# 98 Puzzle

Missing pieces

# 96-In the storm # 97-Wings

Coming out of the storm... One of my very favorite children images--I wish I could remember where I got it; it was a free image from someone, and a stunning image of a tornado that I've used before, from Google Images. Texture layers from Kim Klassen and Shadowhouse Creations.

Dark Angel... One of my favorite images of the sublime Sarah Bernhardt, Red texture from Shadowhouse's Blood Rage texture pack( Thank you again, Jerry, I just love these raw, red textures.) The wings are a free photoshop brush.

# 93-Falling # 94-Hope # 95 Shadow

Falling Water The water drop is a Photoshop brush, as is the text, The background texture is from Greentea at Textures for Layers

Hope for the Earth My photo, taken in November 2004, 25 years after the volcano at Mount St. Helen exploded. The destroyed trees are still there, some standing, most blasted to the ground. There are fir trees and snmall bushes growing in this desolation! THe force of Nature to recover itself is the ultimate HOPE for all of us on this planet.

Woman in Shadow Six layers of the same image of Julie Newmar with various blending modes and filters applied, The starry texture is by Pareeerica at T4L.

# 91 -Drowning and # 92- Desolate

Drowning Background texture is a print by my very talented daughter; the face image is from Google images.

Desolate My photo of a dead tree on the summit of Sandia Mountain in New Mexico, several layers altered with fotosketcher; background textures from Kim Klassen and Elizabeth Golden. The crow is from the Graphics fairy

# 88-Soft # 89-Black # 90-Alley

Softly dreaming

Tone on Tone

In an Italian Alley

# 87 Tranquil

Photo is mine, textures from BittBox, manuscript text was googled.

# 86 Mask

Carnivale

Photo by winterwolfstudio on Deviantart.com, bokeh layers from Mbgrigby, jyrk58 and Kamina at TExtures for Layers.

# 85 Lock and Key

Image from ImageAfter free stock images, texture by Kim Klassen, grass was googled and the rest is brushes,

# 84 Ghosts

Image from art-e-zine, textures from Kerstin Franks and Shadowhouse.

# 83 Underwater

# 82 Dance

Gotta Dance...

Image from Google, background by Cynthia Powell, all altered with blending modes, filters and levels adjustments.

# 81 Pen and paper

Love notes

Pen image used with permission from Beastmaster02 on Flickr; other text layers from Trine Steckler and Crafty Dogma. The face is one of my brushes, and the stains are brushes by Fudgegraphics,

Crazy Amigos-Purple

I made this using one of my own photos, the colors were right out of the camera, only saturated a bit, then altered in Fotosketcher. The Fairy is from Marie's Freeebies.

#80 Lost

Only 20 to go--will I make it?????

Lost...

my own photo, altered in fotosketcher and with multiple layers, blending modes and filters. The face is a brush.

#79 Gateway

Gateway

Woman from e-vint, cupid is from a free coloring page I found on Google. Background is a paper from CottageArts embellished with brushes.

# 78 Art

Background made from bits by Shadowhouse and Encounter_laura, Handprint was googled.

# 76--Passion and # 77 Past Days

Passion--What is Mine

Image from e-vint; background made with textures fron Cynthia Powell, Pareeerica and Shadowhouse.

Past Days Taos Pueblo Tradition

Taos Pueblo is the oldest continuously occupied pueblo in the United States.
The images are photos I took in New Mexico a few years ago. The woman is a Corn Dancer--as I recall this is a fertility dance for the planting of corn, a staple of the pueblo people's diet.
Kokopelli is a prominent spirit among the Pueblo tribes, and the sun symbol is also seen on the New Mexico state flag,

# 75 Mirror

Looking into the Moon's Mirror

Image from a Waterhouse painting; the moon mirror was Googled. The background bits are from Encounter_laura and Untamed Reflections. The runes in the background are brushes by JScully.

# 74 Window

Shattered

a montage of three photos I took of glass sided buildings in Boston; played with using blending modes and opacity adjustments. The face is a brush.

