Apple seeds from apples my children ate at the farm
The last two months have been very busy at home with summer traveling. I took my two kids up to stay with my parents in Kansas for three weeks, then we drove back home to Austin to spend eight days unpacking and repacking to head off to England to see my husband’s side of the family for two weeks. All are agreed that both trips were too short!
A walnut that fell from the tree right as I was walking by it
I was very pleased that I was able to not only keep up my daily journaling practice in Kansas but that I also did a pretty good job of playing in a trip-specific journal I’d made for the trip . . . and not only that, I closed my eyes, jumped in the figurative deep end, and made my first assemblage.
Lavender stalks and a piece of old wood I found in the barn
I figured, if not now, when I’m on vacation and have much fewer responsibilities & demands on my time than when at home, then when will I? Knowing that the next month would be occupied with more travel prep, actual travel, and then travel unpacking . . . I was proud of myself for seizing the opportunity rather than avoiding it.
Poppy head over cheesecloth
Soaring along on the strength of my intentions and belief that this was the right thing to be doing, I headed out to the Atchison Wal-Mart to get some acrylic paints (Daler-Rowney System 3) & a canvas–because of course I had left all mine back at home–and then I got stuck in.
I spent about thirty minutes walking around the property and collecting items; figured I ought to collect much more than I thought I needed, and sure enough, I used only about a quarter of what I got. I was quite pleased with a poppy flower head and a piece of wood I picked up in the old barn that still had a nail stuck in one end of it.
I used Golden gel medium to coat the nail and make sure it stayed well put in the wood
Other things I gathered were apple seeds from fruit the children had been eating, lavender flowers from my mom’s plant, an arrowhead that I’d bought at Science City in Kansas City earlier in the week, and some cheesecloth (I always associate being at the farm with my mom’s scratch cooking, although I’m not sure she’s ever actually used cheesecloth . . . it was symbolic).
Stamping in the upper left was done with acrylic paint on a poppy head
Part of what pleased me about this project is that I didn’t put it off by researching various techniques in multiple books for days first. I just got started, and then later, I finished. But I must give full credit for most of the painting techniques I used to Julie Prichard and Chris Cozen. They have a wonderful book out now called Acrylic Solutions, but they also have many online classes over in The Land of Lost Luggage that are absolutely superb. Most of what I used here I remembered from doing the projects in their Texture Town class.
Assemblage, using Daler Rowney System 3 paints & canvas
