The Lady of the Lake

The Three Muses challenge this week is PHOTOGRAPH PLAY. I cropped, altered and layered two of my daughter's photos taken the first one in London and the second one in Amsterdam, both on September 2014.

Texture: Kim Klassen.

Happy 2015

This week Take a Word theme is NUMBERS. This time I went for the obvious 2015 as my genuine desire is that it brings a new time of peace and love not only for us but for our little blue planet. Dreaming is my specialty...

Airplane and number are free cliparts; font is billow.

Beauty in red and green

Let's face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me.

Audrey Hepburn

The theme this week in Take a Word is RED AND GREEN. 
I invoked - again - lovely Audrey to help me to accomplish the task...

I'm sending you a big and warm bear hug and my wishes of a wonderful Christmas.

Mask: Studio Manu; texture: Kim Klassen; bokeh overlay: Shadowhouse Creations.

My kind of angel

Take a Word asked for ANGELS and here it is my own version of them: a lovely kid with butterfly wings.

I was searching for a meaningful quote on angels and stumbled with something better, quotes from children about angels:

"Everybody's got it all wrong. Angels don't wear halos anymore. I forget why, but scientists are working on it." - Olive, age 9

"It's not easy to become an angel! First, you die. Then you go to heaven, and then there's still the flight training to go through. And then you got to agree to wear those angel clothes." - Matthew, age 9

"Angels talk all the way while they're flying you up to heaven. The main subject is where you went wrong before you got dead." - Daniel, age 9

"My guardian angel helps me with math, but he's not much good for science." - Henry, age 8

"What I don't get about angels is why, when someone is in love, they shoot arrows at them." - Sarah, age 7

"Angels live in cloud houses made by God and his son, who's a very good carpenter." - Jared, age 8

"I hear funny angels all the time in my dreams. And I'm sticking with that no matter how many people tell me I'm crazy". - Molly, age 8

Butterfly wings: Createwings Designs; texture: Shadowhouse Creations; papers: Zeldona Mellowmint and fredthecow stock; quotes are here.

Daughters of Lear

The theme in Take a Word is DOORS and here it is what my muse came up with...

Door: Almudena Stock; background and texture: Parée.

Gargoyles go to Rio

- I-I-I  w-want to go back to Paris...

- Oh c'mon! For now appreciate the sunset and enjoy the view!

The challenge in Three Muses is SILHOUETTE and it has occurred to me that it would be fun to give the Notre-Dame’s gargoyles a vacation in Rio. Unfortunately one of them is too fearful to enjoy traveling.

Organic

 blue and lilac bamboo blast

overcome

“Overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now.” ― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Take a Word asked for ORGANIC and I tried a different approach working with some of my own photos.

Textures: Elné; flying seagull: free wallpaper.

So late so soon

How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. 

December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. 

How did it get so late so soon?

Dr. Seuss

The challenge in The Three Muses for this week is to create art based on a QUOTE about TIME. Don't ask why but I relate the quote above to the aging process and to how it comes faster than one can assimilate. Me at least.  I don't know how Robin Williams came to the equation, maybe just because I like him, maybe because I keep asking myself why.

Texture by poisongirl815 (dA).

Embracing my solitude

To go out with the setting sun on an empty beach is to truly embrace your solitude.

Jeanne Moreau

As the winter approached, La Gioconda has escaped again from her accommodations in The Louvre and has gone to some hidden island in the South Pacific where she won't be disturbed by the paparazzi.

This is my contribution to Take a Word which  theme this week is ALTERING MONA.

Background  and Mona's body by Beth Rimmer; other elements by Createwing Designs; textures by Kim Klassen and Fabricate Stock.

The desert song

“I have always loved the desert. 

One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. 

Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams...” 

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

The Three Muses asked for White Space which means that two thirds of the space should be relatively unadorned. I went for deserts and when I was looking for odalisques I stumbled with this magnificent photo of Elizabeth Taylor by Firooz Zahedi. As the copy was very poor I had to work on it a little bit. Background is a photo of the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area, the Algodones Dunes, in California. Font is Arab Dances. I also used a linen texture.

Pretty in Pink

“I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.” - Audrey Hepburn

The theme this week in Take a Word is Think Pink. I thought pink hair...

