Zealand - October 2022

By

By Sebastian Michaels

Julie Powell - Sunflowers

By Maureen Maxwell

DOWN UNDERartists

Hi everyone and welcome to our newest edition of Artists Down Under.

Rain, rain and more rain. As they say, if it doesn’t rain, it pours. Don’t know about you, but I am over it, the flooding has just started and we still have two more wet months to come. Lucky our artists are here to cheer your soggy days up.

We have an amazing interview with our own Proof Reader, Colin Campbell. It is always a pleasure to learn more on our artists, how they tick, what motivates them, where their passion comes from and I think in this interview Colin explains it all.

Another exciting tutorial from our Photoshop guru, on Precise Previews for 16-bit documents.

The girls from the Redlands Digital Artists Group are hard at it, sharing their latest image in their Chinese Whispers series.

I would like to introduce you to this month’s Featured Artist, Sandra Dann. Sandra is one of our newest members to the Artist Down Under family, but her experience is way beyond a newbie. Sandra is an extremely talented lady as you will all agree.

Finally I set this month’s Artist Challenge with a Barnyard theme and our artists delivered once again. I hope you all enjoy.

Well that’s it from me, until next month, stay safe & care for each other.

Ann Wehner - The Mystic Forest

Al BaMass - Calypso Backgrounds: Foxy Squirrell Laitha’s Designs - Jai Johnson - White Lane Studio

Copyright 2017 ©

Artists in this publication are responsible for any rights appertaining to their work.

Pam Henderson

Australia and New Zealand

SNOW LEOPARD FAMILY

COME AWAY WITH ME

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. exhbitions, 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!

Penny De Jong - Egrets

Rosa Perry - The Window

Kaylene Helliwell - Williston

Julie Powell - Morning Breaks

Kaylene Helliwell - Horatio

Three ADU members receive a special gift

Our very good Awake friends Teddi Rutschman of Foxey Squirrel 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.

Teddi, from Virginia, USA, 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.

Teddi Rutshman can be found at http://www.foxeysquirrel.com/ http://www.oscraps.com/shop/Foxeysquirrel

Teddi has given a $10.00 voucher for one very lucky member to spend in her on-line shop.

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 OCTOBER.

Two artists will receive a Diane kit each. Diane Stafford can be found at https://whitelanestudio.co.uk/biolinks

The OCTOBER lucky winners are

Teddi Rutschman (Foxy Squirrel) Gift Voucher of $10.00

- Al BaMass

Diane Stafford (WhiteLaneStudio) Texture & Overlay Kit

- Helen McLeod

- Sharyn Walker

Andrew Haysom - Curly

Ilona Abou-Zolof - The Cat Colin Campbell - Sunrise Vivisection

Prue Wright - Gracie’s Adventure

LIVING THE PHOTO ARTISTIC LIFE

https://issuu.com/thephotoartisticlife/docs/issue91-final?fr=sZDBhMzI1ODEw

Congratulations to the following artists for having their images chosen to appear in the International magazine

“Living The Photo Artistic Life”.

Christina Brunton

- Feathered Friends

Sonia Pusey

- The Hills Are Alive

Lynette Paul

- Flower Power

Helen McLeod

- In The Clouds

- The Caretakers

Gitama Day

- Gone Fishing

Dean Hohn

- Wedge-Tailed Eagle In The Sunset

Ilona Abou-Zolof

- Tree Of Life

- Peter Pan

Maureen Maxwell

- An Apparition

Julie Powell

- Spring Bloom

Rosa Perry

- Rembrandt

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Tree Of Life

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Peter Pan

Maureen Maxwell - An Apparition

Sonia Pusey - The Hills Are Alive

Helen McLeod - The Caretakers

LIVING THE PHOTO ARTISTIC LIFE

Helen McLeod - In The Clouds

Dean Hohn - Wedge-Tailed Eagle In The Sunset

Gitama Day - Gone Fishing

Christina Brunton - Feathered Friends

Julie Powell - Spring Bloom

Rosa Perry - Rembrandt

Lynette Paul - Flower Power

light

and

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Icy Scene

Honorable Mention

shift art

September 2022 Theme

Congratulations goes to

Julie Powell, Andrew Haysom, Penny De Jong, Carolyn Jenson and Karen Waalwyk

Noticed Margaret Kalms

Penny De Jong - Imagine That Said Alice

Karen Waalwyk - Wonderland

Andrew Haysom - Falling Down The Rabbit Hole

Julie Powell - Alice In Wonderland

Margaret Kalms - Alice Falling

grey cube gallery blue online artshow

https://greycubegallery.com/shows/2022/september2022.html

Congratulations goes to Margaret Kalms

For being a Finalist with her two images “Blue Fulcrum” and “Tower Bridge In A Storm”, in the Grey Cube Gallery “Blue” Online Art Exhibition, which was held in September 2022.

