2011 Yearbook

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Dear blogfriends,

I sincerely wish the next year be the happiest each one of you ever live.

I also wish we give earth - our abused spoliated planet - a chance.

Finally, I wish all children experiment peace and the right of dreaming about future.

This card is also my entry for Three Muses challenge: books.

Book cover is an old edition of Red Hood. Baby-year came from an old new year card. Both are freebies from Graphics Fairy.

Feliz 2011!

Desejo aos meus amigos um 2011 pleno de realizações, muito amor, bastante dinheiro e saúde para aproveitar tudo isso.

Desejo que nós - seres humanos - ousemos dar a nosso planetinha, tão aviltado, uma chance de existir amanhã.

Desejo, finalmente, que todas as crianças possam experimentar a paz e o direito de acreditar no futuro.

Letter to Granny

This is my contribution to this week Soartful (angels) and Take a Word (mail) challenges.

I've made it simple, as it was my grandmother. It's adressed in the brazilian way, it means that sender's name and adress go at the back of the envelope;

Angels at the background was given by Jeannete; other two angels are dover's samples. Envelope was used in Brazil in the past for international mail; stamp and postmark are brazilian postal service special edition for 2010 Christmas.

The World of Hitchcock

This is my entry for this week Three Muses Challenge: World of Movies.

As I love movies, doing this was a pleasure. Only problem was choosing: silent movies, movie stars, musicals… Then, it occurs to me to pay homage to one of my favorite directors: Alfred Hitchcock.

Besides the awesome Hitchcock and crow photo, the others are from the following movies: Lifeboat, North by Northwest, Notorious, Psycho, Rear Window, Rebecca, The Birds.

Sad Princess in her Golden Cage

Poor Princess Isobel had everything but freedom...


Hello! This is my entry for this week SoArtful challenge.

Background is a painting by Charles Wild (1781-1835): Carlton House: The Blue Velvet Room, 1816. Cage and crown are Graphic Fairies' and was given by Jeanette for this challenge. Isobel is a Enchanted Doll by Marina Bychkova. There's also a Beth Rimmer paper used as texture.

Sweet Home

Hi, folks. This is my submission to this week Take a Word theme: Home.
I've tried a Victorian approach to this one, imagining a loving family in a beautiful sunny day posing to the photographer.

The gentleman is a Graphics Fairy freebie and I can brag about it! :)

The other figures are Dover samples. The Victorian house is a Tboardman photo and the sky background I've got here. Sorry, I don't know whose creation the frame is.

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes!

Millicent only problem is her obsession for shoes. When she's not thinking about them, she's buying them. Last time I've heard, she had kicked her husband out in order to make room for more shoes...

This week Three Muses Challenge - SHOES - was a pleasure for a shoe lover like me! I hope you enjoy it too.

Millicent is a Edith Head's sketch. All shoes around her and in the corners are Andy Warhol's design.

Men's Dreams

Hi, fellows. This week the word at Take a Word is MEN.

Looking at these four young men photography, I asked myself which dreams they dared to dream sixty maybe more years ago? Did those dreams come true? I can only imagine...

Giving Thanks

This is my contribution to Sunday Postcard Art which theme this week is Thanksgiving.

Another collage built of old thanksgiving cards, an appropriate sheet music, two Beth Rimmer papers and an old paper texture.

Cars!

Hi, I've done this to attend this week challenge at Three Muses: Automobile.

The photo was taken from a Kombi by Magnum Photo Agency crew when they were going to Brasília to cover its inauguration in 1960.

The highlighted car is a Chevy Bel Air 1957.

There's a letter in the background which was written by our visionary president at the time: Juscelino Kubitschek. It's a farewell letter written when he was leaving the government.

Right Here Waiting

This digital collage was made for Take a Word. This week theme is: Moon.

Words: Richard Marx's lyrics for the song Right Here Waiting.
Lady: Lillian Gish
Texture: Beth Rimmer
Moon, Man, Road: Google Search

Time to thank

Hi, fellows. This is my contribution to Soartful challenge: Thankful.

We don't have this holiday in Brazil, so it's the first time I have fun doing something refering to it.

I took a Beth Rimmer background and blended 3 different vintage thanksgiving cards, including the one Jeanette gave us. Simple like that.

Remember...

Take a look at this invented old family album page (Please enlarge to enjoy its details) I've done to the Sunday Postcard Art.

Quote: Jean Paul Richter
Background: Lynn Griffin
Framnes: Cindy Ritter, Betty Rimmer, Lynn Griffin
Embellishments: Denise Liemert
Photos: sorry, no idea

Autumnal Fight

Poor Gertrude, Zachary was always flirting with someone else...

This piece was made to accomplish both Three Muses and SoArtful Challenges.

I took the blackbird photos last February in Cancún. The beautiful autumnal background is a Peter Ellenshaw painting: Autumn Day. There are also a Beth Rimmer’s paper and the image Jeanette gave us.

Sweet cupid with a poor aim

This is my contribution to this week Take a Word theme: Angel.

I had the luxurious help from Manet borrowing me his Olympia. Cupid is a Dover sample. The window is from a 1987 Sergei and Aleksei Tkachyov painting, Through an Open Window.

