TAKE A WORD

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

I love this lady, who for me,  epitomizes everything Art Deco and so fits perfectly into a Crime Film Poster for Rene Clair's adaptation of Agatha Christie's : And Then There Were None.  A good thing since guest host, Anja, has chosen POSTER (preferably crime related) as her word for inspiration at this week's Take a Word challenge.

To be truthful, I have no idea what the film (or book) is about but when I found the clipart hand and dagger and the fizzy pop advert lady, who to me looks lofty, arrogant and distant, even before I gave her a cigarette in a holder,  I knew it would create a story. 

Everything I've used to create  this poster is free to use (unless you tell me differently).  Credit should be given for the fonts to Obsidian Dawn.

Thank you for looking.

DIGITALMANIA

ALPHONSE MUCHA

This week we have Mucha as our artist for inspiration at Digitalmania.

Credits can be found on my Flickr page.

Thanks for looking.

THREE MUSES

PIPE DREAMS

Inspired by Maggie Taylor's 'Cloud Maker' and created for the SEA theme at the Three Muses this week.

Credit to BethRimmer, FinecraftedDesigns, PlayingWithBrushes and Bluesse.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

BALLOONS

It seemed like a good idea at the time ....... Mmmmmmmmm!!!

Credit to HolliewoodStudios, MrWhiskers and IreneAlexeeva.

Thank you for looking.

DIGITALMANIA

We are exploring the work of artist Jerry Uelsmann at Digitalmania this week and taking inspiration from his style.

Credits can be found on my Flickr page. 

Thank you for looking.

THREE MUSES

 

ENJOY THE RIDE

Matilda and Penelope were adventurous types and liked to indulge in foreign and exotic travels whenever they could. This was possibly due to their mother frequently telling them : Life's a Journey so  Enjoy the Ride.

Credit to Rebecca McMeen (Scrapbookgraphics).

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

MANUSCRIPT

Sim has chosen Manuscript as our word for inspiration at Take a Word this week and when I found this lovely soft scripted background by the ladies at the WaterLO Project I thought of lazy Summer afternoons.  So imagine my surprise when I spied these young mums with their offspring (CAJ Designs) enjoying just such an afternoon as I strolled through my local park recently! 

Thanks, Sim, for a lovely theme.

Thank you for looking.

DIGITALMANIA

 

 My take on Liz Huston's  'Betwixt'

My interpretation of 'Familiar Wounds' 

Here's Mabel helping out with a piece inspired by Brandie Butcher

Both artists were inspiration at Digitalmania.

Credits may be found on my Flickr.

Thank you for looking.

THREE MUSES

BIRDS

I have no idea where this came from ..... or what it means.  I blame my Muse!

Credit to Irene Alexeeva, NumbBumm and Bluesse.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

BLUE

Our word for inspiration is BLUE and that reminded me that here in the northern hemisphere we're sliding in to Autumn and then Winter ...... time to batten down the hatches, bring out the furry slippers and an extra layer of clothing .... brrrrrr. 

Here's a little charm to keep me going until Spring!

Credit to the ladies at the WaterLO Project.

Thank you for looking.

THREE MUSES

The theme is TURQUOISE across at the Three Muses this week and after finding some difficulty in getting started I eventually ended up with two pieces!

The first piece was me playing around with layers and blends and colours.   Mmmmmm .... not sure!

The second is inspired by a holiday I'm about to take with my family in the Lake District.   Plenty of fresh air, good food and long walks will be the order of the day.  :D

(Have to confess I've just got back from a week in Cornwall too ..... hee hee)

Credits to Finecrafted Designs, Holliewood Studios and Irene Alexeeva, whilst the boot was filched from the internet.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

HEARTS AND FLOWERS

I couldn't resist incorporating this gorgeous swirling black and white background into my Hearts and Flowers collage for this week's theme at Take a Word.   A perfect contrast for the gorgeous deep blood red of the background.  Mmmmmmm.

Credit to Finecrafted Designs and Cali Designs.

Thank you for looking.

THREE MUSES

SCHOOL DAYS

Bev, has chosen School Days as her theme for our inspiration this week, and that made me think of an apple for the teacher so here we go!

Credit to Hidden Vintage, Granny Art and Efie.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

NUMBERS

This week we have NUMBERS as our word for inspiration at TAKE A WORD, and that reminded me of the beautiful nymph I saw in my garden early one morning recently.  She was sitting serenely beside the garden pond gazing at her own reflection ...... or may be it was at the water lilies.   Had she not moved slightly I would have missed her clothed as she was in hues of green and blue.  I was distracted by a bird flying high overhead and when I looked back in her direction she was gone! Mmmmm.

