My Progress in Photo Manipulation
Portrait manipulation from 1998 to February of 2013. Proof of the value of practice and persistence.
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1998
Take bored photo with webcam, desaturated to perfection.
2000
Discover flattering angle, increase contrast to blow out forehead. No blemishes! Nailed it.
2001
Drawn on makeup. I wasn’t good at real makeup, either.
2004
Saturating to maximum hue particles? CHECK. Applying cut-out filter? Innovative! Saving as a GIF? Nailed it.
2005
Discover working with layers.
2006
Zoom in and enhance. Enhaaaaaance.
2007
Continue practicing layers. Sweet background, Brah.
Clone my husband playing D&D with himself. My first manipulation project that took a lot of planning ahead of time in order to accomplish. Possibly also my last.
2008
Self Portrait. Introduction to adding something from nature. In this case a butterfly.
Introduction to adding elements of magic. I was frustrated a lot this year, wanting to mix magic with realism, and feeling like everything I made looked fake.
2009
Accidental success. This was the first time I made something that wowed myself. This one is special to me.
Me. I love this.
2010
The year something clicked with me, and my practice started to look less like practice and more like art.
2011
The year I was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer
2012
Art helped me survive chemotherapy. I used my bald head as an opportunity for art.
I finished chemo in August and shortly after I worked with a professional model for the first time. (Her name is Stephanie Tice. She’s amazing.)
2013
I worked with her again earlier this month
Don’t give up.
my butt hurts 
Your work is so ridiculously amazing.
And you never have given up on your dreams. I am honored to be you mom.
Awesome.
i love seeing the progression. I’m so glad you did this, for us to see yes but more importantly for YOU to see š
Beautiful!
Fantastic as always !!! Also glad your feeling good š
What an inspiring and truly courage and amazing work.
“Wow”…!
Woooow I’m always amazed by your work! Your skills are beyond! I wish I knew how to use photoshop like that… your work seems from another world that is what I like most about it! It really feels like peeking into that dreamy head of yours š Big fat hug! So glad we met!
So refined!