Looking in my files this past weekend, I found a couple of images I created last year but never published. I’d seen a movie wherein one scene a large jet took off, carrying the lead characters, in front of a setting sun. I thought the graphic of the jet and setting sun was beautiful. I also felt that I creating airplane illustrations in Adobe Photoshop using photographs in my files.

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m fascinated with sunrise/sunsets, airplanes, and trains. Over the years, living and visiting family on Cape Cod, I have photographed many sunrise/sunsets. I could use one of those images as the base image. Then use Adobe Photoshop to enlarge and enhance the image of the sun to fill the image.

 

My Love of Airplanes

I also have spent many hours at Gravely Point, a small spit of land on the banks of the Potomac River at the end of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport main runway. Gravelly Point Park is a popular spot for watching plane take-off or land (depending on the wind direction). Some sit in their cars, others bring a blanket and food and picnic at the grassy area at the runway and watch as the jets fly overhead.

For years, while working in Crystal City, I would spend my lunch hour in the parking lot at Gravely Point end of National airport the runway, watching the jets taking off or landing. I even purchased a portable radio with the aircraft band. I used the search feature to find the radio frequency for the DCA Tower. I heard the jets communicate DCA regional control out of Leesburg as they approached the airport. Their last communication often told the plane to switch to a different frequency transfer to the DC Tower as the plane touched down on the tarmac. I would change frequencies along with the jet and then hear the conversation on what gate to park the aircraft.

 

Finding the Right Images

Finding the right images is a critical element in creating a photo illustration. I could tell you I searched through thousands of images (well, in one sense, I did because that is how many images I have, according to Lightroom). I still have my original 35mm color slides, which I converted to digital. Since I purchased my first digital camera (Nikon D70), I load all those images onto external hard drives. When I purchased Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (commonly called Lightroom), I imported digital images into the Lightroom database. Over the years, I’ve accumulated thousands of images, enough to fill multiple external hard drives. Searching Lightroom, I found a sunset and an image of a jet taking off at Reagan National.

 

Creating Airplane  Illustrations

Once I found the elements, I imported and made layer adjustments to enhance the color. I made a backup of the sunset image. I then resized the sun to cover the entire horizontal image. After opening, I selected jet from the background. I used a fill layer to turn the airplane into a silhouette. I then copied it as a jet layer on top of the sun.

When creating photo illustrations, I like to start with a clean document. Then import each element as a separate layer on top of the base layer. That way, I can manipulate the layer without interfering with another layer. That is how I created two photo illustrations. One is before I used the transform feature to enlarge the sun and jet. The result is a couple of colorful photo illustrations of an airplane taking off in the evening sun.

Check out the gallery section on my website, www.pbsstudios.com, to see other examples of photographs, photo illustrations,  and digital paintings.

 

 

June 24, 2021 – P.B.S. Studios will be part of the Manassas Art Guild (M.A.G.) group art sale at the Manassas Bee Festival Art Sale This Weekend! in Manassas, VA, on Saturday, June 26, 2021.

I will be showing a selected number of digital photo paintings. There will be both framed and unframed matted versions of my digital photo paintings for sale. Included in the sale will be three new paintings featuring “Bees.” This is one of them. The show will run from 10 AM to 2 PM.

P.B.S. Studios is a writer/photography/digital painting company that’s written and published over a hundred articles for newspapers, magazines, and online publications. I’ve also published many other photographs as illustrations in commercial and textbook publications. As a digital photo-painter, I’ve had my work displayed in Galleries, libraries, restaurants, and on the streets of the City of Manassas. This year you can see my banners on Church Street across from the Manassas Post Office. Other banners are located on Battle Street in front of Orkra’s and at the end of Monza Restaurant,

Check out the gallery section on my website, www.pbsstudios.com, to see digital photo paintings and other examples of my work.

 

Peter Smolens
P.B.S. Studios
Manassas, VA  20112
(703) 346‑5026
NET:  psmolens@pbsstudios.com

Earlier this month, I posted three images showing my banners currently hanging in downtown Manassas, VA. They were close-ups of the banners. I asked people to walk the streets of Manassas and find the banners. I even provided a hint – go to the Historic Manassas Visitor Center and pick up a booklet that shows you all the flying banners in the City.

