Last night I dreamt I went back to Manderley again . . . That first line in Daphne du Mauriers Rebecca hooked me the first time I read it in high school. Ive read it a couple of more times over the years and of course watched the screen versions. In high school I was caught up in the romance of it all, and certainly fell in love with Manderley itself. Nowadays while still appreciating the story, I have a far different view of the characters. It was the house I fell in love with the most, the house that the beautiful, late Rebecca created and made into a showcase, with the help of her devoted servant Mrs. Danvers. Dear Danny. I remember the blood red Rhododendrons as de Winter drove up his drive bringing his new young, innocent and unsuspecting bride to Manderley. Some books stay with you for the rest of your life and this is one of them. It was a delicious read.
ArtPlay Palette Antiquity
ArtPlayPaletteAntiquity
ArchiTextures No. 6
ArchiTexturesNo.6
UrbanThreadz No. 11
UrbanThreadzNo.11
Melange FotoBlendz No. 1
MelangeFotoBlendzNo.1
Dripped Stains No. 1
DrippedStainsNo.1
Fonts: ArtBrush and Jellyka Saint-Andrews
Photos: Public Domain
Clip Art: Stampington
Process Notes: I blended two papers from Antiquity together to bring out the textures of both. A transfer was placed at the upper left corner, blended to Multiply at 60% opacity. After using an action on the photo of the house, giving it a bit of a dreamy, double exposure effect, I clipped it into the Melange mask I had placed on the page.
I added a couple of the ArchiTextures on the page in the upper left corner and along the right edge. Then using the dripped stains I clipped the photo of the red Rhodes to them, giving the photo a healthy Gaussian Blur. I just wanted a hint of the Rhodes.
With the text tool, I created the large R and clipped several transfers to it, giving it a bevel and emboss and a slight drop shadow. I also added some brushes from the kit to give it added texture. I wanted it to look like stone. This was placed underneath the photo in the layers panel.
Using the psd frame, I clipped the likeness of Rebecca to the mask part then staining both the frame and clip art. The clip art was blended to Hard Light at 65% opacity.
Over the frame and picture I placed the roses, ribbon and threads. Then I typed out the first line of the novel and framed it with the line tool. That completes this layout of a favorite book.
