It's Tuesday, you know what that means

Eleven talisman trees. Eleven completed photoshop projects. Eleven is a nice number, a good solid number that's more than just a few. Eleven is substantial.

But I have decided on twelve. Yes, there will be one more talisman tree, one more to make the series an even dozen. But that tree, my friends, will not appear next Tuesday. Yes, for the first Tuesday in several weeks, my blog will not feature a talisman tree. The captain and I are currently preparing for a road trip and we will be off on another adventure next week. There will be time to blog throughout our journey, but I fear there won't be time to devote to talisman tree creation. I do not want to rush the last tree in the series, so I won't put that pressure on myself.

There's something else, too. I suspect the final tree is still out there somewhere, waiting for me to find it. So stay tuned, the series isn't over. Not quite yet.

The citified talisman tree

These Talisman Trees have given me some odd moments, with this one perhaps being the oddest. You see, I envisioned this piece of artwork as I was trying to fall asleep a few nights ago. Saw it in my minds-eye, clear as glass. I saw the outline of the tree, saw the city skyline behind it, saw the colours and tones and shades. It was just so weird.

So I set out to recreate it. While I often have ideas on how I'd like a finished project to look, those ideas are typically quite general, while the artwork I imagined was quite specific. It's a bit eerie, but today's Talisman Tree is just about dead-on to my "vision".

A forest of Talisman Trees

Today, another Tuesday, marks my ninth Talisman Tree, a veritable forest. Just last week I had prints made of the previous eight, wanting needing to see how they looked for real. Not on a computer screen. Real. Something concrete. Something forever.

When I held them in my hands, I experienced a myriad of emotions. Relief (they looked as I imagined they would), joy (they looked as I imagined they would), awe (they looked as I imagined they would). I had a lot of self-doubt about these; I was so sure I'd be disappointed. What a wonderful feeling that I am not.

This tree had a mind of its own. It's supposed to be purple. Lilac, to be precise. A pastoral shade. Innocent and pretty. The tree is a lilac, photographed earlier this year, before blooms appeared. To honour that, it was my intention to tint the entire piece an appropriate colour. But the art would have none of that: it was going to be orange, maybe apricot or peach, not purple, whether I liked it or not. It was also supposed to feature a plethora of fairies and, at one point, it did. But they all flew away, leaving one lost soul behind.

Art is funny that way. We think we are in complete control of our art, but often we are not. Sometimes, I think, our conscious self is merely a conduit for a creative force springing from somewhere deep within us. Likely the same place where intuition lives.

Talisman Tree Tuesday: eight already

I am a little surprised to realize I have now published eight of these talisman trees here on my blog. That sure seems like a lot! Creating this one was an enjoyable process; I messed about with the colours a lot as well as the overall design.

While I could go on with these trees for weeks and even months, I think I'm going to limit this series to 12 images. That's the plan right now, anyway.

Talisman tree, lucky seven

Despite the title of this post, I am not a believer in lucky numbers; I have neither a favourite number nor one I consider fortunate. But today I am posting the seventh in my Talisman Tree Tuesday series, and seven is believed by many to be the luckiest of numbers. Why, I'm not sure. I do feel fortunate to continue to be inspired by these trees; in fact, this afternoon I visited Kew Beach Park in the Beaches area of Toronto and took at least two dozen tree photographs. It wasn't my intent, but the captain and I were walking by the park after lunch and I just couldn't resist. That is just one of the many reasons I always keep a camera in my purse.

Also, a contest update. Entries continued to come in yesterday, so I am going to let this run a few more days and then announce the winner (winners??). Just to keep things interesting, here is a list of all the ideas offered, in no specific order. One is correct. Ah, but which one?

hula hoops
straws
erasers
outdoor citronella candles
swimming pool noodles
candy
toothbrush bristles

Talisman Tree Tuesday: six

Hard to believe, but I'm posting the sixth Talisman Tree today. This project has taken on wings. I have two others that are about halfway done, although you should likely take that "halfway" indicator with a grain of salt, as I am never sure when a project is done. I worry more about adding too much than not adding enough and I have learned through trial and error (lots of error) to trust my instincts when they tell me "enough!"

