Title: "Poetry" in Carolingia font and fiery, gold-leaf foil colorization. Base of word is a large, symmetrical Fleurons dingbat in a cobalt blue, floral scroll pattern.
Poem title: "Hyacinth" in Ancient Geek Regular font (all caps), colored a dark paprika accented by glowing spots in cayenne red, especially on the upper halves of the H and Y. Beginning from the top of the initial H, a few illuminating, sunny-yellow rays reach in a soft diagonal across the title, down toward the ending H,

Rocking the dead to sleep
one by one we weep
and rest their bodies
like plundered temples
for earth and sky to keep
and ask in disbelief
what thief
would desecrate the rainbow
empty the firmament of stars
what cold betraying angel
would punish
the fires of the heart

A draped-from-the-back mostly nude Apollo standing with a held lyre. Apollo's body is turned to the left and his head faces right in a line image on a purple-wine background. Black line has been altered to color line in a gradation of sunset and autumn hues, i.e. mostly fiery reds on the figure's legs and bright yellows from the upper torso and above. Here and there are highlight specks of pale lime green. The held lyre glows with white and pale yellow light, sending illuminating rays out and downward. In the upper left corner glows the lower half of a fireball of a sun. This sun seems to burn like an ember through the purplish background. Entire image is framed. Frame color is the same gradation used for Apollo except the reds are on top and the yellows bottom. There are three inner borders, black, pale lime green and cayenne red, and a frame bevel of yellow ochre. Frame texture is pebbly, pillowed mosaic. Upper left corner of frame is illuminated to a yellow-orange glow using a Paint Shop Pro lighting effect. It looks like the frame is lit from behind. Finally, I have placed PSP "tubes" of wood hyacinths in both lower corners of the picture frame; flowers extend into the purplish background. Originally blue-flowered and green-leafed, I used the PSP color options to alter the hyacinths so that they are now abstracted. Now, flowers are either pale and ghostly or grayed, or they have black foliage and blood-red abstracted flowers. Although the flower in the Hyacinth myth is described as being purple, I made those color alterations as an allusion to the transformation in death of Prince Hyacinthus, the flower springing from his life-blood.
Poem by Tracie Cleaver, copyright 1993 & 2001,
graphic 2001.


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Circular, deep-gold, metallic, textured frame surrounds an image of a green-leafed, violet-purple wood hyacinth centered against a background of amber/sunset yellows and oranges, and a sun of blazing white light. The background almost looks like a polished amber gem. The uppermost blossoms of the hyacinth hang in front of the sun and are illuminated with a soft yellow light as though kissed by the sun (i.e. the Apollo).

For a reading of the myth of Apollo and Hyacinthus:
Bulfinch's Mythology,
http://www.bulfinch.org/
&
Carlos Parada, Greek Mythology Link, http://www.hsa.brown.edu/~maicar/

Same as above image except for the surrounding frame: three metallic, golden rings from the left and three from the right interlock/interweave to form a center space. The amber background of the image shows through crescent-shaped spaces to either side of the central space through which shows the blazing sun and wood hyacinth flower.


Bordered background courtesy of
Kat's Graphics


I made my "Hyacinth/Apollo" image with the help of
Paint Shop Pro and a mythology font from
emerald city fontwerks
http://www.speakeasy.org/~ecf/


A thank you linkware plaque I made for Sue Chastain, at about.com, to thank her for the wood hyacinth PSP tube. Plaque has an apricot-beige border and an off-white background. The Paint Shop Pro, tube-created picture consists of a circular area on the background made from tubes of grass blades, butterflies, dandelion blossoms, two garden snails, and Sue's blue-flowered wood hyacinths. Reminds me of the back yard of a rural house I lived in. The font used in the thank you message is Menuetto. PS. Wood hyacinths naturalize extremely well; they will pop up all over your lawn April-time if you let them --it's quite lovely to see. They also come in pink and white,
http://graphicssoft.about.com
©Sue Chastain, 1999-2001.


The spark tube in my "Hyacinth/Apollo" image
(the sun) is courtesy of The Hood (I also used
it in the following "Hyacinthus" image).
The main site is closed at this time but the
tubes download page has been kept open.
Just click on the hyperlink
http://bart.northnet.com.au/~robrow/

Flare tube used to create the blazing sun in my
"Hyacinthus" image is courtesy of
Kandy Kizzez Tubes,
http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/line/209/index.html

The yellow sparkle tube (used for the faint star
between the sun and hyacinth) in my "Hyacinthus"
image can be found at a few sites including, again,
The Hood,
http://bart.northnet.com.au/~robrow/
and Kandy Kizzez Tubes,
http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/line/209/index.html
and also at
http://a1emporium.com

A1 Emporium

A1 Emporium also provided the deep metallic gold,
circular, PSP frame used in the first of my two
"Hyacinthus" images. The second image's PSP frame,
of interlocking golden rings, is courtesy of Karamei,
http://hometown.aol.com/karamei/



Contact me
gwnsea@yahoo.com
Gwendolen's Sea