The Sea Waltz

Well after a fun but exhausting Christmas weekend I wanted to have some fun with a bit of a whimsical fantasy piece. The wonderful vintage Ballerina is from e-vint .com and other digital elements from Holliewood at deviantartscraps.
It was a great Holiday -I got an iPad and played with that most of Christmas day, and a few days before I had about thirty guests over for a fun Open House- I cooked for three days straight but it was good! My son and his girlfriend came over and we got to meet the rest of her family! It was a great time with friends, family and good cheer.
I am looking forward to a quiet and reflective New Year; time to get in touch with all that has happened this past year, time to be grateful for all of the good things and time to dream of new creative adventures for the future.

Morningstar

This is my entry for the Three Muses Challenge this week "Tidings of Comfort and Joy".

The Christmas story for me is one of birth, new life and all that new life promises. When we look at a newborn we see all that can be achieved; peace, non-judgement, love and a soul that is untarnished- that is open to all possibilities. As adults we need to remember that we all have the capacity to be that way again.

Imagery credits go to Down Under Studios, Dover books copy free imagery, and wikimedia all blended and painted in Photoshop.

A warm thanks to all who have visited my blog this past year and your very generous comments- you all keep me inspired with your beautiful art and words. May Peace be with you this special season and best wishes for a prosperous (and wildly creative) New Year!

Solstice Celebration

Hail, lovely sun!
Praise you for rising!
Yesterday we shivered in darkness
while you were trapped in the mountains.
Now you rise light as a silver bird.
Always rise like this, goddess,
always come back to us like this,
bringing us health and safety,
bringing the game to our arrows,
and fish to our hooks.
Journey now in peace,
go around the earth in safety,
travel in joy, O goddess!
-Finnish Kalevala

There are many things to celebrate at this time of year and the Winter Solstice (Dec. 21st this year) reminds us that the returning of the Sun and the slow increase in light brings us promise of new growth and life. As we build hearth fires, light candles or string lights on a Christmas tree we are honoring the old traditions of welcoming the light back, to bring us warmth and productivity in the new year.

May everyone find their own way to celebrate and light the world!

This is my entry for the 4x4Friday challenge and the TAW challenge.
Imagery credits go to Downunderstudios, e-vint.com and personal photos.

Joyeux Noel

A little digital fun with postal stamps, artist papers and Photoshop.

Imaginings

The world of imagination belongs to children. Not that adulthood strips us of our imaginings but it is hard to recreate the wondrous world of innocent, pure fantasy that occurs in childhood. There is no inner critic, no voice of reason and responsibility to tell us to get back to reality. I love to observe my husband's nieces and nephews lost in their blissful world of fantasy.

"Childhood " is the theme this week at Take A Word challenge and through my "playtime" with digital art came this piece representing the world of imaginary friends and doorways to other places and adventures.
Imagery credits go to Dover, Holliewood at Deviantartscraps and wikimedia.

Native Song

This is my digital postcard for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge "Robins". I recently was looking at new calendars in the bookstore and saw one that really impressed me entitled "Inuit Art". I was attracted to the use of black, white and a touch of orange-red that seem to prevail in most of the scenes from nature and myth, and so used that idea in creating this piece.

Imagery credits go to assorted artist papers, Downunder Studios and wikimedia. The postal stamps are from my collection.

Aurora

This is my entry for the Theme Thursday challenge "Winged People". Imagery credits go to Deviant art scraps (Hollliewood) and (Joelle at Downunder Studios).

Crimson Flower

I had some fun blending and mixing floral imagery here for the Three Muses challenge "Flowers" this week. Main image from Vintage-blog along with botanical prints, script and digital painting filters in Photoshop. Digital blending allows for such great depth and gradation of color and the ability to reduce opacity allows images to merge and become one which I really enjoy doing.

Winter Post

This is my entry for this week's Take A Word challenge "Mail Art". Imagery credits go to Luna Girl (Fairy Tale Images) and deviant art scraps (Holliewood). Clip art postal script added.

I love the fantasy aspect of the Winter Solstice/Holiday season. Most of my decorations are filled with winter fairies, snowy villages and wilderness critters mixed in with natural greenery, winter branches and berries. Despite all of the massive commercialism in the stores I do still enjoy creating a little magic this time of year and remembering the winter tales I learned as a child . This piece tries to capture the wonder of the winter Goddess and her guides on a cold starry night.

