Butterfly of the Gnome | Mixed Media Art

To her already soft plush lips, Julianne applied an additional layer of lipstick. Her tall, slim figure received several honks from passerbys' horns. She ignored each as she pulled the dress down near her knees. It did no good, as its purpose flattered the wide, alluring hips. Once more, she tossled the thick, black strands and leaned her head sideways before stepping from the curb onto the crosswalk.

Her mouth salivated as across the boulevard under the streetlight, Jared leaned against the diner's wall, waiting.

The night promised excitement.

She scrolled through the photos on her phone, searching for her latest date. One last look she sneaked at the wide smile embedded in Jared's rugged face.

Looking up in time, she narrowly avoided an oncoming car rushing through the yellow light. It was then she caught a glimpse of a small black van with dark tinted windows waiting.

The vehicle hugged the corner as though its presence ruled, ready to pounce. The detailed, fine-tuned vehicle, with large white-walled eyes canvassed the area. Crowds ignored it as though a regular on the scene.

The closer she approached, the louder it roared as if pleased by her company. The glint of moonlight on the windshield caught her attention.

As she stepped up onto the sidewalk, she returned Jared's smile. He pulled her close and planted a soft kiss on her cheek.

Within minutes, the door opened. Jared pushed her inside, then entered hurriedly. The door slammed shut.

"Hello butterfly. You look lovely tonight. just call me Gnome." He smiled wickedly, then tapped on the back of the seat immemdiately in front of him.

He lit a cigarette, took a long drag, and stared silently out the window.

The gearbox responded with a purr as the vehicle zoomed down the boulevard. It slowed at the second corner, turned right, then sped up and into the dark.

Only the bright glow of the moon witnessed the occurrence that took place way too often on any given night in the district of the city that catered to the disappearance of many a young lady.

She belonged to him now. Period. She ensured this by keeping their meeting secret. Wedged between the overlord and the underlord, Julianne's entrapment secured Jared's position in the flutter.

Careully planned and executed, the Gnome would be paid handsomely once the package landed in his boss' lap. She would fetch a good price on the dark market his boss and future business partner assued him.

The vehicle stopped, then started again.

As Julianne lay curled in the rear, she fough back tears, remembering the last warning only last month her parents attempted to instill in her approach to dating.

"Please be careful of the people you meet on those sites you say are from the internet. We've heard some scary incidents and would hate to lose you to a predator. You're too trusting."

She half-listened that night.

She prayed this night, wishing she could get word to them.

Fractal Art and Stable Diffusion Project

Anyone who follows my fractal art and other projects know that I love to create Mixed Media Art. I accomplish this by combining different types of art to achieve a unique scene. Blending them together looks as if the scene was produced as one. If your final project looks like this, then I feel you have succeeded.

In designing this project, images of butterflies flooded my thoughts. Once I decided to create a butterfly, the auora would be alien in nature. The reference would entail an evil being personafied by the beauty and allure of a beautiful butterfly. A camouflage. Deceitful.

As inspiration for my project, I discovered an interesting free-sourced photo of a butterfly I can only describe as evil looking:

^Source

To play upon the purple color in the butterfly, I created a stable diffusion image to complement the photo. I utilized StarryAI. I previously provided information on this software. The text prompt is required, as it provide the software with a description of your desired image.

Below are my steps:

With three primary pieces in place, I then required a female image to portray the young lady who fell victim to the online predator. I was thoroughly surprised to locate an image I felt was perfect. The female is alluring, one of the types that attracts would-be predators for nefarious purposes.

Ironically, the image I found described a female vampire. The photo is stunning and worked well with the other pieces.

^Source

Last, but not least and not to be diminished, is my pure fractal enitled "Snake Skin". I designed this fractal in the fractal rendering program, Apophysis 2.09 and utilized it to add texture to the lower portion of the scene. It blended well with the other images.

As a final touch, I added an additional layer to the background. I located this image:

^Source

With all pieces compiled, blending my mixed media art project was easy utilizing the design program, Canva. A few of the images required background removal. I accomplished this with the upgraded features in my Annual Pro Membership Subscription.

Here are the steps in my design process from left to right: