Mastering the Art (NOT!!)

Nothing ventured nothing learnt.. but at what cost? To a complete novice Photoshop has its charms well hidden! Fortunately I have insider help and after some private tuition I'm starting to make headway. Today in college it was a day of playing with Photoshop - some good tips from my tutor, not just techniques but short cuts that make sense. That said she still went too fast most of the time - what little I managed to write down is re doable the rest .. ah well I'm back tomorrow and I'll just have to ask again! Its all about practise practise practise - its a new toy and good fun and probably very useful in the long run but I still feel that it can't really take the place of constructive textile give me a good weaving my time of the day... I know its not - but I cant help thinking its cheating and now when I look at lovely fabric I wonder how much is photoshoped.....

I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this - its more about experimenting with what can be achieved which appears at this point to be overwhelmingly endless - and getting used to the different tools and how to apply them best. I would hope that practice will make the difference between basic obvious photoshopping and a more professional finish. Today I've just been messing about with my line drawings, positioning them - playing with colour fill - and hues - resizing - repeat designs and generally cutting and pasting bits and pieces.

I've looked at lots of different designers for inspiration and the traditional designs of Trusthouse Studios have provided the colour palette for the above - while Natalie Ratcliffes wonderful drawn and washed out designs suggested the colours and design below.

using one of the patterns I have already positioned I have experimented with different colour fills and shading, This pattern is inspired by Abigail Borg's simple two colour patterns and next I'm going to try to mimic some of her more ornate patterns

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