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.

Street Of Dreams

This is my entry for the Digital -Whisper challenge where we were given the image of the alleyway in Barcelona. I split the image to give added depth to the street scene and added a theatre character from deviantscraps (Holliewood) to give a feeling of behind the scenes in the alley. I added script, architectural details and soft light filters to create a bit of a dreamscape.

Pomona's Garden

This is my entry for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge "Fruit".The apple and the pomegranate along with their blossoms are represented here. Both fruits are symbolic of fertility and abundance and the image represents Pomona the Goddess of Fruit. Vintage botanical prints, image from Deviantscraps, postage clip-art and gradient and soft light filters use in Photoshop Elements 7.

Gold Leaf

At Theme Thursday the challenge was to create art within a square. I had alot of fun making this digital collage using some new images from Deviantscraps.com (Holliewood and SherriJD). Necklace from wikimedia , bees from Dover books and the little gold leaves around her head are a Photoshop brush.