TAKE A WORD

SECRET ASSIGNATION

This week at Take a Word we are taking inspiration from the word BLUE.   I collected together a virtual pile of blue elements, threw them up in the air and let them lay where they fell on the digital page.  Well almost ..  well, not exactly .. I did arrange them a fair bit so they at least made some 'Taluula' sense.   Finally I blended a very intriguing excerpt from a diary entry dated around 1910 into the whole.

Secret assignation .. well perhaps, I will leave you to decide!

Credit to Caroline at Sharing Tubes for the Blue elements whilst the diary pages were found on Flickr and are from the Public Domain.

Thank you for looking.

THREE MUSES

AND THEN THERE WAS NONE


We have ALTERED ART as our  theme this week at the Muses and that got me thinking about 'that' apple.  Having to wage a constant battle against slugs and snails feasting on my garden veggies then wouldn't you think Magritte might have a similar battle defending 'that' apple!

Credit to Marta Van Eck for the caterpillar, and RubyBlossom for the apple and background.  I borrowed the 'man' from Magritte and the bird was Googled.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

CYBER MAIL

We have MAIL as our word for inspiration this week at Take a Word and here is my mail to me!

Credit : The Do Not Bend is courtesy of Pixel Music, the Air Mail brush is Obsidian Dawn and the stamp template is Honey Designs.  The remainder were made by me from bits and pieces from the web.

Thank you for looking.

THREE MUSES

 

LET'S FACE THE MUSIC AND DANCE!

This week we have MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC as our theme at the Three Muses and that reminded me of Irving Berlin and his fabulous piece Let's Face The Music and Dance!  It always makes me want to kick up my heels (well, in my mind at least ... don't think the little legs could do it for real).

Thanks for a great challenge.

Credit in the main to Caroline at Sharing Tubes, but also to ShadowHouse Creations and there are one or two backgrounds of my own in there too.

Thanks for looking.

TAKE A WORD

THE CONTORTIONIST

We have SHOWBIZ as our word for inspiration this week at Take a Word and that reminded me of the circus where I once saw a contortionist!

Credit to Nightly Stock (DA) and MartaVanEck (DS) for the backgrounds, blended and layered.  The Contortionist is Public Domain and the Font is Taco Modern. 

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

CHILDHOOD

Marie has chosen CHILDHOOD as our word for inspiration this week and that made me think of how childhoods were often harsh in years gone by.  This is a photograph of my maternal grandfather, Leonard .....

I'm so late this week, but I got there in the end.

Credit to CAJoline for the stacked pages and to Bluesse for the chair.  Everything else is my own.

Thank you for looking.

THE THREE MUSES

REFLECTIONS or repetition is the theme at the Three Muses this week and that reminded me it was probably a good time to introduce you to the storyteller's daughter!

Credit to Caroline at the Sharing Tubes.

Thank you, Marie, for posting my sample to the Muses in my absence.

THE THREE MUSES

THE EYES HAVE IT

We have EYES as our theme this week at the Three Muses and that reminded me of the time the kitten, who had been sleeping in the doll's pram, woke from a nap and peered out to see what was going on in the nursery!

Credit to HiddenVintageStudio, Bluesse at Deviantart and Caroline at SharingTubes.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

SIGNS OF AUTUMN

This week we have AUTUMN as our word for inspiration at Take a Word.  Here in the British Isles, as in other temperate climates, and a long time before leaves begin to change colour and fall from the trees, there is a small but significant 'shift' in the weather;  a chill in the air,  heavy morning dew drenching the grass and coating the spiderwebs, a tiny 'shift' from summer to autumn and it's happening right now!  Cameras at the ready people.  :D

Every single element of this piece was found on the interwebby; part of a free wallpaper used for the background, the leaf and the spiderweb much altered from their original state, and the spider was a piece of free clipart.

Thank you for looking.

THREE MUSES

I CREATE THEREFORE I AM

We have ARTIST AFFIRMATION as our theme this week at the Three Muses and Bill is our host.
Thank you, Bill, for a great challenge.

Credit to NumbBumm, Miss Honey, Caroline at Sharing Tubes and The Urban Fairy.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

EYE OF TIME

We have TIME as our word for inspiration this week at Take a Word.

Credit to CAJoline and Efie and to the Public Domain.

Thank you for looking.

THE THREE MUSES

zfs` 

STEAMPUNKERIE EXPRESS

Roll up, roll up for the ride of your life .. get your ticket for the Steampunkerie Express!  :D

Thank you to Marie, who has chosen STEAMPUNK as our inspiration this week at the Three Muses.

