I love it! its dark but beautiful and mysterious, great job..

Thank you, ma'am! I like your description :)

sweet! I must learn

Lovely!!

Great image! I am nine words away from speechless.

Nice composition. The egret seems to be sheltering you.

Lovely!

A pale hope emerging in a dark place. I love it, as I love all of your creative submissions. Stunning.

This is great!

I was napping (it is Sunday after all), then eating a bit of supper, then contemplating another nap (did I mention this is my favorite weekend activity?), then I come here to find... comments! So let me start over and thank you all.

Stellaa, thank you! What a wonderful way to describe it.

rita, I also thank you for your description of my efforts. I think we all love the idea that we can evoke beauty and mystery in something we do.

trig, you may be a much quicker study than I have been. I'd be embarrassed to tell you how long ago I got this Photoshop program. It is fun though. I'm hooked on this ability to move something out of one photo and into another!

JulieShanti, I'm very glad you like this. Thank you!

Stacey, you are always a delight. Your comment is brilliant. Thank you for your comment and for making me smile.

Leah, the egret is my favorite bird, and I like the image of being sheltered by it. Beats being pecked :)

I forgot to mention that the egret is also from a photograph I took. I loved the way he was standing so tall!

Thank you, my dear Donna!

Monsieur, what a wonderful thing to say. I think we might all need to find some hope glimmering in the darkness these days.

Hi, Lainey! You know I can't resist "dressing up" my avatar :)

Although.... Am I the only one that thinks the body of the egret looks a little like a skinny plucked chicken?

Not bad?! Stunning! xox

Thank you, Robin!

So does this mean you don't think it looks like a skinny pink nekkid chicken? (Sorry, hope for actual health care reform has me giddy!)

You and a flying dinosaur, perfect. :)

LOL, merwoman! Damn straight. You know how much I dig flying dinosaurs.

Strength and dignity in the storm. It speaks.

AtHomePilgrim - Thank you for your wonderful comment!

I love the idea of "strength and dignity in a storm," especially right now when there seem to be so many storms brewing everywhere (and I don't mean the teapot that is OS, but the larger world).

Stellaa, of course, nailed it. Have fun, keep at it,d

Stellaa often does nail it, doesn't she? Thank you for stopping by, David, and I'm glad you like my offering. I'm trying to keep this place at least somewhat "art friendly."

You are much farther along than I ever got. So I may need to enlist your advice on some things.....

Extremely well done, Susan. Keep up the good work. :-D

the egret so looks like a velociraptor, Deven's and my favorite pre-feathered dinosaur.

xo

Thank you kindly, Bill--and if you need "the simpleton's approach to Photoshop," I am totally your go-to gal :) There are probably a hundred better ways to do this, but I'll be damned if I didn't keep stumbling around in the dark until I found some way to cut and paste elements from one photo to another.

Barry, I can easily imagine this great bird in its ancestral form, running around on two legs, it's head swiveling and bobbing on a long velociraptor neck! It is so easy to see the dinosaurs underneath the feathers of these things called birds, if you just look closely, as I know you know! Hugs to you and your wonderful family.