The Beginning of Always

I will not be sorry to say goodbye to the June theme on The Documented Life Project 2016 that was: Unravelling the Past - embracing new beginnings. It hit much too close to the bone, specially in the past week or so. I was pretty determined not to make another dark and depressing spread. So I dug around for a more uplifting quotation to use for these pages done in the 8 x 8" Dylusions art journal. I came up with Dante's one: "Remember tonight .....for it is the beginning of always".  

Here is the full text:

"Remember tonight, for it is the beginning of always. A promise, like a reward for persisting through life so long alone. A belief in each other and the possibility of love. A decision to ignore, simply rise above the pain of the past. A covenant, which at once binds two souls and yet severs prior ties. A celebration of the chance taken and the challenge that lies ahead. For two will always be stronger than one, like a team braced against the tempest civil world. And love will always be the guiding force in our lives. For tonight is mere formality. Only an announcement to the world of the feelings long held. Promises made long ago. In the sacred spaces of our hearts" - Dante Alighieri

Wise words and still they too are very unnervingly applicable to the present situation. Our art challenge was to use watercolour. And I did, honestly! Only I completely forgot about that bit till the very end so the only watercolour used is the pink around the white circles and the pink lines at top middle.

There is collage underneath the paint, mainly consisting of vintage maps of France (that was no accident!) as well as the left over bits of tissue wrap (by Tim Holtz) that were fluttering on my work table. I stamped on the black dots and then started with the paint and the L402 Floral 2 stencil from Stencilgirl. The circles and the oxo come from the April 2016 Stencilgirl Club large stencil.

The image of the embracing couple is from a rubber stamp that I think I bought from Lenna when she moved from Connecticut to Florida and had a stamp sale.I would tell you who made it but I seem to have lost it temporarily in the chaos of my studio. I stamped it onto copy paper and then collaged it on and integrated it into the page with paint. There is a lot of fluorescent paint on these pages and they don't photograph too well but this is a very bright and happy looking spread. I'm aiming to reach the same result for my mind set.