CELEBRATING OCTOBER ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

WOW!!!

1st Year Anniversary of My Soul's Dark Imagination Challenge Blog!!

Can you believe it??? 

One Whole Year of Spooky Challenges!!!  

Didn't we have fun? I know I did!!

I want to send out a very special thanks to all my artist friends who posted their spooky art and participated in the Themes and Challenges this past year!!  Speaking of spooky art, I have to brag on you guys!!!! 

All of you took each theme, used your dark imagination and unique creativity, pushed the envelope, and came up with some really fantastic art!!! Thank you for sticking it out with me through the times I was present and absent and still you came back for the challenges and made each week so special for me!! Week after week, I could not wait to see what you would create and every week you never failed to disappoint!! You made our first year great with your talent, your tenacity, and your awesome creativity!!Thank you for scaring me with spooky fun all year!!

To kick off the October month-long Celebration of My Soul's Dark Imagination 1st Year Anniversary...

I would like to announce that we have a New Sponsor...

Conjurer of Dreams!!!

Click on the link to visit Kim's Challenge Blog:

Conjurer of Dreams

And there will be Prizes!!!

  What kind of celebration would this be without prizes!! 

Kim Rayko, Owner of Conjurer of Dreams, has kindly designed an amazing Set of 4 Images for us to use for one of our October Themes... Vampires!!  

This challenge lasts for two weeks!! I will be presenting you with two Vampire Images this week and then two Vampire Images for next week to double your chances to win the prize!! After the two weeks are up, I will pick a Winner of the 2 Week Challenge to receive a $10 Voucher to go shopping at the fantastic Conjurer of Dreams Etsy Shop!!

 

Click on the link to go visit:

Conjurer of Dreams Etsy Shop

Kim has a fabulous array of AI Image Sets, Digital Junk Journal Sets, PNG Clip Art, and Digital Art Kits in her shop! All of her designs are absolutely stunning!! Go check out her shop to see what I mean when I say stunning! 

Thank you, Kim, for Sponsoring our 1st year Anniversary and for creating these amazing Vampire Images for us to use for our Challenge! 

Thank you, Kim Rayko!!

Now let's Party!!!!

Your Challenge this week is to pick from the 2 Conjurer Of Dreams Images I have posted and create some Vampire art for a chance to win!! Have fun this week creating your spooky art!! I cannot wait to see what you do with these Vampire Images!! 

I have also posted an Itinerary of the rest of the Anniversary Celebrations we will be involved in for the whole month of October!!! Look for 1st Anniversary Page where I have listed the Free Image Pages! You will want to read it so you will know what exciting things I have planned for you this month! We have a Mystery Guest for the 3rd Week Challenge and a Fun Halloween Blog Hop on the 4th Week Challenge with more prizes to win!! Look forward to some decadent, dark fun this whole month!!

Here are the two Vampire Images for you to choose from for this week's challenge!

Here is my Vampire Creation as an example and inspiration!

Good luck to all who enter their art in the Vampire Challenge this week! May your dark creativity chill me to the bone and completely take my breathe away!!

WE 'RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD!!

 I had a request from Michele to do a Wizard Of Oz Theme so that is what I decided to post this week for our Challenge! Any time anyone has a request for a Theme just let me know and I will post it!! Thank you, Michele, for suggesting such a fun Challenge!!

 I also found some "Great and Wonderful Oz" free images for you to use in your artwork this week which I uploaded and posted as well! 

Sorry I was late in posting but had internet issues and just now got them resolved! I live way out in the country and from time to time I have this issue! I have a new Wi-Fi carrier so maybe this will not be a problem in the future!!

Let your imagination go down "the yellow brick road" and create your own special OZ artwork this week! Cannot wait to see what you will come up with! 

HAVE FUN MY LITTLE PRETTYS!!!

Here is my Great and Powerful Oz Creations!!

Digital art created from Pinterest Images, Wikipedia, and Photoshop Elements

STEAMPUNK ALICE

Hasn't this been a fun month of Challenges!! I knew when I picked this theme, all of you would really enjoy creating Alice Art! I paired Steampunk with our Theme this week because I love all things Steampunk as well as I love Alice, and I know you do too! So, to finish out this month of All Things Alice let's create Some Steampunk Alice as well!

Here are my Steampunk Alice Creations!

Digital art created from Pixabay, Pinterest, Facebook Group Free AI Images, DreamFusionPrint Digital Kit Steampunk, Honeycomb Digital Kit Ethereal Enigma, Friday Designs Digital Kit Old Vintage Portraits, Miles Before The Moon Crow and Company Digital Kit, Conjurer of Dreams Digital Clips Steampunk, and Miriam's Digital Kit Scraps, Itkupilli's Digital Kit Woodlands, 

MAD HATTER TEA PARTY

 Is the Mad Hatter right? Are we all "Mad" here? Well, look at the artwork we create!! Isn't there a certain madness in our method? I know how obsessed I have been since I first began creating digital art, and it seems that I cannot ever not think of anything else!! Ideas are always popping in my head daily, no matter where I am or what I am doing! It seems that the whole world can inspire me with just the ordinary in my day-to-day activities of my life! How about you? Feel the same? 

That is why I love creating art with a theme like Alice In Wonderland because there is no limit to how many different ways you can use your imagination to interpret how you see Wonderland and all of its quirky characters!

The History of Hatmakers and their Madness goes back to the 19th Century when in London, Hatmakers were forced to inhale harmful chemicals used in Hat Making, so that over time, slowly their brain cells were destroyed, thus creating madness! Hence came Lewis Carroll's flamboyant character, The Mad Hatter!! And don't you think the perfect character and companion for Alice as she navigates the upside-down world of Wonderland?

