Created for the November 2025 Artist Inspiration challenge hosted by Cindy/Scribler. We were asked to choose at least two of the presented landscapes to inspire and inform our layouts. I picked 2-Young Man on a Riverbank from Umberto Boccioni, an image of a lone man with crossed legs. 6-Farm in Moonlight from Daniel Koerner for the path into the distance. And 8-Scene from "Thanatopsis" from Asher Brown Dumond for the overall color scheme of olive green grays.
I used et designs' Raven's Garden for this layout. I started by taking clipping mask 4, and clipping paper 12 to it, to get the gray multi-media man's face (the man from inspiration 2). Then I picked the background paper I liked with it, which is the 4th in the kit.
Next, I used clipping mask 2 and clipped the upward path photo to it (the path from inspirtation 6). You can't see the eye from the clipping mask because it's blended over a lighter colored paper that's very similar in color and value. The preview image for these Raven's Garden Clipping Masks presents them as black, because most clipping masks are presented as black. Yet, you can clip them to almost anything and the results might surprise you!
Next, I took the image of the wolf and used a circular mask from et designs' Playing with Brushes. I placed the circle over the wolf (with crossed legs like inspiration 2). Then I made a layer mask for the work image and used a soft brush to brush out most of the wolf image framed by that circle. I loved the heavy thick fog in the back though, and there is a bit of bokeh sparkle in the back to the right, so I allowed this part of the photo to extend beyond the circle. I also extended beyond the circle to the lower left, to continue the area that was "ripped up" from the background around the left side. Then I figured out where I wanted the wolf to go in the layout.
Finally, I added finishing details. I added the leather bow, with a drop shadow. I added stars and pearls underneath the bow. And I tucked a couple of leaves under the circle. I added a scribble between the wolf and the black raven flying out from the upward path's mask. And then I added the text: "solitude," "beautifully imperfect," and "In the quiet, I found myself again."
