Saturday, June 30, 2012

Photo Arts Friday--Painterly


Original photo, Cape Cod, MA


Fotosketcher- watercolor, several passes

I always wished I could paint...alas, I could never wrap my mind around the minutia of technique, AND, then there were my hands---amazing just how little talent there is there.
Thank goodness for cameras and computers.
:-)

from the heart




inspired by the work of Jim Dine.  Google him, it will make you happy...

Friday, June 29, 2012

52 Starlets--Celest Holm

Although I loved her in High Society, the musical remake od the Philadelphia Story, my favorite role for Celeste Holm was the Fairy Godmother in the 1965 production of Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella--she was SO droll...,and Come to the Stable was a Christmas classic equal to A Christmas Carol in my family.  Otherwise I know her from bit and character parts from lots of places.



Wednesday, June 27, 2012

when I think of death, I hope it will be like this--old friends...

Death has come for me many times
but finds me always in my lovely
Garden
and leaves me there, I think,
as an excuse to return

Summer of Color--Baseball Nut

Baseball nut ice cream--doesn't really sound pretty, does it?  But it's a beautiful combination of dark to pink raspberry, the golden color of cashews and the beautiful shades of vanilla.  Makes me wish I liked cashews enough to try it...oh well. I painted the background with watercolor stroke brushes, the tulips were selected from a photograph and altered in Photoshop, the text and border are also brushes.







Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Three Muses--Frames


“'Tis the last rose of summer Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions Are faded and gone”
                                                                                              ~ Thomas More

Frame texture from Frames Free for Use Flickr Group, Photo of Gladys Cooper, Roses overlay from The Feathered Nest


Texture Tuesday--blossoms


Spirea blooms and  KK textures Enlightened and Happy Heart (the only ones I had on my flash drive)

study in purple and green--state of mind

it speaks for itself...

crazy Amigos--scrap card


created with papers and elements from Songbird Avenue's Port -au-Prince kit

Monday, June 25, 2012

Take a Word--Insects


Music layer from Textures for Layers, dragonfly from Google Images, the rest is PS brushes.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Moo Mania--Cats




Images from Dover and Google, backgrounds by Caatje Winkelman and Joyce's Photo Album

Friday, June 22, 2012

I AM an Artist

dedicated to a lady voicing her dream that SHE would one day be able to call herself an artist. An established artist advised her to create a page around the words I AM AN ARTIST because, no matter how new or how good or how not so good the art is, the creator of it is still an artist.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

52 Starlets--Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford really doesn't do much for me either...but then there are these wonderfully dramatic and moody portraits to play with.




Sunday, June 17, 2012

PhotoArtFriday--Less is More


Bonnie's textures, Antique Farewell and Ephemeral; lots of layers and blending

SPA--Shakespeare

Quote from A Midsummer's Night's Dream.
Image from Takeabreak, background bits from the Folgers Shakespeare library (book cover) and starry paper from Songbird Avenue

Friday, June 15, 2012

In the style of Susan Adame--Mortal thoughts


LAMENT
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892--1950)
Listen, children:
Your father is dead.
From his old coats
I'll make you little jackets:
I'll make you little trousers
From his old pants.
There'll be in his pockets
Things he used to put there,
Keys and pennies
Covered with tobacco;
Dan shall have the pennies
To save in his bank;
Anne shall have the keys
To make a pretty noise with.
Life must go on,
And the dead be forgotten.
Life Must Go On,
Though good men die;
Anne, eat your breakfast.
Dan, take your medicine;
Life must go on;
I forget just why.


Thursday, June 14, 2012

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Three Muses--Out of Bounds--In and Out



Peacock from Dover, gradient, brushes and layer styles applied.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Take a word--Floral

Decided to go a bit whimsical with this one--too much other stuff going on that is NOT at ALL whimsical or fun.  The Elephant is a coloring page from a school teacher's resources website, the fabric is from Google AlmostTotally Free Textures, duplicates the layers and played with the hue settings.  THe background is from a photo of ferns I took in Arcadia National Park a couple of years ago.

Sunday Selections--at the Baltimore Aquarium

Taken in 2005 and 2009--The aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland has a rainforest in its roof.  Although none of these photos were taken there, it is an amazing place, with  steamy air and dripping leaves, free flying birds and even monkeys.  In the underwater exhibits there are turtles, caymans ( a species of small alligator), non-poisonous frogs and fish.
There is a huge tank, the height of the entire building, with sharks and eels and many, many other fish--and sea turtles too.
Other exhibits include the Puffins--worth the price of admission alone; they are so funny; poisonous tree frogs of brilliant  "don't touch me" colors and much more.  There is even a dolfin show!



And, yes, like with all zoos, I feel guilt and sadness for the creatures here who will live their lives behind glass and within cages and tanks--but they ARE alive, and children and adults who have never even seen the ocean can see them and witness all the diversity of life on our fragile and most wondrous planet!

SPA--Under the Sea


Made from a photo my daughter took at the New England Aquarium.  The texture is also from my daughter, a scan of one of her collograph printing plates.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

SoArtful--FLOWER POWER-RED, YELLOW, GREEN

"sunshine, freedom and a little flower..." a journal page



poppies from my stash, background paper and flourish brush from cottage arts, butterfly from dover and dictionary page from the graphics fairy

Friday, June 8, 2012

Edit Me--Petunia


Cropped
several laters of filters and blending
painted edge from Cottage Arts used as a clipping mask with a gradient

Photo Art Friday--Black and White

The Red Balloon
An old photo, taken a few years ago, converted to b/w and played with a bit using filters and blending.  Texture by Pareeerica and the text overlay is a brush.  The balloon I painted red was originally green, and the sky a brilliant blue!

The photo below was taken in 2004 on a trip to San Francisco--another brilliant blue sky! I added a layer with the Photocopy filter applied, then a bit of blur.  Bonnie's texture, Nitty Gritty, was also added, for...well...texture.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

A wonderful Digital artist

I have recently discovered a wonderful digital artist, Beth Conklin from Here on Earth.  Her work is playful, often dark, a  little macabre--and I just LOVE it. 

If Emily Dickinson or Sylvia Plath had been a digital artist their work would be much like Beth's.

That said, I attempted this piece in her style to see if I could...

Moo Mania--Dance



Three Muses--Warm Colors

Summertime
Background made with pieces from Caatje Winkelson and Zen textures.  Sun overlay and word art from Michelle Shefveland at Cottage Arts and are used with permission. 
The Summer Fun word mosaic I made at http://www.imagechef.com/






52 Starlets--My Favorite Brunette

Is Natalie Wood...taken from us too soon. 

She was a real beauty, glowing, sexy, vulnerable, strong.  She was a marvelous actress as well.  Did you know that she played the little girl who didn't believe in Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street.  She played troubled teenagers in Rebel Without a Cause and Splendor in the Grass; smart, sexy women in Inside Daisy Clover, Sex and the Single Girl and Gypsy; and scientists in Meteor and Brainstorm.  And, who can forget West Side Story.

Her career spanned thirty-seven years; she was just 43 when she died.

Fro mor information about Natalie, visit her fansite http://www.freewebs.com/natashagurdin/



Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Crazy Amigos--Tree

This postcard was made entirely with brushes:  background painted with watercolor stroke brushes; the tree is a stamp brush from Jerry Jones at Shadowhouse, painted over with a soft round brush.  THe birda are also a brush--even the signature is a brush I made.