I’m reliably informed that your computer desktop isn’t supposed to be so very cluttered that you can’t see your desktop wallpaper. Hunh. Who knew? So, in an effort to accomplish a spot of tidy (and actually see my wallpaper again) I’ve decided to post some of the art-y bits and pieces that I’ve made…and then not properly filed. (Did you hear that? I think my library degree is trying to get in here. Uh oh…)

To start with, as you can see above, is my shiny new Jellyfish Rainbow. (You can find a bigger version here.) And no, before you ask, I did not mess with the colors. They came from a color changing light in the Jellyfish tank at the Steinhart Aquarium. It just worked out that I took enough pictures for once.

Next up are a couple of icons featuring an opinionated duck:

The idea for these actually came from a story that was reading, where someone mentioned a theoretical dream scenario featuring a bunch of disapproving ducks. So…I immediately opened my image program and got to work.

And speaking of icons, here are a few that I made from the cover of I Shall Not Want by Debbie Viguié.

*whew* Well, that’s a few things taken care of. Hope that y’all enjoy them.

This is actually a differently cropped version of the original photograph, rather than the original itself, but it gives you an idea of where I started:

And then…

…came this version, of which I am fond.

And finally, a bit of fun with the Dry Brush tool gives us:

Fun, no? Right, I’m off to work on a few other things now. What are you working on this month?

Unexpected!Icon!

Yes, I had a wee bit of fun with Photoshop. You can see the original image here, if you like.

So, I had a little fun this weekend making a few icons from a book cover for a friend. (She’s one of the authors, you see.) The book is coming out on Sept 7th, if I recall aright. Anyway, I’ve got the book cover after the cut tag for those of you who want to compare. The banner at the top of this post is the new banner on her site (but smaller, you know).

The image I mostly started with:

The icons:

The image I mostly started with:

The icons:

Stay tuned. There may be more art soon.

The Book:

If there’s one thing that you are guaranteed to find in my notebooks, it’s doodles. In this first photo you can see my habit of counting down the time until class was over. Oh! And don’t forget the ever popular faceless people. My attempts at faces tend to ruin a picture, so I stopped trying…

Here we see my attempts to duplicate the Professor’s cute doodle. You can’t say I didn’t try. Sigh.

And finally, you can see a bit of my left-handed writing in the date on this one. Apparently I saw a bumper sticker with this motto and it tickled my funny bone. Still does, for that matter. I have a thing for bumper stickers, you see. I need to get one made that says, “Support your local medical examiner. Die strangely.”

One notebook down, a whole stack to go…

Okay. Before you watch this video, I should warn you. If you are an HSP or at all sensitive, you are going to need a tissue for the viewing. Personally, it’s the instrumental version of Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters that just kills me. Enjoy.