What makes a gator a gypsy?

teacher, traveler, photographer, political junky, smash and bash artist, grandmimi, mom, canine companion

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Mixed Media Mayhem - What Lies Beneath- Documented Life Project

This journal entry was prompted by the January 31 challenge in the Documented Life Project which suggested using "under papers," those messy scraps from the desktop, as a starting point to work the theme, "What Lies Beneath."  

Getting started was easy because I always have papers to catch spills, clean brushes, to save my workspace from disaster.  I chose a favorite material, dyed paper towels.  Before I could go on to the next step I had to seal this mess.  First I tried a spray fix then went to a quick coat of matte medium to keep the dye from running.



 This happy, gaudy hodge podge sat on my workspace while I pondered and pondered the journal prompt, "what lies beneath."  When the news broke of the three college students murdered in North Carolina, I was saddened by the loss of young people full of promise, smart and beautiful.  Hearing their story begged the question, what's behind this, what lies beneath.  Online I found photos including one of Yusor Mohammed on her wedding day.  Another photo showed the signs carried by people at the vigil to honor the three.


I wrote the captions with my new gel pen and highlighted the text.  I was unhappy with the way the glue/matte medium blurred the bride's face.  I reprinted her image on a transparency for a top layer. There is nothing pretty about these pages, but that's how it should be.  I wanted to have a sense of beauty underneath, with a dark mood and obscure images to represent the mystery, the horror, and the sadness.





7 comments:

  1. Linda, I loved that background colour :-)

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  2. This is a really nice tribute, Linda. I love this: "I wanted to have a sense of beauty underneath, with a dark mood and obscure images to represent the mystery, the horror, and the sadness."

    It truly is what lies beneath, and this is a beautiful way to help us remember the tragedy.

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  3. Yummy paper towels and a great page! Sealing the inks is so tricky!

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  4. Awesome page! If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the nifty TDL button?

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  5. Interesting how you created this page... beauty and horror... together; fitting in successfully.

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