Such was the case with this Talisman Tree. I just kept adding layer after layer, changing colours, etc. Then I added words. Then I took them away. Then I added them back but showcased them quite differently than at first. And so on and so on. I finally had to listen to my inner voice telling me to stop. I'm glad I listened; if I had continued to add, I think I would have ruined it.

Talisman Tree: number five

Did you think that I'd forget this week's Talisman Tree? Nope. I seem to be on a creative roll with other projects but the talisman trees are always works-in-progress as well; I wouldn't neglect Talisman Tree Tuesday!

This week's Talisman Tree features the silhouette of a tree I photographed in Kentucky, on our journey home last month. I thought I had it finished last night but, wouldn't you know, I tweaked the sky colours again this morning. Then, after I posted it, I ended up deleting it so I could play with it again. Sometimes ... sigh ... I'm just never satisfied.

Time for another Talisman Tree

It's Tuesday....so once again I offer up another in the continuing series of my Talisman Tree creations. I have two others on the go right now and more waiting to be started, so I don't see an end in sight!

This time, the tree is from my own street, although next week's tree is once again one photographed on my travels. I worked on the colours of this week's project almost every day for the past week; I just could not get it right. Then, almost like magic -- and why should that surprise me, they are after all talsiman trees -- it all came together and I knew it was complete.

I still have to get my Etsy shop up and running, something I was determined to do before 2008 ended. When the captain and I returned from our anniversary cruise in early November it was on the front burner. Of course, 2008 took a dramatic turn for me in late November and many plans were put on the back burner. Just getting through Christmas was an accomplishment! But I've been thinking these trees could be front and centre in my upcoming Etsy shop, perhaps a series of greeting cards.....or printed on canvas and then mounted......or even as straight-up prints, ready for framing. Just thinking out loud here, but the ideas are buzzing in my head right now.

Talisman Tree Tuesday, the continuation of the series

Here it is Tuesday again, so I have another Talisman Tree to share with you. As always, click on the image for a larger view. So far, to create these talismans, I have used a tree photograph I captured in Melbourne, Florida (the first Talsiman Tree), one photographed in Florida's Canaveral National Seashore park (the second Talisman Tree) and now today's tree, photographed in Savannah, GA. I so enjoy creating these pieces!

Talisman Tree Tuesday

Thank you all so much for your lovely, encouraging comments on my previous post, The Talisman Tree. I have been working on similar pieces over the past couple of days with several images in various stages of creation, with the second in the series ready to share. I've titled this post "Talisman Tree Tuesday" as I hope to share a new image from this series here on my blog each and every Tuesday, so stay tuned. I am quite enthused by this new project -- I have oodles of tree photographs and so the ideas are all buzzing around in my head ... it seems the talisman tree idea has taken root with me (sorry about the pun.......)!

The Talisman Tree

A talisman is a good luck charm and while a tree might not seem like one, I'm taking a loose interpretation and equating inspiration with luck. Earlier this week I was inspired by the encaustics Marie Otero posted on her blog, Lost Aussie on the Loose: a series of three tree images, with her inspiration being the recent Australian bushfires. I loved the colours she used, I loved the use of trees. I have many tree photographs and zero inspiration (until now) on how to make them sing. So just last night I worked on the first in my own new series of tree images, taking inspiration from the pieces I saw on Marie's blog. I'm working with many layers, many textures. So here I am with a new piece of art, wanting to share it, and along comes the theme of talisman at Illustration Friday. I am going with my gut instinct on this coincidence and calling this new series "The Talisman Trees". What do you think?

Just an update.....want to see the second in the series? It's in my new post, Talisman Tree Tuesday. Please have a look!