Requiem

I wanted to work with some really rich deep colors here. The roses are photos from my yard overlayed (opacity reduced) onto a beautiful image from Dover copy free images. Latin illumination from Dover also added.

After the long Thanksgiving weekend (I'm still washing dishes!) I am turning my thoughts toward the Holidays now. I am not an overly religious person but I find myself drawn to the more spiritual nature in art and imagery and love to work with these kinds of images to create a mood and a feeling rather than something commercial or trendy. Certain images just jump out at me and I have to work with them; create something new with them, something that touches and expresses a deep part of me. Perhaps a part that is longing to be exposed but is reluctant. Art is the inner voice.

Winter's Journey

This is my entry for the 4x4 Friday challenge where the theme is "snow" this week. Imagery credits go to Holliewood at deviantart scraps, Dover books, and wikimedia ( for snowflakes). Soft and gradient filters used for effects.

It is getting cold outside, I'm bundling up and have built some hearth fires recently. We don't get much snow here on the California coast, mainly rain. But Mount Tamalpais (our sacred mountain) here does gets dusted from time to time bringing great beauty. I am ready to welcome winter now; to go inside, to dream, to prepare for the turning of the wheel again. A time to reflect on the passed year and prepare for a time of stillness. A time to enter Winter's journey.

Far, Far Away

This is my entry for the Digital Whisper Group challenge (Castle in the Sky). I overlayed the beautiful image from Kimmie over a background from Z-tampf and the wonderful image of the young girl from Magic Moonlight Free images . With her head in the clouds she dreams of far away enchanted places!

Folklore

I ran across this wonderful image of Rip Van Winkle over at Marsha's (Tumblefish Studio freebie) and thought it would be perfect for this week's Take A Word challenge "Men". An old American folklore tale of time travel in a sense where on old man falls into a long slumber only to awaken to a new time; his family and friends gone and having to deal with all things new and unfamiliar. I overlayed some old calendars to represent the passage of time. Background from Scrapbookgraphics (Tempest). Soft and gradient light filters used for ageing in Photoshop.

I want to thank everyone who visited me on my last post about my Mother's passing away a few days ago. Your kind comments are a true comfort and help me feel connected. My mind is racing a bit, filled with memory and now with Thanksgiving approaching, family events are all the more meaningful. I am doing a big family meal this year and although (my) family members will not be present, my Husband's wonderful family will be here to carry on the light and sharing of past, present and future gatherings of laughter and Thankfulness.

Remembrance

Little did I know that when I was creating this collage two days ago that my Mother quietly had passed away. She has been ill and it was not unexpected, but wow feelings (good and bad) do flood in and leave you a bit numb. I wanted to created some great collage using old photos of her and me when I was little but frankly it was just too hard. I thought that this beautiful image just about says it all and I overlayed a little of my Mom's handwriting from the back of some old photos.
I think it will take some time to sort out my feelings. I will try to remember the good things ,the good times and the things we had in common and the things we didn't have in common sure made life interesting!

Tender Gardener

Tender gardener
Nightblooming jasmine music
fills your heart with song.

This is my entry for the Collage Obsession challenge "Tenderness" and the Theme Thursday challenge this week "Faces".
Imagery credits go to e-vint.com, vintage botanical clippings and scrapbookgraphics all blended in PSE.

Luna Pearl

This is my entry for the Take A Word challenge this week where the chosen word is "Moon".

I have always been a follower of the moon's phases and cycles. The progression of the waxing and waning; coming full circle and then to start over again gives a lovely rhythm to our days. Nature makes sense to me. There is a definitive connection to how our natural world works in relation to our inner lives. Amidst the profusion of high technology and broad communications we still are driven by the inner clock, the seasons, the pull of the moon and it's phases whether we recognize it or not.

Credits for this digital collage go to Dover, Holliewood at deviantartscraps, and wikimedia. All imagery blended and artistic filters added in Photoshop.

