Patriot Guard

My brother Mark is a member of the Minnesota Patriot Guard and a Marine Dad. I am proud of both he and my nephew Luke.

For those of you who haven't heard of the Guard, here is a bit off the National web page:

The Patriot Guard Riders is a diverse amalgamation of riders from across the nation. We have one thing in common besides motorcycles. We have an unwavering respect for those who risk their very lives for America’s freedom and security. If you share this respect, please join us.

We don’t care what you ride or if you ride, what your political views are, or whether you’re a hawk or a dove. It is not a requirement that you be a veteran. It doesn't matter where you’re from or what your income is; you don’t even have to ride. The only prerequisite is Respect.

Our main mission is to attend the funeral services of fallen American heroes as invited guests of the family. Each mission we undertake has two basic objectives:

1. Show our sincere respect for our fallen heroes, their families, and their communities.
2. Shield the mourning family and their friends from interruptions created by any protestor or group of protestors.

We accomplish the latter through strictly legal and non-violent means.

Credits on the artwork:
Flag photo is my own.
Motorcycle picture off the MN Patriot Guard web page
Quote from a recent newspaper article.
Background by DLD of k-joi studios
Stone wall by lizarddaudesigns, also of k-joi
Pledge overlay by heatheranndesigns

Family

This started out with an image from Artarazzi, but the focal point is a statue grouping I got a photo of when I was downtown (Chicago) wandering around the other day. Couldn't find a plaque with the name of the piece or the artist. Anyway, added bits are a doodle by akiloune, an edger by KPertiet, and a trellis vine by Cali. There are a few other bits in there, but since I haven't always been good about keeping track of where I get things, I can't give credit.

Another giveaway!

Melissa Bove is giving away a Slice and a bunch of other fun stuff! Creating from The Heart

Circus in Town

Two For Tuesday challenge blog provided a digital stamp of a vintage motorcyclist - I changed a few things and have him driving into town for a circus!

The White Cloud

I need to keep in touch with the paper side of mixed media art, so I've been doing challenges at Paper Whimsy. They provide a poem and a page of images to go with it and you have to follow a couple of other rules, but it is fun and something different twice a month.

Never Land

I have always loved Peter Pan because I was lucky to have received a gift as a child a 1952 edition of the Golden Press Peter Pan book with wonderful illustrations by the Walt Disney Studio (adapted by John Hench and Al Dempster). The book is falling apart and I've searched in vain for another copy exactly like it - the newer editions are not the same!

Credits: Background is scanned from the book. Text is quoted from the book.
Map and compass from stock.xchng
Ribbon by Rhonna Farrer
Overlay by KPertiet

Pheasant

This piece is for this week's Artarazzi challenge. We were given a picture of sake barrels. I chose to make them the deep background layered under a couple of dover images and a Japanese proverb that I found very enigmatic.

Swan Lake Reprise

Seth from The Altered Page has sponsored a marvelous blog train idea called Buried Treasure.


I chose to reprise this bit of buried treasure that because of timing, didn't get as many views as I'd have liked.
The theme at Sunday Postcard Art was Swan Lake. This is my digital interpretation of Odette, a ballerina princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse.

Dance!

The Three Muses challenge this week is word soup. I saw this as a bit of a quote on an email this morning and it immediately had to be made into a piece.

Two Creative Studios Giveaway!

Two Creative Studios is having a great giveaway! Read all about it here

Birdy, Birdy

This piece is for Two For Tuesday - the silouette was one of their inspiration pieces. The background from a kit called Camping Out by KimB, the blackbirds are by KPertiet, and I'm afraid I don't remember where the flower doodles came from.

Fairy in the Garden

This one is for Gothic Arches which is a membership only site, so if you'd like to join in the fun, email me.

Crisis

This is for the Art Creations Friday challenge - they provided the background for inspiration. Dragon is from Dover.

ET Phone Home

This requires some explaination . . .
The Artarazzi challenge this week is a picture of a cell phone. OK - nothing creative running through my head. Then I notice that the screen saver on the cell phone is this big splash and drops of water. Boing! I remembered this picture of a crop circle that I'd extracted a few months ago and never did anything with. So that's how this was born. The screensaver is in there, really, but I added a splash of water from stock.xchang 'cause it was pretty small after I cropped it out of the phone. I added some drops and some sparkles by Cali and the frame is from KPertiet. There's a concrete stairway in there too, extracted and flipped - for texture and perspective. And because the crop circle is so strange and alien looking I added the phone and the ET Phone Home text.

Christina

This is for Theme Thursday pink and brown challenge. I started with Andrew Wyeth's Christina's Word painting, heightened the pink, changed the background to one by GypsyCoutoure and added a bridge by merepouleand.

Found a fun blog

She's giving away a Cuttlebug! Creating from The Heart

Surreal

This was done for the Three Muses challenge this week. The bike is from RaspberryRoad Cottage Garden kit, the road is by elash and the background is by Christina Brown.

Nest

This one is for Sunday Postcard Art - the theme is nests. Background is from Art Creations Friday, bird from Dover (digitally colored), nest from personal photo.

Winnie

This is for the Artarazzi challenge this week. We were given an image

My choice was to "dress her up".
1. straightened her
2. with warp brush: gave her a chin and cheekbones, a little less jaw
3. with paint brush, blending and opacity: gave her color - hint of makeup, brownish-red hair
4. with warp brush: gave her a bust
5. added jacket and blouse from Dover Ann Sheridan paper doll book (worn in King's Row, 1941), color adjust, softened, contraxt reduced
6. add background color to complement jacket
7. added a few color filters to brighten her up a bit.

Happy 4th

The challenge at Saturday Surprise is "abstract" - no people, no words. I did use an object, a flag, and I used one of my own pictures of roses as a background with a glass mosaic filter on them. A couple of overlays - one from Scrapping with Liz and the other from an unknown source. I added the flag in a hard light blend mode at 60% opacity.

Buh-bye

This one is for The Three Muses - lots of "airy" challenges this week - almost used the one below for both but Up, Up and Away made me think of balloons and with this one I could make the kids smiling. Credits: cat and frog by Elaine Turola, ground and tree by Noshay, house by KAargard, children by kawouette. Cat, dog and balloon is a stamp I've had forever that I digitally colored.

I'm taking your garden away, away .. .

This was done for the Gothic Arches challenge of Wings...and of course you have to use an arch in there somewhere. I was feeling goofy, I guess. Credits: cat and frog by Elaine Turola, ground and tree by Noshay, house by KAargard, children by kawouette - no idea where the flying witch came from.