HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. POE!

I have not forgotten Edgar Allan Poe by any means, but have chosen to revisit the Quoth the Raven blog this month to honor his birthday. January 19th, to be exact.  Poe lived from 1809 until late 1849, making him 40 years of age when he died, definitely premature by today's standards.

In Poe's short story The Domain of Arnheim he writes of happiness, something that seemed to have eluded him almost his entire life:

In the present darkness and madness of all thought on the great question of the social condition, it is not impossible that man, the individual, under certain unusual and highly fortuitous conditions, may be happy.

It seems rather obvious to me that Poe did not have a "happy" life, but, hopefully, he will have a posthumous happy birthday this year!

Thanks for visiting today and for taking a moment to leave a comment. Both are important to me!

QUOTH THE RAVEN CHALLENGE #46: POEtry

First, a brief announcement:  The Quote the Raven website has decided not to have a Design Team at this time.  I still love Edgar Allan Poe and I still love the monthly challenge from Quoth the Raven, so I will still be around and submit my work as I can.  I hope you will continue to follow! And, now...

A new month brings a new challenge from the Quoth the Raven website.  We are asked to pick one of Edgar Allan Poe's poems and to illustrate it.  I thought this would be pretty simple, but found it, indeed, a challenge.  

I picked Poe's poem Eulalie, a rather short poem and, as many of his poems, is said to have been written about his young bride Virginia Clemm Poe.  I have used only the first few lines in my artwork below. You can read the entire poem here.

My first step in creating this project was to print my computer-generated text onto a piece of Ranger "specialty" stamping paper.  Next, I stamped the Dream Girl image (from Unity Stamp Company) for my "yellow-haired young Eulalie."  I then stamped the image again on scrap paper and cut it out.  I "masked" the first image with the second and stamped the Poe image (from Lost Coast Designs) over it to make him appear to be in the background.  I used my Distress Markers to color in the hair and add a bit of blue eye shadow.

Thanks for stopping by today and for taking a moment to leave a comment so that I will know you were here.  I hope that you will find some time this month to play along with the POEtry challenge.

QUOTH THE RAVEN CHALLENGE #45: PICTURE INSPIRATION (WEEK 2)

It's Week 2 of the June Quoth the Raven challenge and I am here to invite you to join us in creating artwork honoring Edgar Allan Poe. This month, the theme is "picture inspiration."  It's kind of like "anything goes," but you must draw your inspiration from the picture provided below and it must, in some way, be related to Edgar Allan Poe.  

I drew my inspiration from both the black and red color palette and the arrangement of the images.  The background in my work was garnered from a Google search for "free images of ravens."  The stamped image is from Stampotique Originals and is called Friend.  Here, the image represents the narrator of Poe's poem of Lenore (you can read it here).   His heart is broken after the loss of his beloved whom he will see nevermore. 

I hope you will find time this month to do something creative!  It's good for your frame of mind and, therefore, your health!  Thanks for coming by today and for taking another minute to leave a comment!

QUOTH THE RAVEN CHALLENGE #45: PICTURE INSPIRATION (WEEK 1)

A new month brings a new challenge at the Quoth the Raven site. This month it will be about "picture inspiration."  It's kind of like "anything goes," but you must draw your inspiration from the picture provided and it must, in some way, be related to Edgar Allan Poe.  Here is the inspiration picture:

I drew my inspiration from both the black and red color palette and from the arrangement of the image in the foreground and the raven(s) in the background.  I used red cardstock from my stash and a brand new stamp from Stampendous! called Crowscape.  This single stamp provided the entire background.  The silhouette was cut from a picture from a website called Assorted Ideas.  My art, when attached to a card blank, will make a perfect Halloween card!

I hope you will play along in June with this fun challenge.  Don't forget that art is therapeutic.  It just might change your state of mind!

QUOTH THE RAVEN CHALLENGE #44: RAVING RAVENS (WEEK 2)

I am here to inspire you to participate in the "Raving Ravens" challenge over at Quoth the Raven.  Edgar Allan Poe refers to ravens only a few times in all other works, yet has dedicated an entire poem to the raven who knocked on his chamber door.  You can read (or re-read) The Raven here.

In my own re-reading of The Raven, I was reminded of the fact that the narrator is struggling with whether this raven is actually just a bird or whether, indeed, it might be a devil calling on him.  

It is for this reason that I have included two ravens, one the mirror image of the other, in my artwork today.  My quote comes from this poem.

My background was created by using another of the 8 backgrounds purchased in a pack (Poe Boy) from Smeared Ink.  The background was reversed in a photo editing software program, then both backgrounds were trimmed and taped together in the center.  The entire piece was then trimmed to a size of 12" x 12".  The quote was computer generated and printed on my color printer.  The image of Poe (Lost Coast Designs) was stamped with Ranger Archival Ink on heavy cardstock, then fussy cut and added to my project.

A rather simple project, but one that goes far in illustrating a portion of one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous works!

Thanks for stopping by today and for taking a moment to leave a comment.  I hope you will try to find some time this week and throughout the month of May to participate in the "Raving Ravens" challenge at Quoth the Raven!

QUOTH THE RAVEN CHALLENGE #44: RAVING RAVENS (WEEK 1)

A new challenge has been posted and the Quoth the Raven website is all about RAVING RAVENS! The interpretation of this challenge is totally up to you, just as long as it is related in some way to Edgar Allan Poe.

I wanted to use another of the digital backgrounds I purchased from Smeared Ink called Poe Boy Digital Paper Pack (set of 8).  I ended up using a full background, then printed and cut the raven from a second. The quote I used is from The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe.  You can read the poem in its entirety here.  (The quote is the first line of the last verse.)

I used a strip of washi tape from my stash so that the raven might have something upon which to "sit" as the quote reads.  The quote was computer generated, then printed directly onto the background.

I hope you will find some time during the month of May to create something for this great challenge.  Thank you for stopping by today! Both your visits and your comments mean a lot to me.

QUOTH THE RAVEN CHALLENGE #43: TIC-TAC-POE (WEEK 5)

I am here with a simple piece of tag art as a reminder that this is the last week of the Quoth the Raven Tic-Tac-Poe challenge.  It's a fun and simple challenge where we provide you with a grid and you select three elements--horizontally, vertically or diagonally--and create something related to Edgar Allan Poe.  Here's the grid:

For this week's reminder art, I have chosen a diagonal pattern and have used some stitching, the well-known quote "Nevermore!" and a stamped image of a raven.  (Please don't tell the raven it is actually an image of a crow from Stampotique Originals!)

Here's my tag:

And, a list of supplies:

• Ranger's #10 manila tag (shortened)
• Dylusions ink sprays in Pure Sunshine and Dirty Martini
• Stampotique's Moon Girl's Crow
• Stampotique's Circles Cube (grounding under crow)
• Yellow ribbon from my stash
• Sticko stickers (nevermore)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Wendy Vecchi's Archival Ink (Watering Can)
• Sewing machine
• Basic tool kit

I hope you can find some time this week to participate in the Tic-Tac-Poe challenge at Quoth the Raven.  You can submit your artwork here.

Glad you stopped by today.  I thank you both for your visit and your comments!  Have a great week!