First lesson at Digital Art Journaling class

Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, as I am still working through the class materials.  But the first theme word is HEART, and I got an image in my head immediately.

The class is over at Jessica Sprague.com and I am already way behind on the class!  Luckily, the class and materials remain available to you forever - I love the lack of pressure!

Jessica Sprague and Nancie Rowe Janitz; Digital Art Journaling Class:; background; map; staircase.; Scrapgirls Splendor kit; Keri Schueller: candlestick.

Explanation:  the words are from a psalm and the smoke represents prayers rising up to heaven.   I just finished reading the story of Jacob in Genesis, so that is probably what brought the staircase to mind.

Newburyport Street Front

I have been down with my usual winter illness.  I am hoping that the fact I was able to sit up for a while and create this means the siege is almost over.  I took a photo of some rocks that I previously converted to black and white, and made it into a larger piece.  (Duplicated layers, flipped, went over all demarcation lines with smudge tool and brushes.)  Then I looked through photos till I found one that seemed to want to go with that template.  I made four copies of the stone template to make its scale even smaller.  Then I posterized a duplicate of the photo.  I also made another copy with a layer mask to just reveal the brick layer.  I played with blending modes and opacity to get the final result.