Anne's Creative Cornucopia: March 2013

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"Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster..." ― Friedrich W. Nietzsche

Definition of Bigot: a person who is intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group with hatred and intolerance.

"When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind." ― C. S. Lewis

See Disclaimer of Endorsement at the bottom of this page.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

"Joyous Easter" – Postcard

This week’s Sunday Postcard Art challenge was “Easter.”

Happy Easter everyone!

The vintage images are from an Internet search.

The font is FairfaxStation.

Red Barn White Window - Photograph

This is 1 of 3 posts of photographs I took of an abandoned red barn in Oxford CT this past week. It wasn't until after I had taken this shot that I realized the sky was reflected in the window.

Happy Easter everyone!

This is my entry for the following:

Ruby Tuesday 2
Weekend Reflections #183

Trompe L'Oeil Barn Painting - Photograph

This is 2 of 3 posts of photographs I took of an abandoned red barn in Oxford CT this past week. I liked this faded trompe l'oeil painting of a barn window with a horse head looking out.

Barn Windows - Photographs

This is 3 of 3 posts of photographs I took of an abandoned red barn in Oxford CT this past week. Something about this building fascinated me, so I had to stop and take pictures of the weathered siding and broken windows.

Green Lichen Picket Fence - Photograph

This is 1 of 3 posts of photographs I took in what I think was Oxford Congregation Cemetery in Oxford CT this past week. I liked the look of the lichen growing on this picket fence.

This is my entry for Friday's Fences #75.

Happy Easter everyone!

Masonic Symbol and Gravestone - Photographs

This is 2 of 3 posts of photographs I took in what I think was Oxford Congregation Cemetery in Oxford CT this past week. Not only was this gravestone interesting looking, but it had a Masonic symbol on it.

Old Gravestones - Photographs

This is 3 of 3 posts of photographs I took in what I think was Oxford Congregation Cemetery in Oxford CT this past week. I like the winged faces that are carved on old gravestones. I also like the look of fallen gravestones that have become embedded in the ground.

Easter Moon - Photograph

I took this photograph of the moon this morning.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

"Player" – ATC

This week’s Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge #77 was "Sporty Girls."

I used a tennis player silhouette, card suits, and a diamond pattern background. I added a splash of color for the tennis ball.

The vintage images are from an Internet search.

The font is Seabird SF.

Friday, March 29, 2013

"Spring" – ATC

This week's Fun With ATCs challenge #84 was "Schrift (Writing)."

The vintage images are from an Internet search.

The font is LT Nutshell Library.

Raven - Photograph

This is 1 of 5 posts of photographs I took at Southport Beach in Fairfield CT this past week.

Shoreline Birds - Photograph

This is 2 of 5 posts of photographs I took at Southport Beach in Fairfield CT this past week.

Driftwood - Photograph

This is 3 of 5 posts of photographs I took at Southport Beach in Fairfield CT this past week.

Summer Signs - Photographs

This is 4 of 5 posts of photographs I took at Southport Beach in Fairfield CT this past week.

Seagulls in Flight - Photographs

This is 5 of 5 posts of photographs I took at Southport Beach in Fairfield CT this past week.

Wharf - Photographs

I took these photographs at Burying Hill Beach in Westport CT this past week.

The first photograph is my entry for the following:

Ein Stuck Himmel #65.

Himmelsk #130.

Skywatch Friday Season 7 Episode 38.

Burying Hill Beach, Westport CT - Tourist Postcard

I created a replica vintage style tourist postcard.

I used a photograph I took at Burying Hill Beach in Westport CT this past week. In GIMP, I created a rounded rectangle border with a radius of 15, and a width of 50 pixels. I used an Old Paper script to give the postcard a distressed look.

The font is Janda Elegant Handwriting.

Moon Illuminating Clouds - Photograph

I took this photograph of the moon this morning. I couldn't get any in focus, so this was the best I could do.

