Tuesday 19 November 2013

Free-Fall vs Ebb & Flow - Mermaid Journal Pages

Hello again!

Are we all ok? We had a maHOOsive hailstorm in the early hours of this morning which let me know in no uncertain way that winter's just around the corner. Out with the extra blankets and the hot water bottles! ...and six BILLION hot, steaming cups of tea to keep my insides from freezing!

So - I have a couple of blog posts set up for you in response to an awesome new prompt/challenge over at

http://inspiration-avenue-team.blogspot.co.uk/
I've not entered one of their challenges before so I hope they like my offering. So many talented artists answer these challenges that sometimes I get that wobbly feeling ..you know the one... I was thinking about this, letting my rambling mind spiral this way and that, in the labyrinth of uncertainty where it scrabbles and scampers, and it struck me that often, I feel like I'm falling - a kind of free-fall descent that tends to tempt out the frighteners ....wobbly, wobbly... But if I take a step back... change perspective a bit... I see it's not so much a fall - it's a kind of a flow. The ebb and flow of life's powerful tides, I suppose. It's all very well to fight them, but sometimes that just leaves me exhausted, whereas if I trust the flow, let myself drift with them occasionally, I find that life takes me to new, exciting shores. Scary? Oh yeah! But full of adventure and opportunity. Sometimes, I figure that the Universe knows best.

Um....so how do I journal these slightly self-indulgent abstractions? Hmm? HA! - that'd be a MERMAID OPPORTUNITY!! WOO! NEVER turn down the chance to paint a mermaid. That's...a law...probably! I wanted to represent the sense of falling, the change of perspective, and the acceptance of 'going with the flow' in one page and a single image. You be the judge of whether I achieved it, k?

First - the free-fall:


Change perspective...and...going with the flow -


Hmm? Either way, your back's to the future - who can ever really say what will happen? But one way you've lost control to Fear, and with the other you give control to Trust. One seems preferable...

The other thought is that generally, if you're falling, the only thing that can happen is that you collide with things. Usually that's less than awesome. On the other hand, if you're trusting to the flow of life, you stand the chance of CONNECTING with things  - and that can bring happiness? Ok, not EVERY time, but SOME of the time, and that's worth the journey if you ask me.  How to illustrate that then... Well, in clearing my mum's junk room out of all the years of collected rubbish, I found the hobby-horse that she bought me when I was a child. He's hand-made from carefully shaped and polished wood, with real horse hair mane and leather bridle. I loved him - STILL love him so much! Finding him brought back a stream of good memories. The link? Well, life's led me on one hell of a journey, some free-falls, a lot of collisions, some ebb and flow, there and back again, but it's brought me back - at least in part - to the house I grew up in, full of memories and it's strangely reassuring. No collision this time, just a string of connections, fitting like jig-saw pieces to help mend the broken picture that is my adult past.  I might not like the way it's all happened, but if I choose to accept this destination then I can handle the journey.  Prompted by finding my horse (his name is 'Guy'), here's the journal page that grew from these thinky particles of brain dust:


If you're interested in 'stuff wot I used' on these pages, I've stuck to the Derwent watercolour pencils, and Caran D'Ache Neocolor II soluble wax pastels as a base, with Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze, Treasure Gold (Classic) gilding wax, and Uni Ball Impact gel pens (white and black). The only new 'stuff' added - some yummy gold Winsor & Newton ink, and I used a Tsukineko Brilliance Dew Drop ink pad (BD-63 Pearl Poppy) ink pad as a paint for the red of the bridle and the mermaid's hair decoration. These pads are awesome to use as paints, with the soft, squishy sponge and shimmery finish. Lovely.

I hope you like these journal pages. How would you represent 'free-falling' or 'ebb and flow'? If you like my posts, please save me as a favourite or add me to your Circles (if you're on G+) so I can send you updates, and as always you know I love to read your comments and suggestions. Thank you for reading - Love and hugs - Shroo :) xxx


8 comments:

  1. Wow.. Rachael this is such amazing and gorgeus! you are so talented. Im very glad you took a brave step and took part of the the inspiration avenue challenge. I like your tought about the creative process. Often for me it can feel like drowning or falling also especially since while you create art or anything you have to get touched with your own feelings and memories and toughts and then it can be nervous to show it to all world to know. But it can be very liberating process also. Lots of love and light
    Niina

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    1. Thank you so much Niina - I really appreciate your kind and supportive comment! I'm really glad I entered this challenge-I'll be looking forward to the next one! Big hugs - Shroo:)x

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  2. Your mermaids are fabulous so flowing so lovely...beautiful work.

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    1. Mermaids are SO awesome - I do love them! Thank you for your lovely comment!

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  3. Rachael, I'm amazed that you would wonder if your work would be liked by those of us at IA. It's so beautiful! I love the way you use color in your images. The lines you create in your mermaids are so fluid. I suppose we all feel trepidation when we share our personal imagery. After all, it comes from within. I hope you will feel inspired to join more of our challenges. Your art is a bright light for me.

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    1. Oh I do stress! Thank you so much for your words of support - very gratefully received :) Looking forward to braving more challenges! Big hugs - Shroo :)x

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  4. Um... WOW! And WOW again. Oh both of these are stunning ... and now even more I need to expand my Neocolours from the 3 crayons I have! Beautiful both of them but in particular the first one, from two perspectives is so clever! Did I say WOW?

    p.s - thank you for coming to see me and your lovely words!

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    1. Thank you so much for such an incredibly lovely comment! I hope you do get more neo color II pastels to play with - they're pretty awesome. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of your portraits - I loved the first couple you posted so much! Very best wishes - Shroo:)x

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