The River Guardian

This is my entry for the Take A Word challenge this week where the theme is "Angel" . I've been away for five days enjoying a little trip to San Antonio Texas while my husband was at a conference (I got to play and sightsee). A beautiful river walk and true Texas hospitality made for a lovely short trip! Credits for this digital collage are imagery from Dover books, scrapbookgraphics and a beautiful dandelion photo from Digital-Whisper blog all blended and colored in Photoshop.

Hats and Crowns Postcard

This is my entry for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge this week to make a postcard with "Hats and Crowns". I love this medieval image from Dover books and overlayed it on a rubberstamped artist paper background. I scanned in into the computer , added postal stamps and digitally colored with artistic filters.

Ondine

This piece was inspired by an Irish film I recently saw by the same name. Ondine is a water nymph or elemental who if comes onto land and marries risks losing her immortality but of course finds true love in return. The image credits for this piece are from Dover and scrapbookgraphics blended and layered in Photoshop.

Dream Theatre

This is my digital entry for The Three Muses challenge where the theme this week is "Showtime". Using images from Vintage-blog and deviantartscraps (Holliewood) I envisioned a Modern dancer in the spotlight.

All Hallow's Eve

There is an undeniable sense of magic and turning of the wheel at this time of the year whether you embrace Samhain (Hallowe'en , All Hallow's Eve) or not. The brilliant moon, the owls in flight, the shadows of the landscape all lend towards turning inward , for transparency for walking between the worlds. If we pay attention to what nature is telling us; slow down, listen and observe... magic is ours.

Credits for this collage are images from Luna Girl, Holliewood at Deviantartscraps and Digital Whisper.

Invocation

This is my entry for the Digital Whisper challenge "Cauldron". We were given this cauldron image ( which I have altered in color, scale and added digital brushes for effects). The woman is from Dover , background is from Collage Obsession and added script from Dover. Gradient filters were used for the overall shadows and color blending. The original painting by (John Singer Sargent) shows this woman in meditation with an incense burner, but I also saw her intent and concentration and felt as if she could be summoning the spirit of the cauldron.

Immortal Bloom

Where roses would not dare to go,
What heart would risk the way-
And so I send my crimson scouts
to sound the enemy.
Emily Dickinson

This is my entry for the Digital-Whisper blog challenge where we were given the rose image to work with. Credits also to deviantartscraps (Holliewood) and scripted artist papers.

Winter's Tale

This is my entry for the Theme Thursday challenge "Winter". Simple, stark and silent. The beauty of a winter Barn owl who flies silently in search of prey. My local Barn owls along with the Great Horned owls are busy now at night around my property; a flash of white and a chorus of hooting signal the cooler nights and the coming of Winter. Imagery from Wikimedia, scrapbookgraphics, Dover and deviantartscraps (Holliewood).

In Faeriewood

This is my entry for the Three Muses Challenge "Things With Wings". I have been putting alot of wings on things lately and why not a little more- especially deep in the faerie wood. Old images from wikimedia and vintage-blog, background and vintage frames from scrapbookgraphics. Wings from deviantartscraps (Poet Keepsakes) and digital-whisper image. All blended and painted in photoshop.

The Bridesmaids

This is my entry for the Collage Obsession challenge . We were given this wonderful photo of all the young ladies in their corsets and I thought of a group of bridesmaids getting ready for the big day. I didn't want to alter the photo as it is so charming of the group so I used digital artistic filters to paint with and added a background of roses from my own photos, chandeliers (deivantart) and clip art of a vintage marriage license.

I am entering this piece into the Theme Thursday challenge as well for the color Pink and Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Flights of Fancy

One of the challenges at Digital Whisper is to create a piece that is in the style of a wonderful artist (Maggie Taylor). This is my entry entitled "Baa Baa Black Sheep". A bit nursery rhyme a bit midwest fancy. Most of Taylor's work is vintage mixed with fanciful and somewhat surreal art elements. Credits for this piece go to deviantartscraps, wikimedia and Dover with Photoshop brushes and soft light effects

Vintage Beauty

This is my entry for the Three Muses Challenge where "Vintage" is the theme. Credits go to Scrapbookgraphics , e-vint.com. , deviantart and Christine Renee (glass negative). All images layered and opacity reduced in Photoshop. Soft and gradient light filters.

