Beltane

O Goddess we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the angels, Queen of the May.
O Goddess we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the angels, Queen of the May.
___ Celtic song of Beltane

This is my entry for the 4x4Friday challenge (Beltane/May Day). Beltane , a cross-quarter (half way between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice) sabbat represents the coming of summer- a bountiful time of fertility and growth. It is celebrated often by wearing a garland of flowers in the hair and dancing the Maypole with family and friends . This digital piece is composed of an image (e-vint.com) which I thought represented the feel and enchantment of this celebration, background layers from (scrapbookgraphics and Digital Whisper). Dragonflys from (Wikimedia). All images layered and artistic filters added in photoshop.

Old Film

This is my entry for the Theme Thursday challenge "Black and White". I have used this image of Frida before but wanted to do a study in black and white. The background here is from scrapbookgraphics and I added old text and a film strip (assorted artist papers). I then converted all images to black and white and reduced opacity and lighting levels for a grainy old photo collage.

Mandolin

Music. It has the power to take you places and move you. It stirs up memories and can make you depressed. I studied piano as a child but did not have the patience to stick with it and that's okay. I expressed my love of music through dance ( San Francisco Ballet) for a while in early adulthood. I still love music but it has a different effect on me now than when I was younger. I find my taste is running towards quieter, more calming sounds. Music is not something I have to have turned on the minute I get into my car or come home or create art to. It used to be. Why that is I don't know. Maybe I am more comfortable with my own company and thoughts now. I have an ipod filled with all of my fav's and occasionally "escape" into a little dream world with it. This digital collage represents that dreamy place- a place where you can recall what was , what is and what could be. This is my entry for this weeks theme (Music) at The Three Muses.

Wildflowers

I decided to combine two challenges for this piece that interestingly were very similar in theme. The Digital Whisper challenge gave us the image of this vase to fill with something beautiful (for Mother's Day) and the Collage Obsession challenge gave us an image of a floral bouquet. I cropped and re-colored the flowers giving them a more wildflower look and placed them in the vase. I added text and the wistful young girl to create a vintage message of love and tribute to her mother.

Sorceress

I had total fun with this one! This is for the Darkness Inspiration challenge "Bewitched". Image is from e-vint.com . Wings and things I cropped form Dover, ironwork and background brushes from scrapbookgraphics. All lighting and color filters I mixed in Photoshop. She is definately summoning up some power with that hair!

Lotus Blossom

The theme at Sunday Postcard Art this week is "Oriental". My 4x6 postcard is made from several layers of artist paper backgrounds overlayed with image blended in Photoshop. I added symbols and script and added inverse filters for highlights.

Art Journal

Ah it's Friday. Time for my quiet Friday morning pajama art session. All week I'm kind of rushing to get out and get things done but not Friday. I could stay in jammies all day and play at my art table or do digital art. This is a digital envisioning of an art journal cover. A bit worn and rustic with metal effects and patina. This piece came together magically again because I just let it happen. I've been struggling with pieces based on themes and just surrendered to what I 'felt' like doing. Now I'm ready to face the day!