on days like this

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

I took this picture of a tulip (or rather what is left of it) a while back with the idea of decomposition and age in mind but when I tried to find a picture to go with my poem of the same name I came across it again. I hadn't done anything with it yet and it seemed the perfect partner... 

You can read the complete poem here

All images/textures/brushes my own or bought. Edited with Photoshop.

All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6 and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go toBluecanvas). You can now also get most of my images on cushion covers (go to Society6 for these).

She Walks In Beauty

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

She Walks in Beauty 
She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellow'd to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o'er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

Lord Byron, 1814 

Picture taken earlier this year and edited a few days ago. I changed the colours and added the fog, I also edited out the people at the end of the path. I wanted a spooky ethereal image but in the end there was something so hopeful about it that I felt the poem was the perfect companion.

All images/textures/brushes my own or bought. Edited with Photoshop.

All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go toBluecanvas). You can now also get most of my images on cushion covers (go to Society6 for these).

Talking About Love

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

Another in my Victorian Love series. I posted the other one yesterday (The Gift)

Words are from my poem Waiting

lost in a sea of
faces that are all the same
with their fear and longing
all waiting to be found
by that one
the only one

All images/textures/brushes my own or bought. Edited with Photoshop.

All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6 and Bluecanvas as prints.

All available on Society6

rainbow inside

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

Words from my poem of the same name:

I shed this skin
and what is left will be the rainbow
that escaped me for so long
and I will hug myself
and hold it tight
and I will never let it go

Image of the Cambridgeshire countryside taken by me a while back.

All images/textures/brushes my own or bought. Edited with Photoshop.

All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6 and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go to Bluecanvas). You can now also get most of my images on cushion covers (go to Society6 for these).

Available on Society6

this broken heart of mine

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

I found some glass shards in the street and couldn't resist picking them up and taking pictures of them. There are (hopefully) more pictures to come of this venture. This image is to accompany the poem 'putting it all together'. The words are from the poem.

just a few shards
glittering in
someone else’s sun
letters and writing
from days long ago

All images/textures/brushes my own or bought. Edited with Photoshop.

All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6 and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go to Bluecanvas). You can now also get most of my images on cushion covers (go to Society6 for these).

 cushion on Society6

a song in the dark

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

A photograph I took a couple of weekends ago. I love the autumn colours and the last of the fruit of the season. There's something so precious about this and it gives hope for another spring.

The words of the poem are mine:

the pyramids still stand
so why shouldn't I walk away
with a smile in my future and
a seed of hope
like a spark in the night
why shouldn't there be
a crown somewhere ahead or
at the very least
a rosebush
thorns and all

The whole poem can be read here

All images/textures/brushes my own or bought. Edited with Photoshop.

bitter taste

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

only a hint of flowers remains
like a dream and a kiss
a tiny little speck of hope
a seed for a future far away

Words and photographs my own, textures/brushes my own or bought. Edited with Photoshop.

The complete poem can be read here.

All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6 and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go to Bluecanvas). 

Love Lost and Gone

© Sybille Sterk
Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

Photo taken recently in the Norfolk countryside near Langham. The words are from my poem of the same name, you can read the whole poem here.

"Forgotten the scent of roses
Lost the warmth of the sun
Cursed the moment it began
Such is the tale of love lost and gone."

Photograph edited in Photoshop.

end of days

© Sybille Sterk
Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

This is an image I took at the end of a long hot day. The simplicity and light seemed to perfectly complement the poem of the same name that I wrote.

The extract reads:

everything's right here
and it's up to us
to make something worthwhile
to paint our life
in many shades of grey
in all the colours of the rainbow
to live through the ups and downs
to love all we can
until the end of days

 You can read the whole poem here.

All images and words used are my own, edited in Photoshop.

All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6 and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go to Bluecanvas).

the things I allow myself to think

 

© Sybille Sterk
Do not copy, or publish in any way without my permission.

Part of my new series of images for licensing on Arcangel-Images - use this code: SYST-00161

The image has been edited slightly from the original and my words from the poem the things I allow myself to think have been added:

the things I allow myself to think
are few and far between
like a necklace of islands in the ocean
never precise and harsh
like the cries of seagulls by the beach

Created with my own photographs in Photoshop, no stock used.

 
All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6 and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go to Bluecanvas).

You Just Are

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

A combination of two images (the original field image didn't have a pretty horizon) and textures and colour and other effects added in Photoshop.

All my own images.

My own words, from my poem, you

as you dance each step of your life

to the melody in your head

and the rhythm

made by the passing

of the seasons

A celebration of who we are, of our uniqueness and the path we've come already and the mystery of where it will lead us.

Summer Hills Blues

© Sybille Sterk

All my own pictures. Taken in Cambridgeshire.

Words from my poem 'Blue':

"hold on to the memory

count each single lash

and the look in my eye

when we first met"