Urban Alice

Created for Faestock Challenge #74

Model with thanks to Faestock

So I joined a new Flickr group Faestock - this group uses images made from Faestock on Deivantart. They also have challenges so I joined one.  The image we had to use was Alice (see below) and above is my entry.  This was fun.

Free Bird

Well it's Thanksgiving and I am bummed I didn't make some kind of turkey image but here is a bird.  I was suppose to go to PA and have the holiday with family but bad weather caused me to stay home here in NJ - so I am cooking and having a nice quiet day with husband and cats.

Free Bird Image - Lots of extracts, textures and stuff

Girl Image - faestock deviant art faestock.deviantart.com/

Actual image -faestock.deviantart.com/art/Black-Widow4-329291702

The Painted Crow

I had a totally different vision for this image but this is what developed.  I like it and will work on my other idea at another time.

Here is the bird image I used.  I filled the BG layer with orange and only covered it with the bird for 3/4 of the area.  I added textures on top and some textures just to the 1/4 orange area.  He is such a handsome crow - love him!!!!

The White Dress

I am trying to get a more painterly, artistic look to my images. I really love this one it is very close to what I am aiming for. Three different images here - girl extracted as were the trees.

The Tarot

Week 10 Challenge - This week is about sharing something personal, one of your passions. Well one of my passions is the Tarot - I have about 60 decks and many, many books. I love Tarot art and the power of the cards. I even made my own personal Tarot Deck. This image plays homage to the tarot specifically the Death card. 

Swan Song

Just a silly play on words.

The Crow

I love crows - lots around this AM and they were loud!!!!

Sharp Dressed Man

You do know every girl is crazy about a sharped dressed man. Extracted the people from another image and placed them on the house. Lots of texture and blending modes. I love these old photographs. I wonder who their relatives are??

Hunters Moon

I love a full moon ; )

Skid Row Madonna

Skid Row Madonna -  I loved making this image.  It was from an original B&W and it has so many layers and crazy blending modes – that is how I got the coloring and lighting.  I removed a lot and added some other things. And yes I did want that red band of paint going over the woman’s head. I always compare my newest work to what I have already done and I think this is my best piece yet. I try to zero in on what I want to be the main focus and work around that.  I also like to tell a story while keeping the focus on the image. I used to be in such a hurry to finish an image but not anymore - I like to work, add different elements and try different things until I get it just right or I think I have it just right! Below is the original image I worked from and a link to it on Flickr.

Original Image from Flickr  - Jeffrey
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jb912/7011218065/sizes/l/

Chess Board Floor

Chess Board Floor - my latest digital image.  This is made up of many extracted images but they all come together to make a whole.

Wild Bunch

Front row left to right: Harry A. Longabaugh, alias the Sundance Kid, Ben Kilpatrick, alias the Tall Texan, Robert Leroy Parker, alias Butch Cassidy; Standing: Will Carver & Harvey Logan, alias Kid Curry; Fort Worth, Texas, 1900.

Just playing around with this old photo.  Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch was one of the loosely organized outlaw gangs operating out of the Hole-in-the-Wall in Wyoming during the Old West era in the United States. It was popularized by the 1969 movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and took its name from the original Wild Bunch. They would become the most successful train-robbing gang in history.

Black Velvet

Black velvet has four different images - lots of texture and blending modes - Model by marriannainsomina Deivantart.

Shy Pelican

Last month my husband and I went to Cape May on a mini vacation.  While we were in town I saw a shop named Shy Pelican and thought I would like to make a digital image with that title.  I guess it is silly but here it is.  I remember when we went to North Carolina and I saw my first pelican - I pulled the car over and jumped out for a better look.  They are rather comical looking birds but unlike anything we have at the Jersey Shore.

Steampunk Girl

I had fun doing this image, had to think about how it would come together and I learned a lot. Can't ask for more than that.  I love the look of Steampunk and I want to do a lot more of these type of images.  I especially like the background, it is a composite of six different images cut and blended. I got the photo of the girl from solceress at Deviantart. I also love the edge treatment - that is one from Marie Otero from an online class I took with her a couple of years ago. Well I am off to see how Friday unfolds ; )

Sunflowers

Sunflowers on a very chilly day.  I wanted this image to look hand painted.  I love sunflowers they are sturdy and bright - they make me smile. I guess I am just not a rose kind of girl!

Crows and Iron Fence

Just felt like doing something more decorative.  I think I could have used brighter coloring here but I do kind of like this anyway.

Watercolor Girl

I am enjoying creating an image in Photoshop and then working color back into the image.  Lots of different images, blending modes, textures and painting in this one.

Back Alley

I wanted a gritty almost monochromatic image.  It was a little bland so I used a few splashes of color here and there.  There are 8 separate images combined in one form or other to make up this piece.  Plus lots of textures and blending modes.

Stairway to Heaven

She's buying a Stairway to Heaven too bad it's not that easy.  Lots of images combined, lots of layers and blending modes and a few textures too. I've used that dove in an umber of images and he always works great.

Week 8 Challenge - The Best Part of Waking Up

My week 8 challenge - something in something else.  Not much to say about this - is what it is. All challenges here http://www.flickr.com/groups/2410929@N22/

Memories

I had no idea how this image would work out - but sometimes they just start to gel and gather a life of their own.  I knew I wanted to use the bigger image of the girl so I started gathering other stuff adding and removing as I went but it all came together quite quickly.  I also did not want a solid background but things at angles. I added the tree last to fill the upper space and to move your eye back into the composition.  I think every image can be improved by adding a tree!

The Melody

I have mixed feelings about this image - I don't love it but I learned a lot making it.  Lots of layers and lots of revisions.

Desire

Not much to say about this one.  Lots of work, layers, blending modes and such for such a simple looking piece.  I went on a bus trip yesterday and it included a bit of shopping - such beautiful colors and fabrics in the scarves.  I have never been a scarf wearer - maybe I need to rethink this.

All She Wants To Do Is Dance

All She Wants To Do Is Dance - this image reminds me of a Don Henley video. Girl was an extract and the background made up of bits and pieces. I love the lighting - it was fun to make. Lots of layers and other good stuff. Some images are a struggle and some just come together - this was and easy one.

Thankless

Thankless - how I feel sometime - like yesterday.  But I realized you don't do things because you want thanks - only do things because you WANT to do them.  Life would be easier if I remember this.

Midnight Garden

The Midnight Garden where the angels come alive.  You can't keep the girl out of the cemetery. Love angel statues they make such good models. I wonder what these two are up to??

Week Seven Challenge - Bird Song

Week Seven Photoshop Artistry Challenge - Bird Song.  I was walking this AM thinking about this challenge and I saw 2 beautiful cardinals and took it as a message from the divine. I used lemonade as my distressed texture. The top is my challenge image the bottom is the original photo.

Pale Horse

I find horses so interesting - although I am afraid of them.  My friend owns a horse farm and I love to see the horses but not up close ; )  Here we have a beautiful white horse with some photoshop magic applied - not that he needed it.

Día de Muertos

Day of the Dead - model Mona Lisa.  Who knew she liked to play dress up.  Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where the day is a bank holiday. The celebration takes place on October 31, November 1 and November 2, in connection with the Christian triduum of Hallowmas: All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars called ofrendas honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. They also leave possessions of the deceased.