Gratitude

The challenge for Documented Life this week was to "Depict Gratitude In a Creative Way", and here's what I came up with:

"This too."
...as in 'This, too, shall pass.'

I went with a pretty simple, albeit time consuming, collage for this prompt.  The time consuming part was the background, which I made using the Vaseline technique with acrylic paints, so most of the time was spent waiting for the layers to dry (four layers to be exact).  Then I decided to add a layer with crackle (two more layers)...which was the wrong choice and I don't want to say "ruined" it, but will admit to needing to fix the mistake for sure...  So I ended up doing a light whitewashing over the whole background (yet another layer) which made it better than it was before, but not as good as before I decided to add the crackle layer.  For the record, I think I just used the wrong color choice on the crack layer and it wasn't the crackling itself that was bad...I still hold to the fact that it was a good idea...

So, with seven layers of paint, you can see why I said time consuming, right?

I decided to go with a simple collage for my page, instead of doing a drawing like I originally planned.  I wished I had thought of that before I whitewashed the background, because I think the collage elements would have stood out a lot better on a darker background...but it is what it is, and I still kinda like it.

The background on this spread was actually the inspiration for the entire piece...I had started doing the background because I had no idea what I wanted to do.  But once I got the layers (ALL SEVEN OF THEM) down, the background looked like a wall in an old house, all the paint peeling off, marking the years with color like the rings of a tree.  I've lived in houses like that all my life, and instead of looking shabby, it always looks homey to me.

So, between that nostalgic feeling and the hours I spent waiting for those layers to dry, when I looked at the page, it made me think about the passage of time.  

Sometimes, the thought of time passing is scary to me.  It goes by so very fast anymore, and I'm afraid of what happens when it runs out...

But there's also the good part about time going by, which is the fact that things change in time.  Problems are solved.  Wrongs are righted.  Happy times are had and hard times are forgotten.  

It's a good thing that we don't live in the same moment forever, even if it's a very happy moment...we'd probably just end up taking it for granted.  

I guess I'll take the bad times too, just so I can truly appreciate the good when it comes.  As long as I can still remember that the bad stuff does pass eventually, I'll be fine...and grateful that it does.