How Could I Resist?

This collage is my submission for The Three Muses Collage Challenge. The prompt this week was "Oooh-La-La!". Now, how exactly, was I going to resist that?

(Please click on the image for the larger version.)

(Thank you to Julia at Cemerony, Cristina at Asunder Ephemera, Ella at Calico Collage, Mark at Memories Emporium and Karen of The Graphics Fairy for the images I used.)

This is Me...

(This is my submission for the collage challenge this week on the Three Muses blog. I would like to thank Marsha of Tumblefish Studios, Karen of The Graphics Fairy and Kirsi of Itkupilli for the use of their images in my collage.)
This is me...
Standing on the edge of the most wonderful year EVER!
Just taking a moment of peace and still gathering my strength after last year....

A few things about me you may or may not know:
-I love the color purple and consider it to be a good luck color for me (who doesn't know purple is my favorite color??)

-I love the way they look, but I'm actually trying to get over my life-long fear of butterflies (yes, butterflies!). I have been afraid of them for as long as I can remember, but just last year, I was able to sit on my porch and watch them as long as they didn't get too close! So, my wearing butterfly wings symbolizes my facing my fears.

-This is the first time I have ever done a self-portrait, so that stands for all the new things I have to be willing to try in order for our lives to take a different direction.

-I'm dressed comfortably, even though I think I am waiting for something very important! It is vital to be very comfortable for these sorts of situations.

-I don’t like the cold, which is not good when you live in New England. Doing art keeps me from hibernating all togehter until April or so. If it was announced that winter was over for the year, you would find me doing The Dance of Joy until I passed out! I'm dressed for summer here because I can't wait for it to be here!

-Even though I lost both of my parents last year, I feel pretty strong and empowered because I am still in “warrior” mode. I was their medical advocate and I hope I helped make their last months and weeks and days on this planet as comfortable as possible.

-I found a quote from Mark Twain that I think is the perfect accompaniment to my collage:
“Twenty years from now
you will be more disappointed
by the things that you didn't do
than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore.

Dream.

Discover.”

Am I The Last?

Hello Again, Dear Friends!
Above is my submission for the weekly challenge from The Three Muses. The topic this week is "Fashion". As I have been visiting my fellow participants in collage challenges, I have thought to myself, "Am I really the last person to have not yet done something with the Mona Lisa in a collage?" I cannot think of another icon of fashion I would love to work with for a collage challenge on fashion!

I gave her just a bit of an update with some rather goth make-up and by straightening her hair. I let her wear the same outfit she has worn since she first put it on in the 16th Century. However, I did add some touches of purple and a black rose! Since she has been living for such a long time inside The Louvre, I chose to place her outside in Paris, on the banks of the Seine, in front of the beautiful, intricate Hôtel de Ville.

And on her head, she wears a beret of sorts. But if you look carefully, you will see there is something a bit unusual about it. I constructed it from an image of a drop of water, which proves that you can make a hat out of anything in the Virtual World!


I do hope that Lisa del Giocondo, the subject of the painting would approve of her make-over!

(I was able to see her from afar, during our visit to The Louvre. Behind the pane of glass which separates her from her adoring fans, hundreds of flashes from cameras lit the room! It struck me how like the paparazzi her visitors to the Louvre were and what a celebrity she remains!



(Original image of the Mona Lisa and image of the painting behind glass from Wikipedia. Image of drop from Flickr. Image of Hôtel de Ville from Harmonica Goldfish. Black rose from Itkupilli.)

Moonstruck

Dearest Friends,
Your kind patience is so appreciated.

This is my submission for The Three Muses' Moonstruck Challenge.

This is for my mother.

I love you, Mommy.

Betty

Word Salad

Dear Friends,
Tonight I bring to you my submission to The Three Muses for their weekly challenge. Each week, they provide fantastic art prompts. I have wanted to participate in their challenges for sometime now, but just somehow never found the time. I made the time this week. I couldn't pass this one by. Some years ago, I wrote a short, rather abstract poem called Salad Poem the Second. When I saw that the prompt this week was Word Salad, I couldn't resist dropping everything to create this collage to illustrate my poem.


salad poem the second

the essence of a thousand sacred summer swallows
haunted by images of love & yesterday
soaring & shining
azure scarlet purple
they light for a moment in a tiny garden
&
whisper the language of perfume
to a bed of edible floral petals & wild spring greens
imagining a salad

I had so much fun creating this collage and will definitely be participating in as many challenges from The Three Muses as I can in the future!