Photo Art Friday - The Child Who Survived

So happy to have Bonnie's Photo Art Friday back after a 2 month hiatus.  She was very busy in her studio as you can see if your pop over to her Pixel Dust Photo Art site.

 I came across a couple of quotes this week that really tie together the images I am submitting . . . hope you all enjoy them.

"Every child is an artist . . . 

the problem is staying an artist when you grow up."

~ Pablo Picasso

When I was a child I was very artistic and often received special mention on report cards regarding my art work.  Then I hit grade eight and my art teacher, who was also my math teacher, shut me down big time.  At the very start of the semester, we were to design a folder that would serve as a portfolio for the terms work.  We were given free rein to do whatever we liked. 

 At the time, my family life was in great turmoil as my parents had split up less than a year ago and there was much sadness and fear and acting out among myself and 4 siblings.  Consequently, my folder design was quite dark and moody and very abstract.  Mr. P. decided that the work did not fit who he felt I was (pretty flowers, ribbons and lace, etc.) and refused to accept it.  I was always very submissive to authority figures and dutifully redid the folder to his liking but my creativity was definitely squelched for some time to come.  

I doodled a little and many years later a Jenny-girl, daughter of a friend would always ask me  . . . 'Can you draw me a girl?' She would colour my creations and always thought they were just beautiful.  The creative juices inside of me had always found a way to come out whether in sewing, crocheting, gardening but I still longed to produce artwork with pencil and paper, pastels and paint.  And then I discovered photography . . .

"The creative adult is the child who survived."

~ Unknown

Working with the prompts "Dreamy" or "Ethereal", here is what I came up with.

 My grand-niece Pippa (again) looking very ethereal as she poses on the deck.
Converted to black and white, some desaturation and a blur filter.

 Here I have combined an image of columbines with a paisley texture I made myself and Bonnie's texture "pdpa Heartache by the Number".  I also ran the image through a cut out filter in Serif PhotoPlus X4 before adding the textures.  I consider this quite "Dreamy" as my dreams often consist of concrete and abstract elements and symbols.

This last image has more of a dreamy quality than the others . . . I love the way this turned out.  The original photo is a bee gathering pollen from a giant allium.  No textures used just various adjustments to brightness, contrast, hue and saturation.

I recall that just a few months ago, I said to my sister and brother-in-law,
 "I am an artist."

I meant it.
 I finally believe it.

I am the child who survived.

Linking with Bonnie and the other children who survived @