Well, now it’s time to reveal the location of this year’s banners. You don’t have to walk far to see the banners. The three banners are within a block of each other. The “Old Ship” banner is in front of Okra’s Cajun/Creole. Across the street at the end of Monza restaurants is the “Iris banner. To see the “Sunset with Birds” banner, walk and turn left on Church Street. At the corner of the block at West Street, across from the Manassas Post Office, is the banner.

As one who has eaten at both restaurants, Okra reminds me of my summers in New Orleans, and Monza chicken sandwich was excellent

Manassas is a beautiful city, easy to walk with plenty of exquisite restaurants and shops. Next time your there, look up and see beautiful art.

 

With today being Mother’s Day (Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms), it’s also 23 years to the day that my lovely wife and I celebrated as we stood in front of our fireplace and exchanged vows in front of family and a few friends. It was a wonderful day in the house neighbor’s called “the little dollhouse.” Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

That ceremony was the accumulation of an extraordinary year. As I said in an earlier post, we first viewed the house on New Year’s Day, 1998. In February, we moved in and found out what happens to the front of the house in the spring. As I recall, the large, pink, Azalea bush was in full bloom the week of the wedding. Only to have a rainstorm spread flowers all over my driveway, as I found after the rain this weekend. Oh well!

Anniversary Dinner

Finding a restaurant that is not booked solid in the Northern Virginia region on Mother’s Day is next to impossible; I decided to celebrate our anniversary dinner last (Saturday) night. After the rains late in the week, a cold front covered the mid-Atlantic region.  It was too cold to go someplace and sit outside. For the second year in a row, I ordered take-out this year from City Tavern, and we ate our anniversary dinner at the dining room table. Surrounded by a couple of cats who were waiting for any table scraps they could steal.

Afterward, we finished off the evening with Rice Pudding from Katerina’s. Since Atlantis Restaurant (in Alexandria) closed earlier this year (very sad – I had a history there with Frank Simons and their menu), Katerina’s is the best Rice Pudding I’ve found in the area.

Happy anniversary sweetheart! You are still the best thing that ever happened to me.

A Changed Look

Yesterday afternoon Linda and I went to the Hair Cuttery and got our hair cut and styled. It started because of Covid and continued as a joke. I had not gotten a haircut in over a year. I added a beard earlier this year. So, after a year, I started to look like my younger brother Michael (gasp!!) or pro golfer, Tommy Fleetwood. I kind of like the look. It was different. Something I had never tried before. I wanted to see how long I could let it grow. However, the warm weather and Linda’s comments, and the experiment came to an end. It’s now short (I kept the beard). I want to say thank you (again) to the extraordinary employees at the Hair Cuttery at the Shops at the Glenn.

Between the middle of April and May, we have a flower explosion at our house. A multitude of flowers blooms at different times during this period, making the view out our front door exquisite. The funny part is, we didn’t know about this flowered front when we purchased the house 24 years ago.

We initially saw the house on New Year’s Day and purchased it in January of 1998. We moved in February. We got a huge surprise that spring. All these different kinds of flowers bloom. The house provided us a wonderful wedding gift (May 9). Since that first spring, mother-nature has welcomed us each spring with an orchestrated display of flowers.

Rite of Spring

It’s the rite of spring where the bare trees surround the house at the end of March, where you can easily see the neighbors. Then, like magic, the buds start to grow. During April, the trees transform our house into a canopy of green, a shaded, secluded oasis.

First to arrive are the tall red tips with their purple flowers. They announce the coming of spring, a flower explosion at our house. Then it’s the azalea show, starting with baby pink and white azaleas. The baby red roses make their appearance to break up the azalea string. The biggest bush in the front of our house is the monumental azaleas bush. When it blooms, it’s the grand finale.

Because of their beauty, each year, I go out and photograph the flowers. Over the years, I’ve probably taken a thousand pictures of the flowers in my front yard. Here are a few images from this and last year’s bloom. As this year’s flowers bloom, I’ll take more pictures and provide a follow-up blog entry. To see more examples of my photography and digital painting work, go to the Gallery section of my website. Enjoy

 

Art Inventory Sale Saturday

Remember, these images will be some of the new pieces for sale at the Art Inventory Sale next Saturday, April 24, from 1-5 PM at the Harris Pavilion in downtown Manassas, VA. Manassas Art Guild (MAG), of which I am a member, will have a stall. Please stop by and see some terrific art done by local artists.

In addition to digital paintings for sale, I have my book, “Digital Painting using Adobe Photoshop,” and a few 2021 calendars left for sale at 25% off the regular price.