UNDER
Maureen Maxwell
Al BaMass - The Birds Fly Home To Rest
DOWN UNDERartists
Australia and New Zealand
Welcome everyone to our first winter edition of Artists Down Under.
The warm days are dwindling, the nights are getting colder, the fires have all started in your homes to keep you toasty warm, now what better things have you got to do as an artist! - lets learn new style’s, let’s practise old one, let’s try something different, let’s look at other peoples styles. let’s just create. It doesn’t matter whether we are new artists or more experienced ones, it doesn’t matter if we are good or bad, what matters is that it warms your heart and makes you happy
This month we have a tutorial from Andrew Haysom on a new Photoshop plug-in called “Retrotone”, well worth a read.
Coffee and Pixels have had another good meet up and have come up with a new theme for the month artist challenge which is “Symmetry”. Some excellent images have been created to share with you. The Art Buddies also have shared another of their “Quotes Challenges”. This month’s theme was set by Christina Brunton which was ‘Your favourite Musical Instrument’.
The girls from the Redlands Digital Group share another of their images in their Chinese Whispers Series, its amazing how each month they are totally different from the last
We have some amazing art to share with you from Penny de Jong, Robyn McLauchlan and Andrew Haysom, three very talented artists and of course our Artists Monthly Challenge in which the theme set was “Teapots”. I hope you enjoy. Also don’t miss our treat on P68-69 Surreal Pop Art, by two talented artists Marina Hobbs and Robyn McLauchlan. Hopefully this will become a regular feature.
Well that’s it from me for this month, stay safe everyone and look out for each other.
Pam Henderson
Backgrounds: Foxy Squirrel Laitha’s Designs - Jai Johnson - White Lane Studio Copyright 2017 © Artists in this publication are responsible for any rights appertaining to their work.
Rosa Perry - Dirt Road
Julie Powell - Eastern Yellow Robin
https://colincampbell.myportfolio.com
https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artists-1/colin-campbell/
http://www.artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-4/pam-henderson/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/88165766@N05/ https://www.artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-3/karen-waalwyk/
artists Achievements monthly down under
artists down under facebook page
The Artists Down Under Public Facebook page has been set up to allow the artists in the group to showcase their work and to enable them to share promotional information about themselves, e.g. exhibitions, awards etc...
You can find the Artists Down Under Public Facebook page at this address; https://www.facebook.com/groups/ArtistsDownUnder/
So, if you are an artist in the group, don’t forget to regularly share your work and information here, and to let your friends and family know about the page if they are interested in viewing the latest art and news from the group.
If you are a reader of the magazine who does not have access to the page, please click the link above and request to join. When you request to join you will be asked to answer three simple questions that will allow us to determine if you are an eligible artist who may wish to join the group and therefore be able to post on the page, or a member of the public who can view, comment and like the work on the page. It’s a great place to see some great art from this vibrant group every day!
Two ADU members receive a special gift
Our very good Awake friend Diane Stafford from WhiteLaneStudio continue to give gifts as a reward for members of the Artists Down Under group who contribute to the ADU Facebook page by regularly posting their artworks and supporting other members with their comments.
Diane Stafford from Chester, UK, designs Photoshop textures and overlays for photo artists and photographers to use in their digital artworks. Diane has created another special kit just for Artists Down Under for the month of JUNE.
Two artists will receive a Diane kit each. Diane Stafford can be found at https://whitelanestudio.co.uk/biolinks
The JUNE lucky winners are
Diane Stafford (WhiteLaneStudio) Texture & Overlay Kit
- Anthea Scotte
- Kim Ricci
LIVING THE PHOTO ARTISTIC LIFE
https://issuu.com/thephotoartisticlife/docs/living_the_photo_artistic_life_-_issue_no._135?fr=sMjc4Nzg0NDE1MDQ
Congratulations to the following artists for having their images chosen to appear in the International magazine “Living The Photo Artistic Life”.
