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.

THE THREE MUSES

 

 Two sets of MOOs created for this week's challenge at the Three Muses.

Credit to SharingTubes, NumbBumm, HolliewoodStudios and RubyBlossom.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

ON TAP OF THE WORLD

This week Marie has chosen SEA as our word for inspiration and that reminded me of the strangest ship in a bottle I ever saw ..... or was that a dream?

Credit to RubyBlossom for the background image and to Carolyn at Sharing Tubes for the remainder.

Thank you for looking and if you've taken the time to comment many more thank yous.

THE THREE MUSES

With tuppence for paper and strings, You can have your own set of wings, With your feet on the ground, You're a bird in flight, With your fist holding tight, To the string of your kite. 

Let's go fly a kite .....

Thanks to Bev for the theme.

Credit to PlayingWithBrushes and Carolyn at SharingTubes.

Thank you for looking and your comments are appreciated.

TAKE A WORD

VINTAGE BEAUTY

Marie, has asked for VINTAGE BEAUTY this week at Take a Word and at first I was a little stumped about who I might choose.   Then I thought about Marilyn, who was definitely a beauty, but what about vintage ... can she be counted as vintage I wondered.  I'd say yes, it is after all around 50 years since she sang : Happy Birthday, Mr President!!!

Credit to JoesSistah and PlayingWithBrushes for textures (much altered).

Thank you for looking and taking the time to comment.

THE THREE MUSES

A WOMAN OF FEW WORDS

Marie has chosen the WRITTEN WORD as our theme for this week at the Three Muses.  

Thanks, Marie, good choice and good fun.

Credit to ShadowHouseCreations and Carolyn at Sharing Tubes.

Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

BOTANICAL

Our word for inspiration this week at Take a Word is BOTANICAL. 

Credit to ShadowHouseCreations and Carolyn at SharingTubes.

Thank you for looking.

THE THREE MUSES

 

THE EXTRAORDINARY TRAVELS OF THE AMAZING MR PIMM

Albert Pimm, a man on a mission!

 

 Credit to Striatic (Flickr - Creative Commons) for the amazing Albert Pimm, NumbBumm for the clouds, Misticmorning (DeviantArt) for the hare and Carolyn at Sharing Tubes for most of the rest.

Thank you for looking and taking the time to comment.

TAKE A WORD

BY THE LIGHT OF A SILVERY MOON

We have MOON as our word for inspiration this week and that reminded me of the night Mabel went missing for such a long time I felt the need to go and find her.  It's a good job I did because when I found her she'd cast her shoes and was ankle deep in the waves of a very cold sea staring at the moon.

Of course, she told me some tale about seeing a fleet of dirigibles crossing the moon's path ......  all I know is I didn't see them.  Anyway following her adventure, a hot bath and a soothing drink she was back to her usual self by morning.

Credit to Sylwia77 and Starscoldnight (DeviantArt),  RubyBlossom (Flickr) and NadinePau.

Thank you for looking.

THE THREE MUSES

TIPPING POINT

We're making art outside its usual boundaries this week and that reminded me of the time I slammed a door rather too hard and the next thing I knew my bathroom was full of sea water and fish ..........

Credit to Frostbo for the sea foam and darkadathea for the fish (both DeviantArt), to NumbBumm for the frame, whilst the seascape was found on the interwebby!


Thank you for looking.

TAKE A WORD

 

WEATHER OR NOT

This week, in honour of much needed rain pouring down over Perth, Western Oz recently, we have UMBRELLA as our word for inspiration.  My mind turned to 'raining cats and dogs' which made me wonder if they said that in Oz or whether it rained kangaroos and wallabies instead .... and wouldn't it be much less fuss all round if we had a tap (faucet) we could turn on and off for rain as needed .... Oz could get more and we could have much, much, much, much less.   My Muse gave me a steely stare and said that was silly and had me create this instead.

Credit to NumbBumm for the lovely cloud formations, and Sharing Tubes for most of the rest, whilst the blended backgrounds are my own.

Thank you  for looking.

DIGITALMANIA

Across at Digitalmania last week we were taking inspiration from the work of Jacub Gagnon.

Credit to Sharing Tubes.

Thanks for looking.

THE THREE MUSES

HIGH TEA

We have BALLOONS as our inspiration at the Three Muses this week which made think of High Tea!
 
Credit to Bluesse at DeviantArt for the teapot, to Granny Art for the cups and saucers and the 'tray', NumbBumm for the balloon strings, whilst the spotted balloons are free to use from the interwebby.

Thank you for taking the time to look.

DARK WHISPER

It's Women Artists month across at Digital Whisper and Frida is our chosen artist.  We were asked to use bright colours to depict her and this is my interpretation.

Credit to RubyBlossom for the peeled paint texture and the backgrounds (blended).

Thank you for taking the time to look.

TAKE A WORD

 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

This week we're  invited to create MAIL ART at Take a Word and for reasons known only to my Muses  'dark' mail seemed a good idea.

Initially the postcard was black, but a tad too much perhaps, so a nice buff card instead.

Credit to ShadowHouse Creations for the postcard,  Sharing Tubes for the birds and the door, Aurorodreams for the model, insects from Free Png Images,  the remainder from own stock.  Font : Trash.

Unfinished Black Postcard

Thank you for looking and taking the time to comment.

THREE MUSES

ELEGANCE OF STEAM

Meet Lady Harriet  who has an EYE for the sophistication and elegance of  STEAMPUNK!

Credit to the talented artists at DeviantArt : AliceFaux for the background, Mystimorning for the flying machines and Bluesse for the rest.

Thank you for looking and taking the time to comment.

TAKE A WORD

CAUGHT IN TIME

This week, in honour of St Patrick's Day,  we are taking inspiration from the word GREEN.  I wondered whether I should go for, shamrocks and green hats,  leafy green pastures, or meadows full of spring flowers but in the end I was drawn back to the little girl in the green dress who, together with her sister,  appear daunted by the photo taking process.  Don't you just love their expressions!

Credit to Hidden Vintage Studio.

Thank you for looking and taking the time to comment.

THE THREE MUSES

THE DISH RAN AWAY WITH THE SPOON

Personally, I tend to think there is a dark and scary side to childhood which no doubt is down to the big bad wolves, poison apples and wicked witches we heard about so often way back then.

Thanks, Bev, for a great theme this week : CHILDREN.

Credit to HolliewoodStudio, FinecraftedDesign and Hidden Vintage at DeviantScrap and Bluesse at DeviantArt.

Thank you for looking and taking the time to comment.