Portfolio

This is a collection of artwork that I've been using in the blog and creating over the last few months, almost completely my work.

 I wanted to try out a torn paper effect with Photoshop and this is the result of my first attempt thanks to the guys at Spoon Graphics.

 I created this one for a bulletin cover for a Sunday service on unity and peace.

 This one you saw a month ago when I was first trying out a Photoshop technique I learned from a cool blog, at the same time it was my anniversary so I created this for my wife with the poem that you see in the post "8 Years Ago Today" . 

This I created with a new brush tool I created from some Matrioshka's we have hanging around the house. In fact you can see another collection of them in a full color version later in this post. I put this particular rendition together for the blog background when I first started this blog.

 A recent addition I made this as a concept piece for a travel agency that visits the classical sites in and around the Mediterranean. The paper texture I pulled from a site on the web but the rest of the content (pillars, pedestals and foundations I modified from photos I took while visiting the 7 churches of Asia Minor.

 This was a piece I threw together to accompany a post I wrote for the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center in NYC. It is by far the least original content. Only the text is the product of my own creativity, but the layout and format were created using the same style of masking with old paper textures as the previous watercolor and travel page files.

I was thinking of branding something with this name and thought it would be fun to try and piece together the Matrioski that my son plays with around the house. Since then we've also added a Cheburashka doll to our collection thanks to my parents recent trip to Moscow.

This was something I put together from a couple of photos of a friends birthday party. I wanted to try the water color technique on something other than manila paper background and liked how this worked out. Might be a fun way to send out invitations for your kids next birthday party.

I created this splash effect, again something I learned to do with Photoshop as taught by Onextrapixel's group of tutorials. I call this one "The Big Splash" in memory of the musical "Upside Down."

This I created on the 9th of February, 2012 remembering how blessed I am to be a husband and father almost twice over and at the same time this is a challenge to me to be among those who are blessed over and over because of their struggles.

I created this one along with several other word art pieces at the beginning of February, 2012. This just seemed a useful use of my new skill turning the heart candy phrases into a Valentine's Day wish. Hope you guys enjoy this Valentine's Day with someone special.

After trying my hand at the text over text concept I thought I might venture out into text portraits. This is my first text portrait using a photo of my wife taken by a good friend of ours. I like how it looks at this size but somehow the pixels on this one seem much lower than the pixels on my previous projects. Still a pretty neat idea, hope to improve upon these as time goes by February 12th, 2012.

Words my son used a lot in the past few months leading up to his two year birthday. He continues to surprise me every day.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will. - Romans12:2

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. - 2 Cor. 3:17-18

Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."

-2 Timothy2:19

Sometimes we like to let our hair down. and bask in the glory of the This was a first attempt at using a flame effect on flowing hair. Acts 2:2-3 "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them."

Trying out the bling bling b'dazzler effect with the likely name of our future daughter. Life is after all our greatest treasure and one that we can get from no one but the Heavenly Father. It's only fitting that her name be that which makes her special and good, life filled and filling. 

I learned this cool gradient background mixed with the mosaic like patchwork effect. I remember using this effect years ago when I was first getting acquainted with PS3 but learned how to mix it nicely with the gradient color tones for some nice backgrounds. I then took a little time and put together a more patchwork mosaic text using some skills that I learned in creating my text filled type works. I think I could have made this look more mosaic like with a couple more square edges on the text.

My first attempt at using a distortion effect taught online by Doucin Pierre. He used a basketball player, I decided to use a photo I'd taken years ago while board on a Greek island. I was really excited that I found a short and much easier way to create good shadows using the ctrl + click select function, filling a new layer and then skewing the layer, multiplying it and applying a Gaussian Blur Effect. Jump for Joy :)

Happy Birthday to my nephew Charlie on his first birthday. I do hope that he has a great birthday and that it's not too messy :) See you soon Charlie. 

A photo of my wife pregnant with our third child. Advocating natural birth after two successful home births is a lot easier now, for a veteran mother like her. The process may be new for many of you but the results are beautiful and natural and although frightening at times still an excellent example of the gift of planning.