Liquidamber

This is my entry for the Digital Whisper blog challenge where we were given a beautiful leaf image to use. I tried a number of different collages but this piece came together best in the spirit of the wonderful Autumn weather we are having here in California. Other credits go to scrapbookgraphics, vintage blog and torn bits of Asian inspired fabric scanned.

The Haunting

In late July we took a road trip to Portland Oregon and on our way back we stopped in Eureka, California where one of the most beautiful old "Queen Anne" style Victorian houses still stands ( Carson Mansion) . Whenever I take photos of old houses I always get an eerie feeling that spirits might appear at the windows-reaching out from the past with their stories to tell, longing to move on. I used my photo of the mansion in this piece along with imagery from e-vint.com. and digital elements from deviantartscraps to create a haunting collage . The broken glass negative is from Christine Renee.

Dark Dreaming

I have had some fun creating these dark pieces from a new digital kit from Deviantartscraps (Welcome to my Nightmare). The top piece is called "DragonSlayer" and the lower piece is called "Dark Dreaming". I have also used some imagery from Dover and added gradient light and shadow filters in Photoshop. The Dragonslayer piece I am entering into the Theme Thursday challenge "Red and Black".

Sacred Song

This is my entry for The Three Muses challenge where "Music" is the theme this week. I have always interpreted music through dance whether it was Ballet, Belly, Jazz or ethnic movement. I never had the patience to learn an instrument but spent many years in dance interpreting the flow and rhythms of music through body expression. Ruth St. Dennis (pictured above) was a pioneer in the interpretive, ethnic dance movement which to this day I love, and brought a new awareness combining dance from around the world with classic lines to create visually stunning art . Background and overlays from scrapbookgraphics, main image and tambourine from wikimedia. Layers mixed with multiply and gradient filters added.

Swan Song

This is my entry for the Collage Obsession challenge "Pink". I layered a beautiful photo of Anna Pavlova (Wikimedia) over a background from deviantartscraps and added Fresco and screen filters for the look of an impressionist painting. I added scraps from sheet music and soft light filters.

Dark Sister

It was very synchronous that I was working on this piece when Theme Thursday put out a challenge for "Dark or Gothic" this week so this will be my entry. Image is from e-vint, background and birds from deviantartscraps, roses from personal photos and script from Magic Moonlight. The lightening is from Wikimedia . Inverted and multiply filters added along with art brushes in Phtoshop.

Queen Bee

This is my entry for the Three Muses challenge this week where the theme is 'Victorian'. Who better to represent this period than Queen Victoria herself with a little enchantment added to her regal pose. Image from Wikimedia, background and film clipping from deviantartscraps and Scrapbookgraphics (Ztampf), bees from Dover. Opacity reduced with soft light and multiply filters added in Photoshop.

I'm excited because with this post I finally figured out how to increase the size of my photos in my posts. For me I went to edit posts and simply clicked on the photo and some little sizers popped up and you just increase the length or width as you want. There is also a new post editor that is available and I will probably switch to that soon as well to figure out how to get rid of the border . (It has a new feature on increasing size). Anyway I'm sure most people knew this already (I'm a computer dummy) but for those who don't just give it a try. It's cool.

The Gallery

This is my entry for the Mixed Media Monday challenge where the open theme this week is simply "Art". I made this digital gallery from images from the "stark" kit from Deviantscraps and used my own artwork to place in the gallery (with exception of the torso scuplture). The 'painting' on the background wall is a digital collage I made a while back and the stained glass window is a window I have hanging in my home that I made about 10 years ago. The Frida sketch on the easel is also a digital collage from my blog and the dream catcher I made a long time ago. Totally fun to make and learned alot about using the perspective/skew tool in Photoshop.

Fowl Play

This is my entry for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge where the theme is "Autumn Glory". I used seasonal artist papers for the background , torn decorative napkins (scanned in) , clip-art postage stamps and pheasants from Dover "wings" book. All blended, layered and color filtered in Photoshop.

Fractal

This is a rather dark piece for me. I was experimenting oddly enough with a new digital kit I got this morning where the images are all white (Stark from Holliewood at Deviantscraps) and I ended up creating a collage in a totally darker mode. It definately has weight, a feeling of isolation and decay but a spirit of hope nonetheless through the beauty of the angel and signs of life represented by the tree.

