Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thank you very much, R.G.!

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

All good, of course, but #2 really grabs me, Linda.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thanks so much, Mike.

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

All three are beautiful and unique. The first reminds me of just how fiery hot it is these days. The colors are hot and the texture resembles heat waves. The last one looks a lot like it could be a painting. They all made me stop and think.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Beautiful Linda. How about a little tutorial please on how you made the background for that first

Guyserman Loc: Benton, AR

I love #1. You have found the apparent large brush strokes that have eluded me all these years. #1 gets .

I love #2 also. There is a faint bit of light streaming down from the cloud that seems like it ought to hit the tree but just misses, adding a bit of intrigue. #2 also gets .

L-Fox

You played well

NJFrank Loc: New Jersey

I had to linger on that first one for awhile. Colors are amazing and the PP work is not overly done.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thank you so much, Carol. Three effects were layered onto the original + the bird brush. I'm posting a screenprint shortly with more info.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I'm so glad you enjoyed, thank you! You'll see from the screenprint I'm posting in a minute that the heavy lifting ("brush strokes") was done by Topaz

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Larry, Frank and Jack, thank you so much for your time and interest! Per request, here is a screenprint of how I did #1.

The original has been through the raw editor of PS Elements, then I used Nik Detail Extractor to see what I could see I knew I wanted kind of an abstract, windblown look, so I went through Topaz Studio 2 and came up with two looks. The "palette knife and oil" I reduced to 70% opacity.

The bird is from brusheezy.com. I changed its shape via free transform tool, then duplicated the layer in multiply blend mode to make it darker.

With Topaz, Nik or other presets, probably the most valuable tips I learned years ago are:

- try adjusting opacity of the effect, and/or the blend mode - or duplicate the layer - for less (or more) of what you want

- if you're combining effects, you may want to mask one section from one effect while emphasizing another. I didn't do that here, but some folks like MinnieV created a very distinctive look with Nik tonal contrast (maybe some detail extractor) + glamour glow, in small amounts judiciously masked.

Thanks again to all. I'm very grateful for your comments!

(Download)

GeorgeK Loc: NNJ

The clouds in #1 evokes the Painting, The Scream. I like it.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thank you George!

joehel2 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

Fabulous set, Linda. I’m also a big fan of your artistry in #1, but each was equally special in their own way.

merrytexan Loc: georgia

the second shot is my choice for the best of the 3...i would head for the lonely tree to
see what's behind it...beautiful work, linda.