Louises page in Momento Mori

Momento Mori has certainly been challenging us all

 as it makes it was around our beautiful country.

 I have been thinking about this one for quite a while.  

We had a huge storm sweep in recently 

whilst I was contemplating the fact we are all very mortal

 and as I watched it gather power and overcome all the challenges

 in its path at such a ferocious speed

 I started to think how short a time all life has,

 be it that raging storm, ourselves or the trees around us.

I took those themes 

and was also inspired by the colour pallet

 of that sunset storm for my pages. 

First of all I did a black stencilled background as I was so inspired by Roz's gorgeous background. I wanted mine to look like trees in a wild storm with gathering darkness. 

Then I created all the elements I wanted to use in my spread, the clock face, the wings and an hourglass and I recycled some gold packaging I have been holding onto for ever to make my letters and played around with placement for a couple of days. 

Then I came across this great quote by Ansel Adams-

Öur time is so short

And the future so terrifyingly long.

Through the art of brush, pen and lens...

We possess a swift and sure means

of touching the conscience

and clearing the vision. 

So I had to add that.

I decided to make "Tempus Fugit" time flies,

the flying clock as an openable page in itself,

that reveals the quote and the watching hour glass.

I have also done a walk though this journal

 and published it at River Girl Art  if you would like a peek.

Working in this journal also bought to memory another quote- 

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do 

with your one wild and precious life?” 

― Mary Oliver

My spread for Memento Mori

I had originally intended to use some photos of a cemetery in a bushland setting in Victoria. I took these photos about 6 years ago and I coudn't find them on my old hard drive. So I had to come up with something different~!
I found the skull image online and coloured it with prismacolour pencils.Tha background id stenciled and stamped. The texture paste is homemade with black gesso,bi-carb,cornflour and some gold glitter. The stamping is done with versafine Ink.

The second page had already been done with a layer of gesso so I used some homemade spray ink and some dylusions ink and some fabric spray ink for colour to tie in with the previous page. Once again I added some stamping and texturising with an old make up sponge. The quote I printed out from the internet.

The girl from the book was just visible so I used  an 'ALL' pencil to make her slightly more prominent. For those who don't know this journal is a re-purposed picture book about Hiroshima. I didn't want to obliterate the girl so she is now part of this spread.

'Memento Mori' - Deb's page

'Memento Mori'- Latin for 'remember you will die'. Remember you will die- we are mortal beings interacting with an eternal cycle of life. While there is life there must be death, and both are ever-present. My problems are all existential- if ever I'm wondering directly about anything that isn't existential, I'm wondering about how it relates to something that is. So I guess it's only natural that my journal theme be something so... epic. It has occurred to me that we, as people, are just about never exposed to the reality of our own death like other living things. This is a result of life being less about survival as about pleasure, because our basic needs are being taken care of.