Blown by the wind

This picture began life as a simple drawing in my art journal. We often feel blown by the storms of life, but I wanted to remember that it is my roots that keep me stable, just like those of a tree. One day I decided to recreate the image, and this is the result.

The background is created with two distress inks, water and cling film. I put the ink on a glass mat, spritz with water and then I take the paper and put it on top to pick up the wet ink. The last step is to take the paper off the glass mat, and then put cling film on top of the wet ink, scrunching it a bit. By leaving it to dry, it creates the pattern you can see in the background. To finish the piece, I removed the cling film, drew my tree and added the words. 

Over the years I have made lots of images of lessons and truths that I want to remember. This practice of making these little ‘reminder cards’ is what inspired my postcard sets. Once I had made a reminder card I used to display it where I saw it often, and after a while, I would find that the lesson had become embedded. It’s a great use for an art journal - creating beautiful reminders for yourself.