a) What were you trying to express and how did you achieve this?

I was trying to show that I am looking at my past and how I feel life is flashing by. It feels like just yesterday I was a little baby relying on my parents for everything and now I’m old enough that I don’t really need them as much. I have become my own person. I achieved this by putting my past in front of me as a baby in my picture and me looking down at it with sorrow and fear at the same time because I miss those days and I’m afraid I’m growing up to fast. I made the baby lighter and gave it alittle ghostly effect because it’s my past and it shouldn’t be blending into the rest of the picture which is taking place in the present. My body shape is really tight and almost hugging myself because I’m scared and showing fear.  Slowly the days I am presently in are drifting away and life is basically zooming by. It really scares me and a part of me wants time to stop moving so fast.

b) What filters did you use and where?

The filters I used are the following.  On the baby picture of me, I used the rough pastels filter. On the present picture of me I used a rough pastel as well. On the backround I used the spattered filter. On the umbrella I used the poster edges filter. On the ball I used a sprayed strokes filter and on the toy train I used the water paper filter.
 

c) What layer blending mode did you use and where?

The layer blending modes I used were the following.  I used the lumisosity on the baby picture of me. I used the dissolved blending mode on the present picture of me and the backround. I used the pin light blending mode on the umbrella and the gradient layer I added.  

d) What special brush did you use and where?

On the bottom front of my backround I had this white space because of using the filter on the backround so I used a special brush to blend it in with the rest of the picture. I used the eye drop tool and got my colours from the backround and then used spatter #46 which is one of the speacial brushes and I put splotches of paint all over the front bottom of my backround. Then it seemed to me as there was too much paint and I should keep this area alittle lighter because I want the past picture of me to show more so I used the eraser tool and used the spatter #46 again and just applied it lightly over the area I painted.