I can feel the excitement in the air--LMAC Contest is returning very soon. Keep tuned for @shaka's announcement. This will probably be my last freestyle before the contest resumes. I had a bit of fun with this. The template came from a picture my nephew sent me.
The house is the very same one where I spent my earliest years. I lived there from 1947-1954. The house was very different back then. There certainly were no solar panels. We heated the house with a wood burning stove and used a pump to collect water from a well outside. We lived in the left side of the house and my landlord lived on the right. They packed up in winter and left their half empty.
Here is a picture of my dear cousin posing with one of my brothers in front of the house. You can see our clothes were hand-me-downs.
There were some hard times in that house, and yet nostalgia does overtake me as I remember it.
Here is another picture of that same brother riding what looks like a tricycle in front of the house.
My two oldest brothers (I have three) started school in a one room schoolhouse in the local village for their first years of attendance. When I entered the first grade, we went out of district to a larger school. The bus stop was a mile away and we would walk that distance if we didn't have a ride.
Our clothes were considerably nicer when we attended school. My Uncle Jimmy owned a dry cleaning store and he'd give us the abandoned clothes. Also, my mother sewed and would make us specialty items. We were actually among the best-dressed kids in school. That sort of dichotomy between home and school helped to make me a complicated person, I think :).
Here is a picture of me (pointing), my older sister, and one of my brothers. This was taken a few years after the pictures shown earlier in the blog. We were at my Uncle John and Aunt Anna's house in this photo. My aunt gave us those clothes. She made the dresses for us specially.
In all the years I lived in the rural area I never saw a bear. Still I thought it would be fun to imagine a bear visiting the property and playing with water in a well.
The dog of course takes umbrage at this intrusion and snarls from a safe distance. The cat is appropriately curious, but remote. As for the people in the house--they peer from windows and hope the bear will go away.
I thank my LMAC colleagues for the wonderful pictures they have contributed to LIL, our image gallery. These pictures brought my collage to life. Thank you.
LIL Images:
Bear
@seckorama
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/7183Well
@muelli
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/8259
Water in the well
@onyechi
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/167Cat on the roof
@yaziris
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/7633Beehive gnome porch decoration
@redheadpei
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/7345Dog snarling
@quantumg
https://lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/13326Ball
@edgarafernandezp
https://lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/11214
I thank also contributors from Pixabay:
Face in the window
Eric_Lucatero
https://pixabay.com/es/photos/retrato-gente-adulto-hombre-rostro-3353699/Child's face in window
Bessi
https://pixabay.com/es/photos/ni%C3%B1a-preocupado-retrato-rostro-738306/
Process
After cropping the picture, I ran it through a Lunapic filter to give the scene a slightly aged look. First I had to put the water in the well, then clean up the bear and well.
I added the ball, porch decoration, cat, dog and faces in the windows to set the scene.
Then I made the frames that showed the bear playing in the well water.
This was fun, as always.
LMAC and LIL
You can see that LIL, the LMAC Image Library, was an essential part of my collage-creating process. Anyone on Hive can contribute to the library and everyone can borrow from it. Learn about the procedure here.
We've all rested up over the summer and recharged our creative batteries. Get ready for a fall return. I'm eagerly anticipating the new prompt and the great collages that will be offered by community members.
Till then...peace and health.