SPA Challenge-Mermaids

Everyone loves mermaids; they are right up there with fairies, pixies, elves and angels-beautiful and mythic. I made my mermaid from an image from Suzee Que' flickr site. She was originally sitting on a broom! The tail is from a PNG set I found on Deviantart.com, by Linzee777. DeviantArt is a great source for all kinds of free for personal use stuff--from fonts and brushes to backgrounds, textures and , well...mermaid tails. The angelfish is fom a photo taken by my daughter, Emily, who has her own page at DeviantArt. http://celacia.deviantart.com/. Other textures from T4L, and some stuff that I can't remember where I found it. Thank you, whoever you are.
And thank you all for visiting.

ACF Challenge 63

A very strange challenge this week. Quite a surreal image from Rian to work with. This poor creature went through many changes with me as it evolved into this steampunk hybrid flying thing. Good thing it kept its sense of humor.
Backgrounds and tectures from Playingwithbrushes at T4L, Google and a background from a previous ACF challenge. The main image is from Rian, the wings, hat and wheels are googled. I also used the owl from Graphics Fairy, and the Dirigibles Photoshop brush set.

4 x 4 Friday--Mantra

When I looked for definitions and examples of mantras, one that I found was a word or sound that resonates personally to you. Persist is such a word for me--to keep going, keep trying, work through all the changes and hope to come out the other side.

The images here are: the egg from Rian-Freubel; the crow from Susie at 1st Floor Flat, and the woman from Google Images. Backgrounds and textures from J Freznel and SkeletalMess at T4L and from Art Creations Friday.
Thanks for visiting.

Blog Birthday

Yesterday was my baby blog's 2 month birthday. I'd like to take the opportunity to thank all of you who have visited here and expecially those who have left such lovely and supportive comments. I'm having so much fun here in this on-line community, playing in the challenges, visiting your blogs and seeing all the wonderful art you make.
Blog Land is a wonderful place. Thank you all.

Three Muses Challenge-Architecture

Here's my entry for this week's challenge. It is an interpretation of a chivalric dream. The archichetural image is Coventrey Cathedral from Veronica at Digital Whisper. Other images are from Dover, Graphics Fairy and Google Images.
Thanks for visiting.

Digital Whisper

I recently became a member of Digital Whisper. I haven't explored it fully yet, but it has challenge groups, learning groups for Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, forums for discussions, a blog, album space, and more that I have yet to find.
AND the quality and diversity of the artwork here is phenomenal!
I entered my first challenge today: to use the image provided, titled "Ghost"
Here's my entry. Besides the background and one other texture piece, there are only two images here, the face of Maude Fealy and a moth.

Collage Obsession-Luck for the New Year

This week's theme and image at Collage Obsession is Chinese, and the image is a wonderful old print ad. I wanted to keep the vintage quality of the original piece.
I used this amazing art deco perfume box front as a background, added the ladies and some bits from the image provided and Googled the joss paper and coins. The Chinese character on the lower left is LUCK.

Sunday Postcard Art--Twins

Another interesting theme this week--Twins. Be sure and visit the SPA blog to see all the wonderful interpretations.
I guess I'd refer to my entry as "organic"...it just grew. I started with the image, from a collage sheet freebie by Gaby Braun. the backgrounds and texures are from Rubyblossom and others at T4L on Flickr and one from Scrapbook Flair--the ribbon is from there too--some great freebies and beautiful scapbook pages there. (one of these days I'll learn how to add links to my posts.)

Darkness Inspirations--Scary Clowns

The new theme at Darkness Inspirations is Scary Clowns. I decided to create a circus poster for this challenge. My clown is a much altered image of a Victorian era iron coin bank. Can you imagine having this guy sitting on your dresser in a dimly lit bedroom...

soartful challenge-Cherries

In doing a little research into Cherries, I came across the myth of Xi Wang Mu, the Daoist Chinese Goddess of Immortality, in whose garden the Cherries of Immortality ripen in a thousand years. She is also the highest embodiment of yin, the feminine element of life.

This got me thinking about immortality. We're really all immortal in a way, aren't we? A great deal of the "stuff" that makes each of us who we are is passed to us from our ancestors, back from the beginning of time. We, in our turn, pass it into the future through our children. So, in some part, we all exist from the beginning to the end of time. Heady stuff!

But, I ramble...

The image of the child is Googled, the cherries are from Dover. the backgrounds and textures are from T4L, and other sources I found on the web. the Chinese character is Eternity. The rest is the magic of Photoshop.

