Botanica Bella

This is the 4th digital collage in my Tuscan Summer series. Background is from scrapbookgraphics, sunflowers are from a personal photo. Vintage horticultural print. Bird is from Dover and the woman is from e-vint.com. The text is from the Hortus Eystettensis. This piece is smoky, subdued and represents a quiet time in the garden in the late afternoon.

Steam-punked

The theme at the Three Muses this week is "Steampunk" which is always a challenge for me and a little out of my comfort zone. So I decided to do a little twist on the theme and combine punk, graffiti and vintage mechanics. Background from Lorie Davison (Scrapbookgraphics) vintage locomotive and clock (wikimedia) and fashion magazine image all layered in photoshop with multiply and soft light filters.

Sanctum

This is my digital collage for the 4x4friday challenge where the theme is Cemetery Angels. The background is from (scrapbookgraphics) altered and re-colored. Angel and stone work (googled), antique botanical images added. There are so many dark versions of cemeteries that I decided to do a lighter more uplifting piece.

Crimson and Gold- Tuscan Summer

These are two more digital pieces in my Tuscan Summer series of collage . I am having great fun with botanica lately blending, cropping and coloring. The top collage is called Crimson- image from Dover, structures from wikimedia, antique botanical prints and script. The lower piece is called Golden Umber and the image is from wikimedia, bee from Dover and the structures are from my own photos of a lovely winery here in Sonoma county. Sunflower and grass botanica prints. Multiply and soft light filters added. Opacity reduced and gaussian blur added in Photoshop. These are just fun experiments not for a challenge; just learning to paint and blend digitally.

Tuscan Summer

This is a digital collage made for the Theme Thursday challenge. It is one of a series that I am making with Renaissance women and vintage mixed elements in different garden settings. "Collage" is the theme and this piece is made from antique botanical elements, old script, Dover and wikimedia images all blended, layered with artistic filters added in Photoshop.

Dandelion

This is my entry for The Three Muses challenge this week where the theme is "Eyes". I was very drawn to the eyes in this image (evint.com). Melancholy, longing, fond remembrance seems to be her mood. I had no real direction in this piece - it just sort of happenened. The window wall became a sort of canvas with a view into the past and the present. I added some botanical elements and a personal photo of a dandelion. I clipped a bit of the dandelion digitally and added the "petals" in motion. Window wall and house and garden elements are from my own photos.

Sea Voyages Postcard

This is my entry for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge "Sea Voyages" being the theme this week. The background is my own digital sheet and elements from scrapbookgraphics overlayed with coral images (wikimedia) fish and sea turtle. The mermaid is from Dover. Lots of fun with gradient colors and filters in Photoshop. Postage stamp is clip-art from Stampington.

Solstice

This is my entry for the 4x4friday challenge where the theme is "Midsummer". This digital collage depicts a Druid woman attending the summer solstice celebration at Stonehenge. A magical time when the sun's power reaches its peak. Midsummer is also named for the Goddess Litha, known as a Goddess of fertility, power and order. This is a time to invite fire into our lives(metaphorically of course) - to burn away the old and invite the new in . It is also a time to enjoy the earth's bounty and enjoy the season of ripening and bringing things to fulfillment. This coming Monday is the first day of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. The wheel is turning, forever changing and moving and I hope we all can reflect on this day on our most precious calendar 'Nature' and celebrate! Credits: Stonehenge image from wikimedia, e-vint.com, scrapbookgraphics; artistic filters added in Photoshop

Bird of Paradise

This is my entry for the Theme Thursday challenge "Green". Several years ago I planted three 'Bird of Paradise' plants in my yard and they grew but no blooms. Well, this year after abundant rain I got 3 flowers and I used a picture of one of the blooms in this digital piece! Other components are from Dover, Digital whisper and scrapbookgraphics. Asian text and antique botanical prints added.

Aloft

I was inspired by some beautiful soaring Osprey recently and made this digital collage to honor the amazing heights to which they climb and their sustainabilty in the air. She is part myth, woman and bird aloft; keeping an eye on the world below. Bird image form Dover, magazine model ,background from scrapbookgraphics building from wikimedia and a photo of a feather (Hawk) I found on one of my hikes. All elements layered and filters added in Photoshop..

Heirloom Rose

This is my 4x6 entry for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge"Roses". All roses used in this piece are from my garden which is comprised of Hybrid Tea and Heirloom Roses. Image is from e-vint.com. Added text, photoshop painting and multiply filters added.

All the World's a Stage

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts..."
"As you like it" William Shakespeare

This is my entry for the 4x4friday challenge "All things Shakespeare". This is a journal page I made using images from (Dover- cut out paperdoll) dried leaves and flowers, background paper and curtain images from graphic 45. Image of Shakespeare from wikimedia all cut and assembled .

Monarch and Blue

This is my entry for the Digital-Whisper Challenge " Orange and Blue". We were given 6 images and were to use 3-4 of them to create a digital collage. I used 5 of the given images

to create this piece starting on a background of my own and then layering and reducing opacity . Multiply and soft light filters added in Photoshop. Lots of fun and great images from a new challenge site!

Mirror Lake

This is my entry for the Collage Obsession Challenge ( Mirror) where we were given this lovely image of a bather. I altered it quite a bit adding wings and a lake scene (all from personal photos). I used her mirror image (cropped and reduced opacity) for the image in the lake. I added scattered roses (Photoshop brush)and rock wall cropped and layered (scrapbookgraphics) to complete the landscape.

Art Nouveau

This is my entry for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge "Art Nouveau". When I think of that period of art the wonderful posters of Mucha come to mind and so this digital expression tries to bring that feeling through with fabric, color, design and images from that period. All of those elements were scanned and layered in Photoshop with soft light filters and gaussian blur.

Credits: e-vint.com, Dover, scrapbookgraphics. Personal photo.

Eclectic- 4x4 Friday

This is my entry for the 4x4friday challenge" Eclectic". The word eclectic and collage are synonymous to me; gathering elements from different sources to create art that forms a collective but cohesive effect and that speaks to everyone. This digital collage is made from background ( scrapbookgraphics) image from (Moonlight Journey) vintage botanical prints and art to borrow from (Stampington).

Crimes of Passion

I was working on this piece today using a (Graffiti Art) image given to us from Kimmie for the Digital Whisper challenge and it turned into a rather bright and colorful collage so I think it works well for the Theme Thursday challenge (Bright Colors) also .
There is some amazing graffiti art out there ranging from straight out obscene vandalism to beautiful art! I have a wonderful book "Graffiti Women" Street Art From Five Continents by Nicholas Ganz and I recommend it for viewing and perhaps giving the reader a new perspective on this crime of passion.