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I'm attracted to the idea of seeing something through something else. I wanted to create an image distorted through a gauze-like set of brush strokes. I started with an image I'd created previously. I experimented with quite a few things before trying this "gauze." After distorting through the "gauze," the subject was too obscured for the viewer to discern what it was. So I processed some more in iColorama to try pull some definition out of it, and then I added yet another distortion using one of iColorama's glass presets. I ended up liking the colors and shapes and textures and of course the eyes!
I painted these broad strokes on a blank canvas, using Brush/Paint. The gaps between the strokes turned out to be important for allowing the eyes to peep through!
I had to try lots of different brushes and brush sizes and opacities and spacings before I got some that produced distortions I liked. I would paint a blank canvas, then go into Effect/Distort and and import my subject, then start over with a new blank canvas and painting different brush strokes, try again in Effect/Distort, over and over again. What you see here is the result of all that experimentation.
With the brushed canvas open in iColorama, I used Effect/Distort and opened this image, which I had created previously. Probably any contrasty figure would work, especially one with good eyes.
In Effect/Distort, I tried different position of the sliders, and I used my fingers to move and resize the image relative to the brushed canvas. I chose a final position where the eyes were clearly visible. Then I cropped.
In Effect/Distort, when I first viewed my brown lady through those brush strokes, she was too obscured: you could hardly tell there was a person behind all that distortion.
But then I realized there was a gap in the strokes, leaving a sliver of undistorted image. I had known this gap was there when I painted the strokes but was to lazy to fix it. But now I realized I could use that sliver to position the eyes, and this made all the difference!
From there all the rest of the work was to enhance the image to make her presence behind the gauze more tangible.
Here I've done some processing to try to get more depth and feeling for the face behind the gauze. These were color and tone adjustments, such as Adjust Tonelab preset 4 and Tone/Enhance, and sharpness adjustments under Effect/Sharpen. I made additional sharpness and color adjustments to enhance the eyes.
Here I used Form/Glass preset 1 at low opacity to add some interest. I increased the size of the effect using the Size slider.
This is the final result after bringing back the shine in the eyes using Adjust/Levels and Effect/Sharpen.
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