Red Balloon to the Moon

I met my friend Marguerite Bryant by taking her class "Red Balloon to the Moon." It was just a fun little class about gratitude and keeping your dreams alive. I created this picture tonight instead of sleeping. I've been having insomnia, and then sleeping way too late the next day. Oh well. The picture makes me feel happy!

Grandchildren Ready For Winter

It's been so cold here in Michigan that our daughter Kaitlyn had to buy coats for her little ones. I thought they looked so cute in their new outfits that I ought to share a picture.

 

They get their long noses from our son-in-law, Dan.

My Camel is Ready!

Oh my. That title must sound strange! But I think I already told you I joined a year long journaling group called Studio Caravan 2011 by Tangie Baxter. It starts officially Jan. 1. Knowing we are sitting here with keen anticipation, Tangie gave us a camel to put in a journaling page to get our creative juices going. We were suppose to get our camel ready for the journey. Here's the page I created. :o)

Altered Postcard

My two weeks off work is almost over. I've enjoyed being able to sit at our kitchen table and watch the cardinal that has been visiting our special tree every day. His color is just remarkable! Consequently, here is another post with a bird in it. Sometimes I think it is fun to try altering a flat image and see if I can give it a little more depth using Photoshop. Below is an old postcard that was included in a "Birds and Bloom" kit I received for being a member of Artella.

 

Here is my altered version:

 

Dear June, where would we be without our digital art?!

Three Muses Challenge - Book

There's hardly anything I love more than a good book!

The two mice are by Lorie Davison from her kit "Greymouse Manor Winter Ball."

SARK is having a sale!

 

Yep, it's me again. If you enroll in one of SARK's classes by clicking on the picture above, I get a little money. What can I say? I always need a little money.

More Cardinals :^)

Super Silliness!

Thinking about starting your own business?

Now this is dastardly! You come to a friends blog for some simple entertainment and get an advertisement instead. But Marney is a good art friend of mine, and I love everything she does. Her programs are wonderful! Marney is the founder of Artella in case you haven't heard of her before.

If you've ever thought about starting your art business (well, any kind of business for that matter), you might want to check this out:

I Wonder . . .

Hope Named Gone

Don't panic! I don't need any cheering up. This is just some late night art therapy . . .

 

Elements from CrowAbout Studio B digital scrapbooking kit named "Rusty." Free verse written by me.

Mr. Cardinal and His Gal Pal

This is the time of year when Michigan turns gray and ugly. Upper Michigan has many more evergreen trees than down here in the southern part. We see mostly leafless, lifeless branches and trunks. The birds that hang around during the cold months appear the same bland color.

One tree in our backyard, though, has a profusion of orange berries that stand out brightly against the gray skies. I took a picture of it two years ago after it had been coated with ice. It is quite beautiful in its winter coat.

     I find this tree especially wonderful, though, not just because of the shot of color it brings to the dull yard, but because it attracts my favorite birds - cardinals. Last year there were six red cardinals all feasting on the berries at the same time. Actually, three of the birds were only spotted with red in certain areas of their feathers, because they were females. The male cardinals practically glowed in all of their crimson glory in contrast. There hasn't been any ice on tree yet this year, but just today a male cardinal and his lady friend became the first birds to visit the tree.

I found the cardinals so beautiful and welcome during the winter months, that I got my pencil and paper out and drew one. I scanned my drawing into my computer and then added a background digitally. I also painted the cardinal his brilliant red using Photoshop. The picture below is the one I ended up with. I have it framed sitting on my computer desk for those times when I want a good shot of color to help me survive the winter.

Haiku - Love

Snow Dance

Another challenge on the Digital Whisper Ning site was to create a snowflake from scratch. I created the snowflake using my initials that I digitally sign my collages with and then turned it into a brush. The ballerina was provided.

Swan Dance

Kimmie from her Digital Whisper Ning site gave us these two pictures to play with:

This is the digital collage I created with them. I hope you enjoy looking at it!

I Hear a Symphony!

 

My friend Tammy, a member of Marguerite's Ning site Heart's Desire for Joy, sent me a CD full of wonderful digital music ephemera. I played around with some of it today, and this is the end result.

Fairy Tree

My friend Marguerite suggested I post this here in my blog. It is such an incredible story! She lives in northern California, and is able to take long walks through a beautiful forest. She shares her wonderful pictures on her Ning site Hearts Desire for Joy. I love this one in particular because of the beautiful moss on the roots of the tree.

 

I left a comment on her site that, as beautiful as the picture was,  I bet there had to be a fairy door somewhere in the base of the tree. We live in Ypsilanti which is the bordering city to Ann Arbor, Michigan, home of U of M. Ann Arbor has many fairy doors throughout the city in various stores and restaurants. Some even have windows so you can see inside the fairy dwellings!

This picture was found on www.annarbor.com. But I'm getting away from my tale. Marguerite promised to looked closer the next time she drove to the forest.

Much to my surprise (I was so surprised I almost peed my pants!), I found myself transported to that very same forest that very night. It was even more beautiful than Marguerite captured in her photos. The sky was full of stars, and the moon was almost full, so I had no problem walking and finding that special tree. (Be sure to click on Read More after the picture below.)

