My Creative Images Promoting Digital Photo Artistry and Digital Photography
www.mycreativeimages.com
May - 2020
James Hurley Grisedale Valley, Patterdale
Welcome to the Mycreativeimages Magazine “Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is. ” ~ Jackson Pollock Learning creating art over the last 3 years, be it a photograph or a complex composition of 20 photos and 10 or more textures, has been a roller coaster of journey of self-discovery for me as an artist. So much so that over the last few weeks I have stopped creating art. At one point I thought my creative mind had just taken a rest but after a few weeks of this I realised something. My daily routine has changed, my working environment has changed and that means I have changed. This in turn has led me to a fork in the road of my artistic journey. I’m relaxed and clear minded, not stressed and juggling multiple projects at work, I’m not up at 6am every day and home at 6pm. In short I’m starting to find myself, I am a photographer, its as simple as that. I was born to make photo art and that realisation is a liberating self discovery. This has had a major impact on my art, as creating art used to be a release, it was a way of expressing frustration and emotion. Other than the daily worry of the impacts on my health and not seeing my family, everything else that helped me create art has gone. I now find myself thinking longer about art, choosing a subject, thinking about lighting thinking about exactly how everything should go together, thinking about creating
MyCreativeImages.com - Promoting Digital Artists
Featured artists Bernie Tuffs 4 Vivien Capper 6 Claude Trew 10 Julie Cowdy 12 David Walker 14 Norma Slack 18 Susan Jones 22 James Hurley 24 something that I have made entirely from my own photographs and not simply using stock images. I now have a purpose. I think I like this version of me more and now even more excited to see where my artistic journey takes me. Thanks for visiting James Hurley
Photo Artist / Magazine Editor
Cover Artwork by James Hurley https://www.mycreativeimages.com This image took 2nd place in the Photography category in an online gallery competition. Click here for more details.
All images in this publication are sourced / created by the artists, unless otherwise stated on their websites or social media pages and as such must not be copied or sold without the express consent of the artist. This publication is created and owned by James Hurley, ©www. mycreativeimages.com 2020. Please feel free to share the magazine but do not make changes to any of the content.
Bernie Tuffs
https://www.facebook.com/bernadette.tuffs
Hello! I’m Bernie and I live in the little seaside town of Margate and having lived here all my life, I couldn’t live anywhere else now! I’m continually inspired by the scenery here, with skies and light that so excited famous artist J.W.Turner, who said of this area, “…the skies over Thanet are the loveliest in all Europe”. Apparently, a love of the sea stayed with him all his life and I can well understand that! Painting with light holds a real attraction for me - the gentle light that is still strong enough to dispel darkness. I’ve always been arty, progressing from childhood sketching, through gouache and then oil painting, then paper crafting and scrapbooking which led me to digital scrapbooking and finally to Sebastian Michaels and Photo Artistry. Now I feel I’m home and am having so much fun with my art! If you would like to see some more of my art visit: https://www.facebook.com/bernadette.tuffs
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Tales From The Farm - Contemplating Spring
Tales From The Farm - There’s Love
Vivien Capper
https://vivien-jane-c.pixels.com/
Hello my name’s Vivien and I’m from the beautiful county of Kent, England though currently living on the coast near Rome in delightful Italy with its exciting, lively way of life and vibrant colours and designs. I started out as an artist in 1982 developing Indian ink artwork of a variety of subjects especially figurative artwork and abstract floral designs, then progressed into creative photography and digital artistry thanks to Sebastian Michael’s amazing courses at ‘Photoshop Artistry’ and the advanced courses ‘Awake’ and ‘Kaizen’. My inspiration is drawn from my love of nature, figurative artwork and Italian design using many textures, patterns and colours. I’m thrilled to have some of my artwork in various publications including: Living the Photo Artistic Life, My Creative Images and have had various artworks mentioned in the Shift Art Challenge and was thrilled to win the challenge with a piece called ‘The Mysterious Cobbled Street’ in 2018. Now in 2020 I am concentrating on a series of Fresco-style Art taking my inspiration from Italian Frescos. This involves a lot of patterns, swirls, designs and colours and adding them to the model. Most of my models are from my Photoshop Artistry and Awake courses and the Colby Files. If you would like to see more of my art: https://vivien-jane-c.pixels.com/
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Pink Camellia
