Pixel Painting

At the Richmond Hill Camera Club last night, we were treated to a presentation from Hilarie Mcneil-Smith. Hilarie is a self-proclaimed "Pixel Painter". She takes a photographic image and applies magic to it. I was intrigued.

I always wanted to do this but never knew how. I still don't know how, but I did come home and play with an image -- with no success whatsoever. I painted, all right, but handing someone a paintbrush does not make him an artist.

The evening started a bit slowly, I couldn't really get into it. That is, until Hilarie started actually creating a painting on the spot and it got exciting. here's a link to Hilarie's gallery, check it out: www.pbase.com/hilli

Anyway, this morning, I brought up an image I had captured yesterday and started playing with it. Two hours later...

So everyone knows I like pictures of rocks and trees. Guess what I started with? I couldn't possibly tell you what I did in detail. I created a few layers, labelling them "log" or "rock" or "beach" or "water" and used different brush effects on each. Don't ask me which brushes! In the end, I didn't like the log, so I applied PhotoShop's "cutout" filter to its layer.

So here's my first attempt at pixel painting. Now if you came across one of Picasso's first original sketches, it'd be worth a fortune, right? So this is my FIRST pixel painting. Anyone want to buy an original print?