Funky Music

Just for fun!

Take A Word Challenge #7 - Childhood

 

I tried something a little different this time. I drew a couple of heads to use instead of just using digital elements. Weird but fun!

Art Journal Caravan 2011

I'm really excited! I've joined a year long art project called Art Journal Caravan 2011. It is sponsored by Studio Tangie at Scrapbook Graphics. If you would like to read about it, here is the link: http://shop.scrapbookgraphics.com/Art-Journal-Caravan-Expedition-2011.html It officially starts January 1 st., but I couldn't wait. I created my opening page to put in my journal. It feels so good to join a group of like minded artists.

Some Weirdness

When in doubt, make something weird! The girl is from a collage sheet by Itkupilli.

Inner Critic

I don't know why I'm totally nuts, but I am. (Actually I do know why, but . . . ) There are lots of times when I really want to draw, but my inner critic tells me I can't do it. I despise my stupid inner critic! He stops me from doing all kinds of things. Sometimes I beat him down enough to get some kind of art created, but most of the time, he just pops right back up and I freeze. Well, the picture below is the start of a character I want to draw. What you see is as far as I got. I told myself I'm going to post it, because maybe by at least doing that, it will allow me to see I'm not totally untalented. It's that darn critic's fault I'm not more productive. I remember reading that SARK met a policeman, and after talking with him for a while, she asked him to arrest her inner critic and put him in jail. That's one smart idea. Does anyone know where I can find a policeman to help me out?

Your Dreams

Since my family and I don't celebrate the holidays, I give you this digital collage instead:

Art is . . .

 

Digital elements from Studio Caravan Kit #43 by Studio Tangie.

Nature is . . .

Digital photo collage. Original photos by David Waters. http://davidwaters100.blogspot.com/

Inside

I purchased a new digital scrapbooking kit from Crowabout Studios B called, "Jack Frost's Steampunk Station." (You can find her stuff at www.deviantscrap.com.) I used a couple of the elements to create the digital collage below. The poetry is mine. Don't you just love depressing drivel?!  :O)

Digital Whisper Blog Challenge - Lights

This is the picture Kimmie gave us to use in our digital collage for this challenge:

I created the digital collage below titled "Ice Dancer" using it:

 

I used some new winter brushes by TotallyWildDezinez at DeviantScrap to create the ice cycles and winter effects with. I'm not especially fond of winter, but at times it can be beautiful.

Queen of Tarts

The Queen of Tarts is visiting again! She was a surprise visitor to my Alice in Wonderland party held on my former blog during the past summer. It is so nice to have her return. The little hearts were drawn by the Queen herself, our divine Miss M from Hearts Desire for Joy. She makes fabulous lemon tarts! (That's what she tells me anyway. Since she lives in California, I have yet to taste one.)

Frozen Heart

Digital Whisper Ning Site Challenge - Using Pen Tool

This digital art challenge was a little bit different. A member of the Digital Whisper Ning Site, Veronica,  gave us four pictures to choose from. The idea was to practice using the pen tool in Photoshop.  If you haven't used Photoshop, the pen tool is one of the more difficult ones to master. I've played around with Photoshop for several years, and have basically ignored the pen tool. I know. This is boring, and you want me to get to the point. A person can use the pen tool to make a selection and cut out that one part from a picture. I chose the picture of a boat below, and used the pen tool to select and cut out the boat.

I then combined several pictures to create a weird background.  Wait a minute. I just lied. I created the background first, and then wondered what in the world I was going to do with it. I rarely have any idea of what I going to make before I start a digital collage. That's when I remembered the pen challenge, and decided to cut out the boat. I digitally pasted the boat into the background, and then played around with all the layers. I ended up with the picture below I titled Alien Sunset. If you would like to get a better view, just click on the picture for a larger version. Thanks for looking!

Winter Scene - Ice Dancing

I was so surprised by what I ended up with that I wanted to post a picture showing the four photos I started with to create the background picture. The four photos are by Rob O'Shea. He's a dancer from Ireland. (I think that's where he is from.) I loved the textures he captured in them. He belongs to my good friend Marguerite Bryant's Ning group called Hearts Desire For Joy. I sure hope he doesn't mind my using them, because he is always traveling around and therefore difficult to contact.

This is the digital collage I created using them. I was able to make the building by layering and blending the different photos.

The Wall

 

(Where does this stuff come from? Someone must have spiked my coffee! Just click the picture if you would like to see a larger size.)

No Sleep!

This is why I don't get much sleep - there's 4 dogs and a leg in my bed! (Picture taken with built-in camera on my MacBook.)

Digital Collage

I've had a gallery of my digital collage work in the Artella Cafe for several years. Artella is completely redoing its site to make way for new adventures. I pulled several (well, probably about 20) off the site to post here just for the fun of it. You may not have seen these works if you were not a member of the Artella Cafe. If you find any of them interesting, you may see a larger version by clicking on the picture. Thanks for looking! If you find them boring, go have a couple glasses of wine and come on back. They will look much better! :O)