BEAUTY AND THE BEAST...

These are just a few of the myriad of illustrations inspired by one of my favorite tales "Beauty and the Beast". It was first printed as a traditional French fairytale "La Belle et la Bête" by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, in 1740. The story became very popular and has been re-printed, illustrated and retold in many forms throughout the years. I think it is interesting to see the different persona's the beast takes in the hands of each artist. I personally prefer a warm and fuzzy beast myself... and more lioness or kanine then porcine please. What do you look for in a beast?

LET FREEDOM RING...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

to our wonderful nation...

and best wishes to everyone for a safe and fabulous

Forth of July!!!

THE ANGEL & THE SEEKER...

Once upon a time an angel traveled the road with a man who was seeking wisdom. They passed the gates of a big city and just outside the gate sat a small devil. "Look at that" the man said "This must be a very righteous city they have pushed the devil outside their gates." Further down the road they passed a woman who was put upon by seven devils who provoked her and whispered to her constantly. The man spoke..."this woman must be very evil she keeps company with many devils...she should be shunned". The angel smiled and said "Friend be careful where with you judge...for this city is so wicked that it is kept in bond by one pitiful little imp...and this woman is so righteous that seven devils tempt her day and night and still she does not succumb. It is wisdom in you to withhold judgement and seek understanding.

~

I like this fable and wanted to illustrate it...I especially like the face of the woman in the painting she looks so innocent. Thanks to Hieronymus Bosch for the devils.

SISTERS FOREVER, FRIENDS FOREVER...

The little girl in the blue is my Grandma Hilda with her sister Laura in pink. That is the way they were their whole lives hand in hand...friends forever through thick and thin...in pink and blue. That's them down life's road eighty years later...just before my Grandma passed away.
The lilacs were a favorite of both sisters and the pansies are for the song "little Purple Pansies" also a favorite. The box of bottles is a curious thing it represents a story Grandma used to tell of how she and Laura went to the park and collected bottles all day for the few precious pennies they would earn to buy themselves something special. When their father arrived home from work and they weren't there he was not happy...he found them in the park and made them leave all the bottles they had collected...and go home to bed without supper. The next day they ran back to the park but of course their box of bottles was gone.

AUDIE'S TREASURE...

Here is the collage I finished today it's called Audie's Treasure...I think I like it the best because it has more details and I like the colors better. I remember when Grandma showed me this photo the first time she told how she had loved that watch and had insisted on tying it to her blouse to have her picture taken. The broach is a picture of her mother who she loved dearly. I mentioned before her love of roses...she also enjoyed music and taught herself to play several instruments. The lace is for her love of crafts and her ability to create things to beautify her home. The sprig of green leaves is peppermint...as peppermint tea was her cure all for any ailment. The butterfly represents her deep faith in God and her gifts of the spirit.

Grandma never had much in her life but she was blessed with wisdom and talents that she used and expanded on and a singular trust in God that saw her through many trials...these were her treasures.

AUDIE'S ROSES...

This is a picture of my Grandma Audie. It is the only picture I have of her as a child. I wanted to do something special with it to reflect her life. She loved flowers especially roses...her yard was full of them...and she spent many hours in her old age drawing roses. She would type a poem or story on a page and then illustrate it with a rose. These she gave as gifts to her family and friends.

I am working on another version of this picture today...I think I will have the one I like best framed.

THE FABULOUS CRAFT OF CRAFT...

A fabulous new artist I just discovered. Love the whimsical beauty and intricate design of these extraordinary paintings by Kinuko Craft...wonderful stuff.

SARGENT PEPPER'S PAPA...

Of course you probably all recognize the top picture as the cover of The Beatles famous Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Album...the bottom collage was created by the same gentleman...English artist Peter Blake. It is always a joy to discover a new artist even though he has had a long and distinguished career right under my nose.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS...

This is an experiment in color that turned out way different then I thought it would...but I liked it so I finished it up as an altered art piece. She reminds me of Estella from Dickens "Great Expectations" hence the title.

GRANDFATHERS VIOLIN...

I absolutely fell in love with this picture and had to work it into an altered art piece. The hardest part is making the glasses look like glass...but what doesn't kill you make you smarter...at least that's what they keep telling me.

I love its tender nostalgic feel.

FACE IT...

This is a small sample of a number of plates created by Piero Fornasetti. He created more than 11,000 items, many featuring the face of a woman...operatic soprano Lina Cavalieri, as a motif. Fornasetti found her face in a 19th century magazine.
“What inspired me to create more than 500 variations on the face of a woman?” asks Italian designer, Piero Fornasetti of himself. “I don’t know,” he admits, “I began to make them and I never stopped.” The “Tema e Variazioni” (theme and variation) plate series based on Cavalieri's face numbered more than 350.
I have always like these plates the idea of doing the same picture with a different theme is interesting... it's fun just to see the number of variations he came up with.

SWEET BABY JAMES...

This is an example of the work of James Christensen. He is my favorite artist and I have several of his print...that make me smile on a daily basis. The bottom picture is "Jonah" don't miss the little man in the window. Christensen feeds my need for whimsy...his imagination and detail are amazing.

MOONLIGHT LADIES...

I love the art of Alphonse Mucha these are various combinations of his work...they fit together so prettily that I made two versions because I was enjoying the variations. Do you have a preference?

I think I like the bottom one the best...it has a better flow. But I like the faces in the top one...I don't know what do you think?

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT...

It's all about color...shapes...motion and balance. I do this kind of art because I am more a designer the an artist I think. And I love symbolism.

ISLAMIC PEACE...

My mind must be stuck in the Middle East this week. It has such wonderful art and culture...many interesting things to work with...and beautiful people. Their culture is so different from our I wish that we could somehow have a meeting of minds. But alas wars have raged in that land for thousands of years and there is no end in sight.

FACES...

It's all about faces for me. Nothing is more inspirational to my art then a fascinating face...male or female. Faces of exotic beauty to bazaar homeliness. Every one has one though no two are the same...all are wonderful. The inescapable icon of who we are. Give me faces that hide beautiful secrets or dark emotions...a face to build a story picture around.

MORE JOY...

I love altered art it is much more pleasing then the crazy Freaking News stuff that I have been learning on and when I'm finished I have something I actually want to look at. This is my latest La Vie En Rose...it is dedicated to my French brother and his French family.

ART IS MY JOY...

Can I just tell you all again how much joy I get from making art. It is such a blessing to me to be able to create something that I visualized in my mind...it's almost like making children (weird huh). So many of you are really gifted artists...I hope your art brings you as much joy as mine does.

SIDEWALK CHALK...

Check out these super fantastic 3D sidewalk paintings by Kurt Wenner...I think they are extraordinary. What ashame they will be washed away.

STUCK ON THE WALL...

This is my latest project...you really have to super size it to see all the detail. I love making pictures with a lot of funky little details. There are so many great window pictures I wish the wall could be bigger.

You may have noticed that I have had to resort to comment moderation. Over the weekend I was cyber attacked by a Chinese pornography ad...it was added to over 20 of my posts. I annoys me that these scumbags can't go off in a corner by themselves but insist on spreading their garbage where it is not wanted...

GOLDEN SLUMBERS...

DSW 10

~

"Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home

Sleep little darling do not cry

and I will sing a lullaby."

I found out something very interesting about the lyrics to "Golden Slumbers" while checking to see if they were actually written by Lennon & McCartney. Parts were taken from a poem in the play "Patient Grissel" written in 1603 by Thomas Dekker. Here is the original poem;

Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby,
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.
Care is heavy, therefore sleep you,
You are care, and care must keep you;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby,
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

INK...

I love to look at tattoos there is some beautiful artwork walking around on peoples backs...there is some really bad stuff too. I would like to be a tattoo artist but...I make too many mistakes...oops.
So I decided to work on Photoshop where it's painless and you can delete your boo boos. This one is called "Ink..."

A COLLISION OF KLIMT...

As you can see I have been working with the paintings of Gustav Klimt. I love his use of patterns shapes and design. It is very fun to collage with his work because there are so many patterns to combine and the colors are spectacular. This particular piece is made out of 15 of his paintings and has many face in it...How many can you find? I know it's Monday but this is not a test...just fun.

HAPPY, HAPPY, BIRTHDAY CLYTIE...

Have a Superfantabulous Birthday Clytie!

and a Happy Mom's Day to

everyone...

SMALL MEMORIES...

I could go on and on about what a miracle it is to have Google. You can find or learn just about anything on Google...I love it!..I use it everyday. I have even been able to locate copies of several pieces of artwork that hung in the home of my Grandmothers 60 years ago...it is amazing.
This is a picture that was hanging over my Grandmas Audies sofa when I was a little girl. I came across it quite by accident by I am thrilled to have it in my cyber collection...a small memory from childhood.

A MOTHERS LOVE...

art by Jesse Wilcox Smith
~

I love these paintings by Jesse Wilcox Smith they are so innocent and endearing. They portray mothers in such a tender loving way.

TWO FACED...

The assignment was...Combine two different faces into one person. I picked Edward and Jacob from the Twilight series it seemed to be the perfect solution for Bella's problem. The first picture was so much fun I decided to do the night version.

THE FURRY CAVALIER...

If I could have a dog...this is the kind I would have. Isn't he wonderful he's just so "Cavalier".
I've really got the dog hungries this week...heaven help me...I love those furry friends.

THE HAUNTING...

I just completed a new project that I am quit happy with...it's called The Haunting of Anne Noir.

Above is the painting I was working with so you can see the difference. It is a compilation of six paintings. I love her eyes...

I'M AT IT AGAIN...

The challenge...recreate an old masterpiece in a way it might have been painted today...so here it is "Van Gogh's Universe".

IF ANYONE SHOULD ASK YOU...THIS IS WHAT LOVE LOOKS LIKE...

If I could, today I would come winging with a lovely rose to delight your morning. I would bring a hot cup of fragrant honey water to soothe away your stresses. I would lend a loving ear to your story. I would give a warmful hug to your heart--and a happy giggle for your ears. I would share a gleeful hop, skip and jump to lighten your feet. I would sing the joy of childhood to you. I would say I love you, my sweet Sis. I'm praying for you.

And I do send all of these to you--Can you see them? Do you hear it? They're yours today, right this minute.

Thank you Sissy Bea you are the best...

THIS BIRD HAS FLOWN...

This is my favorite project on Photoshop so far. She is a compilation of four old paintings and one new window frame. You have seen her face before on my blog but I just love her and wanted to create a picture story for her. It is called "This Bird Has Flown" .

APOLOGIES TO RAPHAEL...

The contest was to take a Raphael masterpiece and and make it look like something he would have painted today.

I am learning something new with each challenge and they are sooo fun...but they have really cut down my blogging time.

SOMEDAYS YOU'RE JUST CRABBY...

Here is my latest insanity from Freaking New...the challenge was to create a picture from a photo of a land crab that they provided...I'm loving the challenge.
They are called Crab Louie and Buster Crab.

HAVE A WONDERFUL EASTER...

I HOPE YOUR EASTER IS WARM AND FUZZY...

except for your jellybeans...

APRIL FOOLS...