The 'nymph' is courtesy of Dover, the backgrounds are from the ladies of the WaterLO Project, whilst the numbers of the clock I am unable to credit but if you know their origin please let me know.

Thank you for looking.

RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS

Each week, in a random act of kindness, Chris Rowe who I call friend on Facebook, puts up one of her lovely pieces of art to be won by one lucky person, and earlier this month that lucky person was me   :D

This morning my post lady dropped this beautiful, eye popping and simply gorgeous bird hanger through my letterbox.  Yay!  Thank you, Chris.

Chris is an accomplished artist, she lives in the north east of England, and creates art in a wide range of mixed media ..... and she creates faces to die for!

If you'd like to see more of her work try looking her up on facebook.

THREE MUSES

BLACK AND WHITE WITH A DASH OF .....

It's my turn to host at the Three Muses this week and I chose red as my dash of colour!

We have very sophisticated mushrooms in our garden it seems.  :D

Credit to Clix at StockXchange.

Thank you for looking.

DIGITALMANIA

  

INSPIRED BY MICHAEL PARKES

Created for the Digitalmania challenge where this week we are inspired by the work of Michael Parkes.

Credit to Irene Alexeeva, Bluesse (Deviantart) and Finecrafted Designs.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

This week we have TATTERED as our word for inspiration.  Looking at the state of this chair me thinks I should go out and buy a new one ..... and a clock.  Anyone seen my other shoe?

A very enjoyable challenge theme.

Credit to HolliewoodStudio.

Thank you for looking.

THREE MUSES

When I was a child  there was a song we used to sing when skipping a rope with friends : There's a party on the hill will you come, bring your own cup and saucer and a bun ....'  the next girl would jump into the twirling rope and we would chant her name into the song 'Mary will be there throwing peanuts in the air' .   And then the whole song would begin again as an invitation for the next girl to jump in.

It's my turn to host at the Three Muses and I have chosen the theme of INVITATION by Mail Art.

Credit to Scrapping Cop, Plainster, ObsidianDawn and AlicePopcorn.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

WINGS

We have WINGS as our word for inspiration at TAKE A WORD this week and that reminded me of what I saw in the pale moonlight not too long ago.  There was the hoot of an owl and then I heard what sounded light sticks being broken underfoot.  I stopped and watched, and then I saw her, the goddess of green things bathing in the light of the moon.

Mmmmmm.

Credit to Finecrafted Designs.

Thank you for looking.

THREE MUSES

THE CASE OF MISS SCARLETT AND THE STRAWBERRY

Bev, asked for STRAWBERRIES this week so I felt compelled to tell you it was Miss Scarlett in the Morning room ....... with the dagger.  :D

Credit to Bluesse, RubyBlossom and BethRimmer whilst the strawberries were filched from Google.

Thank you for looking.

WOOHOO - AND THERE'S MORE

MY JOURNAL PRIZE FROM PAULETTE

During April of this year Paulette, from the beautiful ART DUST art blog,  worked on an altered journal specifically to give it away at a prize drawing later that month.  It looked absolutely stunning and so I made a comment  and entered the draw.

Then my husband was taken seriously ill and for me the land of art and blogs disappeared into the blue as my world turned upside down.

In early May Paulette having had no response from me emailed me to let me know I was the lucky winner!  One or two quick emails passed between us in which all was explained.

The journal never arrived and I assumed it was lost in the postal system and I worried Paulette would think me very rude indeed for not thanking her.  Then an email arrived from her in which she told me she had just discovered the journal she thought she had already sent!

Well, two weeks on and I am the very proud owner of the beautiful journal which finally found its way to me here in the UK.    Thank you so much, my friend.

Why not pop over and see Paulette's fabulous Art Dust blog.

TAKE A WORD

MEMORIES

This week Deann is our guest host at Take a Word and she has chosen MEMORIES as our word for inspiration.

After much consideration I thought family memories might be a way to go and I got out my box(es) of old family photos.

Here are some very happy memories of our children and grandchildren (now all grown up) our parents, grandparents and great grandparents.  I am so lucky, not only to have the memories but also the photographs to show them off.

Thanks, Deann.

