"This is where I live"
Waiting for the arrival of my first journal was excruciating. With the exception of anticipating the birth of my children, it was the longest wait ever. I checked the post every day and finally went home on the Friday with this little beauty. It took a lot of will power not to rip it open in the car.
Natura arrives!
What I love most of all is watching the page develop. I went in with a vague idea that there should be a hill in the middle with a house on top and my home environment surrounding it. That was it! It took several false starts to get further than gesso on the page, then all of a sudden I was off.
I have a 'go-to' book that I often use for image transfers in the background of my pages. I found it on a art retreat that I did with my friend a few years ago in New Norcia. It is Australia's only monastic town. On our last day we found the library and it was fantastic but most wonderful of all was they were selling off some of their old stock for very little. I came home with two old text books. One from 1915 in Latin and this one from 1910. It is a textbook on botany and the image I have chosen is a cross section of the cell structure of a fern. It seemed appropriate some how as everything is essentially made up from the same elements and that seemed to resonate with this spread.
I wanted to portray how much the environment is apart of my life. I am surrounded by the most beautiful landscapes. I have a quiet beach on one side and a RAMSAR wetland and national park on the other. All of it is topped off by the vast West Australian sky.
I love using Derwent Inktense blocks. It gives me the opportunity to put down a background colour - fast! And because I gesso the paper before I start, it allows me to spread, smudge and play with the colour blends.
left hand page
I decided against being too figurative and used my wooden stamps to label the areas instead. Then I added some sprayed circles using the packaging from some cup cakes I was given for christmas. The final touches went in in text and white pen. I think It gives a bit of an idea of where I'm living. I hope you enjoy it.Sharon Williams
I really like the bubbly textured look of your hill Sharon and the whole spread is really great. Would have loved to see a pic of your work as a whole. First exchange nearly over and I'm thinking that experience is probably the hardest.
ReplyDeleteooooh! How wonderful! Such a treasure to find those books! Did you do a copy of the illustration and then image transfer of that? It looks awesome and certainly gives a glimpse of your surrounding, as I sit in a bustling city it give a wonderful sense of place. Can't wait to see it in person.
ReplyDeleteSharon your entry in Deb's journal is so beautiful! I love the texture of your hill. What a fabulous place you live!
ReplyDeletewow I love it thankyou so much I know that all of our journals are going to become family heirlooms to be treasured for generations and will make the best coffee table reading.
ReplyDeleteWow Sharon, love where you live. What a gorgeous page and an awesome journey getting there.
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