Cotton

I used to live in the central valley in California, one of the major crops grown there is cotton.  I loved when the cotton plants began to show the cotton bolls, it looked like a field of snow.

Everything by Anna Aspnes

 

Upcycled ARTPaperie No 5
https://www.oscraps.com/shop/product.php?productid=28395
ArtPlay Harvest
http://www.oscraps.com/shop/product.php?productid=45214&page=1
ArtPlay Snapshot (various transfers and brushes)
http://www.oscraps.com/shop/product.php?productid=44824&page=1
ArtPlay Lush (Sprig recolored)
http://www.oscraps.com/shop/search.php?mode=search&page=1
Artsy Overlay No 5
http://www.oscraps.com/shop/product.php?productid=46457&cat=298&page=1
Framed FotoBlendz No 1
http://www.oscraps.com/shop/product.php?productid=47010&cat=383&page=1
AnnaBlendz 3 Blending with brushes
http://www.oscraps.com/shop/product.php?productid=10008857&cat=383&page=1

Process: Used as my base (background) Upcycled ARTPaperie No 5_4, then added a FotoBlendz clipping mask and placed it in the black area of the background paper, I used Anna’s tips on her Blending with Brushes 3 video to adapt my clipping mask to fit the area.  Clipped my cotton photo to it, duplicated photo and placed it behind the mask, used a sketch technique, then blending mode multiply and lowered the opacity.  Added some elements and recolored them by using my color balance adjustment layer ( I like using the adjustments in the layer panel, because I can go back and tweak them if necessary.).  Added various splats, transfers and brush work.  For the finishing touch I found the cotton logo on the internet, extracted it by using my paint bucket with mode set on clear to erase the black.  This works well if you only have the two colors to work with, in this case the logo was in white and the background Black, so this worked well to extract what I needed.  I then added the text “The fabric of our lives” and called it done.