LMAC Contest Resumes: My Collage Today, Thirst!

Still Collage

Collage With Action :)

The long hot summer is over! LMAC greets the fall with a stunning template image and an eye-popping prize pool of 174 Hive for its autumn debut.

Template Image for Round #181

In case you are not familiar with the prize distribution for this contest, 15 creative people place in the finals each week. Make a collage and become part of this pool. Look at the template photo and let your imagination roam free. You have until September 18, end of day (midnight UTC) to post an entry. The contest announcement, with all details, may be found here.

I don't compete in the contest. I just have a blast making collages :)

My Collage

As is always the case in my collages, I borrowed liberally from the LMAC Image Library, LIL. I think the idea for thirst came not only from the template, but also from the fact that we are coming into a period of fertile creativity on Hive. The idea of an oasis, and quenching thirst, may have come from that. Who knows? Imagination takes us where it will.

However, an oasis and simple satisfaction of thirst does not make for an interesting narrative. For me, collages are almost always narratives--stories, in a sense. A good story has conflict and in this case the conflict is the treacherous nature of the water source (note the partially submerged skeleton) the travelers are facing.

A healthy oasis is a self-sustaining ecosystem. One plant in particular, the date palm, plays a keystone role in this ecosystem.

Date Palm Cluster, Oasis in Boa Vista

_{Credit: Ximonic, Simo Räsänen on Wikimedia Commons. CC 1.2 license}

These trees in an oasis are an ecological and cultural keystone. They provide protective shade for crops that grow beneath them. They offer shelter to human residents of an oasis, and to animals that live and/or migrate there. They are also a building material resource for the humans who reside on the oasis.

Also, the fruit from the date palm is a commercial resource that supports local economies.

Painting, Oasis in the Desert

_{Credit: Antal Ligeti, 1862. Fine Arts Museum, Hungary. Free of copyright restriction.}

Although I have placed lizards and a snake in my oasis collage, these reptiles actually don't need water. Some may go their whole lives without ever drinking a drop. They get the moisture they need, which is very little, from plants.

Vultures are in my collage because they are essential to not only the oasis and desert ecosystem, but in nature as a whole. They are the 'cleaners'. They clear up detritus and help to keep the environment free of disease and harmful microorganisms.

Desert Locust Laying Eggs

_{Credit: Christiaan Kooyman on Wikipedia. Free of copyright restriction.}

Most of us have heard of locust plagues. All locusts are grasshoppers but not all grasshoppers are locusts. The few grasshoppers in my collage would belong in a desert. When there are certain environmental pressures (climate, available resources, for example) grasshoppers may be forced together. When this happens they undergo a behavioral change. Their ordinarily solitary habits are abandoned and they become a swarm. That's when a grasshopper becomes a locust.

Collage Process
I began by clearing out the background and making the oasis appear as though it was entirely in the desert. The elements came rather easily. I knew I needed some thirsty humans in the distance. Mostly I rearranged the flora in the picture and then I added fauna (animals) until I felt satisfied with the result.

Inspiration definitely came from images in LIL.

I thank my LMAC colleagues for the following LIL contributions:

• Cobra
  @seckorama
  https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/8797

• Iguana (pink and green)
  @muelli
  https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/7343

• Droopy plant (green, pink and yellow)
  @yaziris
  https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/7631

• Flowers
  @mballesteros
  https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/4019

• Vultures
  @hernleon
  https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/7434

• Sky
  @anibal-aa
  https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/193

• Grasshopper
  @redheadpei
  https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/6542

I thank these contributors to Pixabay for the following images:

• Nomad
  GidonPico
  https://pixabay.com/es/photos/n%C3%B3madas-estilo-de-vida-n%C3%B3mada-5590680/

• Skeleton
  Wikilimages
  https://pixabay.com/es/photos/esqueleto-cr%C3%A1neo-ganado-huesos-67740/

After I made my still collage, I decided to give the piece a little life. Some of my readers like a little animation (my husband does!). I made the frames with the help of Paint 3D and GIMP.

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.

Now that LMAC is back in competitive mode, I know this community will be buzzing with creative activity. Be sure to check back on the community feed to see the exciting collages come in.

Thank you for reading. Peace and health to all.