an all time favorite Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song TEACH YOUR CHILDREN inspired this two page spread for Elizabeth’s BACK TO SCHOOL theme over at Art Journal Journey…
I challenged myself to use colors I don’t often use and found a napkin along with some of my mother’s old paints that helped move me in that direction…
not totally comfortable with my color matching my favorite heavy gesso came to the rescue once again…
then I got distracted for a bit by my paint tray noticing a small corner of paint sticking up… sure enough the layers of paint peeled out easily and yes I did save those bits for what I am not exactly sure 🙂 …
then it was back to trying to make my pages work on a lovely rainy day here in Virginia…
it was fiddly fun cutting and pasting thin pieces of napkin to carry the design from one page to another (that napkin was too good to cover up completely)…
it took me awhile to get some matching turquoise and greenish yellow for my painted pages…
some Adirondack BOTTLE stamping ink applied with a wet wipe worked for one part since a lot of my Tim Holtz DISTRESS STAINS seem to have lost their color over time…
a little more doodling with my gold paint pen and my pages are complete (tricky to photograph on a rainy day)…
You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good-bye.
Teach your children well,
Their father’s hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picks, the one you’ll know by.
Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you.
And you, of tender years,
Can’t know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.
Teach your parents well,
Their children’s hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picks, the one you’ll know by.
Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
Songwriters: Graham Nash
Teach Your Children lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Spirit Music Group
it also represents passion, heat, strength, danger, power and courage…
we’ve had so many cloudy days this month I kept waiting for a good time to take some photographs…
Magpie's Nest ~*~ Patty Szymkowicz 