It's Show time!

Digital Art for The Three Muses Challenge: Show time.

Four Times Christine

i've done this especially for the brand new blog: Take a Word. Its first challenge is Time.

When it comes to time, it's inevitable to wander how fast it pass. So, I recovered small pieces of it just to remember and be grateful.

Día de Los Muertos

I did this to attend the Sunday Postcard Art and Soartful Challenge as well.

It's also a tribute to José Guadalupe Posada (1852–1913), a Mexican cartoonist illustrator and artist. All the skeletons are his (I fancy them up a little bit). In spite of his work being nowadays associated to the day of the dead, it was meant to make a satirical point.

In Mexico, the Day of the Dead (el Día de Los Muertos), November 2nd, is a celebrating day. They not only homage their departed relatives making private altars and praying, but invite them to a special banquet. Fortunately, the living ones are invited too.

In Brazil, the Dia de Finados is a national holiday too, but, in general, we only go to the cemetery taking flowers to our friends and family members who have died. We also go to the church. However, most of us just enjoy the holiday and go to the beach.

The background is a Don Maples photo (Goldfield Ghost Town). There's a texture too, I've got on Deviant Art.

Blue Shower

I've done this piece a while ago in a (ecological?) useless and pathetic attempt to getting my teenager son out of the bathroom. At least, I can submit it to Theme Thursday, now. What? It’s Blue!

Additional information: brazilians love taking shower. It's at least two a day. I do like it, but bathing and showering is definitely overestimated here. :)

The 1917 photo I found in the Naval History & Heritage Command site. The background is from GreenEyezz' stock (Deviant Art). There's also a texture I found at Deviant Art, but I can't remember its author, sorry. It's all, simple like that.

Hattie, the wicked witch

Poor Hansel and Gretel! Hattie is chasing them all over the pumpkin field.

How much fun can you have when you mix Halloween and Fairy Tales?
I've done this for Sunday Postcard Art Challenge: Witches.
It also fits in The Three Muses Challenge: Hats. Isn't hers fabulous?

Hansel: Carl Offterdinger (1829 - 1889) illustration for Hansel and Gretel.
Gretel: Wilhelm von Kaulbach (1805 – 1874) illustration for Hansel and Gretel.
Witch: Michael Hage (1948) illustration for Hansel and Gretel.

My Favorite Roses

This is my very simple and special entry for Digital Whisper: A rose is a rose.

The two young ladies are my beloved daughters and the rose, a gift from Kimmie. Other than that, just some textures.

The Sweetest Things with Wings

Hi! This is my entry for this week Three Muses Challenge: Things with Wings. Hope you like it as much I did doing it.

Quote: Rabindranath Tagore
Girl riding the butterfly: Graphics Fairy
Background: Carena's Design
Frame: Cindy Ritter
Little Boy: no idea
Texture: Deviant Art

Scary fairy?

This is my first entry for Sunday Postcard Art. When it comes to fairies, even the wicked ones, I just can't help it!

A bit of Halloween

This week SoArtful Challenge is Halloween. I choose not to use the lovely given image because I was looking for an opportunity for my little girl and cat image. My intent here was to create a dark somber atmosphere and then enlighten it by using this naif colorful halloween card image.

Little girl and cat: Dover Sample
Castle: Dr Alzheimer's Photo Blog
Texture: Fabricate Stock (Deviant Art)
Witches, goat, bats: two diferent Goya's paintings (Aquelarre and El Aquelarre)

Vintage Halloween

This week Three Muses Challenge is Vintage. I choose to accomplish it doing a Halloween Card. I hope you appreciate.

Images are Dover samples and background is from Make My Blog Sparkle.

Bon Voyage

This is my entry for this week SoArtful Challenge. Jeanette gave us this beautiful lady in a Coles Phillips 1927 illustration for Life Magazine.

Mail to Brasília

This week Three Muses Challange is Art Envelopes.

My beautiful (and a little odd) city has completed 50 years in 2010. So, this is my homage to the capital of Brasil and my beloved adopted city.

Kid Actor

This is my very first entry to Art Creations Friday. I just love this little boy in his tremendous outfit. What if he was a kid actor?

Jóia

This week challenge in Three Muses is The Printed Word.

It’s quite an open theme, so I choose a simple and beautiful lyrics – Canto de um Povo de um Lugar - that is somehow related to the expression Greet the Day.

Jóia is the 1975 album by Caetano Veloso where I pick this song and it means jewel. It also means nice in a seventies' typical Brazilian slang.

The beautiful image at the center is the album cover and represents Caetano’s family: himself, his wife at the time Dedé and their son Moreno.

I dare to (kind of) translate the lyrics here:

Everyday the sun rises
and we sing
to the everyday sun

The afternoon ends, earth tints
and we cry
‘cause the afternoon ends

By night the moon is gentle
and we dance
worshiping the night

And here something about greeting the day by Og Mandino (1923 – 1996):

I Will Greet this Day

"I will greet this day with love in my heart. And how will I do this? Henceforth will I look on all things with love and be born again. I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit.
I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness as it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge.
To do anything truly worth doing, I must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in with gusto and scramble through as well as I can."