Margaret Kalms - Blue Fulcrum

Margaret Kalms - Tower Bridge In A Storm

fusion art

7th annual animal kingdom online art exhibition

Congratulations goes to

Ilona Abou-Zolof

For being awarded an Artist Excellence with her image “The Protector”, and for also being accepted with her image “Walking The Puma”, in the 7th Annual Animal Kingdom’s Interna tional Online Juried Art Exhibition held in September 2022.

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Walking The Puma

Ilona Abou-Zolof - The Protector

34th sutherland shire

national exhibition of photography 2022

PRUE WRIGHT

CHEEKY

NEW ZEALAND

TRACEY PERRIN

ALONE I FLY

ALONE I AM ... FREE

TRUMPET

AUTUMN

artists

DOWN UNDER

Australia and New Zealand

SOME PHOTOSHOP INSPIRATION

PRECISE PREVIEWS FOR 16-BIT DOCUMENTS

By Andrew Haysom

One of the issues that has bugged Photoshop users for a long time is the issue of “fake banding”.

Banding will often appear in areas of your images that contain smooth gradients (for example in a sky). If you work in 8-bit mode, this banding will often be real because in 8-bit mode the number of different levels of luminosity is limited to 256, and real bands can appear when you make adjustments like blending, sharpening or clarity/dehaze adjustments. Editing in 16-bit mode should remove most instances of banding.

However, Photoshop (prior to version 23.5) will take some shortcuts when rendering your images that can often cause the appearance of “fake banding”. This is because one of the shortcuts it takes when rendering your image is to use 8-bit renders of the different layers to speed up processing and screen refreshes.

The fake banding will usually disappear if you make a stamp visible copy of your image, or if you move to 100% size or greater.

The example shown in Figure 1 shows the fake banding easily created by blending two simple gradients together and making a Levels adjustment.

banding]

SOME PHOTOSHOP INSPIRATION (CONT....)

In Photoshop CC version 23.5 (released in August 2022) Adobe have introduced a new Preference setting that will remove this “fake banding” phenomenon in most instances. The setting is called “Precise Previews for 16-bit documents” and can be found on the Technology Previews tab (meaning it is a preview of a feature still in development) – see Figure 2.

If you check this setting you will also need to restart Photoshop for it to take effect.

As you can see in Figure 1, with this setting enabled, the banding has disappeared.

I would imagine that this setting forces more processing from Photoshop and therefore if your computer is not particularly fast it may cause a noticeable speed issue. On my M1 Macbook Pro I really notice no difference in speed, so if you have a fairly fast processor then I would recommend giving it a try and get rid of that annoying fake banding.

Andrew

[Figure 2 - Technology Previews Preferences]

ZASARI

LYNETTE PAUL

Pam Henderson

Maureen Maxwell

Maureen

SANDRA DANN

CHILDHOOD DREAMS

GIRAFFE FAMILY

ABANDONED CAR WITH GIRAFFE

FOGGY POND WITH HOUSE

HOUSE ON THE GRASSLANDS

LOCKED DOWN

THE PATH TO MY HOME

FAIRYTALE

THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE

Meet your artist Sandra Dann

Sydney New South Wales

Website: https://www.sandradimagery.com/

1. Tell us a little about yourself and where you live?

I live in Sydney, Australia. As a child I loved colouring and painting, I did art at school, I cherished my colouring pencils. I did my “mature age” experience in 2012 and I discovered photography when I moved to Queenstown New Zealand on a working holiday, Returning back to Australia photography opened another world for me. I started to see the world around me differently.

I started to see the colours in the landscape, the sky and clouds, trees, light and shade and so much more. My creative journey began as my skills increased in post processing and I started to realise I could create an image I had in mind. Along the way I have been fortunate to win Gold, Silver and Bronze in Photographic competitions.

