Someone Waits for Me ...

 

On New Year's Day, I was driving home along the Lake Road.  It was about 6 pm and already dark when I saw a deer standing at the side of the road.  Too late to stop for it.

I remember feeling ever so grateful that she didn't jump out in front of my car that day.  So in her honor, I wanted to capture the moment in art.  I remembered her countenance, but of course, I didn't have my camera at the time.  It was all over and done in a split second!   Still, the image is burned into my brain.  It's pretty rare that I get close enough to a deer to take a picture. 

Fortunately for me, my long-time BFF from high school's mother is a hobby photographer.  She lives in Oregon where they frequently get deer in their back yard.  Jackie Kerska took the the deer photo above (She says you can even see her own reflection in the deer's eye.  Cool!)  Jackie gave me her permission and her blessing to render this image to honor the doe who stayed at the side of the road that day.  Jackie's watermark stays on the original image.

Here's the photo processing layer-by-layer :

On JK's "Deer Friend" image :

In Picassa, minor edits (Sharpen, Boost, etc.)

In PhotoShop Elements :

Layer 1 : Background

Layer 2 : Copy Background

Layer 3 : Kim Klassen's PourVous Texture ; Soft Light blend mode at 60%

Layer 4 : Duplicate Layer 3 ; Multiply blend mode at 29%

Layer 5 : Kim Klassen's Pumpkin Grunge Texture ; Soft Light at 78%

       Image could be flattened at this point.

Round 2

Layer 1 : Green and Brown Background as frame

*** This is one of my very own textures made from melting the inks in an old National Geographic with Citrasolv.  I love this technique--and it smells good, too!

In Picassa, texture image was cropped, rotated, softened, and vingette added.

In PhotoShop Elements, this texture was set at the background / bottom layer.

Layer 2 : JK's Deer Friend (edited as listed above) was layered on top of the green/brown background.

Layer 3 : Text Layer - Ruthie Font; Luminosity blend mode at 100%.  Font color chosen from elsewhere in the picture.