A Tribe of Starfish. Boomerang Beach, Australia. Day 22 and 23. Art. Montage. Photography.

in #collage5 years ago (edited)

I move
Imperceptibly.
Beneath waves. Over sand.
Holding the energy of earthly time.
I am receptive to the light of the stars.
~Starfish.
~A Magical Moment


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What matters most are the simple pleasures:
So abundant that we can all enjoy them.
Happiness doesn't lie in the objects:
We gather around us.
To find it:
All we need to do:
Is open our eyes.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.


Third Seven Day Covenant.

I have worked with many traditional art modalities: drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, sculpture and photography. And at this stage of my Art Journey I'm seeing a lot of relevant relationships and connections with mediums converging within my art-making practice. ~Ally.

In the first two weeks of my Covenant to make an artwork, or do something that contributes to the making of an artwork and share it at Steemit every day, I developed a small series of Eco-collages. ~Ally.

For my third Seven-Day Covenant, I worked on a single piece: A Pink Rose that incorporated some of the elements that appeared in my Eco-collage: Pink Rose. Day 15

It's now my fourth Seven-Day Covenant, and I'm working with the theme of rockpools and starfish using the same format that evolved in A Pink Rose: Three small squares in vertical alignment on either side of a square.

Boomerang Bay.

All the images in this present series are based on photographs that I took of the rockpools at Boomerang Beach, 400 kms north of Sydney a few years ago.

I described the wonder of the day and the rockpools in particular in A Magical Moment.

Sheltering in the shallows of the crevices and all along the edges of the rocks of the rockpools were not just a couple of starfish but whole tribes of them: Half buried in the sand, their muted grey, decorated with different markings of dusty pinks and pale blues, punctuated with bright aqua. ~Ally.

A Tribe of Starfish.

A Tribe of Starfish was virtually complete yesterday. However, I wanted to add another layer to the final image before publishing it.

I've only recently started to dabble with Photoshop again. Not one for manuals, I just play intuitively and then try to remember what I've done. A total novice, but I'm finding my way around layering and the logical ordering of layers now. So I'm really happy with my slow but steady self-relearning program.

Base image.

Have you ever seen so many starfish all huddled together?

This image has NOT been photoshopped yet either.


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First Stage.

Six small squares with a gradient blend of aqua blue were added to the background image.


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Second Stage.

Six small squares that were slightly smaller with a gradient blend of a darker aqua blue were added to the inside of all the six squares.


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Third Stage.

The six small inner squares were blended with the 'rubber' tool to obtain softer variations of tone.


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Fourth Stage.

Before I could finish A Pink Starfish. Day 21 I had another idea for the images in the smaller squares: To use images of single starfish in each of the smaller squares: In contrast to images of the rockpool environment in the background of the larger square.

These are the original images of the starfish that were used. Aren't their colours absolutely AMAZING?


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Fifth Stage.

Images of the six single starfish were added to the small squares.


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Sixth Stage.

A little bit of blending: Squares, starfish and the background partially merging. This was the stage reached at the end of Day 22.


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Seventh Stage.

I wanted to blend another image of the rockpool to the background image.

A view of the rockpool after the tide went out.

Can you see the tiny blue starfish down the bottom of this photograph?


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Water returning to the rockpool.

It was mesmerizing watching the flow of the water coming into the rockpool, covering over the rocks and starfish and then returning to the ocean. I decided to use this image to blend with the original background to give the final image the feeling of water and movement.


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Final Image.

Added the image of water returning into the rockpool, covering over the rocks and starfish. Subtlely blending it into the rocks of the original image and then further bringing the starfish out with the 'rubber.'

The final touch was a very fine layer of tinted aqua blue.


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Tomorrow

Tomorrow I have a feeling for playing with different backgrounds: Using other photographs taken of and from this location.

And all the time I'm playing with Photoshop, my Creative Muse has other ideas for where this may all be going now. I've ALWAYS wanted to draw and paint rockpools.


A heart that is holding infinite possibilities.
A creative who is learning to trust the mystery of what will be.
A spirit that is willing to fly into new creative realms and share the journey.
~Ally.


Art and Photography: ©Alison Lee Cousland.
SONY Mark2 A7.


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Posted from Earth ♥︎ Sand ♥︎ Water ♥︎ Ice with SteemPress : http://www.allyinspirit.info/2019/05/09/a-tribe-of-starfish-boomerang-beach-australia-day-22-and-23-art-montage-photography/

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Simply amazing!! ❤️❤️

I love how you pair your art with quotes that make us think afresh:

What matters most are the simple pleasures:
So abundant that we can all enjoy them.
Happiness doesn't lie in the objects:
We gather around us.
To find it:
All we need to do:
Is open our eyes

And thanks for showing me that when we use digital tools, our focus can still be on Being and Creating, instead of doing for the sake of doing.

Still need to learn that.

Hugs, my friend!

Hello!

This post has been manually curated, resteemed
and gifted with some virtually delicious cake
from the @helpiecake curation team!

Much love to you from all of us at @helpie!
Keep up the great work!


helpiecake

Manually curated by @veryspider.

Thanks ever so much @helpiecake and @helpie and @veryspider. Love the variety of all your cakes. ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎

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This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.
@c-squared runs a community witness. Please consider using one of your witness votes on us here

Thanks ever so much @c-squared ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎

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Those starfish are stunning! I don't think I've ever seen that many in one spot before. Love the main image, but then also the individual beauties, as well. Oh I so want to go to the beach! I enjoy all of the nature around me every day, but there is just something soothing about the ebb and flow of the tides. Hopefully some time this year I'll get away for just a short while! :)

Thanks ever so much @plantstoplanks. I've seen the odd one or two at different beaches around Sydney but NEVER whole communities of starfish. And each one with unique markings and colours.

It's the end of summer here now and I'm feeling the yearning to be on an autumn/winter beach now too. I'm hoping to go away for a week in a few weeks time ~ Down south to a place called Shell Harbour. Not so many starfish on the reefs there but ancient middens ~ Pools of ancient shells that I left it too late to photograph properly last time I was there.

I hope your wish/need to be soothed by the ebb and flow of tides will be granted. Food for the Soul ~ Restores our sense of equilibrium. ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎

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To answer your question.....yes TRULY amazing colours.
I liked your photograph when I first saw it but grew to love it once I had seen how you put it together. A real labour of talent and love.
Well done.

Thanks ever so much @justjoy. The colouring of each starfish was quite different. Many were buried in the sand so that at first you just don't see them ~ But once you do, you open up to seeing more and more of them.

So pleased you like the visual outcome of playing with these images. Will be interesting to see how I can interpret these images as paintings now. ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎

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I also paint and can see what creative artwork could come out of this.
Make sure you post it.

They are great! Both the color and the composition are wonderful!

Thanks ever so much @amalinavia. Once the structure has been worked out ~ It sets the boundaries for a lot of creativity. I have always loved to work in a series like this. The format may still change but at the moment I love the simplicity of it. ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎

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