Christina Brunton
- Watercolour Ladies
Denise Hunter Logan
- Go With The Flow
Penny de Jong
- Magical Fairyland
Sandra Dann
- Otter Fashionista
Rosa Perry
- Dreaming Between Pages
CatBeagle Creations
- Parallel Lives
Maureen Maxwell
- The Fairy Garden Treasure
Ilona Abou-Zolof
- Luminous Passage
- Savanna Gathering
Denise Hunter Logan - Go With The Flow
Ilona Abou-Zolof - Luminous Passage
Ilona Abou-Zolof - Savannah Gathering
CatBeagle Creations - Parallel Lives
LIVING THE PHOTO ARTISTIC LIFE
Maureen Maxwell - The Fairy Garden Treasure
Penny de Jong - Magical Fairyland
Christina Brunton - Watercolour Ladies
Rosa Perry - Dreaming Between Pages
Sandra Dann - Otter Fashionista
christina brunton ( AUSTRALIA )
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosa_perry https://rosa-perry.myportfolio.com/artwork
https://photos.kogekar.com/ https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-2/hemant-kogekar/
TIM BLAKE ( NEW ZEALAND )
STORIES OF A TIME LONG PAST
art by PENNY DE JONG
LLEWELLYN LLAMA ESQUIRE
REMINGTON THE ROGUISH RABBIT
MARINA HOBBS ( AUSTRALIA )
OCEANIA TURTLE
OCEAN STORY III
https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artists-3/lynsey-stirland-mitchell/ https://catbeaglecreations.myportfolio.com/
CAPTAIN BYRON’S BIG DAY OUT
https://www.changeoffocus.com.au
https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-4/sharyn-walker/
HOUSE OF WONDERS
DENISE CAUCHI ( AUSTRALIA )
FUN IN THE SNOW
AVIATOR GIRL
art by ANDREW HAYSOM
BEGINNINGS
WHICH ONE’S PINK
CRIMSON FLUX
BUBBLES
BLACK HOLE
ENVY IS THE BOND BETWEEN
SET THE CONTROLS FOR THE HEART OF THE SUN
DAISY
https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artists-4/sharon-rankmore/
https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-4/sue-masterson/
- SHED DOGS
BLADE
https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-3/kim-ricci/
THE JOY OF DANCE
artists
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and New Zealand
SOME PHOTOSHOP INSPIRATION
RETRATONE PHOTOSHOP PLUG-IN
By Andrew Haysom
Brady Erikson from Texturelabs is one of my favourite Photoshop experts and presenters. His Texturelabs website has so many gorgeous free textures and other resources and his Photoshop video tutorials are simply the best there are. I can watch many other presenters Photoshop videos and learn little, but Brady’s videos always surprise me and always teach me things.
Photoshops built-in features for creating halftones are very old and not very flexible and often create less than satisfactory results that look very little like authentic vintage printed halftones.
Over the years I have been following Brady he has created a few videos and resources for creating better halftones, but his new Retratone Photoshop plug-in is simply amazing. It is easy to use and creates the best halftones I have ever seen in Photoshop.
Retratone comes with over 100 presets, but with all the different levels of control you have, the results you can get can be infinitely varied. In figures 1a – 1f I have shown just six of the 100 presets, with each example shown at 100%, 200%, 400% and 800%.
SOME PHOTOSHOP INSPIRATION (CONT
Once you’ve chosen a preset you can change many different parameters from the ink colours and attributes to the pattern used or pattern attributes like the angle, scale and roughness.
Figure 2 shows one of the available presets with default settings and then two other examples, one where just the scale has been changed from the defaults and another where just the roughness has been changed from the defaults.
SOME PHOTOSHOP INSPIRATION (CONT .....)
Using the plug-in is easy, simply choose a layer (or a group of layers) and then in the plug-in choose a preset or simply hit Apply. Retratone will convert the layer (or group of layers) to a smartobject and in a few moments the halftone effect will be applied.
Figure 3 shows the main Retratone panel.
The buttons across the top of the panel allow you to Remove and Hide the Retratone effect, to convert it to traditional halftone print layers, and to pause updates. Without pausing updates the Retratone effect will be refreshed with every parameter change, so if you know you want to make a few changes then pausing updates until you have made the multiple changes can save time.
The changes you can make to the halftone pattern are in the first large section of the panel. You can change the actual pattern used, the scale, the roughness, the angle of the pattern as well as the brightness and contrast.
The second large section gives you immense control over the ink / colours. There are two modes here, Color Match and Tint (see figure 3).
In Color Match mode Retratone attempts to match the ink colours you’ve chosen and blend them in such a way to match your image. You have total control here – you can add and remove colours (up to four colours), you can change the background colour, you can change how the inks blend (multiply) and how much they fade. You can also change the order in which the inks are applied – in the diagram the “top” ink is at bottom left, then proceed around the four colours in a clockwise direction, so the bottom ink is at bottom right. You change the order of two inks by clicking the double-headed arrow between them.
In Tint mode, Retratone uses the colours more like a gradient map and you control where in the shadows, midtones and highlights each colour lives using the sliders at the bottom of the colours square (see figure 3).
SOME PHOTOSHOP INSPIRATION (CONT
You can also add some distress using the Dust & Scratches slider and some printing “inaccuracies” using the Plate Drift slider.
As previously mentioned there are 100 presets in Retratone and you can edit and save your own as well (see figure 4).
There are two tabs in the Presets panel, “Preset Styles” and “Ink Colors Only”. The first tab applies all attributes (including ink colours) and the second, as its name implies just changes the ink colours.
The plug-in also provides the capability to produce clean print-ready separated layers.
This Photoshop plug-in really does create an amazing array of just beautiful halftone effects and I highly recommend it if you have a need for that sort of style in your projects.
