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If you are an artist who likes experimental techniques, this method offers infinite possibilities! If you have a full version of Photoshop, and a scanner, or a digital camera, you can try this. Start with a stack of paintings that aren’t finished, photographs of nature’s textures, or some experiments with painting techniques. Import the images into your computer, at about half the size you would want a finished piece to be.
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I chose a photo of an old still life originally painted in oils, a recognizable subject, to demonstrate the technique will work something realistic or completely non-objective. All my layers were about the same size in inches and the dpi count. This image was 12x18” and 300 dpi. (Dots per inch)
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The second layer imported was from a painting experiment with spattered paint, and washes of run and flow in blues and greens. A box will appear showing the two layers.
The top layer was made active. (The highlighted box shows which layer is active.) An eye in both boxes shows that both layers are visible. The active layer will be affected by what you do to it. It may be predictable, but so far I haven’t found controlling the method results in anything better than I have created purely by accident.
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The experimental part of the exercise was to change the mode of the top layer. (Look for the little box above the layers that says “Normal”) A pull-down menu will allow you to run through each of the modes, one at a time. The top layer, if active, will create changes with the bottom layer in combination. Try each of the modes to see which version(s) are worth saving.
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Do a “save as,” to save the version you like as a jpg, a pdf, or other type of document. The layered version in Photoshop will remain unsaved, so you can keep checking all the mode versions you want to save.
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Another method for further experiments is to change the top or bottom layer by rotating it, flipping it vertically, horizontally, or by changing the color. The subsequent versions in the same modes may be completely different than from the first run-through. The examples pictured show the change made to the original still life. Ultimately I saved two versions of the still life.
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Some versions may not retain recognizable imagery. It is up to you to decide what to save, and if you like the composition of an abstract versions of your experiments. Ultimately I use the textures or images printed out from these combinations, in collage.
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What I love about this approach is that I am not creating an artificial texture by using a filter. I know the painted textures are original because I painted them myself! And the choices are all mine. The computer is my studio, and my set of tools. It maximizes my creativity because it offers unlimited choices!
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