Fall Fearless and Fly #4

Fall Fearless and Fly Challenge #4:

Headline Prompt:  Security:  What makes you feel safe and secure?  What rattles your sense of security?  Where do you go for comfort and refuge?

Color Prompt:  Cool colors (blues, greens, violets, etc.) 

Quote Prompt: You can't make a place for yourself in the sun if you keep taking refuge under the family tree.  Helen Keller

I used the colour and headline prompts. I started with a page covered with Chinese writing which I then gessoed (with an inadvertantly blue brush - whoops! At least it fit with the colour scheme :)) and added circles which I find pleasing, comforting even, like the enveloping arms of someone you love.

Next I photoshopped a photo I took a few years ago of a tower, giving it a bluer caste. The tower represents the comfort I find in solitude. When I need to think something through, or just need some space, I come to my art room - not quite a studio yet, but I'm dreaming. It's where I run to.

I added a border to the photo and some tape.

Then the words 'security' and 'safe' and 'comfort' coloured in with Copic markers. 

Thinking about those words led me through the usual places. My home is a safe and secure place for me; a place where I can lock the world out and retreat. But like Carly at True Color I know that it is not the physical building that makes the home but the people - my husband and daughter. They are my home.
My security comes not from riches or possessions but from being loved - by my family, but ultimately by God. I added some verses from Habakkuk: Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:17-18) And from Psalm 46:1 about God being my refuge and strength, always present in times of trouble.
If we put our trust in riches or in other people and use them as our security, we will be let down at some time. With God as my security I know I stand on solid ground.

At this point I added more circles and some rays with water-soluble oil pastels and the word 'refuge' down the side of the page.

The finishing touches were the definition of security being the freedom from fear, anxiety, danger or threat, and the words 'God, home, family, solitude' - the things which bring security, safety, and comfort; the places I run to when I'm rattled. 

So there you have it - the journey thoughts about security led me on. Why not use the link at the top or the button in the side bar to check out what everyone else thought about this challenge. 

A work progresses

 I thought it would be fun to see how my pages progress. Sometimes when I'm finished I can't remember all the layers that went in, so here is one photographed along the way.

I started out with a page covered with brown paper tape - the sort you use to stretch watercolour paper. On top of this I applied some gesso with a plastic card.

A layer of acrylic paint was applied with a baby wipe. 

Collage on a few pieces of paper and tape. 

Add some more paint.

The bit you can't see is that this is the stage where I decided what the page was going to be about. In this case it is a quote by Helen Keller based around a heart, so I put one on the page.

The quote was then stamped on with two different sets of alphabet stamps, edged, and coloured in.

The best and most beautiful things cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart.      Helen Keller

A few small hearts were stamped on.

I placed a few winding leaves to fill in what felt like empty and unfinished space with a Copic marker. 

So there you have it - journal page from start to finish.

What's your process?