Conflicting Interests: Collage for LMAC Jubilee, 200!
This week the wonderful LMAC community celebrates its 200th round! I was here from almost the start. I believe I participated in Round #4, and have not missed many since.
This is one of the most welcoming, fun communities on the platform. I began with no collage skills (still have rudimentary ability) but that never stopped me from having fun. This week I"m a little late in publishing my picture. Today @shaka posted a new template and Round #201 begins. Please have a look. I have taken a peek. It is an amazingly suggestive photo. The potential for personal expression is unlimited.
Here is the template that gave rise to the collage featured at the top of the page.
Template from @shaka
You can see the skeletal bone, which is the centerpiece of the template, has been used in a scene that might be a natural history diorama. This came about because I wrote a blog recently about wolverines. This animal loves bones. It will eat carrion and decaying animals that are in any state of decomposition. Thus, in my mind, the template and my blog came together.
The other elements in the collage tell part of the wolverine story. The wolverine is considered a top predator. Very few animals will take it on. The polar bear is one of those animals.
In the picture it looks as though the bears are moving in on the wolverine, but they are not likely to surprise it, because the wolverine is a very clever animal. If the bear takes chase, the wolverine is likely to outrun it.
A polar bear is said to run an estimated 25 miles an hour. A wolverine runs an estimated 30 miles an hour.
Another reason the polar and wolverine occupy the same frame in my picture: they are both endangered by a retreating ice and snow cover.
In the distance, on the left side of the horizon, you might notice a skydiver. I'm suggesting here another menace to the wolverine: human recreation.
Wolverines need snow to survive. They den in the snow and raise their young there. Human recreational vehicles, such as snowmobiles, cut into the wolverine's quite expansive territory.
It is estimated that one male wolverine has a range of 270 to 380 square miles. A female has a much smaller territory, 115 to 230 square miles. Since the males are polygamous, their territory may overlap that of several females.
As I indicated in my previous blog, there are believed to be only 300 wolverines in the lower 48 states of the U. S. Because of that, and the challenges to their habitat, they have been categorized as a 'threatened' species under the U. S. Endangered Species Act.
I already explained the genesis of the collage. I had to borrow elements from the LMAC (LIL) image gallery and Pixabay to make my concept a reality.
From LIL I borrowed:
From Pixabay I borrowed:
Wolverine
https://pixabay.com/photos/wolverine-predator-marten-7313196/
Polar Bear
https://pixabay.com/photos/polar-bear-bear-animal-nature-snow-404317/
I used one picture I had contributed to LIL
My last step was to run the collage through a Lunapic paint filter:
This GIF shows some of the major steps... I left out a few:
LIL is not only a valuable image resource for the Hive community, but is also a way for community members to participate in LMAC. Anyone on Hive can contribute to the library and everyone can borrow from it. Learn about the procedure here.
Every week we offer prizes to fifteen finalists in the contest, but it's not only the prizes people create for. I, for example don't compete, but spend hours giving vent to my imagination. Others in the community have developed the habit of 'speaking' through collage.
As @shaka has said many times, everyone is an artist. I may not be an artist in the technical sense, but LMAC allows me to nurture my own unique artistic voice.
Thank you for reading. Peace and health to all.
Has plasmado una muy significativa escena a la cual necesitamos visualizar de manera reflexiva. A veces, por sentirlas tan lejanos a nosotros, hay realidades a las que cuesta prestar atención y ante las que sin darnos cuenta estamos siendo insensibles. Thanks for sharing, dear @agmoore!
I love your perspective on life, @esthersanchez. You are sensitive and informed. Thank you very much for reading and for the comment.
I have always been interested in the different problems that afflict our home, taking the earth as the home of all living beings and you, with this collage, have made a call for reflection on the matter. I can only thank you for your beautiful action. A hug, dear @agmoore
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Very nice collage! and what an interesting story you tell. Thank you very much for your contribution!
Thank you! I love writing about and learning about wolverines :)
The wolverine actually will be classified as one of the carnivorous animal if I should say
The collage is nice and the story is cool too
I love that!
I also love the look when it's snowing, it all looks so much more beautiful and this way the pictures in the collage have been worked on to make them even more beautiful.
This is amazing Collage that you made. Beautiful nature with animals
The collage is really nice and you are able to come up with great concept
This is why I came here, to be visually impressed and intellectually mind blown 🤯...
I'm going to check out your wolverine post now..
Thank you! I enjoyed making this collage. I'm glad it pleased you also...
You made an interesting creation and story with the wolverine and the polar bears. The setting is perfect with the snow and coolness of the sky.
True, they are slowly losing their habitat with the melting ice.
The wolverine is an old looking animal. It looks like the creator threw difference parts of animals, such as, bear, red fox and wolf, together to make him,
I hope the skydiver doesn’t land anywhere near them or he will be lunch. 😦
Keep well my friend A.G. 😊
Hello my dear friend, @redheadpei. I hope you are well and enjoying your backyard friends.
Thank you for appreciating my simple collage. I can't do the arty, abstract pieces so many in the community create. No need to decipher :)
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We don't really belong there, do we?
I agree about the way the wolverine looks. A most improbable animal. Their feet are shaped like snowshoes and they have a loping kind of run. The footprints they leave are very distinctive.
A fascinating animal.
So good to hear from you my friend.
The wolverine and the polar bears which are among the endangered species and the presence of ice and snowy habitat is essential for their survival. Human are causing change in their natural habitat.