Caroled for H02

What a lovely holiday gift......
This Menorah started as a very short sketch made in my sketch pad when I was babysitting away from the computer...then translated to the computer. The Menorah was sketched using the path pen, filled and made a layer effect and drop shadow.
After the Challenge I used it to make a creative greeting card for family and friends.

Wishing all very CREATIVE new year with lots of challenges, trophies, and continuing the great giving spirit of this great community!!!!

Thanks to Janee for letting us all meet, create, and help each other......
--Carole

GrBear for G16, N05, and X19

Thank you all for your votes, your significant critiques, your participation and your attention in this Challenge.

But most thanks go to Janee for doing a great work, holding all this together all these years improving it helping us improve too everytime we browse her site or take part in her Challenges.

I'm not new in this Challenge; I just appear rarely, but always check it out and follow the work of the participants. Some are doing great works, some other need a lot of practice...

If I could say something to help, as the most useful hint, is this: spend as much time as you can on your virtual canvas; play with the filters, the colors, the layers. check the tutorials as they can give you a lot of help on some special issues, but you need to spend all your valuable time working on your own and playing with your work.

AND!! go out and buy some real colors too!!! brushes and canvas/papers... it is a whole new experience and much different when you get all dirty with colors in your fingers, clothes, the smell of the different types of color, sometimes the different smell every color has! I happened to me when I grabbed my brushes again after 10 yrs of computing!! Photoshop is great, Corel is a wonder, but the real thing is inside those little tubes and boxes of color.

Hope to see you all in the next Challenge, get inspired by your works and if I find the time to take part too.

Thanks again!
--GrBear

Joanne for G07 and X21

I am so happy to have had 2 of my images selected for the trophy in the December Challenge. As always, it was a positive experience even though I was wishing for more time to work at entries than I had! The bell is a result of having a sleigh bell here to give me the idea and then having the tools to work out drawing the bell. I used what I have learned through Janee's Blank Canvas course to wield that Pen Tool! The other image also relied on the Pen Tool and BCcourse in a big way. First, creating the snowflake that was tessellated to create the background for the little appliquéd Santa and then drawing the Santa himself! Read about what Tessellation can do for you here.

And, how handy to have a brush to do some of the tedious 'stitching' for the quilt! I typed a row of x's, captured them as a brush and then painted the cross stitches.

My acceptance image was done between Photoshop and Illustrator CS2. The image of me is from a photo, using Live Trace and a blending mode that got rid of the background.

Congratulations to all who entered! As has been said, we are all winners because of the fun, learning and community we experience through the Challenge. Thanks Janee, your hard work and perseverance keep this whole thing running as one of the very best sites on the Net!
--Joanne
www.rjoannej.com

Kim Sallaway for K02

Thank you to everyone who voted for my image! Winning with this entry is special to me because the artwork has gone through a number of incarnations. I have used it for everything from a giant painted stage backdrop, to posters, post cards, air brushed, batiked t-shirts... and now Kwanzaa art. The concept of Unity is a strong one. We are parts of the whole and we affect our communities with our actions.

Thanks to Janee for giving me the opportunity to share this art. You rock!

For the last 3 years I have sent out a photo of the day...potd, to a growing list of recipients. It has helped me to grow as an artist, learning more about the nuances of Photoshop and picture making with a camera. To see some of the images I have shared please visit the POTD galleries on my website.

If you would like to be added to the daily mailings please send me an email and I will send a return one to you to get you added to my list.
--Kimba

Krisse Hill for X15

This was my first time in the Art Challenge and I was too busy to make more than one. It was really really nice that you liked it and voted for it.

I do still have so much to learn, but I'm carefree, knowing I'm studying with such talent people as you and with such professional teachers. I'm so proud of it. Thank you one more time and I wish you all welcome to my websites to see more of my works. The sites seem to grow all the time and my skills for doing them. I'm still a novice also in that area.

With greetings
--Krisse
http://krisse.tuna.fi/index.html.en

Min for Z10

Norma (enjave) for X10

Tis the season to be jolly, Another Challenge Oh my golly! So much fun we had a ball. Thank you, thank you one and all! My woodland Santa was fun to do, My special thanks to all of you! And especially to Janee for all this fun; She's taking a rest in the Arizona sun. --njv

UKTony for G01

A big thank you to all in voting for my picture. You have made my Year. Thanks also to Janee and all the members of the "Community" for their help and inspiration.

I really am over the moon. Happy New Year to all!

--Tony

Wi for Z06