Watercolors

This is my entry for the Digital-Whisper challenge. We were given the image of the waterlilies and I blended a photo from Vintage blog and in fact another image (peacocks) from an earlier Digital Whisper challenge to come together in a colorful collage. I altered the colors using soft, pin light and multiple filters in Photoshop.

Equinox

Today marks the turning of the wheel again as we celebrate the Autumnal Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere. I love this season and fully embrace its colors, its giving away of summer and transitioning into the winter and darker more introspective times. I am far more creative with art, cooking, and decorating at this season as it all seems to come together- the harvesting and settling in - it feels natural. We don't have the full on blaze of colors yet here in California so this piece highlights the late summer into fall blush shades. This is a hybrid journal page mixed with digital elements to represent the dance and amusements of the new cycle. Time to go for a walk in the woods and fire up the crock pot!

Portrait

This is my digital portrait for the Collage Obsession challenge this week. Main image provided by the challenge group, flowers from personal photos, (Metal Momma ) elements from Deviantscraps and easel from wikimedia. All images overlayed and blended with soft artistic filters in Photoshop.

Shades of Gray

This is my entry for the Shades of Gray challenge over at Tumblefish Studios celebration this week. I have enjoyed working in the grayscale modes (color is my usual driving force) but have learned some valuable perspective about shadow, subject, lighting and tone which take a front seat with the absence of color. Images from Dover books, wikimedia, artist papers and Holliewood at Deviantscraps all blended in photoshop grayscale.

The Lightkeeper

This is my entry for the Digital Whisper challenge where we were given this image of a light house and again the grayscale base was used here as I saw a very moody, dark kind of expression surrounding this image. We have a number of dramatic lighthouses here on the Pacific West Coast and I have visited many of them. They are usually shrouded in fog and mist and are generally a little cold and ominous even though their purpose is to bring light and direction to ships at sea. I overlayed the given image onto a photo I took of cliffs, sea caves and fog in Mendocino County and added the Fresco, solarize and soft light filters for a painterly and stormy look. The seagull is from wikimedia and the postcard stamp represents perhaps letters to a lonely lightkeeper at his post.

Sea Star

I have been experimenting in Grayscale a little bit and although this is not devoid of color I like the subtle effects. Your eyes are drawn to shadow and contrast a lot more when working without a lot of color. I find that you have to ponder on the subject imagery more and fill in the blanks with imagination. Collage Noir!

Rio Grande

This is my entry for the Collage Obsession challenge where we were given this wonderful old cowboy image to play with. The background and old text is from scrapbookgraphics, coyote and wagon wheel from wikimedia and artistic filters added for a worn and rustic look.

The Witching Hour

I spent a little time cleaning my art room this weekend and was inspired to get into a little hand crafting with what was laying around. I made this newsprint paper doll ( after seeing a photo of an inspirational piece in Somerset Workshop) which was buried under stacks of paper! I cut out the doll's body and face ( from Dover books) crumpled newspaper for her dress, added black roses and straw marigolds and cut out boots, hat and star embellishments from Halloween inspired artist paper. The little broom was an ornament of mine and placed her on some fun artist paper . This is my entry for the Three Muses this week where the theme is " The Printed Word".

Steam Maiden

This is my steam punk maiden and her bird. Little "bits and pieces" of steampunk images and 4 layers of background come together for this piece. The little bird is an image from Dover whose headgear is from srcapbookgraphics and his wings are made from scanned butterfly hinges that I own- not easy to scan hardware! Other layers from deviantart, artist papers blended in Photoshop. This is my entry for the 4x4friday challenge.

Florentine

I couldn't resist doing another Autumn piece (alas the end of my Tuscan Summer series) for the Theme Thursday challenge this week. Image from Dover , vintage botanica, photo from wikimedia, doorway from deviantart. It certainly feels like Autumn here at home today so this is my art offering to celebrate the coming seasonal change. Now off to rake some leaves!

Archives

This is my entry for The Three Muses challenge this week where the theme is "Numbers". This was a good challenge for me as I rarely use numbers in my art work. When I do choose to use numbers I like them to be subtle and natural for the piece and to not look added on. I used an image from (vintage-spirit) and layered old document and ledger images to give an archival feeling to the piece. I converted the photo to black and white (to get rid of the yellowing) and added pin light and soft light filters for ageing.