Name The Painting and Win a Prize

I've been following Enzie Shahmiri's blog for awhile now as she posts paintings by Orientalists and I like them. I've learned quite a lot from the daily posts and have enjoyed seeing the works by various artists of days gone by. She is an accomplished artist herself and has been working on a painting of the above photograph she staged and took of world renowned belly dancer, Tiffany Bisconer, and is looking for a name for it. All you have to do is name her painting and you will win. Here is what Enzie says:

ATTENTION!
This will be an interactive project and I will give a drawing of one of the objects in the painting to the person who can come up with a cool title for this painting. So as you visit and see the developments, start thinking of some titles. All you have to do is leave me a comment on any post that says "Tiffany". When the painting is completed the person whose name suggestion I will choose, will receive the drawing. If several people should suggest the same name, I will have my son draw a name and announce the winner. Good luck!


Come on friends, lets get this painting named!

The Good Earth - Books II #1 or #2?

I've republished the old image and added a new image based on your expert advice. So now, I'm asking you, please, compare the two and tell me which you like best and why. Your feedback is so valuable to me and I appreciate every word.



I want to thank Sue of Sacred Circle Mandalas for giving the "you make my day" award to me. She makes my day too, every time I see one of her beautiful mandalas. Plus, she is just a very kind and giving person who is fun to know and is the best teacher via her photoshop tutorials. The latest is about patterns in CS3 so check it out here. I'll be passing this award on soon.

The Good Earth - Books II

The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck is one of my favorite books and I hope part of a new "series" of collages about books. I read this book when my granddaughter, Antigone sent it to me in the mail a couple of years ago. My mother had a copy of this book on her bookshelf, but I did not read it back then. So it was nice circle completed when Antigone sent it to me. Since I love this book so much it is strange to me that I struggled so much representing it. I've had it in my folder for quite awhile debating whether to publish or not. Please leave your comments and critiques especially because I really want you to let me have it. lol!

Wang Lung decides to marry and although poor he is able to buy a good wife, O-Lan. He is a hard working farmer who spends his days in the field with O-Lan by his side. Together they work the land and bring forth three children. Wang Lung is eventually able to rent some land from a rich landowner and improve his condition. Dought occurs and he looses all he has gained. With his family starving he sells all that he owns except the land and flees to the south where he finds work pulling a rickshaw but it does not provide enough for them to live so the children must be put to begging.

It is a very strained and turbulent political time in the city and Wang is afraid he will be conscripted into the Army. He works only at night to avoid induction. A riot occurs and the peasants break into a wealthy family's palace. Wang Lung is drawn into the crush and finds himself face to face with the rich man who unable to flee and is begging for his life. He offers gold in lieu of his life. Wang Lung uses this gold to return his family back north to the land.

Wang Lung is able to improve his farm, build a new home and live comfortably. His wealth is now tied to the harvests from the good earth. He becomes respected and prosperous and decides to purchase the house of Hwang where the wealthy owners have succumbed to vice and addiction. He takes from O-Lan the jewels she looted from the palace in the south and with them he purchases the house of Hwang and all their lands.

If you want to know more you will just have to read this wonderful classic by Pearl S. Buck. he he

Deconstruction: All using Adobe Photoshop
Photo, letter, man plowing and bookcover were all vintage. Desk, typewriter, landscape from dreamstime.com ($4). There were many layers, but it finished out with 12. I think I used every feature I know on Adobe Photoshop to attain this result!

Flying Over The Great Wall of China Dream

When I fell asleep a couple of weeks ago I wished I would dream of visiting the Great Wall of China. And I did! I dreamed of walking along the great wall and becoming very weary. As I looked over the landscape I saw that the wall was changing into a painting. Suddenly it occurred to me to lift my heels and fly. As I flew up there were billows of silks, all colors and all patterns, almost like clouds themselves. I could look down and see the Great Wall and view it as a landscape painting. As I flew along I could feel the silk brushing my skin and I could hear it flapping against the wind. It was a wonderful dream and the best part was that my deliberate attempts to lucid dream worked, and wow how it worked! I have never dreamed of flying in my life and now I can't wait to fly again. Now, I'll be really, really interested to hear what you make of my dream.

While I am posting I want to share a blog I recently discovered that I absolutely love: The Orientalist Gallery where Enzie Shamiri features an Oriental painting every day. She is an accomplished artist and Orientalist herself, so be sure to check out her paintings too.

Deconstruction:
All using Adobe Photoshop. The woman, the "silk" all came from dreamstime.com ($2), the Great Wall of China came from wikimedia.com via mayflower search. There were 3 layers counting the background and a layer mask between the great wall image and the silk image. I used [filter,artistic,dry brush] on all layers. I also tuned the color via [image,adjust,curves] thank you Diane and Sue!

The Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love - Books I

This week's subject for the 2 things challenge was foot/loose and I chose to represent "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love" as my entry since there are plenty of loose foots in it. When I was a girl my sister and I learned the tango, samba, and mambo from friends of my mothers. We danced and danced around our living room and really put out hearts into learning it. I can never hear Latin music without thinking of these times. I enjoyed this book a few years ago and thought that it captured the essence of early '50s love of Cuban music. Here's the lyrics to a song that I liked.

Papa Loves Mambo

Unh!

Papa loves mambo!

Mamma loves mambo!

Look at ‘em sway with it,

Gettin’ so gay with it,

Shoutin’ Olé with it, Wow!

Unh!

Papa loves mambo! ( Papa loves mambo! )

Mamma loves mambo! ( Mamma loves mambo! )

Papa does great with it,

Swings like a gate with it,

He loses weight with it, Now!

He goes to, she goes fro,

He goes fast, she goes slow,

He goes left, an’ she goes right!

Papa’s lookin’ for Mamma,

But Mamma is nowhere in sight!

Unh!

Papa loves mambo!

Mamma loves mambo!

Havin’ their fling again,

Younger than spring again,

Feelin’ that zing again, Wow!

Unh!

Papa loves mambo! ( Papa loves mambo! )

Mamma loves mambo! ( Mamma loves mambo! )

Don’t play the rumba an’ don’t play the samba,

‘Cause Papa loves mambo, tonight!

Unh!

Papa loves mambo!

Mamma loves mambo!

Papa loves mambo!

Mamma loves mambo!

He goes to, she goes fro',

He goes fast, she goes slow,

He goes left, an’ she goes right!

Papa’s lookin’ for Mamma,

But Mamma is nowhere in sight!

Unh!

Papa loves mambo! ( Papa loves mambo! )

Mamma loves mambo! ( Mamma loves mambo! )

Havin’ their fling again,

Younger than spring again,

Feelin’ that zing again, Wow!

Unh!

( Papa loves mambo! ) Mambo Papa!

( Mamma loves mambo! ) Mambo Mamma!

Don’t play the rumba an’ don’t play the samba,

‘Cause Papa! Papa mambo, tonight!

Unh!

Deconstruction:
Dancers and footprints (from Seattle Broadway street photo) from wikimedia.com using mayflower search
Used [image,apply image] to merge the dancers and footprints together, then pasted the book image into a layer. I liked what I saw and so I stopped.

Do you think more layers would make a better result?

Love Tokens

We think of these peanuts as plain, while Scarlet Macaws think of them as love tokens. This is my entry for the 2 things challenge this week and I had great fun doing it since I love animals and who wouldn't love these gorgeous birds?

Deconstruction:
Photo of Macaws and peanut from wikimedia.org. Three layers only this time, counting the background layer. I used [filter, artistic, watercolor] on the birds, then [filter,texture,load texture] for the peanut image in the background of the birds and [filter,render,lighting effects] to give the texture some dimension. Lastly I used [filer,texture,stained glass] to create the netting design on the border so it was all photoshop magic this time.

Fragmented Apple

Here is my entry for the photoshop challenge that Rima at Marazine blog devised. It was a fun and absorbing time. Her sister Neda at Papiers Collés set the standard with her "Paris Crunch/Merci Mr. Gruau" and so I was really challenged.

Deconstruction:
I cut the apple in half, then pasted 3 copies which I rotated randomly. I used [filter,stylize,emboss] to create the blocks, then used [image,apply image] to the new image and applied the same image to itself. I felt the slices needed something to define them and so after a few experiments I used [filter,distort,pinch] and got some dimension at last. I fiddled with the [image,adust,brightness/contrast] trying to get a satisfactory (to me) contrast between the layers. It still looked a little bland so I used the paint bucket tool to fill in the background with black, then used equalize on the fragmented slices.

Home and Health

When I saw the latest 2 things challenge I knew I had to participate because above all I love my humble home. It is the place where my spirit is renewed and the place where I can be me and even jump for joy whenever I see a butterfly.

I'd love to hear your comments and critiques, so please take the time to write as it will be so appreciated.

Deconstruction: The house is one of my photos, as are a couple of the butterflies. The woman and the peacock came from dreamstime.com ($2). The remaining butterflies came from Wikimedia Commons using mayflower search. There are were an incredible number of layers (29); most for butterflies but some to correct some distracting areas. It finished out at 18 layers. One filter, dry brush, was used on the house layer to soften it. Lighting effects were used on most of the objects to brighten them.