As you all know, I am predominantly a macro photographer with a passion for flowers and insects and occasionally dabbling in Photoshop. In the past I used the odd texture to make the backgrounda little more interesting and it that originally was it.

Whilst creating my LadyBug series, I developed a completely new skill set and felt my progression as both a digital artist and a retoucher benefited no end. But I still felt something was missing and I wanted to learn more.

And so I will . . .

Just after Christmas I signed up to a Photoshop Artistry course run by Sebastian Michaels. It’s an online course that you do at your own pace. Much of what is covered I was aware of or already using but there are some wonderful gems tucked away that I have never used before and are now in my arsenal.

Twice a year, for only a couple of days, Sebastian opens up the registration for a more advanced course called AWAKE; it’s all about developing your skills even further and living the artistic dream – needless to say I have jumped at the chance.

Over the coming year, to hold myself accountable, I will be blogging my work as I progress. Some will be good, some will be OK and some will be best left unseen I’m sure.

One of the first challenges we have been set is to create an image which represents Past, Present and Future, I decided to base mine on my PS journey to date.

The left image is the past; it’s an old picture of some irises with a texture added to enhance an otherwise dull background. The middle image represents the present and where the LadyBugs have taken me. The future image, on the right, is how my brain feels at the moment, ideas in my overflowing brain swirling around an endless maze knowing that there must be light at the end of the tunnel somewhere with only my bugs to keep me company. 🙂

I can see several challenges and a couple of headaches ahead but I’m looking forward to seeing where the next part of my continued learning takes me.

The journey continues . . .