Lovely

This week SoArtful Challenge theme is Isn't She Lovely. Jeanette inspired us with a beautiful drawing by Arthur Jule Goodman.

She is indeed lovely, so I decided to post one more image in order to show you more details of this beauty.


Lady: Lucky Palm Free Vintage Art
Peaches and flowers: Redouté Flowers and Fruits CD-ROM and Book (Dover Publications)
Butterflies: Photoshop Brushes & Creative Tools CD-ROM and Book: Butterflies (Dover Publications)
Hummingbird: Google Search (beija-flor)
Textures: Freaky665 and Sheisprettystock both at DeviantArt.

Killing time?

This is my very first entry for the SoArtful Challange, which I discovered at June's blog. This week challenge is Time.

The background is a photo I borrowed from Laserandlight's blog.
The graphics are Dover samples or The Graphics Fairy freebies.
Quote by Irish dramatist and actor Dion Boucicault(1820-1890).

Speaking Numbers

I’ve made this photo collage for this week Three Muses challenge: Numbers. It was really a challenge because we don’t have a good relationship at all, I mean, me and numbers.

So, I pick this Nathanael West (writer, 1903-1940) quote, a bunch of numbers graphics from Google Search, which I altered and cut like cartoon balloons, and this beautiful old photo I had already (sorry, I don’t know where it came from) and voilá.

WrightStuff asked me about Gimp (yes, it’s a weird name). I did all my stuff using it and have no complaints. I choose it because Photoshop and all these licensed softwares are pretty expensive here in Brazil. As I’m a beginner why not try free software that has good references?

I live in Brasília and we didn't have even a raindrop in 104 days. Weather people say we will have to wait a little more. I know, it's boring to talk about weather, but I can't BREATHE!

Back to Nature - Back to Simple

For this week three muses challenge, Back to Nature, I’ve tried something a bit different and sort of simpler (it should be…). I've done a pencil drawing, scanned it, and then painted in Gimp. This was my first try in digital painting and it took ages to finish it (where the hell I put that old box of watercolor pencils?). Finnaly, I added an autumn leaves layer. Nevertheless, it was fun drawing again after twenty years or so...

Zetti What?

Digital Collage for The Three Muses: World of Zetti, whatever it is.

Lovely face is Bárbara's, my daughter. Everything else I googled.

Roostamlet

Photo Collage for Digital Whisper: Egg.

Credits:
Background: "Medieval Room" by MichaelMills1947 in his public picasaweb album.
Texture: it's a photo of a rooster stamped fabric (sararulesquilts.blogspot.com) that i've altered.
Rooster: it's a Roger S. Thomas painting for sale (US$ 30) at livinglargeministries.com.
Framed Rooster: it's a porcelain painting for sale (US$ 35) at lpmchina.com.
Skull: dappercadaver.com.
Egg: digital-whisper.blogspot.com

Wheels Quilt

Rodas

This digital collage for The Three Muses Chalange is also a homage to the marvelous women dedicated to quilting.

It's made of parts of several quilts. Some of them you can find at these blogs: YukiQuilts, JulieKQuilts, sewmanyquilts, mairakist.

Door to Freedom

Educação: Porta para a Liberdade

Digital Art for The three Muses Challenge: Doors

Girls: this photo appears everywhere, but is somehow related to Greg Mortenson's work in promoting education, especially for girls, in remote regions of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Door: I don't have any idea where this one came from.
Quote by George Washington Carver (1864–1943), American scientist, botanist, educator and inventor.

How will she survive without her famous eyes?

No restaurante de Matisse

Digital art for Digital Whisper: Eyes.

Background: Henri Matisse's 1908 oil on canvas The Dessert: Harmony in Red (The Red Room).
She: Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra in the 1963 movie.
Beret: borrowed from Coco Chanel (Evening Standard—Hulton Archive)
Hair: personal arquive.
Eyes: e-vint.com

The Worship

Adoração

Digital art for The Three Muses Chalenge: Love is Blind or is it blind love?

Worshiper: Life Magazine photo taken in April 1947 by John Phillips.
Goddess: Ava Gardner in "One Touch Of Venus"; photo taken by J R Eyerman, in March 1948, for Life.

Odd Birds in a Golden Cage

Belas e estranhas criaturas aladas presas em gaiola de ouro

My odd birds are oniric mutant steampunk creatures trapped in a golden palace.

Digital art for The Three Muses Challenge: odd bird.

Amazing dolls by Marina Bychkova.
Wings brushes by Obsidian Dawn.
The golden cage is a public domain painting by Alexander Kolb that pictures the interior of The Winter Palace (Golden Drawing Room) in Saint Petersburg.

Love in the Fifties

Amor imaginário feito de pequenos pedaços da vida real.

Imaginary love made from little pieces of real life.
Digital art for The Three Muses Chalenge: mail art.

Arte digital para  The Three Muses Chalenge: mail art.

Taking a Flying Carpet to a Happier Rio de Janeiro

Digital art for The Three Muses Challenge: Flying Carpet Travels.