Heard a phoebe calling outside my window this morning...Spring is COMING!!!!!

Art Creations Friday-The Maiden Wishing

Here's my entry for this week's challenge--to use the beautifully textured and colored background provided. I don't quite know what's she might be wishing for--true love, maybe?

The maiden is from Magic Moonlight Studios, textures from Rubyblossom at T4L and some others I've had for a long time. Some photoshop brushes and blending.

thanks for vsiting.

4 x4 Friday--Crow Woman

This week's theme is Crow Lady, perhaps to give the women equal time with King Raven. My inspitation went from crow lady to Crow Woman, and thence to Native American imagery.

I don't know if there was, or is, an actual Crow Woman, but I hope so. in Native American mythology, the crow is ingenious and charming, romantic and nurtuting, patient and intuitive. Sonds like a woman to me.

The background layers came from Emmacox at Textures for Layers and a couple of scrapbooking freebie sites I found a long time ago, and wish I could find again. The crow was Googled, as were the woman and the symbols and pictographs

Theme Thursday-girls

This is a piece I made several months ago, one of my first few challenge entries for Art Creations Friday. it is so perfect for this challenge, I thought I'd bring it out again.

The image is from the Past Portraits Flickr Groupm and the background is from ACF and was the image provided for the original challenge. The little girl on the right looks just like me.

Three Muses--Nature

This week's theme for the Three Muses challenge is Nature--almost too broad to quite get my head around; so many different ways to go. After scanning my digital stash and coming up empty, I tried a different approach and looked for words of inspiration instead. I found this quote from Galileo:

"The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do."

and here's the result.

The grapes and solar system diagram were Googled, and the butterfly is from Free Collage Images on Flickr. The rest was done with brushes.

Thanks for visiting

Collage Obsession-Misty

This week's theme word is Misty, an effect I love dearly-dreamy, cool, etherial; images emerging and receding. My entry is titled 'from the mists' and is intended to show someone emerging fom a reverie.

The image of Maude Fealy is from Last Door Down the Hall, background textures from JoesSistah, Pareeerica and SkeletalMess at Textures for Layers, and the Photoshopp brushes are by Anika von Holdt and 500ML.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mardi Gras

I haven't been in a very festive mood lately, but it is Mardi Gras- or will be on Tuesday, so I thought I'd get into the fun with a digital "mixed media" collage for Mixed Media Monday. It includes vintage photos, an embossed leather frame, new and vintage mardi gras beads and a wonderful vintage velvet mask and lame' fabric jesters hat.

This is also a late entry for last Week's So Artful Saturday

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Soartful Challenge-Lady of Light

Here's my entry for this Saturday's challenge--to use the lovely background Jeanette provided. it brought to mind the colors of air and water and cool light. I found this beautiful woman on Suzee Que's Flickr site, and she complemented the colors perfectly. Other textures and the border brushes from Skeletalmess at Shadowlands, free photoshop brushes-- I love this set called 8 2nds of Light.

Jeanette, I don't think I ever posted "out of the ashes" to your site...still a rank amateur at this blog stuff--so, no worries. Glad you found it. loved that fiery background and will use it again, I'm sure.

Thanks for visiting.

Sunday Postcard Art--Cupid

Happy Valentine's Day! Here's my Cupid. an altered vision of the sculpture , Cupid Presenting a Rose to a Butterfly. by Antoine-Denis Chaudet, a French artist of the Neo-Classical Period.

4 x 4 Friday--Spirit

Sometimes when I think of the word Spirit, what comes to mind is the ways that our spirit animates our being. We all know peole who have a spirit of fun, or adventure; of hope or restless energy. Sometimes Spirit is something we just can't quite put our finger on--but we can see it when it electrifies someone's being. I had that feeling when I saw this image on Suzee Que's Flickr site--this woman's unique spirit almost leapt out of the frame.

Backgrounds and textures by Encounter_Laura, Dandelion Tea and Blue Turban Photography from Textures for Layers

Art Creations Friday # 61 Guardian of Small Things

This week we are provided with this lovely little angel. She seemed to me a perfect guardian angel for dragonflies, baby birds and other small things.

The background is my own, you can find it soon at Textures for Layers. The little birds are from the Graphics Fairy, the rest is brushes and filters and blending.

Thanks for stopping by

Theme Thursday-Flowers

I thought I would join this challenge this week, and play with the new set of Japanese flower brushes I found, by Mouritsa at Deviant Arts. Here is my entry, Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging.

Art on the Dark Side--Fear

Once again, exploring my dark side. This is a new direction for me---except for all those twinchies at Halloween.

I've been looking for another way to use this dramatic image--I made her zombie for Halloween. She strikes me as the type of horror movie heroine who screams and runs and ultimately lives to scream another day.

Not sure where she came from, one of the many generous freebie sites out there--thank you, whoever you are. The wolf popped up when I Googled "afraid. The gothic house is from Graphics Fairy and the background textures are from my favorite Flickr group, Textures for Layers

Three Muses Challenge--Postage Stamps

Here's my entry for this week's challenge. As I was looking at a collage sheet of stamps I noticed there were a lot of George Washingtons. So I thought "George Washington...hmmm" . I went looking for George Washington images, and found a bunch. Then I saw Mount Rushmore. Well, my postcard almost created itself. I'm very pleased with it. All the images came from Google Images, and the rest is filters and brushes.

Collage Obsession--Longing

Collage Obsession's themes this week are "Longing" and a lovely photo of Marceline Day, an American silent film actress who appeared opposite such greats and Lionel and John Barrymore, Lon Chaney and Buster Keaton. She certainly epitomizes "longing" in this photo. One of my Yahoo groups is having a monotone digital challenge this month, and this will fit right in there too.

Thanks for visiting.

Sunday Postcard Art--Cats

This is Guster. He belongs to some friends of mine. He's a huge cat, weighing in at 25 lbs, last I heard. He's also a big fraidy cat, it was really hard to get him to pose for this photo.

The original photo is mine, altered with artistic filters; the background texture is from Bittbox, also with filters applied.

Seven Gifts # 4 The Appreciation of the Experience of all Life

This one of the seven gifts that come from working from your inner world had a lot of trouble taking form. Imagine the struggle to try and explore "all life" within a 6 x 6 frame.

The elements I chose to explore are the innocence and "tabula rasa" that is the realm of children and the wisdom and joy that come with living a full life... and, of course, the natural world, which is the very abode of all our lives.

There's also, I hope, a glimpse of the spiritual life here too, the realm of illuminating light, inspiration and the peace that comes with understanding.

The image of the children is aper of a painting by Reubens; the beautiful old face was Googled. the rest is all photoshop-gradients, brushes, filters and styles.

Thanks for visiting.

4 x 4 Friday--King Raven

Here is my entry for this week, What interesting themes there are here...not just bird, but Raven and not just raven but King Raven.

The bird was Googled, backgrounds are from me and Tanya at Textures 4 Layers, layered images from Dover and Graphics Fairy, photoshop filters and brushes--the crown is a brush, colored and layer styles applied.

Thanks for visiting.

Art Creations Friday Challenge 60- Precious

This solemn little lady seemed almost to gather all these pretty bits and arrange them to her liking...sometimes the creative process is like that.

Darkness Inspiration--Wow, Way too dark!

Oh my, my monitor at home must be much brighter that here, because the last post was way too dark. I brightened it up a bit and here it is again. Much better.

Darkness Inspiration--Dark moon

Been exploring my (wimpy and not so very sinister) dark side at Darkness Inspirations http://darknessinspiration.blogspot.com/
The new theme is Dark and Sinister Moon. I went toward the romantic and haunting with this piece, my favorite ghostly couple and texture by IrisB477 at Textures for Layers and a beautiful frame from Temari 09 at Frames for Use

Three Muses Challenge- Birds of a Feather

These little guys were originally created as a set of notecards for Christmas presents. This morning we woke to snow--AGAIN!-- and when I saw the theme for this week I immediately thought of birds in winter, and that led my back to these cold little birdies.

The birdies were Googled and altered with photoshop filters and brushes, the beautiful little frame around each birdie is from rubyblosson and the background is from E B Christina , both at Textures for Layers on Flickr. This is a great group, all the textures and backgrounds are free to use, and the creators love it when you link back to them (I don't know how to do that yet, but when I learn, I will)or leave a copy of what you've made for them to see. The rest is blending and brushes. I LOVE brushes!

Thanks for stopping by.

Collage Obsession--a Pair

Image provided for challenge; Roses background from the Feathered Nest; Marriage certificate from Trinkets & Treasures.
Bunnie knows lots of secrets, and I'll bet these two do too. Happy anniversary to them!