ad libitum

A GOOD QUOTE

Every once in a while, you come across a great quote. Until today, my favorite "find" was a fortune I got in a Chinese restaurant over 25 years ago (it said, "many a fine man is found beneath a shabby hat."). Today I heard a quote that may have replaced it (although I still, and always will, love it). I was watching a TV show partially narrated by Dominick Dunne this afternoon and he was talking about someone in jail who had taken to covering his head with mustard because there is an urban myth that doing this would get rid of the DNA in your hair; and then he said... "Innocent men don't slather their hair with condiments." I LOVE THIS!  I decided I had to incorporate this phrase into an image. Here are the results.

ACROSS THE GENERATIONS

Lately, I have been using vintage photos of strangers (which is, of course, a good thing; as in, feel free to go to JTHCreations.com and buy my collage sheets and/or disc of collage sheets); and I decided to revisit some of my family photos (I don't have very many and I treasure the ones I have). I've made a collage of some of my favorites.

NEW BUTTONS

There's a new Polymer clay out; it's called Studio and it's by Sculpey. I really liked the colors so I bought a bunch (I rarely do things in half measures, so I bought most of the colors). I thought I would use it to make a new batch of buttons. Hmmmm, it's a little on the soft side (which is very good for many things, but not for canes or checkerboards). I guess I like firmer clay and it'll be back to Premo and Fimo for me. But the colors (which didn't scan as accurately as I would have wished) are lovely...

MAGIC CHILD

More shameless mnipulation of a photo of one of my daughters.

SEEN AND UNSEEN

Still on a "step out of the ordinary" kick, I played with a photo of my grand-niece Ayla today (instead of making any headway through my To-Do list). When I was in Florida, spending Christmas with family, I took over 800 photos, so be prepared for an onslaught of defenseless relatives being commandeered into Photoshop subjects.

LADIES AND LACE

My beautiful models are my daughters. Last time I changed their skin, I made one into a webbed fairy and the other into a scaled dragon hatchling. This time I wanted to to try for a timeless ethereal woman kind of thing with a touch of the supernatural, so I decided to cover each one in lace.  I'm not sure if this is complete yet, but it seems like a fairly good start. I'm pleased that I didn't get that flat look I sometimes get when trying to add texture to skin.

A FUN CHALLENGE

Aileen (see link to her blog in the list to the right) put 2 pictures on her blog with a request that people make some eye candy with them. Here is my response to her challenge.