Spanish Villa - Photograph

I took this photograph of a beautiful looking house with Spanish roof tiles at Compo Beach in Westport CT this past week. The sunlight reflecting off the water ended up making it look like more sand.

Seagulls Circling Lighthouse - Photographs

I took these photographs of Fayerweather Island Lighthouse and Penfield Reef Lighthouse at Jennings Beach in Fairfield CT this past week.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

"Steampunk" – Moo (1.1" x 2.8")

This week’s Moo Mania challenge was "Steampunk."

This is my second attempt to duplicate digitally SanDee1899's Steampunk Patina background shown in this tutorial. This result is closer to what I wanted.

Within GIMP, I used two versions of the machine image. One was the stamp version of it (only the black) and one was the complete image. I used the Selection Bevel script with all of the default settings, except I changed the Bevel Width to 5. I applied that script to both layers.

I left the stamp layer visible, but made the complete image layer invisible. I added the secondary green patina color layer between the stamp and the complete image bevel layer. I added the primary green patina color layer below that. I added the secondary copper color layers below that. The bottom layer was the primary copper color layer.

On all but the primary copper color layer, I applied the color using the GIMP Sponge 01 brush. After that, I applied a Gaussian Blur Filter with a radius of 2 to the primary green patina color layer, then applied an HSV Noise Filter to all of the color layers.

Primary green patina color:
93d2b5

Secondary green patina color:
497d6a

Primary copper color:
A45641 copper coin

Secondary copper colors:
996666 copper rose
986358 copper brown
B87333 copper

The vintage machine image is from an Internet search.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

"The Machine" – Postcard

I attempted to make a patina Steampunk postcard after watching SanDee1899's Steampunk Patina background tutorial, but unfortunately my first attempt to duplicate the method digitally didn't work out the way I wanted it to.

Within GIMP, I used GMIC filter GMIC - Contours - Local orientation to create a raised texture on the machine image. I added a layer mask to it, to exclude everything on the layer except for the part that overlaid the original image. I then set the layer mode to Screen, with the original image on the layer beneath it. I added a copper color layer on top of it, with the layer mode set to Burn. I added a drop shadow, and I used a Selection bevel script on the text. The background color was Bump Mapped with a copper texture image.

The vintage machine image is from an Internet search.

The font is Belfast Heavy SF Bold.

"Flugpostkarte" - Postcard

This week’s Collage Obsession challenge was "I can fly."

I created another Mail Art piece using vintage Hot Air Balloon / Aeronautical images that I found with an Internet search.

The fonts are Kelmscott Thin and Gentium Basic Bold.

"Butterflies" – Postcard

This week’s Sunday Postcard Art challenge was “Butterflies.”

The vintage images are from an Internet search.

The font is Stratford SF.

Friday, March 22, 2013

"Spring Fever" – ATC

This week’s Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge #76 was "Spring Fever."

We could use some Spring weather here. It's about 10 degrees F colder than it should be, and we keep having mixed precipitation instead of rain. I used the same images that I used for my Sunday Postcard Art entry, which I will be posting later.

The vintage images are from an Internet search.

"Hot Air Balloon" – Postcard

This week’s Three Muses challenge was “Balloons.”

I created another Mail Art piece using vintage Hot Air Balloon / Aeronautical images that I found with an Internet search.

The fonts is HandTIMES.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

"Mail Art" – Postcard

This week’s Take A Word challenge was "Mail Art." This is one of my favorite themes!

The vintage images are from an Internet search. I created the red and blue stripe pattern to mimic the look of old airmail envelopes.

I am very far behind on looking at and commenting on challenge site entries. I hope to catch up sometime soon.

How to add extra G'MIC Filters for use in GIMP on Windows 7

How to add extra G'MIC Filters for use in GIMP on Windows 7

Copy the desired .gmic extension files to folder:

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\gmic

Notes: If folder gmic doesn't exist there, create it first. Username is your computer login username.

If GIMP is already running, on the main menu, start G'MIC by selecting

Filters - G'MIC

Press the Reload button and the additional filters should appear in the list.

