My Twelve Day Self-challenge is to see what creative results I can get from a simple iPhone image. All digital manipulations are being done on a MacBook Pro. In the end, I will select four images to be included in the fotoMuses "Potpourri" exhibit that opens in February 2020 at the Elmhurst Art Museum.

For day 1, I'm keeping it simple with a soft but textured painterly effect.  First I did some cleanup in LightRoom and Photoshop to be used as the basis for all variations going forward. Day One was created using the stamped brush effect in Topaz Studio 2.

As a fitting end for 2019, and a new beginning for 2020, I have decided to challenge myself to a creative personal project: The Twelve Days of Bonsai.

Bonsai plants are among my favorite subjects, whether used singly or in photomontages. I love their elegant structures, their strength, and resilience. They are art forms in themselves. But what happens when digital wizardry meets natural wonder? Let's see what evolves over the next not-necessarily-consecutive twelve days...

The project starts with a simple iPhone shot of our newly acquired bonsai plant. From there, the creative juices kick in, with a little help from Lightroom, Photoshop, onOne Software, and Topaz Studio 2. Maybe something else, who knows what will happen?  In the end, there will be twelve digitally manipulated renditions of the lone bonsai. Out of those twelve, I will select four to be printed for the fotoMuses upcoming exhibit "Potpourri" at the Elmhurst Art Museum. Details will be coming soon.

Here is the starting image: