CHALLENGE #66...REFLECTIONS...

VANITY...

Two John Waterhouse masterpieces

mirror, bottle and rose from Google Images

checkerboard floor made on Photoshop

CHALLENGE #6...REVOLVER...

IN MY LIFE...

The Beatles Revolver album cover by Klaus Voormann

Blood & gun from Google Images.

CHALLENGE #95...SHADOW...

GROWING...

All components Google Images.

CHALLENGE #36...WHITE..

A WHITER SHADE OF PALE...

Background from Wikimedia

Vintage Girl & Roses from Google Images.

CHALLENGE #59...NO WAY OUT...

THE COLLECTOR...

All components from Google Images.

CHALLENGE #41...MIST...

ALONE TOGETHER...

All layers my own photography.

CHALLENGE #12...GOLD...

ALL THAT GLITTERS...

Wikimedia...Coins & gold brocade quilt

Google Images...Burial mask, girl in hat, sunset landscape & Compass.

CHALLENGE #100...SECRETS...

 REVELATION...
All components are from Wikimedia...with exception of small gargoyle from Google Images and the rainbow is my own photograph.

CHALLENGE #32...NIGHT...

NIGHT MAGIC...

Google Images...Night sky, lace, tree, owl & John Waterhouse painting.

IMAGINARY REALISM...

Michael Parks one of my favorite artists in the Imaginary Realism category. His beautiful washed colors and combination of subjects both real and imaginary is always intriguing.

HOME SWEET HOME...

Here are some visually delightful homes painted by Daniel Merriam...one of my favorite artists. These are really great houses but it's a long drop to get to the car.

Speaking of homes I am going to be moving my creative blog home to my new blog site The Whimsy Asylum...  I will post all my cyber art there. I hope you will all stop by for a peek...and feel free to move right in.

A WHITER SHADE OF PALE...

She said, 'I'm home on shore leave,'
though in truth we were at sea
so I took her by the looking glass
and forced her to agree

saying, 'You must be the mermaid
who took Neptune for a ride.'
But she smiled at me so sadly
that my anger straightway died

If music be the food of love
then laughter is its queen
and likewise if behind is in front
then dirt in truth is clean

My mouth by then like cardboard
seemed to slip straight through my head
So we crash-dived straightway quickly
and attacked the ocean bed

And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale

MOTHER LOVE...

Mother Love

Some say his sins surpass belief,
Some that he was devoid of sense;
They call him coward, fool and thief
And damn him for his insolence.

But she, employing all the proud
Defenses of her woman’s art,
Preserved him from the hostile crowd
Behind the bulwark of her heart.
by Dorothy Davis

YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE...

Here's my latest project...a 40 year old totally dark olive green lamp that I rescued from a truck headed to the dump...I just loved all the detail and curlycue's. So I removed the shade and the top light...reworked the design...completely rewired it and painted it in my usual demented bohemian style...with hearts of course...and tah dah...light for our dark old playroom. I am particularly proud of the electrical work...it even has an off and on switch on the cord and it actually works.

A LETTER FROM PAPA...

I have been reading about the the battle of Waterloo lately and thinking how horrible it is to have someone you love fighting a war far away. It is hard enough having someone in Iraq or Afghanistan...even though you might talk to them everyday. Imagine having a husband, father, son, or other loved one leave for war and not hear from them for weeks or months at a time...not knowing if they are dead or injured and even worse like my distant Grandmother having him not return and never knowing what happened to him.

This is a new natural color version of a picture I've done before...I love that beautiful little face. I combined four other pictures with it to get the portrait of a very worried little girl with a letter from her Papa...an English Officer waiting on the battlefield at Waterloo.

CRY ME A RIVER...

Now you say you're sorry
For being so untrue
Well, you can cry me a river
Cry me a river
I cried a river over you.

This is what happens when you listen to a Diana Krall CD while you paint. Inspiration is everywhere if only there was enough time and enough material to carry out everything one is want to do. Music and lyrics are my favorite source of inspiration...I think because they touch my emotions so profoundly.

HOLD BACK TIME...

Time gallops on day into night...night into day...weeks...months...and years fly by...headlong and heedless despite our hapless attempts to hold back time in it's mad rush to eternity.

DEFYING GRAVITY...

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by
The rules of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes
And leap...

It's time to try defying gravity
I think I'll try defying gravity
And you can't pull me down
~

Lyrics from the Broadway show "Wicked"

DRAGONFLY DREAMS...

Is it only we foolish humans that look at others and wish to be something we are not...Do you think dragonflies dream of being butterflies...or maybe it's the other way around. Who's to say the butterfly hasn't always wanted transparent wings.

DEAD THOUGH FATED NOT TO DIE...

This is my bloodless ode to Vampires everywhere. I have to admit to falling prey to the Twilight book series. But generally I am not attracted to the little blood suckers...I think they're kind of a pain in the neck...and I've never wanted to live forever anyway.