When you exit GIMP and start it later, the filters will appear automatically.

Note: I copied the following files to my directory:

http://gmic.sourceforge.net/compatibility.gmic
http://karo03.bplaced.net/gmic/karos.gmic
http://s406833247.websitehome.co.uk/gmic/photocomix.gmic
http://gentlemanbeggar.bplaced.net/gentlemanbeggar_gmic.gmic
http://www.saunalahti.fi/naggobot/naggobot.gmic
http://www.iain.bplaced.net/iain_fergusson.gmic
http://s406833247.websitehome.co.uk/gmic/garagecoder.gmic
http://www.aljacom.com/~gmic/samj.gmic
http://docgmic.tuxfamily.org/zonderr.gmic
http://www.h-ps.demon.co.uk/GMIC/jayprich.gmic

I had a problem trying to get this one:
http://www.tkfilter.bplaced.net/tomkeil.gmic

photocomix has the Steampunk Pencil filter that went missing from the EXE install.

The latest version of G'MIC can be found here:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/gmic/files/

Sunday, March 17, 2013

"Mottled Marble Technique" – Domino

I experimented further and found something similar to, but still not quite the same as this marbled effect. I once again used my "veined marble texture" GIMP script, then applied a GMIC - Patterns - Sponge filter to it. It doesn't create the mottled look that I wanted to match, but it is closer than my previous attempt.

I just updated to the latest GMIC release 1.5.5.0, but now the Steampunk Pencil filter is missing. I liked that one and need to find out what happened to it. I determined that it was in release 1.5.1.3 but disappeared in release 1.5.1.4 even though they list it for the current release on the website.

I need to determine how to call GMIC from a GIMP script, so I can reproduce the Steampunk Pencil filter, which was described as being:

GMIC - Black and White - Pencil
GMIC - Artistic - Kuwahara

"Saint Patrick's Day Greetings" – Postcard

This week’s Sunday Postcard Art challenge was “Saint Patrick's Day.” This is my first entry for it.

The vintage images are from an Internet search.

The font is Sachiko.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

"Ireland" – Postcard

This week’s Sunday Postcard Art challenge was “Saint Patrick's Day.” This is my second entry for it.

I created the border using different size shamrocks. The vintage images are from The Cottage Market (airship, dirigible) and an Internet search.

The font is JSL Ancient.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

"Marbled Alcohol Inking Technique" – Dominos

This week’s Artful Times challenge #25 was "Alcohol Inking."

After doing an internet search, I decided I wanted to create a domino using the marbled effect.

Although my piece is digital, I tried to replicate the mottled marbled look by using a "veined marble texture" GIMP script that I had written a few years ago. It doesn't create the mottled look that I wanted to match, but I thought I could try applying a filter to it, to achieve that end result. I used the GMIC Steampunk Pencil filter on it, but it still didn't look right.

My end results are an abysmal failure. The only reason I've posted them is as a reminder to myself to revisit this technique, and come up with a method of creating the same mottled marbled look that I wanted to achieve.

All of the stamps are from Clipart ETC. (See the side of my blog for links.)

I used the following colors:

Tiger - c5b47c Lake Mist
Man - d6a898 Shell Pink

"Engineer's Playing Card" – ATC

This week’s Three Muses challenge was “Steampunk.”

I always struggle with this theme, so mine is more of an "Engineer's theme." Thursday was Pi Day (3.14) and it was Engineers Week in February.

The vintage machine image is from an Internet search.

The fonts are JSL Ancient and KR Graphed.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Sun Rays Through Clouds - Photographs

I took these photographs at Sasco Beach in Fairfield CT this week. The sky looked mystical with the sun rays boring down to the water through the clouds. I couldn't decide which photo I liked better, so I've posted both.

If you have a preference I welcome hearing your opinion.

This is my entry for this week's Ein Stuck Himmel #63.

I won't have time to look at and leave comments for challenge site entries until this weekend.