Credit to Roger Wood for the 'travelling shoe', to NumbBumm for the clouds and cogs, Honey Designs for the balloons, the 'traveller' is from the public domain and the backgrounds are my own.

Thank you for looking.

By the way, thank you so much for your good wishes over this week, and I am glad to report my eye surgery has been a complete success.

THREE MUSES

SEA AND SAND BETWEEN THEIR TOES

A photo much altered with photo editing apps on my IPad of two of my favourite girls during a day trip to the east coast recently.

The quote is : The cure for anything is salt water; sweat, tears or the sea.  Isak Dinesen.

I will be away from my blog and the computer for a short while as I will be having some eye surgery on Thursday.  Hopefully all will be well and I will be back soon ... in the meantime ... Thank you for looking    :D

TAKE A WORD

ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

We have WILD ANIMALS as our theme this week at Take a Word and that reminded me of when there has undoubtedly been an Elephant in the Room!  Wink.  Wink.

Credit to HolliewoodStudio,  MartaVanEck and IreneAlexeeva.  Font : Technine.

Thank you for looking.

THE THREE MUSES

CIRCLES AND SQUARES

For the Three Muses challenge a cityscape constructed from circles and squares!

Thanks, Bev, for a great challenge theme.

Credit to HolliewoodStudio, NumbBumm and HollyDesigns.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

ODD GOINGS ON

This week we have DARK as our word for inspiration at Take a Word and that brought to mind some odd 'goings on' outside my window on the night of the full moon.  I was drifting off to sleep when I heard the haunting music of a flute being played, right there outside my window so I lifted the curtain edge and peeped out onto the most amazingly eerie scene below.

But I shan't elaborate as I'm not sure you actually believe I am telling the truth.  However, for those of you who do believe this is something of what I saw ......

Credit to SharingTubes, HiddenVintageStudio, RubyBlossom and HoneyDesigns.

Thank you for looking.

THE THREE MUSES

HELLO SAILOR

My turn to host at the Three Muses this week and I asked for something to do with water or the sea.

Here is my interpretation of one of my most favourite poems about the sea : My Lost Youth by Henry W Longfellow.

.... I remember the black wharves and the slips,
 And the sea-tides tossing free; 
And Spanish sailors with bearded lips,
 And beauty and mystery of the ships,
 And the magic of the sea .....

Aaaah swoon!   :D

Credit to Land Of Nod, Shadowhouse Creations, and Caroline at Sharing Tubes.

Thank you for looking.
 

TAKE A WORD

MIDNIGHT PINK

We have PINK as our word for inspiration this week and that reminded me of what I saw from my window recently.  (Sometimes I'm not sure you believe I'm telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  But see ..  here is the proof.) 

I was taking the night air before closing my window and snuggling down into bed when who came by but a girl riding on a pink flamingo.  Perhaps her dress had got hitched a little too high when climbing onto the bird and she hadn't noticed and I was about to mention it when I saw she was staring intently at the moon and so I looked too.  And that's when she told me that sometimes on a pink midnight the moon can, if it wishes, morph itself into a giant vanilla ice cream and drip all over the earth!

It's possible she was telling me a tall story, but in any case I forgot to mention she was showing the whole world her stocking tops!

Thanks, Marie, for a brilliant theme.

Credit to FinecraftedDesign, MartaVanEck, Itkupilli and CaliDesigns.

Thank you for looking.

DIGITALMANIA

INSPIRED BY RAPHAEL VICENZI

Created for the challenge at Digitalmania where this week we are taking inspiration from the work of Raphael Vicenzi.

For this one I chose a model and desaturated down to shades of grey in Photoshop,  duplicated the image and added a 'cutout' filter and then merged both images together reducing the opacity down to 80%.   I 'painted' the hat, dress, eyes and lips on separate layers before adding several journal elements in front and back to simulate the style of Vicenzi.

Credit to HolliewoodStudio and SharingTubes.

Thanks for looking.

THE THREE MUSES

SHE DREAMED SHE COULD FLY

This week we have FUN WITH INSECTS as our theme at the Three Muses.    I chose butterflies .... oh and a spider!

Thanks, Marie.

Credit to Longstock at Deviantart, and also to Gothic Inspirations, Urban Fairy and DesignbyKristi.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

DAY TRIP

Marie has chosen MEMORIES this week as our word for inspiration and that took my mind all over the place.  What should I choose!