# 73 Clouds

Breaking Dawn

The sunrise photo is my own, altered in Fotosketcher. The boat was Googled, and altered with PSE filters and color adjustment. THe birds are a brush.

# 72 Ocean

At home in the briny deeps

The mermaid is an illustration from Arthur Rackham, courtesy of Dover. THe background is made from photos by me and my daughter, and a frame by HocusFocusClick..

# 71 Wind

Image from a Waterhouse painting; ocean scene is a public domain photo, as are the clouds. A texture layer from Shadowhouse's Black Magic set. Altered with Fotosketcher, various PSE filters and blending modes.

# 70 A Bridge Too Far

Or...A Bridge Far Enough...

Images from Google, colorized, blended and altered with filters; background texture from JoesSistah at T4L.

# 69 Music

Sometimes I believe the cello is the voice of God...

Photos from Google images, unknown cello player, and Jacqueline Du Pre, both greatly alterd with the Impressionist plug in for photoshop. The music in the overlay is a handwritten score by Puccini, and the text and frame are from Frames for Use Flickr Group.

# 68 Windmill

Windmill of the Heavens

A photo I took of a windmill on Cape Cod, with the camera setting on whiteboard. The background/overlay is made from two images of stars from the Hubble Space Telescope, and the bird brush is from Jerry Jones at Shadowhouse Creations.

# 67 Frost

Queen of the Frosted Lands

Image from Deviantart Stock Photo pool; background from Elizabeth Golden; PS brushes from Obsidian Dawn and Blazter

# 66 Reflection

The Sources of Wisdom

I went a bit out of the box for this one.

Image of Confucius from Google, altered with filters and Fotosketcher. zen stone cairn also from Google.

# 65 Time

tick...tock...

Images from Google and Dover. Background from Elizabeth Golden. PS brushes applied

# 64 Exotic

Rouge Ibis with Tropical Flowers
This ibis lives in the rainforest habitat of the Baltimore National Aquarium.
The background is a photo of ferns from the Mount Desert Island national park in Maine.
Ibis and background made from my original photos, flowers were googled, textures from Digitalyardsale and Bocaccino

#63 Air

The Air Made Visible

a small prayer for all the souls touched or taken in this year's tornado season...God bless them and keep them close...

Image from WIkimedia Commons, angel of prayer image from the Graphics Fairy and made into a brush, background bits from Encounter_Laura and Bocaccino at Textures for Layers

# 62 Magick

Magick
Main image was Googled; a pre-raphaelite painting, I don't know the artist. Background made from two photos from the Hubble telescope, Photoshop brushes, gradient layers, filters and blending

# 61 Cemetery

Cemetery
Graveyard photo used with permission by Hope Jones; angel from Google Images. Background texture by Temari09 at T4L.

# 60 Eden

Eden

The background is my photo of the rainforest in Washington State. The apple, flowers and snake were Googled. Green and gold gradients were applied, as well as filters and blending modes.

#59 No Way Out

Maze from Google Images
Photo of actress, Gladys Cooper, from a vintage skin cream ad
Background made with textures from Bocaccino, Encounter_laura and Shadowhouse Creations

# 58 Faith

Faithful unto (and after) Death

In spring 1974, a number of farmers near Xi’an (a famous Chinese cultural city) discovered some ancient bronze weapons and pieces of broken terra-cotta armoured warriors while sinking a well. This turned out to be one of the most amazing archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century. Excavations since then have found 1800 terra-cotta warriors although it is estimated that there are at least 6000 more still to be excavated. The terra-cotta warriors are in battle formation and include cavalry, infantry and charioteers. They are a replica of the Qin army and were created over 2200 years ago. A high level of technological skill was needed for this to be possible. This ancient society was powerful and technologically advanced.

Qin Shi Huang (259-210BC) was the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty and he was the founder of China’s first empire. He expanded his military strength building an army of one million professional soldiers. He started the construction of the Great Wall.

In preparation for his death he built a replica of his kingdom underground and he was finally laid to rest in the underground palace at its centre. It took over 720 000 people, 37 years to build.
The terra-cotta army were created to defend his underground kingdom from attack. When they were first found it was believed that the terra-cotta warriors are all individually designed, based the faces of the Emperors actual soldiers. However, it has since been proved that all the soldiers are based on ten basic designs.

