Wise Men Bearing A Gift...

Art Journal

I definitely have to explain this 2-page layout.  If you're a church-goer, you might know that last Sunday was the Feast of The Wise Men, aka The Three Kings...the Epiphany.  I remember as a young child (5) living in Madrid at the time, and we put our shoes outside our bedroom doors to receive treats on this date.  And I clearly remember finding a Milky Way in my shoes.  I don't remember what else might have been there....it was a very long time ago, but my recall is that I probably hadn't had an American candy bar in awhile.  OK, moving on... on the 1st Sunday of the New Year when I attend church, our Rector always has a basket that she passes around during the service.  And in that basket are little paper, gold crowns.  Inside each crown, a word is written...a word you may like or not!  But I always find it fun to see what my "word" will be because I like to "journal" it.  Well...I wasn't blown away by my word....and I really wasn't at all sure what to say/paint about it.  So...

I started by painting the Three Wise Men. I used my new, water soluble crayons at the top and instead of stars...I added pinwheels...similar to stars but just something different.  I love the richness of the crayons... I know I've said that on previous posts.   I actually was going to make the Wise Men taller and skinnier...but this is what evolved...

 I wanted them to be very colorful, have metallic, etc.  I didn't give them arms...it was just easier not to.  But I kind of like their look.  

 OK....now I know you're looking at this opposite page and going....what in the world is the connection here between the Wise Men and My Secret Garden and what's the story with the red dress hanging on the line????

BACK TO THE WORD in my ring....The Word(s) I chose are SELF-LOVE. Oh brother!  (I tagged it to the left page).  Not being a person who uses a lot of WORDS on my pages....I like the art to tell the story....I did reflect a bit on those words.  After all....I got them at church...What I often like to use on my pages...lyrics.  And I chose some of the lyrics to Bruce Springsteen's Secret Garden.  Don't we all have a "Secret Garden"?  So those lyrics are typed very tiny across the two pages near the top.  I found the adorable little cottage on Pinterest.  After doing a little background painting, some rubber stamping, adding some bushes and a gate to the Secret Garden...my vision was coming together. I also added a key to the garden gate, bottom left.   I know you might wonder about the red dress hanging on the line in the backyard....but I'm not going to explain why that's there.  In fact, I'm not going to explain what this page has to do with Self-Love at all.

In the middle of the two pages is Nazareth, some tiny sheep, etc.  When I did the left page....I had not a clue what I was going to put opposite it...but these are turning into some of my favorite pages I've done.  Happy New Year.