A Moose is Not a Bird

My friend, Francine, mentioned in an email that she liked moose in much the same way I like birds. This got me thinking... I really like all of nature; there is really no reason that I should just draw birds. But I am so comfortable drawing birds....

I decided to step outside of my comfort zone. First I tried to draw a moose just from memory. Then when I compared it to pictures of moose found online, I decided that I had drawn an elk. That was not my intention. So using a picture of a female moose, I drew this:

I know she is not perfect, but I think I could identify her as a moose. This is a good start. But I wanted to do more, so I opened her in Photoshop, added a bit of color and almost without my permission, my pen and tablet appeared in my hands and the Offset filter was chosen. The next thing I knew I had a patterned paper with Molly, the moose, as the starring character.

 At first I put her on a white background because I had a bit of white fringe at the top of the grasses from where I removed the white background of the original picture. But then I decided that there must be a way to change the blending mode so that it didn't matter what color I put her on.

First I tried the multiply mode, but she was was too dark, so I used the darken mode instead. I think  I like it better on a blue background, but the possibilities are endless.

I found some wonderful treasures yesterday when I went to Charlotte to take my sister out and about. We went to the Hospice thrift store, where they always have loads of arty/crafty things, then we went to Big Boy for lunch. We decided after lunch that we still had time to stop at Goodwill where I found more goodies, not just art/craft materials, but some wonderful children's books to share with my little girls. I'll take some pictures and share them with you tomorrow.

We have the day off today, so the hubster and I are planning to run a few errands and have breakfast out. I totally love spending a day running errands with him. He is the best!

Bye!