We finish out the month of November with another texture from the Old Masters series I'm working on...Old Masters 3.  This texture is filled with deep burgundy red tones, and a touch of brown, green, and creamy gold in the center to create some wonderful light on your subject.  I immediately thought of pairing this rich texture with some of my magnolia flowers.  The colors make a lovely contrast with the blooms!

Those who enjoy using the soft and creamy pastel colors of Spring in their work will certainly love this texture!  Filled with yellow, mint green, soft blue and a touch of pink and purple, this is a very versatile compliment to any work which requires a softer touch with a pop of color.  See the example photos I've completed using this texture below.  

Today begins the much anticipated Old Masters series I've been working on, which is an ongoing group of textures I'm creating based on the colors in historical paintings.  Old Masters 1 features rich browns paired with soft blue/green and a touch of orange and gold.    Take a look at the example images in which I've utilized this texture.  

With the deer and the bear, I left the texture visible at full strength to provide a painterly background for the subjects.   And that is how I use these textures quite frequently.  

In the landscape scene "Blue Creek in Autumn", however, I've used this texture a bit differently.  I have shown the original photo on the left and the finished work on the right.  Whenever I decide to work with a photo, I look at it and ask myself, what is the focal point for me?  What do I want to stand out in the final piece?  In this case, it was the beautiful blue in the water of the creek, specifically that small amount of blue reflection in the center of the creek.   That's what caught my attention and that's where I wanted the viewer to focus.  The bright sunlight in the original photo, along with those wires across the top, took away from that focal point.  First, I removed the wires.  Then I adjusted some contrast and color in the original photo.  And finally, I added the Old Masters 1 texture to the photo.  I added the texture many times, in many different layer modes with varying opacity, masking out the pieces of each layer which didn't contribute to the final image.  The final result doesn't show as much of the actual painted strokes as the top two examples do, but it does show a rich, old masters color scheme which is what I was after in this work.  

At The Beach is a very versatile texture for creating a beach scene with any of your images which might look better with sand and sea.  Traditional ocean colors in shades of turquoise blue are paired with sandy beach tones and a small dusting of white in the sky.  See some example photos below of images I've created with this texture.  None of these images were taken on the beach, but they are certainly beach-worthy based on their subject matter.  Like this texture?  Buy it here for only $2.  Commercial Use Ok.

"Here Comes Winter" is a texture filled with several shades of gray, along with a touch of black and white.  Because the center of this texture is brighter, it's a good area to place your subject.  The edges are darker, giving this texture a vignette effect.  I used this texture in both the photos below.  In "Red Door Farmhouse", the texture is applied at full strength to give this old farmhouse scene a winter look.   In "Little Tufted Titmouse", you'll notice the texture appears quite a bit different.  Read the tip below to find out how to change the look of the texture.

TIP:  When you want the color and the lighting from a texture, but not the roughness of the original texture, you don't have to dive into your texture collections to find a smoother texture.   I use Topaz software, and under Lens Effects, I'll choose to diffuse the texture three times at high diffusion to smooth things out.  Alternatively, in other software programs such as Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, you can choose to run Gaussian Blur on the texture layer {choosing a low number for the blur amount is usually sufficient}.  You can also try a soften brush or a blur brush on the texture layer if you want to smooth only a portion of the texture.  

This neutral toned texture will become a staple in your collections, with its grays, light browns, and a touch of peachy gold.  I used this texture along with both the photos below, pumping up the contrast and color a lot on Golden Eyes, yet leaving it a bit on the softer toned side with A Bowl of Holiday Bounty.

Like this texture?  Buy it here for only $2.  Commercial Use Ok.