Credit to Irene Alexeeva for the book and window frame, the clouds background is courtesy of Night Fate Stock (Deviantart) whilst the rest is my stock of family photographs.

Thank you for looking.

WOOHOO - I GOT MAIL

Across on Facebook there is a group of artists who are making art and then abandoning it in public places in the hope that whoever finds it will love their unexpected gift and might even use the attached email to let the artist know it has been found.

It's lovely to see pictures of  some of the art that is being abandoned and often I wish a small piece might be abandoned where I might find it.

Imagine my surprise and delight then when this lovely mail art package came through my letterbox this morning.  I knew immediately it was from Bev my fellow Muse as I had unashamedly hinted that she might consider abandoning something near my home for me to find.  Impossible, of course,  as she lives in the US and I live in the UK.  Undeterred Bev abandoned this mailart in the mail system and it found its way to me.  I found it abandoned in my letterbox.  :D

Thank you so much, my friend, you made my day.

THE THREE MUSES

KIRKSTALL ABBEY

This week we have WINDOWS and DOORS as our theme for inspiration at the Three Muses.

This is one of my own photos taken during a recent visit to the 11th century Abbey at Kirkstall, a mere stone's throw from home.  Marvel at those vaulted archways, magnificent pillars and see the light flooding in through ancient windows and doors.  Who could improve on that?  Not me.

If you could use this in your artwork please feel free to download.


Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

Our word for inspiration at TAKE A WORD this week is BUTTERFLIES so here is my interpretation.

Credit to SweetDigiCreations, CaliDesigns and the WaterLO Project.

Thank you for looking.

THREE MUSES

STEAMPUNK MAKEOVER

What fun I've had giving two of the world's 'beautiful people' a lovely steampunk makeover!  :D

Credit to FinecraftedDesigns, MrWhiskers, Altered Emporium and Marta Van Eck.

Thank you for looking.

DIGITALMANIA

 WISH YOU WERE HERE

This week we are making MAIL ART for the Digitalmania challenge.

Here in the Yorkshire area, it was the custom for all the woollen mills and factories to close down at the same time for a week during the summer. The thousands of workers took this opportunity to climb aboard the trains and take their annual holiday at the seaside.

I have many postcards from the 1950s, '60s and '70s with messages such as the one here.

Credit to BethRimmer.

Thank you for looking.

WOOHOO - SWAPS

IN THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS

SEEING WHAT'S INSIDE

 STEAMY PUNK

 THE ART OF EGGS

THE GREEN EGG

LET A SMILE BE YOUR UMBRELLA

Do you ever look at the work of a particular artist and covet it?  Me too.   Grannie Annie (Deann) from the Whimsey Asylum blog is one such artist.  She creates some absolutely stunning art and is generous enough to occasionally swap art with me.  So imagine the smile on my face when I found these in my mailbox today.  Wowee, absolutely FRAMEWORTHY! 

Thank you, my friend.

TAKE A WORD

This week Rian has encouraged us to get MESSY by using lots and lots of layers in our art work.  Here is how my layering turned out.  Great fun.

Credit to BethRimmer.

Thank you for looking.

THREE MUSES

This week our theme is ALONE which initially made me think along the lines of highlighting a single person or object, or depicting solitude or isolation until I remembered the series of photos I had taken at the Yorkshire Sculpture last year.  A series of sitting figures, by Anish Kapoor, were dotted around the landscape, some sitting alone, others sitting in pairs, all much larger than life.  I chose a pair of sculptures and created a warm balmy evening for them somewhere around dusk just as the moon has risen where they can enjoy being alone.  :D

I think the first version, with the figures leading the viewer's eye into the picture, has the most satisfying composition.  But what do you think?

 

Thank you, Bev, for a thought provoking theme.

Credit to RubyBlossom and JoesSistah for the backgrounds (blended), whilst the sculptures are from one of my own photos.

Thanks for looking.

TAKE A WORD

Was it a bird or was it a plane?  Nope, it was definitely a witch traveling across the sky last full moon! I wonder where she was off to in such a hurry?

Our word for inspiration this week is MOON.  Thanks, Marie.

Credit to HolliewoodStudio and IreneAlexeeva for their images of the moon which were blended together by me.  The witch is free to use clipart.

Thank you for looking.

DIGITALMANIA

This week we are inspired by the work of BEN GOOSSENS at Digitalmania across at Flickr.

This is me being inspired!!

Credits can be found on my Flickr page

Thank you for looking.