Nature

I'm back with another project of mine, and as it's the case on every other Friday, it's my DT project for the Alphabet challenge. Our theme this fortnight is "Nature", which gives you a variety of interpretation, especially as nature begins to put on its most colourful clothing. 

To be perfectly honest, I've created my project quite some time ago, during my last rehabilitation. The crafting hours were a welcome break during all the other therapies, and posed their own little challenge as I couldn't access my crafting supplies back home. Instead, I'd be working with limited supplies and stuff I don't normally use in my crafting corner. 

For this particular project, I picked a canvas which I covered in white acrylic paint. I picked a couple of napkins and other embellishments that might be useful in my project, but I didn't really have a specific idea about what I wanted to achieve. I placed a napkin with the motif of handwriting all over the canvas. Once that was dry, I used diluted acrylic paint and a napkin to drizzle a brown-ish shade above the handwriting. I then added parts of a napkin with a lovely fall scenery: a bird on a branch with berries. I complemented it with some bark I picked on one of my walks, and I think it creates the impression of an old garden fence. I added a bit of "earth" on the lower part of my canvas by using brown acrylic paint, as well as a piece of moss for the grass. 

As the bird seemed so alone and tiny, I created the silhouette of the sun with golden acrylic paint that would shine behind the animal. I thought I was done, but I felt like something was still missing. After giving it more thought, I went back to the crafting room to fill the surface of the sun with brown acrylic paint. I think the sun looks way more complete this way as opposed to an empty golden halo. But it still didn't feel enough. 

I decided to take more golden paint, dilute it with a bit of water, and drizzle it onto the background with a napkin. 

Those golden sparks seemed to bring everything together, but I decided to play around a little more: I took dark green paint and a couple of cotton swabs to add more foliage to the tree branch. My idea behind it was to enhance the leaves that were barely visible on the original motif, and to add more colour to the otherwise brown and gold colour scheme. I'm not sure whether I succeeded to it as those dots seem rather clumsy, but it it what it is. 

When it was time to go home, I decided to not take the image with me as we'd be mooving soon and I knew I'd have no use for it. Instead, a guy friend I met during my stay decided to take it with him. I'm not sure what happened to it in the subsequent months, and I'm not sure what will happen to us, but I discovered once again how mind-blowing it is to spend time with people who just "get it" - the experience of being a young cancer patient, the everyday struggles and frustrations about inadequate care, insurance stuff, friends, family, life plans, and general health issues. Endless discussions without being judged, dismissed, and ridiculed, without holding back and/or not knowing what to say, and without any weird reactions, because everything just makes sense in a weird parallel universe.

challenges:

- 613 avenue create: ATG with optional twist "fall colours"
- a place to start: ATG with optional twist "all that glitters"

- classicdesignchallenge: ATG DT 

- crafty catz: ATG with optional twist "colours of autumn"
- crafty gals corner: signs of fall

- creative inspirations: ATG

- critter crazy: ATG animals

- friendship challenge: autumn

- kreativtanten: golden fall

- lil patch of crafty friends: ATG handmade

- love to craft: ATG 

- morgans artworld: ATG
- moving along with the times: ATG

- nachteulen: ATG

- path of positivity: ATG

- unicorn challengeblog: autumn/Halloween
- use your stuff: small type (handwriting in the background - not sure if it counts as it's not exactly "words")

- vesela hiska: golden fall
- wortartwednesday: ATG
- worldwide crafters and colorists challenge: ATG