In the end I chose a DAY TRIP to the seaside.  This was most likely a trip to Blackpool, and on the sands (we had never heard of a beach in those days), a handful of painted tin buckets between us, and we girls wearing only our underwear.  A sensible precaution since should we fall into the sea fully clothed we could look forward to a very uncomfortable coach ride home indeed.

Mam took us on these trips a couple of times a year and I can still remember the butterflies of excitement I experienced waiting for that coach to arrive and our journey to begin.

In this snap you can see two of my sisters, two of my brothers, my cousin (who came everywhere with us) .. and that's me at the back.  I was the eldest but looking at this I see my younger sister, by two years, was already as tall as me .. a trend that was to continue since all six of my siblings are now head and shoulders taller than me. 

Ahhh ... precious memories.

Credit to Kubivet and HolliewoodStudio.

Thank you for looking.

DIGITALMANIA

HIS FEET WERE KILLING HIM

Created for  the Digitalmania challenge where this week we are having some ALTERED ART fun.

I chose Jan van Eyck's Marriage of Alfornini and since Johnny had been begging me, for ages now, (pest) to include him in one of my pieces I relented and added him in to this!

Credits mostly from the Public Domain, though Johnny's wedding shoes and the scary cat are courtesy of Sharing Tubes, whilst the Steampunk mirror is Finecrafted Designs.

Thank you for looking.

THE THREE MUSES

 

INCOGNITO

This week we have BLACK AND WHITE AND RED as our theme at the Three Muses and that reminded me of the time, when in the dead of night, someone came calling!   A scary encounter to be sure, but as it turned out she only wanted directions to the 24 hour store.  I told her and then she was on her way .. and I was careful not to mention her mask!

Thanks, Bev.

Credit to Caroline at SharingTubes and to Irene Alexeeva.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

WOMAN IN A FISH HAT

Marie has chosen HAT as our word for inspiration this week at Take a Word and that reminded me of the girl I saw at the beach recently.  She was wearing the most amazing hat I have seen in a long time and I was so busy perusing the hat that I almost forgot to call the coastguard for the person who was drowning and not waving!!

Thanks, Marie.

Credit to Finecrafted Design and to Beth Rimmer.    I also own up to filching the girl from Klimt, and the 'drowning not waving' from Stevie Smith and I believe Picasso painted the original woman in a fish hat!  :D

Thank you for looking.

DIGITALMANIA

HENRY

Created for the Digitalmania challenge over at Flickr, where this week we're taking inspiration from the work of Rodney Gates.

Credit to Shadowhouse Creations for one background.  The remainder is copyright free to use.  Font is Wet Plate.

TFL

THE THREE MUSES

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL ......

My turn to host at the Three Muses this week!  If you like what you see then pop along to the Three Muses for more inspiration.

Credit to Finecrafted Designs and Holliewood Studios.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

I AM A BUTTERFLY

This week our word for inspiration is FISH which reminded me of a morning quite recently when a fish on a bicycle singing 'I am a butterfly' at the top of his voice rode past my window at an outrageous speed!   I thought to caution him about the health and safety issues of such abandon but he was already a speck on the horizon!

Credit to Finecrafted Designs.

Thank you for looking.

THE THREE MUSES

KEEP CALM AND THINK OF ENGLAND

 ... rainy days, summer flowers and tea ... perhaps!

Credit to grannyart blogspot for the cup and saucer, honey designs for big ben, whilst the chair (much altered and morphed),  brollies and backgrounds were shamelessly filched from the interwebby.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

 

BUTTERFLY

Our word for inspiration this week at Take a Word.

Credit to HiddenVintageStudio, Itkupilli, RebeccaMcMeen and IreneAlexeeva.

Thank you for looking.

THE THREE MUSES

NUMBERS

This week Marie has chosen NUMBERS as our theme for inspiration. 

Credit to Pink Lotty (Deviant scraps) and Caroline (Sharing Tubes).

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

TRUE HAPPINESS

This week our word for inspiration is HAPPINESS ..... of the true kind. 

Credit to Caroline at Sharing Tubes and to Irene Alexeeva.

Thank you for looking and taking the time to leave a comment.

DIGITALMANIA

Back from Egypt ....

Well, we're back ...  had a good time, mostly doing nothing as temperatures where in the mid 40s, though we did take a boat trip and do a spot of snorkeling.  There was some quad biking in the desert too and some traveling by camel though I left the family to do those without me.   Phew, those camels do stink!!!!

