Sunday, January 4, 2009

Soul Journal #13 - Textured Background

I live in a place that hasn't received snow since 1977, which of course renders the idea of snow in a romantic, peaceful, and worth-a-12-hour-drive to experience it kind of way.

My Soul Journaling sisters had a prompt on textured backgrounds I decided to stay with the theme and keep mine in the winter whites. The idea is to use gesso to coat and glue down items on your journal page. This creates textures that appear almost fossil-like in the background of your page. The plaster element of gesso kind of binds it all together, and it actually comes out quite beautiful.

The picture below is of my grandmother taken back in the early 1980's, with lavender from last summer now encased in a blanket of snow and ice (courtesy of gesso). In my grandmother's letters, she would always enclose a few sprigs of lavender from her garden and smell being what it is, it would transport me back to the summer before. When I was drying the gesso, the heat tool brought up the sweet and slightly spicy smell of the lavender as though it had time travelled me back 30 years...

I hope that you have an art-filled New Year full of possibilities and joyous flights of delicious fancy!


4 comments:

Christy said...

This is undeniably beautiful. Wow wow wow. The dimension from the lavender, the lovely texture under the Gesso. The not quite black and white feel of the photo... I'm awed by this piece.

Kathryn Costa said...

Gorgeous page. I love all of the textures. I'm so glad you are playing along ~ I'm so inspired!

Now about the romantic idea of snow. Let me tell you it isn't all that fun. I'd prefer to look at snow globes and Currier & Ives paintings than to live in it.

Happy New Year!
k

Cindy said...

Holy cow - that looks even more beautiful than you described it. I must try this new gesso technique!

Anne said...

Hi, Jane! This is stunning! Way to go! :-)