As The Desert Blooms | LMAC Collage FreeStyle No. 84

Each week, the LMAC Community run by Hive account@shaka holds a collage contest round for its members to participate. In the Community, you'll discover a variety of themed contest entries submitted for consideration in the contest. Hopefuls anxiously await result indicating where their creative collage scenes will be chosen for the final round of competition. If you'd like to participate, just visit the LMAC Community account here for details on the latest contest.

The LMAC Community also offers an opportunity for members to create "freestyle" collage themes and post to the Community. In the freestyle option, you have more freedom to design your creations without having to incorporate the weekly contest photo. You still, however, have rules in which you must abide by when posting to the Community.

For my Freestyle Collage No. 84, my theme is a blooming desert.

On first glance to the naked eye, it may seem as though a desert is a dry and desolate place where no life can exist in any meaningful way. But quite the opposite. In fact, plants and animals not only survive, but thrive there.

It's called adaptation and evolution to fit one's environment.

Some varieties of plants have the ability to store up water. What I find most fascinating is that in some deserts in Australia, where the conditions are extremely dry, aquatic life have adapted to survive in those conditions.

In preparing my theme, I assembled numerous images to represent the thriving life in a desert. Among the images were two background scenes. One I used for the skyline; the other for the landscape.

Below are the list of images I included to complete my theme:

Item	Contributor	Source
Mermaid under water	Pixabay	Link
Desert landscape (Contest Image #179)	Hive account@lmac	Link
Woman with red roses in hair	Pixabay	Link
Purple Butterfly	PurePNG	Link
Black birds	Hive account@onyechi	Link
Red flower	Hive account@angelis90	Link
Woman Sitting Side (Public Art - "Sculptures Garden" in Tel Hashomer)	Hive account@alex2alex	Link
Red tree	Hive account@onyechi	Link
Blue moon	Hive account@mynatasha	Link
Flaming Flower	Hive account@m1alsan	Link
Woman Sitting forward (Public Art - "Sculptures Garden" in Tel Hashomer)	Hive account@alex2alex	Link
Granite Sculpture (Public Art - Sculpture Gardens)	Hive account@alex2alex	Link
Butterfly - Pink	Hive account@justclickindiva	Link
Butterfly - Yellow	Hive account@justclickindiva	Link
Butterfly- Green	Hive account@justclickindiva	Link

When compiling my freestyle collage design, I upload the images to Canva, my design program I use for compiling my images and completing the project. Below are the procedures I use that incorporate the tools at my disposal in my Annual Pro Membership Subscription.

To a blank canvas, I added the mermaid image.

Resized the mermaid image, then duplicated it to fill the screen as my background. I knew I only wanted to use the background of the image, so I decided to replace the mermaid with an alternate image.

Added the woman with red flowers in her hair.

Removed the woman's background. Added the red tree, moon, and bird to the woman's head.

Added the LMAC landscape oasis image. I knew I wouldn't need the skyline portion.

Removed the landscape background; resized and duplicated it to fill the bottom half of the screen.

Added the flowers. Removed the backgrounds, then resized and repositioned them. One in the skyline and the other in the landscape.

Added the colorful butterflies. Three of them are my own fractals. Others are free images.

Added the statutes of people. Colorized, resized and positioned them on the canvas.

Below is my completed collage:

Thanks for your visit. I appreciate it. I hope you like my freestyle collage theme.

CONTEST RULES

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

It is imperative that you read the post LMAC School - Public Domain Picture sources (Free Materials for creating collages) by Hive account@quantumg, which discusses public domain issues. The post offers valuable information on images for commercial use. Links are included to sources that offer public domain images and other images that are free for commercial uses. Using public domain pictures and free pictures for commercial use are requirements for all collages that are submitted as entries in the LMAC contest and the LMAC Image Library (LIL).

What is Let's Make a Collage?	It is a weekly photography and collage contest.
Who created the contest?	Hive account@shaka is the contest owner.
What type of contest is it?	This Contest utilizes a single photo provided by the contest owner as the basis for you to create your own photo collage by adding to the photo provided.
What are the rules?	1. Use as your starting point for your collage the photography provided by the contest owner. It is located on the contest owner's post for free use without any copyright protection.
	2. Entries are required to be posted to the LMAC community and must contain a link to the contest post.
	3. Entries need to set the LMAC account (Hive account@lmac) as 20% beneficiary to be eligible for the dynamic component of the prize pool.;
	4. Extra support with the LMAC trail to all collages where LIL assets have been included AND the respective LIL-contributors set as 2% beneficiaries;
	5. By submitting your contribution you agree that your artwork remains public domain and that it can be copied, modified and distributed, even for commercial purposes, without requiring further permission.
	6. Any graphical element that is added to the photography either needs to be your own original work (e.g. own artwork or photography) OR needs to derive from sites whitelisted by LMAC.
	7. IMPORTANT: Indicate the source of all materials used in your accompanying post. Otherwise your entry can NOT be put up for the final vote.
	8. All sort of editing, modification and/or manipulation is allowed as long as no copyright is affected.
What do you win?	Prizes listed on the contest owner's post.

Good luck everyone with whatever your endeavors.

SOURCES:
a) JustClickindiva's Footer created in Canva utilizing its free background and images used with permission from discord admins.
b) Unless otherwise noted, all photos taken by me with my (i) Samsung Galaxy 10" Tablet, (ii) Samsung Phone, & (iii) FUJI FinePix S3380 - 14 Mega Pixels Digital Camera
c) Purple Butterfly part of purchased set of Spiritual Clip Art for my Personal Use
d) All Community logos, banners, page dividers used with permission of Discord Channel admins.
e) Ladies of Hive banner used with permission of and in accordance with the admin's guidelines
f) Thumbnail Image created by me in Canva.
g) "Flames." What is Apophysis 2.09. https://flam3.com/

English is my native language.
If translation included, I use DeepL to assist my readers.
Thanks for your patience an understanding.