Author Archives: charrcrail

BACK IN THE DAY… Once upon a time in the days before digital, I used to create artworks I called “embellishments”. I’d make photographs, print them in black and white and use the prints as canvases for my artwork by using pen and ink and liquid dyes to draw on and paint them. Sometimes the images were even cut up and glued back together in layers to create new imaginative worlds. Now with digital that can be done so easily. But at the time it was quite a bit of work though the results were still quite wonderful. This particular art piece I’ve created definitely harkens back to those deliciously tactile, hand-on days. The colors may be a bit more subtle than much of my work but as you artists know your visual instinct speaks it’s mind and you follow. I used a pen tool with my Wacom tablet to draw the lines.

Creativity. It’s been a powerful force in my life nearly as long as I can remember. Perhaps the first major moment I knew I had a different way of seeing things was when I was about five years old. I had a box of crayons and a coloring book. I was coloring in a bunch of grapes and was using a variety of colors– all in the purple and blue range. I remember thinking that grapes were not just one color when you REALLY look at them, so that’s how I colored them in. My mom noticed and exclaimed to me about it in such a way I knew I’d done something right. I think that was the moment I took on being an artist.

What was your moment? EXCERCISE:
Sit down, sit back, and get comfy. Take the next ten minutes to think back as far as you can about some moment in your past that you expressed something unique creatively. It may be as an artist with finger paints, it may be working on a model airplane, it may be a moment planting in a garden. But it happened. So dig deep into that memory bank of yours and find that moment, breathe deeply into it, look into your minds eye and try to fill out the scene, how it felt, what the day may have been like, where you were, who was with you, what were you doing…

How have you taken that creative moment with you into your life and how does it show up in your life now? Please leave a memory of your first creative moment here in the comments area.

Before and afters fascinate me, even in my own work. Had a creative bug last night and pulled together these few simple elements and created the strangely wonderful image on the left– ELVIS. It actually reminds me of the Steam Punk visual aesthetic a bit, which I find unique and beautiful in it’s dark and dreary way. This handsome face combined with these Charr Kissed Visual Toys from my personal Photoshop kit bag were very fun to play with. Comments? Questions? Bring it on!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAsS1tDNFWM?fs=1&w=480&h=295]Monday April 18th is the next date for the next K.I.S.S. Like Charr Workshop in Sacramento! This is an all-day, hands-on digital photographic art event that’s fun, educational and inspirational. Details coming!
Take a peek this video for a look-see at the How to K.I.S.S. Like Charr photography workshop and hear some great testimonials about how incredibly fun and easy Keeping it Simple really is when it comes to working in the digital photography realm.In this class you’ll learn some great Adobe Photoshop CS5 tools, work with type and you will create an incredible digital art piece from start to finish! Details and information coming soon. Want to be on the email list? Please let me know. Questions or comments? I’d love to hear from you!

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=widgetsamazon-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00064XR6Y&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr
I love this thing! Talk about simple and fun. Like a ring flash but for on the go kinds of situations. I’ve been having a lot of fun with mine and even though it says macro– try it for portraits, yeah! 🙂

Little Dancer by Lavona Gelardi
.

Kaylee by Marie Ortman
.
I’m delighted to show these two beautiful new works by Marie Ortman and Lavona Gelardi, both participants in my January K.I.S.S. Like Charr Digital Art Workshop. Each one of these images was created post-workshop using techniques, imagery and brushes I created for the course.
Thank you so much for sending these in. I’m incredibly impressed! They both show how using just a few tools can create something new and magical, adding a new layer of unique beauty or meaning to a photograph.
If anyone has comments or questions please share here in the comments box. I would love to hear from you.

http://www.youtube.com/get_player
WATCH THIS VIDEO TO SEE SOME OF THE BEAUTIFUL WORK THE PHOTOGRAPHY ARTISANS IN MY WORKSHOP CREATED!
The How to K.I.S.S. Like Charr January Workshop concluded last night and Woo Hoo, that was fun!
We took a picture of our model Monique at the start of class and then 14 people turned it into a great work of art, each one with a unique point of view. The imagination is a beautiful thing and I’m so in awe of it. As a teacher it was a great delight to see people light up when they learned some unexpected way of using a tool, some new knowledge or insight of the seemingly commonplace that suddenly elevated it to something closer to a carnival ride!
Yes, Photoshop is, as ever, my very favorite playground.
I’m so grateful for every single one of the members of this workshop who taught me as much as I taught them. Thank you and I can’t wait for the next one, I’ll keep you posted.

For more information or to get on my mailing list please email me at charr@charrcrail.com.

Thanks to Chris Goslow, the composer of the gorgeous music on this video. “The March of Rustling Leaves”

How to K.I.S.S. Like Charr is going fantastically well! Night two of three during this inaugural workshop put on through PPSV (Professional Photographers of the Sacramento Valley) was last night. In this hands-on workshop I’m sharing some of my personal secrets about how to create the lively and colorful art works I do– I’m teaching The Art of Making Art via Photography using the digital tools and knowledge I’ve developed over many years of doing this work professionally.
Last night as I walked around the room and saw what the students were doing I was so impressed and delighted, just glorious work! The energy in the room was incredibly exciting, everyone so engrossed in their project they literally groaned with displeasure when I told them we were winding it up for the night. Now that’s what you want as a teacher– excited, inspired people!
Our project has been to create a Rock n’ Roll Faerie. Last week I had the wonderful model Monique come in for a session on simple lighting and we captured the portrait that would be the foundation for the course. Even a few of the students took a turn with the camera and worked directly with our beautiful model.
Now they have an assignment to create their own piece using what I’ve taught them and using my brushes and textures off the workshop disk I gave them. I can hardly wait to see what they come up with and will be sharing here…

Photoshop Playground, my favorite place to play. And I’m constantly learning too by simple experimentation… What If. Here are two examples of What If in action. Both images are of the same girl from the same photo session– now Charr K.I.S.S.ed. You can see the original image and then what I did with it.
I’m quite enamored with the use of typography as a graphic element and bits and pieces from other images I’ve shot. In these images you can find gardens from a wedding, old buildings from downtown, my own line drawings– and as complicated as they may appear they use very few elements to create the look they have. 🙂

KEEP IT SIMPLE SWEETIE!

I love to learn but I hate reading the manual. Most of what I know is by simple trial error– What I call the “What If” game. For years I have been teaching myself in Photoshop how to do the fun stuff beyond the basics by playing What If. Yes, sometimes I do look up how to do something, but consider that playing my game What If can be a lot of fun too. In this blog I will be posting art projects, workshop experiences and students work. It’s gonna be fun. Stay tuned…