'...Still Life...'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

In case you're wondering, I've been on vacation with hubby, went to my baby brother's last minute wedding, then spent most of the July 4th holiday week with my sister and her kids in Wisconsin. Just a 3 hour drive from our house - easy, peasy.

Next weekend my other sister and I are taking a road trip to visit my niece/her daughter before she goes into military training - she joined the reserves...

Earlier this week a severe storm socked my area of Illinois. Hundreds of thousands of households were out of power all week - many tens of thousands still are out of power. But our house managed to squeek through unscathed - just a couple of flickers. I'm so grateful we didn't get hit. We're still cleaning up from the June 9th rain storm!

I need to get back to working on my Sep 17, 2011 art gallery show - which is rapidly approaching! But I want to see Harry Potter: 7b flick tomorrow night...

Original photos of still life

(heirloom glass, metal, embroidered fabrics, fruit, heirloom pottery, stone, heirloom silver, laminated paper)

tweaked with Microsoft Digital Image Editor

What do you think of these still lifes? I had great fun gathering the elements from around the house on Dec 27, 2007. These photos were some of the photos entered in a contest. Another view of this photo won! Would love for you to leave a comment.

Thanks for stopping by - please come back again soon.

Peace,
LuLu

'STAR WARS DAY: May The 4th Be WIth You!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

From one Star Wars fan-atic to all the others out there in the blogosphere, 'Happy STAR WARS Day'!

'Self-protrait - Galena, IL 2009'

Don't have any Star Wars photos handy, so here is one of my photos.

The STARS WARS SAGA blu-rays come out on my birthday this year: Sep 27, 2011. What a FAB-U-LOUS birthday present from George Lucas! How did he know?!

More info at theses sites:
maythe4th.starwars.com
May the force be with you - May 4th!

Peace,
LuLu

P.S. Giveaway results and winner announcement coming very soon!

Another original photo ACCEPTED for publication!

I'm happy to announce that another of my original photos will be published in the SPRING 2010 issue of the BAC Street Journal (No. 3)!

This is the second time my work has been published in the BAC Street Journal. Last year, the premier issue of the BAC Street Journal - published in Spring 2009 - included two of my works - an original poem and an original photo!

The Beverly Art Center, publisher of the BAC Street Journal, is throwing a reception on Sunday May 23, 2010 for all of us artists who are being published in this Spring issue!

Woo-hoo!

Mina - Waiting

Please click image to enlarge - the detail is luscious!
"Waiting for my Ship to Come In - Mina"

Digital Collage for Challenge

3.5" x 5"

Howdy and Welcome,

My entry for a challenge from Art Creations Friday.

This image was created using Microsoft Digital Image Editor, PSE (Photoshop Elements), masking, layers, gradients, transparencies. 5 original photos and scans + the most lovely lady, whom I named, 'Mina' (component provided from challenge). Approx 2 hours.

Seems like Mina is a daydreamer, waiting for her ship to arrive from far off ports - loaded with exotic spices, luxurious textiles of silks and brocades, and ancient caskets overflowing with jewels the colors of the rainbow.

What do you think of the colors? Doesn't she have the most intriguing eyes?

Here's an overview of how I created 'Mina'.

Original image - 1 (from challenge)

 masking selected using 'magic wand'

Layers added of my original artwork into selected areas and background, with many levels of transparency

c copyright 2010 mlh1

Then I added a found frame, more backgrounds of found ephemera, added gradients and more levels of tranparencies. Final image ready for text

Thanks for stopping by - and don't forget to comment.

Peace,

LuLu