Beyond Layers Days 15-16 : Whisper

This week, Kim's lesson began with a simple prompt : the word Whisper.  Instead of a dreamy still-life of flowers, I went with a shell and the idea of the ocean waves whispering amid the many curves of the shell.

Here are the layers step by step :
Layer 1 : Copy the background layer
Layer 2 : Clean up the background (I erased a piece of stained glass on the upper edge.  You can still see the lead, though.)
Layer 3 : Levels Adjustment
Layer 4 : Added Kim Klassen's Wonderful Magic Texture normal blend mode at 33% opacity
Then I added a Layer Mask, used the Quick Select Tool to outline the shell, then used Command I to invert the layer mask.  This took the texture out of the shell so it didn't look like an ash tray.
Layer 5 : Text   "The Ocean" in Zapfino font    "Whispers" in Italiano font on Multiply blend mode at 75%.  Font colors chosen from other parts of the image.