2. How did you become interested/get started in Photo Artistry?

I started as a Landscape Photographer and played with replacing skies, adding a tree or a building here and there, which looking back was the start of a basic form of composite imagery. I was experimenting more and started to work with Fine Art Textures, then I started to photograph elements for the stock library for my composite images. The more I “played” I was finding my style in post processing and what I liked. As the saying goes “the rest is history”. Now I love creating images that are whimsical or tell a story or just to feed the creative soul.

3. What inspires you or gives you inspiration to create your art?

Finding inspiration in different forms works for me, it could be movies, songs, something that has happened in the world, looking at different artforms - paintings, illustrative. To me it is about broadening the mindset. One time it had to be all about using my own photos, now the “gloves are off” it is about creating what is inside of me and what I see. Freedom!

4. Do you have a certain approach to creating your art?

Being a creative I have found the mood or desire to create an image can strike or go missing any time. I’ve learnt to recognise the signs or go with the flow if I’m not feeling it. Sometimes when the mood strikes an idea bubbles to the surface, it could be inspiration from an image I’ve seen somewhere, it could be I choose one of my Fine Art Textures I create as the base image or it could looking through my stock library or photos and an idea strikes or lately I created a series of images to the song “Sound of Silence”. It has been a journey to where I find myself now, it’s been fun and frustrating. To me never lose the joy of creating an image for no other purpose than to create an image from an idea or vision. I have also learnt it is about “showing up” and finding ways to be creative. I’ve written a blog on this; https://www.sandradimagery.com/stories-blog/are-you-showing-up-as-a-creative

5. What does your art mean to you?

Starting as a purist landscaper I was out and about photographing all the time, then I started to get bored with landscapes and I found I was enjoying the post processing journey more and more. Move forward to now I realise creating photo artistry is important for me, it feeds the “soul”, allows me to express myself and vision. These past few years where the world changed, I have found it has allowed me to be more creative and I have the time to play and experiment and learn new skills. I still use my landscapes as backgrounds or elements for my creative work. Creating with no rules for competitions, using what I call mixed medium a combination of photography, artworks, digital elements has allowed me the freedom to create.

6. Do you think since starting in photo artistry it has changed you and if so, how ?

If I look back colouring and choosing colours, drawing, and other forms of creative expression have been part of my life since a child, it just took a few life detours along the way. I am now where I was meant to be.

7. Is there anyone that you draw inspiration from ?

When I’m not creating images I still keep my mind and eye in creative thinking to be inspired. I look at platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram, Art websites and so on. I’m topping up the visual bank and feeding the brain cells constantly. I draw inspiration from different artists such as Albert Namatjira, Monet, Dutch Golden Age and so on for colour. I love the work of Maggie Taylor and so many other creatives I follow.

8. Where do you see (or hope to see) your art taking you in the future ? What are your next steps ?

For the past few years, I had to re-invent myself (in a previous life I was a Tour Guide travelling Australia and New Zealand). I have been teaching Photoshop online, Creative and Conceptual Thinking. Now I want to develop my business SandraD Imagery further, which will be a place for other creatives, I have a digital store with my Fine Art Textures and more. A personal project is I want to put a book together with my images, I just have to give myself the push to start – I have the title Imagination, so it’s a case of watch this space and remind myself to get started.

LAURA’S

ELENOR GILL

artists

DOWN UNDER

Australia and New Zealand WITH COLIN CAMPBELL

By Maureen Maxwell

INTERVIEW

Thank you, Colin, for participating in this interview series.

You’ve been a member of Artists Down Under from the beginning. Your art has been published in all 65 issues. You have also been the proofreader of the magazine each month during those years. In addition to all this, we have benefited from your regular contributions to our Facebook pages. Such participation is not only quite an achievement, but also a magnificent contribution. I’m sure I speak for our members in thanking you for your significant input to the success of our group.

You create a lot of images according to a theme. Many of these themes, and your artwork generally, are both unexpected and surprising. I think our readers will enjoy reading about your art journey and approach.

INTERVIEW - COLIN CAMPBELL (CONT....)

WHAT LED YOU TO BECOME INTERESTED IN PHOTOARTISTRY?

For years I had been disappointed with the Kodak prints I got back from the chemist, and even whilst developing and printing my black and white shots I quite often could not get the image to meet my expectations. I can’t recall now how I came across Sebastian Michaels’ Photoshop Artistry courses, but I do remember realising that here was a way to get much closer to the artistic effects I was after.

