A Tale of Two Christmases | Let's Make A Collage Round 221 (Entry #4)

Hello LMAC and Hive members. I wanted to share with you my Entry #4 collage for this current LMAC Round 221. My theme involves considering two different paths to celebrating the holidays.

@shaka, now holds a monthly contest with participants having the ability to submit multiple entries during that month for consideration. If you'd like to join in this monthly round for December with a due date of December 30, end of day (midnight UTC), visit: Let's Make a Collage - A Contest for All Creatives on Hive - Round 221 - ✨100 HIVE in the Prize Pool!.

Two completely different celebrations for the Christmas holiday. One celebration is lonely and fraught with hunger, attack by inclement weather, and nowhere to call home. Those individuals can't just catch a flight or pack a car and head to loved ones for the holiday season.

They're not a statistic that news media reports are of those traveling in the millions to portray a flourishing economy.

These individuals are the ones who can't afford the trip or flight. They can't afford to purchase gifts for themselves or their loved ones. There will be no holiday feast or an abundance of gifts waiting after they arrive at their destination; or family to great them and make them feel welcomed and loved.

They are the ones left behind in society. They are the ones overlooked. They are the ones stigmatized as lazy or wanting in desire to better themselves.

They are real people.

With real problems.

In preparing my theme, I decided to present two different scenarios of activities surrounding Christmas. By halving the theme into festivities and hardship, I was able to portray the imagery of joy and sorrow. My two pure fractals I designed in the advanced fractal rendering program, Apophysis 7X, provided a beautiful divider line and vibrant star in the center of the canvas to clearly distinguish the separation.

Below are the images I included in my collage:

Item	Contributor	Source
Top Half Depicting Festivities
Lighted reindeer	Contributed to #LIL by @seckorama	Link
Bow with bells	PurePNG	Link
Holiday home scene	Pixabay	Link
Snowman with scarf and owl	PurePNG	Link
Bottom Half Depicting Hardships
Pure Fractal titled "Rocket Swirl"	@justclickindiva	Link
Pure Fractal titled "Sponge Golden"	@justclickindiva	Link
Teen with infant	Pixabay	Link
LMAC Round 221 Contest Image	@lmac	Link

Utilizing Canva, I uploaded all images in order to blend the layers of elements, I was able to remove backgrounds, resize, duplicate, colorize, and repositione items as needed incorporating the tools afforded me in my Annual Pro Membership Subscription.

My first thought was to work with the different sections to completion before moving to the next, starting with a blank, white canvas.

Top festive scene:

• To the blank, white canvas, I added the home with holiday festivities outdoor; then duplicated it to appear as a community get-together;
• Added holiday decor; snowman, ornaments, and reindeer.
• Made sure to resize the top portion to leave room for the bottom half of the scene.

Bottom hardship scene:

• Switched to another layer for the bottom portion;
• Added my two pure fractals as a divider to show the different scenarios. I decided on an angular instead of a top and bottom section. That way, it seemed to break evenly;
• Added the teen with baby in a frame, then duplicated the wall screen to expose more of the street people;
• Added the LMAC winter scene on the right hand side. Removed background and resized the image.

Finally, I combined the layers with the festive portion on the top. This completed my scene.

I share below my completed collage for LMAC Round 221, Entry #4:

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