Thanks for stopping by the site! I'm going to be taking a little summer break from July 3rd to July 19th. While I'm gone I'll be without internet access (except via Blackberry) for part of the time, so if you send me an email or an inquiry, please be patient. I'll respond to emergencies as soon as possible, and other inquiries as I'm able. Hope everyone has a fun, safe Canada Day and 4th of July!

This month's desktop is dual screen! Pretty spring flowers and colors flow seamlessly across the layout. One side has a linear calendar for April and the other features a stanza from Shelley's "The Sensitive Plant". Use one or the other, or if you have a dual-screen setup like me, use them together! Here's what it looks like on my setup (I actually cleaned my desk off for this shot!):

April Wallpaper - Right Side

Click to download widescreen version - 1680 x 1050

Click to download fullscreen version - 1600 x 1200

April Wallpaper - Left Side

Click to download widescreen version - 1680 x 1050

Click to download fullscreen version - 1600 x 1200

I've been having lots of fun makin' wallpapers lately! Here's another one for your enjoyment. This one's got a bit of steampunk inspiration to it: a rich and slightly grungy wood panel with a glass pane revealing the inner workings of gear-driven mechanism. Last but not least, some gold-leaf lettering across the glass reads "Clock Works". Enjoy!

Click here to download 1680 x 1050 version (widescreen).

Click here to download 1280 x 1024 version (fullscreen).

Well, I was supposed to be on my way home from Michigan today, but a snowstorm moved in and I'm stuck here. So I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for me to share how to make the colorful watercolor-textured background used in my last desktop wallpaper. This tutorial is a quick and easy one; it primarily makes use of Photoshop brushes and layer blend modes, and requires that you have a nice selection of watercolor brushes at hand. The two sets I used for this project are BittBox's Watercolor Photoshop Brushes, and Splatter Photoshop Brushes. They are free downloads, but please be courteous and read his TOU. Ready to get started?

Step 1: Creating a Colorful Base

Open up a fresh file in Photoshop. Since I was making a widescreen wallpaper, I started out with 1680px x 1050px canvas. Create a new layer above the white background layer, and with a large round soft brush (I used a 300px round brush with hardness set to 0%) paint areas of color on the new layer. Let areas of the white background show behind your color layer around the edges or in the corners. It should look something like this:

Step 2: Blending the Colors

Now we're going to soften the colors and blend them into each other using a Gaussian Blur filter. From the Filters menu, select Gaussian Blur and set the blur to around 80.

Step 3: Adding Some Watercolor Brush Strokes

Create a new layer above your color layer. Break out your watercolor brush stroke brushes, and using a medium gray color, "stamp" a couple different brush strokes around the edge of your new layer like this:

Set your brush strokes layer blend mode to Color Burn. Then duplicate your color layer and drag it so that it is positioned above your new brush strokes layer in the Layers Palette. Right click on the copied color layer in the Layers Palette, and select "Create Clipping Mask" from the menu that pops up. Then adjust the opacity of the gray brush strokes layer to suit your tastes. It should look something like the image below:

Step 4: Another Brush Stroke Layer

Next create another new layer above your first brush stroke layer and it's clipped color layer. Add another "stamped" watercolor brush stroke to the center of this layer, again using a medium gray color.

This time change the blend mode of this layer to Linear Burn. Again, copy the bottom color layer and drag it so that is positioned above your newest brush stroke layer in the Layers Palette. Clip the color layer to the brush stroke, and adjust the opacity of the brush stroke layer to suit.

Step 5: Lightening It Up with Some Splatters

Now it's time to get messy. Break out your watercolor splatter brushes, and on a new layer (above the layer we created in step 4 and its clipped color layer) throw a few splatters down in medium gray. This time change the blend mode of your splatter layer to Screen, and (yep, you guessed it) copy the color layer again, drag it above your splatter layer in the Layers Palette and clip the color layer to the splatter layer. Adjust the splatter layer's opacity to your liking. It should look something like this now:

Step 6: Tweak It Your Way

You can add as many splatter and stroke layers as you want. Play around with different blend modes to see what effects you can come up with. I also added a pattern overlay style to each of my clipped color layers, using a watercolor paper texture pattern to give more texture and depth to each of my paint strokes and splatters. Enjoy and have fun!

I've got a new desktop wallpaper for you! I have a personal project that I've been working on on and off for the past couple months, and it features watercolor-textured splatters in a wash of rainbow colors. I loved the effects I was coming up with so much that I decided to play with them on a wallpaper canvas, and here's the result. I'll give a step-by-step tutorial on what I did to achieve this look at a later date. Until then, you can grab a copy of this wallpaper for your laptop or desktop. Enjoy!

Click here to download 1680 x 1050 version (widescreen).

Click here to download 1280 x 1024 version (fullscreen).