June 2026
As you’re all probably aware, the weather in June carried on where May left off – hot!! And then hotter still, and as you can probably already guess, I’m really not looking forward to July & August. As I mentioned last month, the place I’d rather be is in the cooler climes of Norway, and after very little thought I’ve gone and booked another trip but sadly it’s not until next May!
June 2026 was a productive month with me returning to use a number of my photographs as the starting point for my images.
In the Library
I started the month with a simple composite using 2 elements and a background. I like the contrast in the different styles and think they blend well together.
Guardians of the Night
The Knight of Darkness, accompanied by the “Guardians of the Night”, protecting the gateway to the Land of Dreams.
I really enjoyed creating this one. I used 8 different elements and merged 2 backgrounds in this image. When I was happy with the composition and shadows etc I added a photo filter layer so all the layers had the same tonal effect.
Heron Water Feature
The small village of Langford in Gloucestershire, is where my ancestors are from and I find any excuse to visit. Every alternate year a number of the villagers open their garden gates and take part in the National Gardens Scheme. This year there were over 20 delights to wander round. Needless to say I took a number of photographs and plan to create some “English Cottage Garden” artworks with some of them.
Outside the kitchen window of one house is the Heron Water Feature, its a large ball water feature with a driftwood heron next to it. I loved the way it was nestled between the windows but gave such impact. The sound of the gentle trickle of the water was welcome in the afternoon sun.
The image was created by highlighting the focal area and used a watercolour and pen effect as my base and then altered the saturation, removed areas I didn’t want coloured, added more watercolour brushes and splatters until I was happy with the result.
Cricklade Art Festival
I rounded off a busy out and about month with a visit to Cricklade Art Festival, run by Cricklade Art Group.
Again I had my camera and captured a lady looking at the work of a fellow digital artist. With this image I used a series of actions to give a sketch effect.
I’ve already got some ideas for July and hope they work out. In the meantime, it’s back to my office, also known as the conservatory, to try and stop myself from melting and keep the PC cool.