Abstract Letter H design created in Adobe Illustrator.

Extra Credit. My book cover was done in Photoshop with the help of dafont.com for specialized font. I wanted to use a photo I had from Halloween. We were dressed as vampires and so I went along with the mystery horror genre. I choose a Polish title since the book takes place in the 1980's Communist Poland.

The story is about a couple who were notorious for blood sucking. Not only from each other but anyone they could get their hands, rather mouth on. They never left any evidence and their footsteps were hard to trace. They lived in a small town in southern Poland and during communist times there were other issues to address rather than these blood sucking tyrants. Rafal and Janeska had grown up close to each other and grew closer as the got older. They grew close enough to share the taste of each others blood. They were considerate to those who willingly contributed but not so gentle with those who were not.

This is a story of the lives of these two individuals who's lives and practiced rituals were way outside of the norm. Get the book a delve into the lives of these artist vampires.

Photo montage was fun and not as difficult as I has expected. Once you learn the keystrokes and get into a pattern of what you are doing it becomes more simplified. I choose the iconic building in downtown Phoenix The Westward Ho to represent. The problem I ran across was having smudges in every single one of my photos, this was due to the faultiness of my digital camera. This put more of a work load on myself having to use the cloning tool to blend the marks out. However I later realized once I put another layer and booster the contrast the marks wouldn't have been visible in the first place.

Yes! A first attempt at Photoshop. I feel it was a success because everything that I had wanted to achieve had been done. What I now realize is that wow the possibilities are endless. This is the overall theme I am expressing in my self portrait. I depicted myself as the Lightening character from Final Fantasy XIII who is tough, determined, independent cares deeply for her younger sister and is easily annoyed. I connected with this character, bought the costume dressed up and posed for this picture not knowing what I was ever going to do with it. Well now here it is I put her in my dream space where the possibilities are again endless. What we choose for our lives is exactly what we get.It is you who determines your own happiness and we make choices everyday that shape our futures. This is why she is in this space atmosphere its all unknown and still unwritten, like my life and future. I feel confident that if we believe in this idea we can manifest our own choice destinies. I included the control tower because I was an Air Traffic Controller in t he Navy and this is a little homage to that time in my life. It fit with the theme of space considering we would most likely be flying around out there, maybe in this lifetime.

first blog

My definition of ART is expression, something to look at experience and enjoy. Art can serve a purpose very meaningful or can be an evoked feeling in someone. A purposeful form of expression. Art in my opinion is not only subject to painting or drawing but also music, and theater. These are all areas that have been thoughts turned to actual expressive forms to be viewed by others.

Favorite artist or artists art Andrea Mantegna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trompe-l'œil, Richard Haas I have recently been obsessed with trompe l'oeil paintings.These are artists i have been studying lately. However I am still interested in the masters. I have been reading a book on Picasso and learning more about how he was as a person and how that was intergrated into his life and more interestingly his art.

Objectives for this class are to learn how, and what options I have that include digital media. I want to know more of what is out there digitally. What I can create on the computer opposed to just a canvas. I want to learn more of how to actually create what I can imagine. Now, that is the goal of all artists, right. When asked my favorite color my immediate response is," color of what" but on a whole I would say warm colors. Reds, oranges and yellows I am drawn to.

Janessa