The Three Muses Art Challenge - Hearts

Hearts is the challenge this week at The Three Muses.  We all love our pets so much, I went to hearts-love-dogs right away.

I loved this element of a dog waiting for the ball to be tossed - the concentration on his face!  He's so focused...

And I had to include this one, too.  Here's my dog-faced daughter - best friend - traveling companion, Katie.  She's 12 years old, a rescue dog that I adopted when she was 1 year old.  We've been through a lot together, many miles traveling, lots ups and downs, tears and laughter, so  many different experiences.  My special girl.

See you next time...

Sunday Postcard Art - Envelopes

Our theme this week at Sunday Postcard Art is Envelopes. 

I was going to do this one with a large business desk that has a stack of mail on it, that'd be the Envelopes, and fluff it up from there.  But then I found the little element with an envelope bird nest full of birds and that kind of became my focus - and my desk changed to a personal home desk.  Seemed more appropriate if there was going to be an envelope nest there. 

I actually have that zen doodle design book - I used it here along with a zen doodle art piece in progress.  That one isn't mine.  Wish it was!  😊 I think it's beautiful.

See you next time...

Take a Word Art Challenge - Eggs

The "word" at Take a Word this week is Eggs.  So here's my little chicken farm where the eggs come from.  I think it's interesting that chocolate eggs hatch such colorful chicks, don't you?  Ha!

The chickens and their rooster seem to think so, too.

See you next time...

 

The Three Muses Art Challenge - Buttons and Bows

The Three Muses theme this week is Buttons and Bows.  When I think of buttons and bows, I think of sewing and crafts because I guess that's what I've usually done with them, on greeting cards and other projects.  In my craft room - back in the day - I had containers full of buttons in the smaller one and bows in the larger one. 

So here are my little bears in their attic room, with containers of buttons and bows.  😊

See you next time...

Sunday Postcard Art Challenge - Sisters

Sunday Postcard Art has Sisters as it's theme this week for our Art Challenge.

Three little sisters walking in the rain - and who knows?  Maybe the three large cows are sisters, too.  😉

See you next time...

Barb

Take a Word Art Challenge - Green

It's a Green Challenge this week at Take a Word - very appropriate since St. Patrick's Day is coming up on March 17.

Of course I went on a hunt for gnomes, fairies, leprechauns, pots of gold and beer.  That poor little gnome in the middle tripped and spilled a whole mug of beer.  Aaawwwww,  that was too bad.  💚

I also loved the quote from Winston Churchill - such an English thing to say, right?  I'm part English and part Irish and I love them both, of course!   

Happy St. Patrick's Day, a bit early.  🍀 

See you next time...

The Three Muses Art Challenge - Animal

Our challenge theme this week at The Three Muses is Animal (not cat or dog).

I had recently collected some Peacock elements and wanted to use them.  Are they considered animals?  Well, they aren't mineral or vegetable, so...   Isn't the large male with the open tail feathers a beauty?

See you next time...

Take a Word Art Challenge - Blue and White

The challenge theme at Take a Word this week is Blue and White.  This was a fun one! 

I love walls and windows and doors, etc. and had this element in my stash of a blue wall with lots and lots of windows.  Perfect.  I worked on the wall a bit and put it through a couple of programs to give it more texture.  Then I found some white graphics and added them in some of the windows, as well as LOTS of eyes - The better to see you with, my dear!   Then came the monkeys, elves, fairies, and animals and a BIG beautiful blue eye watching over the scene. 

My favorites in the windows are the monkeys/gorilla.  😁  I have a feeling we're going to see that baby monkey again.  I love that element.

As I said, this was really fun.  If you have some extra time click on the Take a Word link to see some of the other entries - even though it was just posted yesterday there are a lot of them already.  It's amazing how one theme will go in so many directions! 

See you next time...

Sunday Postcard Art Challenge - Springtime

The theme this week at Sunday Postcard Art is Springtime. 

It's coming soon here in the United States, not soon enough for a lot of us!  Happy Springtime!

See you next time...

The Three Muses Art Challenge - Floral

Our challenge word this week at The Three Muses is Floral.  These looked like spring flowers to me, beautiful colors, and this little fairy has clothes and wings that matched!  Wasn't that lucky?  😉

Can you see the three gnomes hiding, hoping to watch her fly?

See you next time...

Take a Word Art Challenge - Silhouettes

Our Theme this week at Take a Word is Silhouettes.  I liked this element of the young woman in silhouette with a dress made of butterflies.  Is he proposing?  ❤  How romantic!

See you next time...

Sunday Postcard Art Challenge - Alter Mona

This week's challenge at Sunday Postcard Art is Alter Mona.  I had this great graphic of the Mona Lisa dripping with colorful paint - I loved it and hoped to use it.  Enter...Alter Mona!  Perfect.

I gave her a feathered headdress, to which I added a couple of things, then the beautiful owl, a few more elements, and here's my Alter Mona.

This is one of my favorites that I've done so far.  Hope you like it!

See you next time...

Sunday Postcard Art Challenge - BINGO

This week's theme at Sunday Postcard Art is BINGO.  I don't play BINGO and this one kind of eluded me as far as how to put a BINGO challenge together.  I kind of liked the bird eggs used as number covers, so I went with Bird's Egg Bingo.  Kind of crazy, but again, fun to create!

See you next time...

