I left you loyal blog readers hanging in my Extreme Holiday Card Ideas post with the plan for this year's family card. Well, they are in the mail now so I can spill it. I did a spoof on those holiday family newsletters. I also made it over-the-top, wildly busy, and colorful.

One technique I used was to make line art versions of family members from photos. Props to Melissa Clifton's tutorial Turn Photos of People into Line Art which provided me, a PhotoShop hack, with a wonderful step-by-step!

Original Photos

Voila! The family as Line Art!

Okay, the next thing was to add those graphics to the "newsletter." I included photos with thought bubbles, updates on each family member, and threw in the family goldfish. Give it a read and see if it is different from the holiday newsletters that show up in your mailbox each year.

I'll close this post by sending holiday wishes to you and yours. Cheers!

I have been trying my hand at painting watercolors of photographs I have taken from around the world. This, I have found, has had some benefits:

• As I paint the scene I am immediately taken back to the place, its sights and sounds. The warmth on my face on the Italian coast, that dessert in Paris (yum!), the noises of streets of Shanghai and the contrasting quiet in a temple.
• I can make the scene my own by removing objects that may not add to the scene. "Doh! I didn't notice that garbage can when I snapped the photo!"
• I like looking at these paintings when I walk by them in my home and office.
• I am not location based. I can take 400 photos in a place like Venice and paint various scenes once I am back home. I am not pressed to complete a painting during a short stay.
• The activity is also a pleasant reminder of my Dad who passed away a few years ago. The paints and papers were his. I decided to try my hand at this as a way to keep those memories fresh. I do wish I could ask his advice though as I hack through the medium.

Let's take a look...Here are some photos. Click on these thumbnails to view the original photos:

Okay, now click on these to see the paintings that relate to the photos above:

Did you notice the differences? See how good you did by clicking here:

Here is another one. This is a mash-up of a couple of photos where I combined the monks in one photo with a different scene.

So, am I messing with reality? Sure, but I hope I am doing so in a positive endeavor. I was proud to have my first "show" where I exhibited a set of paintings and photos. My Dad would have liked that, huh, Dad?