Week 11 was again the topic of Rivers, and I just loved doing this class by Laly Mille. It’s amazing how each different tutor in this year long class brings such different ideas to the table. The idea was for the project to be abstract of a cross section of a river, with the pebbles at the bottom being collaged pieces of paper, and then using water colours, acrylics, crayons or whatever medium over the top to get depth and layering.
As always, one never quite feels that your own page is up to the original artists creation, and the pages have been so varied from all the participants, but I came away feeling reasonably happy with this one. I especially liked that we journaled under the water and sky, so although you can’t see the writing, there is the knowledge that your thoughts are on that page, even though they are not visible to the viewer.
I tend to be more of a fan of the ocean, than rivers and lakes, so it was hard for me to get interested in this topic originally, as although I get a lot of pleasure looking at water, I don’t like near any rivers. However, since I completed this page (if it is complete – not sure yet?), I drove down to Papamoa to see my Mum and drove through the Karangaheke Gorge, which has the Ohinemuri River flowing through it. Every time I take in this piece of New Zealand I always feel blessed to live in such an amazing country. So, for once, I stopped and took a few pictures, which I hope to use for the next river project, which I am still working on. There is one particularly spectacular part of the gorge that I would love to photograph, but there is no where close to stop along the way, so I will just have to keep that scene in my memory bank.
Yellow Azalea 