A Fantastical Day | LMAC FreeStyle Collage - No. 123

The day dawned clear and sunny, but the midday sun promised to change residents' hearts on whether they were willing to brave the 100 degree temperature forecast. Residents studied the broadcast that morning hoping for any break in the forecast later that afternoon.

After all, they'd waited six months for that day to arrive since learning of the new theme fantasy theme for that year's festival. A first ever for the city.

Alex Swanson had no choice but to attend. Assigned to cover the event, he woke early and set out toward downtown after learning his cameraman wouldn't be accompanying him.

Sweat poured from Alex's forehead as he rushed to the section of the city where the annual parade would take place. This year promised a special event for all attendees.

He quickly located a parking slot designated for reporters covering the event. His camera man was out ill, so he opted to handle the job himself. He'd enough practice, so he hurried to the spot and flashed his entrance credentials.

The parade would be passing through in half an hour.

He set up his tripod. A disturbance in the distance caught his eye. He couldn't focus on it else miss the start of the parade.

Instantly, the sky turned ominous. Menacing clouds carrying distorted images streaked across the sky with a loud, thunderous roar. The entire city went dark. No lights. No sounds of merriment from the crowd. Nothing.

Alex shrank back against nearest building wall, his camera still recording. As quickly as the darkness came, it disappeared.

In its place, a mesh of sights, old and new, ancient and foreboding materialized. Nature replaced parts of the city. Mushrooms blossomed with fairies tending to them in their gardens. An array of abstract paintings on display in a museum. Gigantic dark green statutes not recognizable transformed into a sort of alien world. A world of fantasy descended where odd creatures roamed the street.

A long moment passed. Within earshot, Alex heard people laughing again. He stared into the crowd. Didn't they notice that the parade had vanished?

Shocked, he peered around the corner onto the parallel street where he'd left his vehicle parked. Nothing disturbed. Only the street where the parade was scheduled to begin did a time where different world collided.

The scene lasted for only ten minutes. Long enough for Alex to absorb and dissect the scene.

Immediately, it dawned on him. He'd read a news report involving the town that an occurrence of this nature happened over one hundred years ago. Then, only one person witnessed the event.

No proof existed of the man's fantastical chronicle of that day. No one believed it happened.

But Alex's camera contained the proof.

For my current freestyle collage, I wanted to capture the theme of a fantasy episode that overtakes a city in its celebration of an historical event. The city is unaware of what is about to occur, except a photographer assigned to cover the event. His historical knowledge of the city comes in handy.

Below are my steps in which I utilized Canva, my design program, to blend the different type images. I leave with you my procedures which began with a blank, white canvas. I then add layers of elements in accordance with my upgraded Annual Pro Membership that includes tools to remove backgrounds, resize, filter, duplicate, and reposition items as required.

Below are the images I included in my theme to create a fantasy portal.

^{Alleyway - Contributed to the #LIL by @seckorama ~ Still life dry flower bouquet ~ Gothic statute ~ Mushroom fairy in forest ~ Fabregas cat ~ Fun art mushrooms ~ Photographer ~ Mushroom - Contributed to the #LIL by @agmoore ~ Small elongated mushroom - Contributed to the #LIL by @borjan ~ Water droplets}

I share with you my completed freewrite collage:

Thanks for taking the time to view my post. I hope you like my freestyle collage theme.