The Piano
Musings on the art of Conceptual Photography - by Vivien Jane Photographers come in all shapes and sizes. And thank goodness they do! Those that prefer reality, those that do portraiture, photojournalism, wedding photography, new-born baby photography, landscapes, photo art etc. Since the first softwares came on the scene, photo manipulation has become a great trend. There are some real geniuses out there just waiting to be googled. Another theme is Conceptual Photography, a growing photography genre in which the artist/ photographer takes a photograph or series of photographs and makes a composition of a concept or idea. In this type of photography you try to convey a concept, meaning, story or message through a composition of photographs. Sometimes the idea or concept comes first and at times the photograph lends itself to a theme, story or concept. Different props and extravagant costumes can be important at any stage. As is great lighting! Basically the idea is to get the viewer to seek a meaning in the composition and sometimes just enjoy viewing this visual story feast! Here is an example of Concept Photography which I did using a fabulous ‘The Colby Files’ model. (You can find this master of model photography online and purchase his wonderful model photographs at www.modelphotos4sale.com). Naturally if you have your own model you can use that in the composition (just make sure you have commercial rights/model release form to use the photo). I’m only a hobby photographer with no formal training, but enjoy making my own backgrounds and textures to add to a scene and then I often use a model photograph or an unexpected item to render my idea or theme and finish off doing some post production work. Actually I say I’m not a trained photographer but I do take a lot of photos (mainly on my smartphone) to incorporate images into my concepts and then choose a model from stock photography to give the final composition a unique feel to it. There are many courses to learn Concept Photography. I have just joined one, and am enjoying it immensely, the Sebastian Michaels/ Brooke Shaden course ‘Conceptual Fine Art Photo Artistry’. It’s opened up a whole new creative world for me and I’ve made many new friends around the world! Give it a try, you’ll be pleasurably surprised!
White hibiscus in Italy
White Camellia & Buds
Claude Trew I am a retired lady who is a keen photographer and I belong to a local camera club. However, while I enjoy entering the competitions organised by the club, I feel that the style of photographs that are most successful in club competitions is inhibiting my creative output. I am following some online courses to try to improve the artist in me. So far I have enjoyed every course I have done and hope to share my work with a bigger audience. This is an ongoing process.
Mysterious Gigi
Home sweet Home
Ice Queen
Julie Cowdy
https://www.facebook.com/Julie-CowdyPhotography-640242869458291/
I divide my time between North Yorkshire in England and the Occitanie region of SW France. I used to teach art but am now happily retired from paid employment and enjoying my new life as a photo artist. My work covers many different genres, with still life and floral subjects my favourite. I like to create two different sets of images: those which are suitable for camera club and salon competitions and those which push the boundaries more, for personal enjoyment or digital publications. Through post-processing techniques, I often blend original images with my painted and photographed textures. I am aiming for a different approach that combines my love of fine art and the lens. I hope the resulting photo artistry offers something multi-layered, both in terms of what people see and how they respond. You can see more on my “Julie Cowdy Photography� page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Julie-Cowdy-Photography-640242869458291/
Simplicity
Stargazer
Surreal Sunflowers
David Walker
https://www.vista-foto.com/
If music be the food of love, play on Remembering Shakespeare’s famous opening lines in Twelfth Night caused me to choose Music as my theme for this month. Music is of course a vibrant and active medium, whilst photography and traditional art are more passive. I attempted to “bring life” to my works, particularly “Stayin’ Alive, say NO to KNIVES” which incorporates a representation of Alfie Bradley’s “Knife Angel”. I contacted Alfie for direct permission to include his sculpture, not a necessity, but as it was a central piece to the art, it seemed appropriate. He was delighted and agreed without reservation. Formed from over 100,000 knives turned over to 43 police stations around the UK during confiscations and amnesties, the powerful, 27-foot-tall sculpture is a reminder of how many lives could be saved if people put down their weapons. His aim was to send a strong social message about the dangers of knife violence, exactly in line with my thoughts! The other music works have less of a political nature but I hope you agree they have the strong implications of the vibrancy of Music!
