How to make a simple magnifying glass in Illustrator

The trick to this illusion is to make 2 copies of the text; one is larger than the other. Use object->clipping mask->make to make a clipped version of the word and move the smaller version of the word to the back.

Carved Basswood Cat and Mouse

My cousin, Liz, passed away and we went up North for her funeral. It was rather cold at our cabin this weekend so this is the fruit of a captive artist.

The mouse hangs from the cat's mouth by a strip of leather and the whiskers are white covered wire. The finish is acrylic paint that was sanded to mimic wear.

Table Made From A Display Case

I've been reducing the clutter in my house and one of the first victims was my antiques. After I sold the contents of this case it occurred to me that it would make a good display case table.

The display case was a wall hung deep shadow box with a sliding glass cover. I painted it black and attached 4 wooden legs that I found at the hardware store. I filled the case with the beads from leis I made on a Hawaiian cruise.

I had two of these cases so I made 2 tables and filled the other one with Kukui nuts. The tables looked nicer separated into different styles. The darker Kukui nut lei table is my favorite but it doesn't photograph well.

Bearded Dragon Charcoal Drawing

This is a value study for a future painting that I went a little crazy with; his feet will rest on another surface.

I used compressed charcoal.

Marker Thumbnail Drawings of Ads Class Assignment

These thumbnail sketches were done from/or were inspired by existing print ads. Each thumbnail drawing is 2.25" wide.
 

Scanner Art Scanner Photography

Scanner photography, scanography, is the process of capturing digital images using a scanner. You can achieve a significantly higher degree of detail with a scanner than you can with a digital camera but it has a lower depth of field.

I recently attempted artistic images with my scanner. The dog didn't care for it much when we put her paws on it and covered her eyes (the light is very bright and we were very careful to protect her) so I changed to more willing subjects.

It's a fascinating medium since unlike digital photography you work in reverse and curved objects respond in unpredictable ways. You'll want to protect the scanning surface with a plastic film if you are scanning objects that are messy or could scratch the glass. Also be cautious about putting too much weight on the glass since it was not designed to support heavy objects.

Here are my favorites and I plan to play with the images more in Photoshop.