polyvore

dreaming in baroque
digital collage by trish moreno

what better way to start my blog about fashion, beauty, home and art than to enlighten you to possibly the one thing i have found that combines them all- polyvore.

what started as an anonymous referral in my inbox from one of my favorite trend newsletters, trendcentral, has turned into a radical obsession, an addiction du jour, that has lasted many a "jour". polyvore is the place for budding fashion editors and stylists to create their own point of view, for fashion designers to explore new ideas, for fashion retailers to merchandise their mix, for interior designers to create space.

qualifying as both a fashionista and an interior designer, i could barely hold myself back from that fateful click. little did i know that polyvore would have such an impact on my life...or my family's. i have delayed numerous dinners for my poor hungry daughter..."just a minute honey, let me just finish this set" and stayed up well past the dissolve of midnight into morning on too many occasions to count. my husband somehow still sees the charm in that. i have created over 100 sets.

i am not really using polyvore for its intended use. i have used it to venture into the world of digital art, a long-veiled and secret club to me, one which i longed to be part of, but found cracking the photoshop code a bit too daunting a task. as a fine artist, i prefer charcoal pencil and oil paint, which is about as low tech as you can get. polyvore is photoshop made easy. it cuts to the quick, leaving out the unnecessary details, allowing you to layer various elements in a surprisingly simple way, and to create, create, create! hours go by and you're still doing it. polyvore is the zone, the crest of the creativity wave. i even created a piece that was voted by other users into first place, an honor for which i won a mac laptop from uber-cool sponsor, limelife. not a bad return on a spare-time addiction. for me, polyvore has been and continues to be a place for me to discover and inspire new reaches in my artwork. and its a place-holder in the artistic zone for anyone who wishes to add more creativity into their life.