Take a Word-song

Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?
Father McKenzie writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near.
Look at him working, darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?
Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Camouflaged

A little playing around with a photo from Digitalnuts Yahoo group. Lots of filtering and blending.
Background bits from ShaireProductions at T4L and a great texture from the folks at Art Creations Friday.

SPA-Things with Wings

It's good to be the Queen.

Even her wings are part of the crown jewels...

Images from Google, The background is a piece I've had for a long time, don't remember where I found it. Thank you, whoever you are, for sharing it.

A Progressive Design

I one of the yahoo groups I'm in we have a progressive design challenge going on. There is a leader, and she give us 5 steps--one at a time. above is my finished piece, and below are the first four steps

Step 1
arrange four papers/backgrounds on your page--2 patterned, one plain and one textured--anyway you like.

Step2
Add a quote--using at least two fonts. I used four.

Step 3
Add threee elements, three ribbons and a blended image. My blended image is a bit from another piece of mine- a face overlaid with an image of stars from the Hubble telescope. My three elements are the iris, a peacock feather and the gold star. The ribbons are along the bottom.

Step 4
Add a swirl, and three elements from Nature, which can be repeated as you like. I added a blue swirl, a butterfly, dragonfly and spray of green leaves.

Step 5 (the top image, above)
Add two frames and a title. My frames are around the whole image and adound the quote. My title is "Dreamer."

If you'd like to join the group, it's arttechniquesdigital


There are challenges and tutorials, and a great group of digital artists here.

soartful challenge-Silent Stars

Lillian Gish

Not only was Lillian Gish born in the right era, but she was also born with the ethereal beauty and grace to make her a star in the silent film industry. If Mary Pickford was the silent cinema's greatest personality, Lillian was its greatest actress.

A consummate actress, Lillian seemed to take delight in suffering for the art form that became her obsession. In order to experiment, Lillian worked in extreme conditions such as starvation, intense heat and bitter cold. Soon, she became the quintessential silent screen heroine, lovely and open to suffering. However, despite her characters' apparent weakness, Lillian's performances also let their inner strengths shine through.

One of my favorite Lilian Gish roles came much later in her career--in the eerie, exceedingly creepy, Southern Gothic "Night of the Hunter." She played a feisty and determined older woman, rescuing children from the evils they found themselves entangled in. It also stars Robert Mitchum, at his villianess best. If you've never seen it, it's worth a look. It's a beautiful, surreal piece of cinema.

Three Muses Challenge- Zettify Me!

Sometimes it's good to be the dog.

I still don't quite get Zetti, don't understand what it's about. But here goes.
YES, both Queen Elizabeths are there, as well as one of the queen's pooches.
All images from Google, much altered by me.

Take a Word-Sepia

Little Bunnie

While thinking about this theme, I went back to look at some of my older pieces. Boy, there is a lot of sepia in my work. Almost all the monochrome ones seem to be in the sepia shades of tan, brown, rust and cream.
Who knew!
With the exception of the damselfly, this was all done with Photoshop brushes.
I downloaded a sepia palette from Adobe Kuler, and except for the green, I used only the five colors of the palette.

SPA-Squares

SQUARED

For me, a bit out of the box, if you will... fun to make though.
Background from Rebecca Parker at T4L, white squares from miki iwanaga also at T4L. The iris was googled, the stamp was assembled from tiny bits in my collection and the rest is brushes.

52 Starlets--Veronica Lake

Veronica Lake Contemplating a Bust of Homer

Images from Google, starry overlay from Songbird Avenue.

Take a Word-Flight

The air up there...

I found this photo on Google a while ago, and painted it with Fotosketcher.
Background bits from Cottage Arts and Temari09 at Textures for Layers

Three Muses Challenge- -Oriental

I've been on vacation for the last several days, so I'm just catching up now.

A great source of all things Asian (Chinese and Japanese anyway) is the Peabody Essex Museum, in Salem, MA. The museum's origins date to the founding in 1799 of the East India Marine Society by a group of Salem-based captains and supercargoes. Members of the Society were required by the society's charter to collect "natural and artificial curiosities" from beyond the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn. Due to the institution's age, the items they donated to the collections are significant for their rare combination of age and provenance.
The Peabody Essex Museum (est. 1992) originally the Peabody Museum of Salem and the Essex Institute, in Salem, Massachusetts is the oldest continuously operating museum in the United States, and holds one of the major collections of Asian art in the US; its total holdings include about 1.3 million pieces, as well as twenty-four historic buildings.

This photo of a Kabuki actor is from their collection.
The background is made from pieces by Elizabeth Golden, Peggy Gatto and Untamed Reflections. The calligraphy is Japanese for chief actor, or "Star."

SPA- Summer

Summer, for me, has most often been about the ocean. It's the place I want to be, the spray and scent, the fog, the sun's glare, that wonderful sound of surf on sand and rocks. I just love to be there. It centers me.

The photo is my own, of sailboats in Bar Harbor, Maine. Textures are from Pareeerica and Vintage Findings at Textures for Layers and from Shadowhouse.

Three Muses Challenge- Steampunked

Steampunk Venus

I chose the Venus de Milo for my steampunking subject--after all she already needed a new arm.

Textures from Trine Secher and Urbanyardsale; Venus and some of the elements were Googled, others came from The Sum of All Crafts and Cynthia Powell's Made of Metal kit.

Take a Word-Wedding

Wedding Day

The bride and groom are a photo of a cake topper, altered a bit with filters and brushes. The rose background is from The Feathered Nest

52 Starlets--Garbo

Fire and ice...Mystery and secrets...

Garbo

Photo from the challenge blog, text from the Graphics Fairy.

soartful challenge-Summer Scene

Image provided by Jeannette; altered with Fotosketcher and colored with brushes. Background textures from JoyceT63 at T4L and by Shadowhouse Creations

SPA--Glitz and Glam

Hedy Lamar from the movie "Ziegfield Girls." Background bits from Textures for Layers and Shadowhouse Creations. Embellishments from Scrapbook Flair.
The author of quote is unknown...sounds kind of like a fortune cookie to me.

Three Muses Challenge- -1920s

Image from Art-e-zine, bokeh background pieces fron Shadowhouse Creations, lyrics from Cole Porter.

52 Starlets--Julie Newmar

She'll always be Catwoman to me!

Stars and Stripes

I took this photo on July 4, 2009 at Fort McHenry, in Baltimore Harbor. This was the scene of the battle that inspired the Star Spangled Banner. This huge flag, from the early 1800's flew over the fort for several years.
On this July 4th this and another retired flag were unfolded and held open by all the visitors to the fort, as everyone sang our national anthem. I was holding a piece of the flag in my other hand when I snapped this photo.

Background textures are a flag piece from Scrapbook Flair and a copy of the Declaration of Independence. Yankee Doodle was googled.

SPA--Fanta-Sea

Feeling a tad whimsical this morning...
Seahorsey is a coloring page from Hellokids.com. colered and altered with filters. The face and stamp were googled; the background texture is from Cynthia Powell Designs. The border is a brush.