Another Note of Trivia...there is a neurological disorder called Alice In Wonderland Syndrome! People who suffer from this syndrome have a distorted visual perception of objects that are either smaller or larger or appear to be closer or further away than they really are! Interesting!

Put your Mad Hatter on and create some Tea Party artwork for this week's Theme! I have posted a few more free images just for you to download for inspiration! Can't wait to see what you will create!! 

Here are my Mad Hatter Creations!!

Digital art created from Pinterest, Pixabay, and Miriam's Digital Kit Scraps

"A" IS FOR ALICE

August is the month for Alice and all things of Wonderland! My favorite and I know this theme is your favorite too! From traditional, to eccentric, to abstract, let's create Alice this week as we want her to be! Fantastical, playful, and magical...anyway you see Alice, you can create your own little Wonderland with her in it!

I have posted a page for all of you who are Alice Fans that love to collect "All Things Alice"!!! Check it out and use what you want to create your one-of-a-kind Alice!! Have fun, as you well know, we are ALL MAD HERE!!!!

Here are all of my "Alice" Creations!

Welcome To Wonderland!!

Digital art created from Gecko Galz Digital Collage Sheets Go Ask Alice, Alice's Travels To Wonderland,  Haunted Harlequin Paper Pack, Miriam's Digital Kit Scraps, and Pinterest

CRAZY ARCHITECTURE

"What's that strange-looking building on top of the railroad tower at Chickamauga Dam?" reads the headline in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

When I first moved to Chattanooga, I began working as a Caregiver for an In-Home Healthcare Company and was traveling from patient to patient every day. I had to cross the Chickamauga Bridge to get to most of my patients that I would be caring for in that part of the city. 

One day, as I was crossing the bridge, I looked over to my left and saw a house sitting on the railroad tower. I thought I was seeing things, hallucinating a house on a tower! On my way back home that evening, I crossed the bridge to go home, and there it was...the little, white house still sitting on the tower!! So unusual!!

Many questions entered my mind about the little house. I became obsessed with why the house was there and what its purpose was??? The abstract artist in me was so fascinated with the house and the surreal setting it was in. I had to find out the history of this place and why it was there! I also thought that it would be a cool theme for one of our challenges!!!! 

The simple answer is that it was the control house for the railroad bridge, named Tenbridge. It housed a control room where an operator could raise the bridge to allow tall boats to pass underneath it. 

So this is your challenge!! Using your imagination, create an odd, surreal place in your artwork where you would least likely see a building or a house! Go as "crazy" as you want. Really bring out the abstract notion of this challenge! I cannot wait to see what you will come up with!  

I want to apologize for my absence from the blog for the last 2 weeks.  I had to order a battery charger for my laptop and it took 2 weeks to get it in the mail. I was without a laptop this whole time!!! Ugghh!!!! I did not realize how much of my life is consumed by creating art until I did not have the means to create it with!!!! It's all good now, and everything is back in proper working order, thank goodness, so without any other unpredictable delays, we can return to the regular schedule. Thank you for your patience!!

 

Looking forward to August, I have something really special planned for the whole month!! A Hint..."A" is for Alice!!!! My most favorite story and characters to create art with!!! 

I know it is yours too!

Here are my Crazy Architecture Creations!!!

 

Digital art created from Honeycomb Digital Kit Ethereal Enigma, Itkupilli's Digital Kit Wooden Houses, Wikipedia, and Pixabay

GOTHIC CEMETARY STATUES

 

I love Old, Gothic Cemeteries with all the weather-stained statues standing around the moss-covered tombstones like Heavenly Guardians watching over the dead. 

I marvel at their carved features, so realistic that no matter where you stand, their eyes are looking at you. if you spoke, it is as if they could actually speak back to you. The sculpture of each tiny detail of their face, hands, and feet is fascinating, as well as every fold of their robe or gown, carved like real fabric. 

Fascinating, and yet, why are they so very creepy? Sometimes just standing near a statue is enough to send chills down your spine! I always feel both wonder and fear when I am standing in a cemetery and looking at a statue! Silly, but I fear them calling out to me or reaching out to touch me!! 

In the midst of all of the creepy feelings, I cannot forget to think about the artist and the immense talent it took to sculpt these statues with just a chisel and a rock! What great precision it must take to bring life to stone!

The Cimiteri Monumentale di Milano is located on the hillside of Stagliene of Genoa, in the district of Milano, Italy. It is one of the largest cemeteries in all of Europe. It is well known for its abundance of tombs and artistic monuments. The Oneto Family tomb houses one of my favorite statues, The Angel Monteverde, sculpted by Giulie Monteverde.

Look at those eyes!!!! 

I wonder how in the world the sculptor can make something this magnificent out of stone? The details of her face, her lips, but most especially, her eyes! Even the pupils...the definition!! How? To me, this is a great example of the human imagination and immense, creative talent...art! 

I am obsessed with her statuesque beauty and mesmerized by the details of her. She fills me with awe and yet chills me at the same time! I fear her. I cannot look at her for any length of time. So human and yet un-human!

Do you feel the same way? Show us in your artwork this week what you think about Gothic Cemetery Statues! Make them gloomy or set in a background of brilliance...it is all up to you! I can't wait to see what your Dark Imagination will guide you to create!

I also posted a page full of statues and backgrounds for you to use in your artwork! How will you bring your stone to life?

Here are my Gothic Statue Creations!