You’ll find the plug-in on the Texturelabs website here, https://texturelabs.org/tools/retratone-plugin-for-photoshop/
Andrew Haysom
https://www.juliepowellphoto.com/ https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-2/julie-powell/
https://trish-hoskin.myportfolio.com/
http://www.artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-4/trish-hoskin/
COLIN KILLICK ( AUSTRALIA )
FISHING UNDER THE STARS
DOWN artistsUNDER
Australia and New Zealand
DIGITAL ARTISTS GROUP
A COLLABORATIVE GROUP OF PHOTO ARTISTS
CHINESE WHISPERS #102
“THE
BAT LADY’S HOME“
STAGE 1 STAGE 2
Pam started this collab and it really got me thinking. However, as my muse has been holidaying in Antartica for a some time, it forced her to come back. Just what I needed!
We hope you enjoy!
Maureen Maxwell
Maureen Maxwell
Pam Henderson
art by ROBYN MCLAUCHLAN
“ HAVING FUN ”
HAVING FUN AT THE YACHT CLUB
HAVING FUN AT THE ART GALLERY
HAVING FUN AT THE CRICKET
HAVING FUN AT THE JAZZ CLUB
HAVING FUN AT THE OPERA
HAVING FUN AT THE THEME PARK
HAVING FUN AT THE WINERY
HAVING FUN ON THE PARK BENCH
HAVING FUN PLAYING CROQUET
HAVING FUN RIDING THE TRAM
http://www.artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-3/maureen-maxwell/
DON’T LOOK BACK
AL BAMASS ( AUSTRALIA )
https://www.artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-3/mick-rooney/
surreal pop art marina hobbs
Marina Hobbs - The Long Lunch Ladies
Marina Hobbs - The Lawn Bowls Ladies
surreal pop art
robyn mclauchlan
Robyn McLauchlan - At The Lavender Farm
Robyn McLauchlan - Girls Day Out
https://www.sandradimagery.com/
)
http://www.artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-2/george-koncz/
http://georgekonczphotography.com/
https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artists-1/bev-terawskyj/
‘COFFEE
and PIXELS’
by Maureen Maxwell
THIS MONTHS CHALLENGE
THEME IS Symmetry
Marie Helyar - The Creative Table
Marie Helyar - Between Then and Now
Jenny Davidson - Canola Field
Denise Hunter Logan - Cygnets
Rosa Perry - Symmetry Of Grace
Bev Terawskyj - Garden Symmetry
Andrew Haysom - Swirling Symmetry
Christina Brunton - Symmetrical Woman
Ilona Abou-Zolof - Mirror Within
Prue Wright - Pretty Woman
Maureen Maxwell - Nature’s Version of Symmetry
kaylene helliwell ( new zealand )
LONE RIDER
LEOPARD
ILONA ABOU-ZOLOF ( AUSTRALIA )
GOLDEN GRACE
DOWN artistsUNDER
Australia and New Zealand
A COLLABORATIVE GROUP OF PHOTO ARTISTS
QUOTE CHALLENGE by the Art Buddies
A bit of background first:
In our Art Buddies group, we’re a vibrant mix of ADU members from across Australia, each contributing individual talents and viewpoints. Our ‘Art Buddies’ team includes Christina Brunton, Denise Cauchi, Ilona Abou-Zolof, Marie Helyar, and Ngaire Danvers. We gather regularly on Zoom, taking turns to set our creative challenges.
Challenge: “Your favourite musical instrument”
For this challenge, create an artistic piece that shows your favourite musical instrument. Let your imagination guide you; surreal, playful, or poetic interpretations are all welcome.
This challenge was set by Christina Brunton
Our Art Creations:
We hope our creations motivate you to share your own interpretation on the Artists Down Under Facebook page. Your artistic expression matters to us, and we are excited to see what you create!
Christina Brunton - Guitar
Ilona Abou-Zolof - Timeless Instrument
Ngaire Danvers - Musical Instrument
Marie Helyar - Where Colour Becomes Music
Denise Cauchi - Glass Drums
artists photographic challenge theme: monthly artistic down under TEAPOT
Pam Henderson - Neighbours
Marie Helyar - The Teapot That Remembered
Ilona Abou-Zolof - Teapot Tenants
Rosa Perry - Brewing Thoughts
Christina Brunton - Quirky Teapot
CatBeagle Creations - The Alcolyte’s First Encounter With The Almighty Teapot
Marina Hobbs - The Teapot Fairies
Robyn McLaughlan - Picket Fence Cottage
Karen Waalwyk - Teapot Waterfall
Penny de Jong - Tea Leaf Ritual
Prue Wright - It’s Raining Teapots
Bev Terawskyj - Saved By My Teapot
Denise Hunter Logan - It’s A Brew-Tea-Ful Day
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