Monsier Dior wrote in his Little Dictionary of Fashion that  "... Every woman should have something pink in her wardrobe. It is the color of happiness ...". The girls above don't even have to wear clothes to feel happy!

Background: Marisa Lerin; texture: Donnamarie113.

Mysterious Traveler

Take a Word asked for MOVIE STAR and that was easy for me as I've been working with cinema and movie stars since I've started playing with digital art.

Movie star: Lillian Gish (1929); background: screen shot of The Assassination of Jesse James; texture: Kim Klassen.

Haunted

The theme in The Three Muses is TAKE FRIGHT and this is my interpretation. My twisted mind always have fun with this theme.

Background: thefairygoodmother; texture: Shadowhouse Creations; ghost on the wall: Kia Kotsani; girl on the back: Falln Stock; girl on the front: from the poster of Brazilian movie "The famous and the dead"; skull: uncredited - from a local online newspaper.

Vintage Roses

Hi! After a vacation, some health and family issues, I'm back (I guess...).

Take a Word asked for VINTAGE and vintage reminds me of those beautiful old-times girls  immortalized in photography.

Background: Lilac'n'Lavender (altered); textures: Kim Klassen and Shadowhouse Creations; girls: e-Vint.

Do not feed the octopus

This week Take a Word theme is STEAMPUNKERY. 

Background, pier, sign and zepellin: Mr. Whiskers; man, hat and overlay: Finecrafted Designs; tentacles: zememz (dA); texture: Kim Klassen.

Loneliness

there is a loneliness in this world so great that you can see it

in the slow movement of the hands of a clock” 

― Charles Bukowski, Love is a Dog from Hell

This week the theme at Take a Word is WINDOWS.

Girl: Alma Rubens, silent movies actress; Background amd window: Studio Manu; Overlay: Shadowhouse Studio.

Romantic moon

Hello, I'm back from my vacation! \o/

Take a Word asked for BIRDS this week and  my muse was in a funny mood...

I found the Barn Owls in the Web and borrow Judy Dench and Errol Flynn faces. Background and other elements by Createwing Designs.

See below one of my shots of Lençóis Maranhenses which consists of large, white, sweeping dunes and freshwater lakes formed by rainfall that are seasonal. There is almost no vegetation.

Click to enlarge

Life is full of beauty

Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. 

Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.

Ashley Smith

The theme this week in Take a Word is BEAUTY. Here is my contribution. With my big-headed girl I tried to play with the conventional concept of beauty...

Background is a mix of several papers by Studio Manu; other elements also by Studio Manu; girl body: my photo; girl head: Studio Rebecca.

My prayer

The Three Muses asked for ZETTI and this is my take on the challenge. The quote is the "gestalt prayer", by psychotherapist Fritz Perls. I'm always trying to meet everyone's expectations, mother, children, husband, boss, friends. Of course it doesn't work out and I end up frustrated, so I took this prayer as a mantra...

I zettified my face, then built the doll with bits and pieces by Rebecca Mcmeen. 

Venetian dreams

Take a Word asked for BLACK, WHITE AND RED. Maybe it lacks a bit of black on my creation, but here it is!

Background: Eenas Creations; train and Harlequin: Holliewood; overlay: Beth Rimmer.

Poppy dream

Take a Word asked for POPPIES and here are mine.

Background: Finecrafted Designs; kids in the car: Rian; fairy: Cicely Mary Baker; overlays: Rebecca Mcmeen; texture: Kim Klassen.

Incomplete

Digital collage for Take a Word which theme this week is MANNEQUIN.

Background: pareeerica; mannequin is an assemblage of different pieces and bits; face: Gibson.

it's a wonderful life

Take a Word asked for silhouettes, mine comes from the 1001 Nights!

Background and flying carpet (altered): NLD Studio; girl: Dover; Texture: Kim Klassen.

Yellow bike

The Three Muses asked for a BICYCLE and something YELLOW. A few years ago I traveled with girl friends to USA. This photo was taken in San Francisco right after we rent bikes to ride to Salsalito via Golden Gate. The background is a photo of mine which depicts a detail of "No Betweens" (1996) by Jim Hodges exposed in SFMOMA.

Free as a butterfly

Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, 

butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life.  

And everyone deserves a little sunshine.  

Jeffrey Glassberg

The theme this week is Take a Word is butterflies, one of my favorite themes.