All that brass
Sax in the City
Triumvirate of Wind
Norma Slack
https://www.normasue.com/
I am a digital artist, writer and poet from beautiful Northern Ireland. I currently live in County Down, within sight of the majestic Mourne Mountains. I have been an enthusiastic photographer for many years but it was only when I discovered digital art that I finally felt able to create images that reflected both my emotions and vision. Every day I work towards improving my skills within the fascinating world of the digital workspace. For me it’s a place of magic, a place where I can give free reign to my imagination and create the type of art I feel connected to. About eighteen months ago I began to combine my new digital skills with my poetry and have recently published my first illustrated poetry book, Thunder In My Soul: a collection of illustrated poems. The book is now available at Amazon. It is a project I feel a strong emotional connection to and has been a labour of love. A free sample, along with a selection of my art, can be viewed on my website. You will also find me on Instagram @artbynormasue or on my Website
Sweeping to the sea 18
Dare To Dream
Susan Jones
https://www.instagram.com/sulisloveswater/
My name is Susan Jones I have loved photography all my life, though I was rejected from the photography class at school due to not having my own SLR camera. About 20 years ago a bought a DSLR and haven’t looked back, I love taking photos, mostly studio but as often as possible getting out and about, particularly London. I have been using Photoshop for a few years, and to my joy found Sebastian Michaels Photoshop Artistry courses and then Awake and have learned so much about Photoshop and continue to learn every day. I love the program, I love changing plain photographs into fantasy colourful worlds. I hope you enjoy looking at my work as much as I enjoyed creating it. You can see more of my work here: https://www.instagram.com/sulisloveswater/
James Hurley
https://www.mycreativeimages.com/
James is a photo digital artist that captures landscapes photographs as well as painterly portraits either in the comfort of his home or on location. He is based in Huntingdon, near Cambridge, and has a passion for incorporating his emotions and frustrations into surreal artwork. James is a self-taught photographer who has learnt Photoshop by taking a number of online courses hosted by Sebastian Michaels. His current focus is to further explore and enhance his photography skills and further develop his own photo digital artistic style which can incorporate lots of colour and textures employing a Chiaro-oscuro style but also a darker monochromatic approach, as with his self-portrait series. During March a number of James’s fine art landscape photographs were incorporated into the website https:// the-estate.co.uk/, Patterdale Hall Estate, which he describes as his go to place to recharge his creative mind, see the images to the right. In addition to his fine art landscapes featured on their website, he has created a new range of Fine art mugs specifically to help raise funds to plant trees on the estate and is launching a new series of landscape images showing the Grisedale valley, focusing on the barren beauty of the wild fells that surround Patterdale and Glenridding, some examples are shown here. Website: https://www.mycreativeimages.com/have-a-cuppa-tea-and-plant-a-tree/
Grisedale Tarn - framed print and canvas 24
ABOUT THE ESTATE Patterdale Hall Estate is a 220 private estate, located near Glenridding, amongst breath-taking Lake District scenery. Wrapped around the southern tip of Ullswater, one of England’s most beautiful lakes. The team on the Estate love the landscape and are actively working to preserve and enhance its beauty and ensure wildlife can thrive. Not only is this an amazing place to stay, every holiday taken on the Estate helps to support YMCA; who work to transform the lives of young people in the North East. If you love nature and country walks, make sure to visit their website, not only to enjoy my fine art photos, but to take a look at their accommodation and book your next UK based holiday. https://the-estate.co.uk/
Patterdale Hall Estate Website and “Have a Cuppa and plant a tree campaign
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Grisedale Valley
Buy a Mug and plant 3 Trees! You can never have too many mugs, and these are very very special mugs! Only available from two places, the Mycreativeiamges.com website and the office on the Patterdale Hall Estate. Each and every mug purchased means that another 3 cell grown saplings can be purchased and nurtured until they are ready to plant. Not only that, but each sip of tea, or coffee, will remind you that you have helped preserve the beauty of the woodlands around Patterdale. Make a difference, visit: https://www.mycreativeimages.com/have-acuppa-tea-and-plant-a-tree/
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Take a look at the Featured artists in the Artisan Craft Centre at Baytree Garden Centre and you will find some amazing hand crafted artwork from many talented creatives. To see their work click the image on the right. Amongst these you will find samples of the work created by James Hurley. You can also visit in person: Baytree Garden Centre, High Road, Weston, Spalding, PE12 6JU
To read previous issues of this magazine visit:
https://issuu.com/mycreativeimages
M e t v IImages ae My CCreative Promoting Digital Photo Artistry