Ursula Freer All images courtesy of Ursula Freer / www.ursulafreer.com New Mexico artist Ursula Freer has a traditional art background, but 10 years ago she went all-digital. "It has totally changed my way of creating art," she says. "The medium is quite amazing; there seems to be no end to the possibilities for creative expression and great freedom for communicating ideas." ABOVE: Reflections, available as a made-to-order print, either signed and dated or in limited edition. In her studio, Freer works with digital photos taken with her digital camera, software and filters, and also what she calls "screen painting" by using a Wacom graphics tablet. She produces her own inkjet prints on fine-art paper (Somerset Velvet uncoated by Legion Paper), and she markets them through galleries and her website. In addition, Freer has started to do digital art photography and printing for other artists in her local area. Her primary printer (inkjet) is currently the venerable Epson Stylus Color 3000 ("I make it jump through hoops by having modified it to accept 18-inch-wide paper"), but she has her eyes on a replacement: Epson 4000, Epson 7600, or HP 130. ABOVE: Thicket. Ursula describes how she created Thicket (above). "The three background layers of this image started out with a photo of a simple colorful sunset sky. I changed the original colors from the predictable red/yellow/orange to purple/yellow/green. (Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation) Then I opened a new file with a white background and copied the above image to three separate layers. I enlarged the background (Image > Canvas) and then was able to move (offset) the three layers. "This is when interesting things started to happen, especially when I played with different opacities and blending modes. I had a difficult time deciding which combination produced the most pleasing colors as there were so many exciting possibilities! "On a fourth layer I brought in a black-and-white photo of aspen foliage and reduced its opacity in order to have the colors of the underlying layers shine through. "With an eraser/brush, I erased some small areas of the foliage to create a lacey effect, especially around the edges. This softened the rectangular shape of the foliage layer. It may not be noticeable when viewed as a small image on screen, but the effect is interesting on a large print." ABOVE: Petals. For Petals, Ursula explains: "The source for Petals is a close-up photo of a red hibiscus blossom. All work is done in Photoshop. "I first inverted the colors (Image > adjustment > invert). Then I utilized the HyperTiling filter in KPT Effects (a plugin for PS), which scattered the petals and made a more interesting composition, while still retaining the character of the organic shapes. " I changed some of the colors by using the brush tool with low and medium opacity and alternating among the modes: color, hue and saturation. A few shadows were painted in to give the petals more depth and dimensional quality." ABOVE: Digital artist Ursula Freer at work in her New Mexico studio. CONTACT INFO: Ursula Freer can be reached at: art@ursulafreer.com; website at: http://www.ursulafreer.com • for other Gallery Showcase examples • for Artist Interviews

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