I also started going through Dave Cross’s Photoshop training courses and increased my technical skills and knowledge. This was not easy as I was a late comer to computers, but over time Photoshop lost some of its daunting and arcane complexity and as I became more and more familiar with its tools and features the process of constructing images has become more and more satisfying and exciting.

I FIND YOUR ART TO BE BOTH UNUSUAL AND INTRIGUING. IT IS DIFFERENT TO WHAT WE MOSTLY SEE IN ADU AND AWAKE.

a) IS THIS INTENTIONAL?

No. I have many times wondered if I should persist with posting in Facebook or the ADU magazine as my images can seem out of place.

b) WHERE DOES YOUR INSPIRATION COME FROM?

All the people with ideas and passion I have met, all the books I have read and reread, all the museums, galleries, temples and ruins I have visited, all the movies and TV I have watched, all the music I have listened to, all the countries I have travelled through, all the objects that have made me wonder why we exist.

INTERVIEW - COLIN CAMPBELL (CONT....)

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR ARTISTIC STYLE?

As a prison that I continually try to escape from.

Sebastian Michaels recently used several of my images to support his Found Object Photoshop Artistry course in the 4th Photoshop Virtual Summit organised by Dave Cross. Found Object Photoshop Artistry is probably a way to describe my work.

A LOT OF YOUR ART IS BASED ON A THEME. A RECENT THEME BASED ON BOTANY BAY, SYDNEY, HELD PARTICULAR APPEAL FOR ME. I GREW UP NEAR THE BAY AND WAS ABLE TO SEE IT AFRESH THROUGH YOUR DIFFERENT EYES.

a) HOW DO YOU DECIDE ON A THEME?

I have often deliberately thought of themes but rarely managed to successfully bring them to fruition. What happens is that whilst constructing an image I find variations and divergences in content and effects that have potential and save them into new documents. The themes decide themselves over time by persistence of common or evolving content. As a bonus those unfinished documents often let me avoid the numbing terror of starting with a new blank file and for that I am grateful.

With the Botany Bay series, the skyless trees came first and the Bay shots then seemed to work as background.

INTERVIEW - COLIN CAMPBELL (CONT....)

b) AND HOW DO YOU SOURCE YOUR PHOTOS AND TEXTURES?

Out of about 50 years’ worth of snapshots and slides still in my possession I have scanned a manageable pool of digital images. Manageable in that I have a fairly good memory of what they contain and where they are filed in Adobe Bridge. There are some regrettable gaps where I have culled “less than worthy” prints or let albums go with a broken relationship.

I have a small collection of textures mostly downloaded from AWAKE and again curated and limited by my memory of content and filing. What I have found is I tend to fall back on the same handful of textures and vary them with blend modes and filters in Photoshop to suit my purpose; this reflects my declining memory!

The Botany Bay images come from iPhone snaps taken a few years ago whilst doing weekly early morning bike rides from Newtown to La Perouse or Kurnell. Age and traffic finally curtailed my rides about a year ago.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE A FEW OF YOUR FAVOURITE TECHNIQUES USED TO CREATE YOUR ART?

My most favourite technique for creating is getting into a state of “flow”. Concentration and a manageable challenge are prime ingredients for “flow” and using the selection tools in Photo shop (and definitely obsessing too much over making perfect selections) often enables me to get into a state of “flow”, and so I persist with my folly.

One technique I have recently explored is using the Background Eraser Tool to remove particular colours from an image. This can quickly create an interesting randomness and intersection with underlying layers, especially when used with various blend modes and filters. This tool however is destructive; always work on a copy!

INTERVIEW - COLIN CAMPBELL (CONT....)

A LOT OF YOUR ART CONTAINS INTERESTING OBJECTS. ARE YOU A COLLECTOR?

No, in fact I have always tended to the minimalist end of the scale of possessions. Having said that, my wife tends to the other end of the scale, and I live in a house full of objects that are not mine but are available to photograph!

PLEASE TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF, YOUR BACKGROUND AND YOUR OTHER INTERESTS?

I am 70 years old with too much or too little of a background to recount here!

I have struggled with depression and social anxiety since my late teens and look back at a trail of missed career opportunities, broken relationships and friendships, unfinished projects, alcoholism, and drug abuse, and yet somehow, with the help of “flow” experiences and honesty along the way, I have managed to survive, to value sobriety, to now be married, and be comfortably retired!

