3 of Hearts collage

Yes, I admit I have a problem. I really like flamingos! I don't know why exactly. Though the color is wonderful, and the seeming of gawkiness is endearing. They are different, but wonderful in their difference. Do I connect personally to this? Maybe, maybe. Meanwhile, I'll keep making collages with vintage flamingos and enjoying their beautiful gawky graceful differences!

Yes, I do Dream in Color!

As evidenced by this rather lively digital 4" X 4" collage I just finished, my dreams can be quite colorful. I have been a birdwatcher for most of my life, & I guess that had some influence one night. This is sort of a representation of the bird I saw in my dream.

I began (in Photoshop CS3) with a vintage B&W English bird drawing/etching. I used the shape tool to make the diamond pattern which I then changed the perspective on & warped. I used masks for the blue & yellow colors. The red "dots" are brushes from the small tribal set from http://www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, thanks Stephanie, you have some really cool brushes that I enjoy working with. The card is a little piece of ephemera with some math on it, that on which I used the perspective tool & added an inner shadow. The bird I added a double shadow of himself colored & then warped/used perspective & then a B&W version same thing but with a gradient added.

The background is a photo I took last spring of ferns popping up in our woods. I added an ironworks piece from Dover that I warped outward in the middle. I made sure some of the frets line up with the fiddlehead. I brought in an old newspaper in the background & lowered the fill as well as the opacity. I made sure the text went around the bird. And Bob's your Uncle, there you have "Bird Dream".

It's up to you, the viewer to figure out the meaning. Is the Bird caged? Is he outside looking in? Is the newspaper there as another hint at the caged status? Why is he on the card? Is he using that as his flying carpet? These and other questions will only be answered by your own internal dialogue.