We didn't 'do' the pyramids this time either since we've seen them before .... and the fast food outlet MacDonalds, just out of camera shot,  does detract slightly!  :D

Good to get home and marvel at the lushness of the UK ..... and give my trusty old Mac a fond stroke and a little kiss (I've missed you soooo much my little art making machine).

SISTER ACT

Created for Marie's Digitalmania challenge across at Flickr where this week we're taking inspiration from the artist Catrin Welz Stein.

Credit to HiddenVintage, Itkupilli, RebeccaMcMeen and IreneAlexeeva.

Thanks for looking.

THREE MUSES

GOTHIC ARCH

Created for the Three Muses challenge where this week we are creating a Gothic Arch with a Gothic theme.

Credit to Dreamsfulfilled blogspot,  Auroradreams and Sophiefzy (both Deviantart).  The worn stone texture is my own.

Thanks for looking.

I will be away from my computer for the next couple of weeks as I'll be in Egypt on holiday with my family.   I'll be back around the 20th.    :D

TAKE A WORD

SUMMER RAIN

This week we are invited to create something using the colour ORANGE for Take a Word and, as a complete departure from my usual style, here is something I created using photo filters, layers and blends on my IPad. 
 
Credit : the original photo is my own ...  a view over Whitby harbour with lobster pots in the foreground and the Abbey on the hill.

Thank you for looking.

THE THREE MUSES

HANGING OUT

This week at the Three Muses we are taking A LITTLE BIT OF ZETTI as our theme for inspiration and that reminded me of the cheerful little birds you often see hanging out at the beach!!

Credit to Crowabout Studio B and the Public Domain.

Thanks for looking.

TAKE A WORD

WHO DUNNIT!

This week at Take a Word we have BUBBLES as our word for inspiration and that reminded me of the mysterious incident of the missing fish!

Credit to Bluesse, FinecraftedDesign and RubyBlossom.

Thank you for looking.

THREE MUSES

STRIPEY HAT

Yes, life is much better in flip flops .... and a stripey hat!

Credit to Tumblefish Studio and Hidden Vintage.  The font is Tom's Violence.

Thanks for looking.

TAKE A WORD

SEWING

Did I ever mention how much I hate sewing?  I'm sure I did .... tangled and knotted cotton, broken needles and worst of all the need to actually measure things!!! 

Arranging the sewing paraphernalia  (is that how it's spelled) nicely is much more interesting. :D

Yes, you guessed it, Marie has chosen SEWING as our word for inspiration this week at Take a Word.

Credit to Efie, GrannyArt and the public domain.

Thank you for looking.

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THREE MUSES

TOMORROW

Created for our Three Muses challenge where this week Bev has chosen QUOTE as her theme.

Credit to Playing With Brushes and Carolyn at Sharing Tubes.

Thanks, Bev, for a great challenge.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

MOTHERS

This week at Take a Word we are paying tribute to MOTHERS so here's a little tribute to mine who started quite a dynasty producing seven children who in turn gave her 17 grandchildren  ... and of course, there are great grandchildren too.

In the UK Mother's day is celebrated in March, but since Mothers are being celebrated elsewhere in the world right now I'm happy to wish mine a second Happy Mother's day.  Thinking of you Joan.

Credit to Irene Alexeeva and Marta Van Eck for the arty farty bits whilst the photo is my own.

Thank you for looking.

THREE MUSES

 

SINGING THE BLUES

This week we have MUSIC as our theme at the Three Muses and here's what happened in my world!

Great fun.

Credit to SharingTubes and FinecraftedDesigns.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

STONE ANGEL

Created for the Take A Word challenge where this week we are being inspired by STONE ANGELS.

Credit to HolliewoodStudio and FinecraftedDesign.

Thank you for looking.

THE THREE MUSES

HATS AND CROWNS AND WINGS AND THINGS

I had great fun creating this slightly dark and menacing little creature from some forgotten fairytale.

Credit to Hidden Vintage, Irene Alexeeva and Marta Van Eck.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

MIRROR, MIRROR

We have BEAUTIFUL as our word for inspiration this week at Take a Word and that made me think about how I might describe beauty .. and then I realised I couldn't .. because beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

Credit to Carolyn at SharingTubes.

Thank you for looking.

DIGITALMANIA

Created for Digitalmania, where we were recently taking inspiration from the work of Eduardo Recife.

Credits can be found on my Flickr page ... see the side bar.

Thanks for looking.