#43 Dying

Dying

Another very difficult theme for me. I found this beautiful quote after spending a lot of time looking at images of death and dying--which was not particularly pleasant...and it took me in a whole other direction.

The main image is a sketch by Adolph Hitler. Wouldn't the world be a very different place if he had succeeded as an artist?

The sun is made from two cutouts, from original texture pieces by Happysweetmama at T4L and a freebie I picked up on a bloghop.
The background was made with texture layers from J_freznel and Skeletalmess, also found at T4L.

#42 Motherhood

Everyone has a Mother

Original photo from Wikimedia Commons.
Background made with bits from JoesSistah at T4L and from Jerry jones at Shadowhouse, along with some Photoshop brushes and blending modes applied for texture..

#41 Mist

Mist in the trees

Tree image from Theshinyrockstock at Deviant Art.
Background made with texture layers from Temari09 and wRiting at T4L along with gradients, PS brushes and lots of playing with filters.

# 40 Sun

Sun

I am loving the pre-apocalyptic look of this piece...

The sun was cut from a freebie background piece by Cynthia Powell and was the starting point.
The background was made with bits from Scrapbook Flair, Songbird Avenue and another piece from Cynthia Powell Designs.

The trees and birds are brushes from Jerry Jones at Shadowhouse.

#39 Dreams

Dreamer
Image from Pink Sherbert Photography, Flickr Creative Commons. The bird from First Floor Flat and the dragonfly from Dover.
Background made with textures from Mbgrigby and Vintage Findings at T4L, PS brushes, filters and blending modes applied.

#38 Abandoned

Abandoned
A photo I took at the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. I don't think this adobe house was actually abandoned...members of the Zuni tribe still live in the village..
Altered with textures from Shadowhouse and Encounter_Laura. The wagon wheels and Kokopelli are brushes

# 37 Eyes

Cat's Eyes
White cat from Rafalhyps at Deviantarts.com.
Background made with textures from Jerry Jones at Shadowhouse Creations and from Untamed Reflections, found on Brusheezy.com. The text is a brush from a set by Damned in Black and the flourish is also a brush by Lileya.
Filters and blending modes applied.

#36 White

White Space

...portions of a page left unmarked...

#35 Journey

Journey
Travel is almost always interesting and fun, but the inner journey of discovery that is life-long interests me more. We should all always strive to "see with ne eyes."

#34 Stars

Stargazing
My inspiration for this was all the fabulous photos from the Hubble telescope. http://hubblesite.org/gallery/
I couldn't decide which image to choose, so I thought I'd try to make my own star field.
I can't remember where I found these wonderful children, but thank you, whoever you are, for posting it.
The rest was created with photoshop grunge and star brushes.

#33 Smooth

Smooth
The original image, from Google, is a hood ornament from a vintage Pontiac. Those old cars are to me the epitome of "Smooth".
Background made with bits from Encounter_Laura, C.S.Rittmeier and Kelly09 at T4L. Brushes, filters and blending modes applied as well.

#31 Flowers and #32 Night

Flowers
Original photo is one of mine.
The faces are from Art-e-ology, Graphics Fairy and the Mona Lisa.
The background was created using texture pieces from DigitalYardSale and from Bocaccino at T4L
Lots of filters and blending modes used here as well.

Night
Original photo of stars taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The city skyline is a Photoshop brush.
The moon is taken from an element from a blog hop sponsored by Jessica Sprague, and the rest was done with gradient layers, blending modes and layer styles.

# 30 Umbrella

Umbrella
was inspired by the fervent desire to be whimsical and colorful on this rainy, dreary morning in Boston.
Oh, and Bunnie was giving me lip about not getting to play in these challenge images...so
I let him.
My original photo was taken last year during aperiod where it either rained or snowed for 10 days straight--talk about DREARY! I was playing with the pre-sets on my camera, and this has no post processing at all.
I found the delightful"circus" umbrella on Google images--it has a little man on a trapeze!
The rest was done with brushes, layer styles and filters.

# 29 Happiness

Happiness
Was inspired by this quote from Hawthorne--amazing the ways happiness sneaks up on us...And I love the expression of pure joy in this child's face!
Images of the child and butterfly were found on Google images.
The background was made using pieces from Mbgrigby at T4L and an old challenge background from Art Creations Friday, I think.
Copious application of filters and blending modes as well.