I started out doing a metallurgy degree but ended up with an arts degree in English literature. I drove taxis (a big mistake!), drove around Australia, lived in a remote village in Greece for a year, and then worked in the Public Service in Sydney until I retired. I became a technical training officer, wrote user manuals, and managed to get involved in putting business rules into an automated system (lots of exacting grammar and proofreading). But in the end my social anxiety took over and thankfully I was allowed to finish my career by working online from home. And that was the beginning of staying at home and becoming an almost complete agoraphobic or hermit

Now, as well as reading, listening to music and constructing images, I try to get my head around quantum physics and relativity. I have the rest of my life to learn.

INTERVIEW - COLIN CAMPBELL (CONT....)

CLOSING COMMENTS

I’m delighted you agreed to this interview Colin. Thank you for allowing us to read the insights to your life and your art.

I know our readers will find this interview to be both interesting and motivating. Also, many of us will be able to relate to your comments about Photoshop. But this technology does give us a fun journey and many learning opportunities – even if it is frustrating at times in its complexity.

Bay

LIBRARY

KRUGER SUNSET

WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE

artists photographic challenge theme:

monthly artistic down under

Pam Henderson - Down On The Farm

Kaylene Helliwell - Meadows

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Barnyard

Andrew Haysom - Chook

Julie Powell - Barnyard

Rosa Perry - Barnyard

Karen Waalwyk - The Barnyard

Christina Brunton - Mungo Barn

Prue Wright - Patchy Barnyard

Kim Ricci - Mabel’s Farm

Bev Terawskyj - Barnyard

DOWN UNDER

adu artists business advertisements

Australia and New Zealand

artists

Helping Women with Endometriosis

When I first heard about endometriosis I felt a deep compassion and need to do what I could to help. Women with endometriosis suffer debilitating pain, disruptive symptoms and often endure multiple operations simply to function normally. Few people are patient when listening to descriptions of pain, symptoms or illness. This can have the effect of silencing people who are ill.

My compassion inspires my photoart which I show in presentations to raise awareness. I joined Awake to teach me advanced Photoshop skills, specifically to expand my photoartistic skills to create imaginative and dramatic images.

My photoart opens dialogue enabling freer expression of hidden feelings, experiences too private to mention in ordinary conversation. I create photoart inspired by the concerns of women with endometriosis. Several women have said that the process of imaging their suffering has helped them to face their pain and illness. There is immense strength in being heard. I want my photoart to become visual screams!!

26 women with endometriosis have told me about their experiences. They spoke to me about their concerns and collaborated during the photo session. We explored meanings of body, ideas of self and impacts of illness together, agreeing which ideas we would explore photographically. My photos are often carefully arranged, but that doesn’t mean they are fake. They represent the personal truth and experiences of 26 women with endometriosis. These women are remembering and acting out their OWN experiences. They choose their own stance and facial expression. Women with endometriosis are the only people who truly know what endometriosis FEELS like.

Unfortunately endometriosis is relatively common; an estimated 1 in 10 women living with endometriosis, being over 175,000,000 women worldwide! And an estimated 500,000 women in Australia! Their experiences are heart-breaking. Regular illness and debilitating pain result in missed education and poor career opportunities leaving them women vulnerable to poverty.

Women with endometriosis need real medical progress to reduce their suffering. I passionately desire to raise money for endometriosis research so that faster diagnoses are made and more effective treatments are found. To raise money for endometriosis research, I host events and sell products on Redbubble. Recently I gave $3,000 to Canberra Endometriosis Centre!

Art by Margaret Kalms

Share ‘EndoWomanArt’ with your friends on social media to raise awareness and money for women’s health!

We all need clothes & household goods. Buy yourself a treat or buy a special gift for your friends. Make your shopping count!

Remember 50% of profit goes to endometriosis research! https://www.redbubble.com/ people/EndoWomanArt/shop

Follow ‘Life with Endometriosis’: https://www.facebook.com/ LifeWithEndometriosis

See Margaret Kalms photoart, ‘Life with Endometriosis’: http://www.endowomanart.com

Margaret Kalms

Bunch Of Butterflies On Grevillea Sweatshirt Butterflies False Colour Grey Stripes

50% of profit donated to endometriosis research