Take a Word Art Challenge - Moon

The theme this week at Take a Word is Moon. 

I haven't done a lot of artsy stuff in the past.  Not like this.  These challenges are so interesting, the way our brains work, the way we put things together, how sometimes the end result is exactly what we visualized even before we found the right elements, and sometimes we go off on a completely different direction and end up with art we like even better.  At least that's what's happening with me.

It's all a new experience and it sure is fun - and interesting!

By the way, this one is exactly what I was seeing when I thought about how I wanted to do this Moon challenge.

See you next time...

The Three Muses Art Challenge - Grunge

The theme this week at The Three Muses is Grunge.  I love grunge - but haven't worked with it much.  So this is my first grunge piece.  It was pretty fun to put together, hopefully we'll have some similar challenges in the future!

Until next time...

Take A Word Art Challenge - Bird

Our challenge theme this week at Take A Word is Bird.

I did this one on a rainy night in New Mexico.  Warm and toasty inside and rainy and windy outside. 

I liked the way the lovebirds' color stands out in the darker background and I loved the church element.  The moon is from a full moon photo I took.  I removed the background and saved it as a PNG so that I could use it as a graphic in collage pieces.  I'm sure I'll be using it again!

See you next time...

Sunday Postcard Art Challenge - Airmail

Our theme this week at Sunday Postcard Art is Airmail.

It looks like using a bunch of helium balloons to deliver air mail isn't working.  Our good old bird, Howard, to the rescue!

Happy Valentines Day, everyone!

See you next time...

Take a Word Art Challenge - Time

Time is the word we used this week when putting together our pieces for Take a Word's Challenge.
 

I found this Grand Central Station wall clock graphic and decided to use it with this train/crowd element. I added a bunch of colorful elements to the black and white scene, and I liked it!  I hope you do, too.  😊

See you next time...

The Three Muses Challenge - Umbrella

Our theme this week at The Three Muses is Umbrella.

What can I say about this one, except I love these two women.  And old houses and old buildings and lightning and storms.  Waterbirds and owls.  And they're all here!

Notice the bird nest in the lady's white hairdo.  What a do, huh?  There was a hole in it large enough for a bird's nest, so there it is.  😉


See you next time...

Sunday Postcard Art Challenge - Fruit and/or Vegetables

The challenge theme this week at Sunday Postcard Art is Fruit and/or Vegetables.

After going through lots of graphics and different elements and ideas, nothing really stuck.  Then I came across some beautiful strawberry cupcake elements and ended up settling on just one fruit - the strawberry.  Specifically on and in cakes and cupcakes.  Beautiful strawberry pastries.

"Cupcakes are LOVE with icing on top and a Strawberry."  🍓

So... this is an area of the Cake Works Bakery.  Surprisingly it's dog friendly, as you can see by the three pups in the piece.   Gotta love a dog friendly business.

Until next time...

Take a Word Art Challenge - An Old Fashioned Girl

Our challenge this week at Take a Word is An Old Fashioned Girl.  I've added an old fashioned car, bike and narrow downtown street.

I'm learning how to use brushes in Photoshop Elements, and finally put some on an art piece - this one has green and yellow watercolor splotches, but I've made them pretty transparent, just a touch.  I like it!  I'll try more brushes in the next challenges. These art challenge web sites are a great way to slowly learn a new program like PSE. 

A little at a time works for me.  😉


See you next time...

The Three Muses Art Challenge - Turquose and Red

Our theme challenge this week at The Three Muses is Turquoise and Red.  I know being a working photographer isn't as romantic as this scene, but I had fun layering my pieces to get this romantic result. 

And I agree with Ansel Adams, "There are always two people in every picture:  the photographer and the viewer."   I hope you enjoy it!

Until next time...

Sunday Postcard Art Challenge - Secret Garden

The challenge theme this week at Sunday Postcard Art is Secret Garden.  I loved putting this one together.  Doesn't everyone want a secret garden?  Trees, bushes, garden furniture, a cool stucco building with ivy draping down the walls, a beautiful water feature with fish, ducks and frogs, lots of birds, including a beautiful peacock.  Muted sunshine so the computer screen isn't hard to read.
  
Oh yeah, I would really enjoy this little garden!  😉

See you next time...

The Three Muses Challenge - Window

Our challenge this week at The Three Muses is "WINDOW  Put a window in your world next week ... any kind of window ... anywhere." 

I've been sick with the flu for weeks now, and I missed a bunch of challenges that sounded like FUN!  I've had zero motivation to start anything new, but now things are starting to look up and this is my first piece this year. I think I wanted something calm and easy  - simple tent camping - and I added my "window" to the sidewall of the tent.  

This one was fun to do - my favorite part is the little baby monkey hanging on the rope tied to the tree.  Why is a baby monkey camping in the backyard?  Who knows?  This one doesn't necessarily make sense, I just used the elements I liked and had fun putting them together.   

There are some other challenges in the pipeline that look like fun topics, so hopefully I'll be motivated to do more soon.  :)

See you next time...

The Three Muses Challenge - Travel

The theme this week at The Three Muses is "Choose a word for January to inspire you."

My birthday is in January, so I put myself into this piece.  My word for January is TRAVEL.

Waiting for the train with all my luggage.  Do you think I have enough?  It's going to be a long trip!   I had so much fun with this one - tons of graphics and overlays.  😊

See you next time...