Members' Birthdays 1
The prevalence of Alice in our 'Members' Birthdays' thread is something for which I have to take some personal responsibility. I started this 'Crux Legend' thread to coincide with Alice's own birthday on 13 May, presenting one of Valery Anzilov's attractive portraits, taken in the early summer of 2007 in the Crimea - definitely one of my favourites.
From the same shoot, Jedakk's birthday prompted the next portrait by Anzilov, taken within sight of Diva Rock and Swan's Rock near Simeiz, on the south coast of the Crimean peninsula, where the Black Sea is overlooked by Gora Koshka (Cat Mountain.)
Wraggs' birthday coincided with the creation of my montage, 'Why Me? - 3', to celebrate the tenth anniversary of 'Alice and Koshka in the Crux Forrest'. Again the foreground portrait is an Anzilov picture, taken near the summit of Gora Koshka. The background images of Alice are well-known Makar pictures, including his own, 'Why Me? - 2' on the right.
Two Alice manipulations derived from pictures by Makar and Anzilov were presented to Damian on his birthday. Jollyrei's manip shows Alice from a Makar image, and Katrina from Orchid Studios. My own manipulation is based on the 1872 Symbolist painting, 'L'Esperance' ('Hope') by Puvis de Chavannes. Here, Alice's body has been reconstructed using pieces of six different Anzilov pictures, again from the Black Sea coastal shoot referred to above.
Imagemaker's birthday was, rightly, an occasion which prompted numerous greetings by members, all keen to express gratitude for his efforts in maintaining the site. Since he is now the only one of us who had the opportunity to meet Alice in person, I felt it was appropriate to present him with a re-manipulated picture from my 'Ivdaea Capta' series. Here the figure of Alice was produced in four sections, again from the Anzilov Crimean coastal series. The re-manipulation blended my original image with a behind-the-scenes view of a Xena crux shoot, in which Renee O' Connor hangs crucified for the cameras.
A manipulation is one thing, but of course, Imagemaker filmed Alice's crucifixion for real.