Thanks for visiting!

I clipped a picture I found on the internet, applied filters, customized her dress with embroidered butterflies; furthermore I applied butterflies in her shoes, coloring them blue. Background: combination of papers by Studio Manu; butterflies: Dover; Texture: Kim Klassen.

Grandpa's band

Only recently, when my uncle sent this photography to my father by e-mail, I found out that  my Grandpa was also a musician or at least played in a band. As the challenge this week in The Three Muses is Vintage Family I decided to pay him a tribute.

Background and elements (altered) by Studio Manu.

Who's that girl?

Take a Word theme is ALTERING MONA which is a huge coincidence as this young woman photo was recently published in a international news website that is covering the World Cup. There are rumors that La Gioconda left a replica in her place and came to Brazil following the boyfriend who is a security guard at the Louvre. Coming here she would have left the poor guy in the dust and started rooting for Brazil. Would this be true?

Texture: Kim Klassen.

Dancing to the Music II

The Three Muses asked for DANCERS and here it is what my muse have asked for.

Dancer: Alicia Alonso; music sheet: Studio Manu; texture: Kim Klassen.

I'm posting "Dancing to The Music I" too, which I've done for Digitalmania.

Background: combination of papers by Studio Manu; dancer: Gillian Murphy.

Correio Elegante

This week the theme in Take a Word is MAIL ART. 

As I said here, we are celebrating the June Festivals in Brazil. During the festivity, one can buy a hand-made decorated card, write a romantic message and send it anonymously (or not). It used to be great fun for teenagers. Nowadays - with all those electronic gadgets - I don't know if it is still popular.

Thanks to Studio Manu; Createwings Designs and Lilac 'n' Lavender.

The Portrait of a New Woman

The Three Muses challenge this week is BOOK COVER. My Brit pen pal Roseanne have found this book in the attic of her grandma's house. It seems that this Madeleine Ashcroft, besides writer and suffragist, was an important feminist of Victorian England. Definitely a woman ahead of her time.

Girl: Hidden Vintage; Heart: Finecrafted Designs; everything else: Studio Manu.

Feeling blue

Dream, when you're feeling blue

Dream, that's the thing to do

Johnnie Mercer

Take a Word asked for BLUE and immediately  it came to my mind the movie Blue Is The Warmest Color. I couldn't help but use the photo of Léa Seydoux impersonating Emma.

Background and elements: Studio Manu.

My underwear

The Three muses asked for UNDERWEAR and what's the fun in featuring Victoria's Secret babes? Better than that is depict a real beauty showing off her handmade Victorian underwear! 

Background (altered): Kim Klassen; Mask: Studio Manu; model: Sarah.

Geometric

 A round man cannot be expected to fit in a square hole right away. 

He must have time to modify his shape.

Mark Twain

The theme in Take a Word this week is SHAPES and my first thought was a A-line dress, then dots and squares. I made a polygonal background, googled fashion photos with geometric themes, then added a filter that creates squares of different sizes.

Background:  I combined stocks by Firesign24, Melyssah6-Stock and Z-GrimV (dA); girls on the left: Louis Vuitton runway Spring 2013; model on the right: fashion editorial by Jean-François Campos for Flair Magazine (November 2011); texture: Kim Klassen.

Goodbye my love

The challenge in Three Muses is SORROW and I wondered: when death takes the one you love, who do you blame? To whom do you turn? How do you overcome? 

Background and elements: Studio Manu; crying angel statue was googled; frames by me; photo on the left: Buddy Rogers and Mary Pickford in My Best Girl (1927); photo on the right: actress Clara Kimball; font: Selfish.

Remember us

The young dead soldiers do not speak. 

Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses: 

who has not heard them? 

They have a silence that speaks for them at night 

and when the clock counts. 

They say: We were young. We have died. 

Remember us. 

(...)

Archibald MacLeish

Take a Word asked for NUMBERS. I don't know how but I ended up with this, but I like it. Thanks for visiting!

Background is a photo of The Rifle House Cemetery, in Belgium, that contains 230 First World War burials. I googled the WW1 soldiers photos. Texture by Chris Johnson.

Hot Dance

The challenge in The Three Muses this week is SOME LIKE IT HOT - WARM COLORS.  I can't think in "Some Like it Hot" without traveling through cinema. As I went for Marilyn here and here, this time my choice was Cyd  Charisse, who could heat up any musical, even in censored 1950s.

Background: Pink Lotty; sheet music: fred the cow stock (dA); texture: Crowabout Studio.

Enjoy Summer

Don't be shy, Marla. Take off your shoes and join me!

Hello! This is my contribution to Take a Word which theme this week is BEACH.

Background, frame and elements: Beth Rimmer; girls: E-Vint (I cut out them, colored and designed their bathing suits - thanks Marie for the tip).

Postage Stamps: Pop Icons Series

(click to enlarge)

Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there.

Josh Billings 

The challenge in The Three Muses is POSTAGE STAMPS. I've made each one of these stamps by recycling a digital collage I've previously created for Digitalmania. 

Stamp mask by Createwing Designs; autographs googled; texture on Liz Taylor stamp by Rein.

Kindertotenlieder

In this weather, in this gale, in this windy storm,

they rest as if in their mother's house:

frightened by no storm,

sheltered by the Hand of God.

Take a Word asked for CHILDHOOD and my twisted mind made ​​me wonder that losing a child is the most unbearable pain. It seems that in some way these children remain as kids forever, trapped in an eternal childhood. Then I was taken to Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) composed by Gustav Mahler. The words of the songs are poems by Friedrich Rückert. The original Kindertotenlieder were a group of 428 poems written by Rückert in reaction to the illness and death of two of his children. Mahler selected five of Rückert's poems. It's very beautiful. You can listen to it here.

Background is a photo of mine; texture by Shadowhouse Creations; kids by Hidden Vintage.

Keep your inner peace

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. 

Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.

Saint Francis de Sales

Hello! POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS is the theme in The Three Muses. I went for keeping the inner peace as this is something really hard to me. 

Thanks to Beth Rimmer, Createwings Design and Tumblefish Studios.

Magic circles

Hi there! Take a Word theme for this week is CIRCLES and here it is what my muse asked me to do.

Thanks to Altered Emporium, Holliewood, Rucola Designs, Tumblefish Studios, Beth Rimmer, Pink Lotty.

Sweet Lolita

Hi! The Three Muses asked for FASHION and it has occurred to me that this was a good opportunity to portrait this trend among teens and also young women called kawaii (the word also applies to everything cute in Japanese culture). It is also known as Lolita fashion. According to Wikipedia, Lolita fashion is based on Victorian fashion and the Rococo period. Girls who dress in Lolita fashion are not going for the "sexy" look, but instead try to look cute, innocent, and beautiful. This look is achieved with lace, ribbons, bows, ruffles, bloomers, aprons, and ruffled petticoats. Parasols, chunky Mary Jane heels, and Bo Peep collars are also very popular. There is also the Sweet Lolita that includes even more embellishments and is often in pastels and other light colors.

Background by Caotiicah02 (altered); texture by Shadowhouse Creations (altered).

Time off for a book

The theme is LEISURE in Take a Word and other doing digital art, what I most like is reading, a passion that has started in my childhood.

Yesterday, I went to the first meeting of my Book Club. Several women chatting over a book (A Visit from the Goon Squad), sipping tea or coffee and eating cake. Lovely!

Quote in the book by Zetta Hupf; quote on the paper by Confucius; all illustrations by Jessie Willcox Smith; background by LunaNYXStock.

The challenge this week in Three Muses is SHOES. I know women want and deserve much more, but I couldn't resist when I've found this quote. Besides, we do need huge amounts of sense of humor to keep walking...

The delightful hat is a 1937 creation of Elsa Schiaparelli in collaboration with Salvador Dali; the girl was made by combining and altering 2 different photos; the background is my daughter’s photo of her own shoes (I know…); texture by Kim Klassen; quote by Mimi Pond.

I leave you with Loubotin and Oprah:

A naked woman in heels is a beautiful thing. A naked man in shoes looks like a fool.

Christian Louboutin

I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes.

Oprah Winfrey

Ready to fly

Hello! Takea Word asked for wings this week and I’ve decided to build my own winged being.

Winged being’s pieces and bits: The Sum of All Crafts; background: Mr. Whiskers; texture: Kim Klassen and Wallpaperswide; sky: Ajanime22.