All images from Google

Sacrifice..the Privilege of Free Men

Son of a prominent Boston abolitionist family, Robert Shaw was serving as a captain in the 2nd Massachusetts when he was tapped by Massachusetts Governor John Andrew for a special assignment. Shaw was to raise and command the first regiment of black troops organized in a Northern state.

All the previous 11 colored" regiments had been raised principally from freed slaves in occupied areas. Shaw went about the organization of his command, recruiting free blacks from all over New England and some from beyond. The regiment was mustered into service on May 13, 1863, with Shaw as its colonel, and was sent to the South Carolina coast to take part in the operations against the cradle of secession, Charleston.

On July 18, 1863, he led the 54th, in conjunction with two brigades of white troops, in an assault on Confederate Battery Wagner. In the unsuccessful charge, the black troops proved themselves to be fully capable of standing up to enemy fire but lost about one quarter of their men, including Colonel Shaw. The rebels in the battery were so outraged by the Union commanders arming blacks that they decided to insult the white officer by burying him in a common grave with his black enlisted men. But Shaw's parents, when they heard of it, were pleased and believed that was the way their son would have wanted it.

This image (altered) is on the monument to the Masschusetts 54th Regiment in Boston. The flag is a background paper from Scrapbook Flair and the border is from Skeletalmess (Jerry Jones, of Shadowhouse.) I found the quote on a WW1 war poster

# 56 Universe

Universe

When we look up, it widens our horizons. We see what a little speck we are in the universe, so insignificant, and we all take ourselves so seriously, but in the sky, there are no boundaries.
~Julia Gregson

I cannot believe that some of us who are participating in this challenge are finished with 100 Themes already. When you have some time you might want to visit Grannie Annie's and Junibear's 100 Themes blogs and see the amazing bodies of work they have created. You will surely be dazzled , amazed and perhaps even moved to tears as I was.

Credits for my piece go to Julia Gregson, for the inspiring quote, the fabulous photos taken by the Hubble Space telescope, which are free to download for personal use, the text piece from the Graphics Fairy, and the beautiful face from Google images

# 55 Waiting

Waiting...

Image from e-vint. Tulips from Google images.
Background made with textures from Boccacino and Greentea at T4L, two textures from Jerry Jones at Shadowhouse creations and the butterfly from a free collage sheet by Candyn29.

#54 Tower

Watts Towers

The Watts Towers are a complex set of 17 separate sculptural pieces built on a residential lot in the community of Watts. Two of the towers rise to a height of nearly 100 feet. The sculptures are constructed from steel pipes and rods, wrapped with wire mesh, coated with mortar, and embedded with pieces of porcelain, tile and glass. Using simple hand tools and cast off materials (broken glass, sea shells, generic pottery and ceramic tile) Italian immigrant, Simon Rodia spent 30 years (1921 to 1955) building a tribute to his adopted country and a monument to the spirit of individuals who make their dreams tangible.

The Watts Towers are one of only nine works of folk art listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The site is one of only four US National Historic Landmarks in the city of Los Angeles. The site is now a unit of California State Parks and managed by the Los Angeles City Cultural Affairs Department.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons; background made with pieces from Cottage Arts and Encounter_Laura; PS brushes and filters applied.

#53 Life

We are Stardust...

Background made with layered photos of stars being born in distant galaxies, from the Hubble Telescope. Other images from Wikimedia Commons. The baby is from a page in a very old anatomy text, and the baby bird from the Graphics Fairy

# 52 Broken

Broken Spirit

Photo of Sarah Bernhardt,
Texture created with a texture piece from Shadowhouse and several PS brushes.

#51 Discovery

Discovery

There is nothing so gratifying as being able to open a child's mind to new discoveries.

Images from Google and NASA, background bit from Encounter_Laura, a blue gradient and some brushes

#50 Proud

SO PROUD

Image found on Google, background made with peices from Struck Dumb at Deviantart and from isourcetextures.com