For a girl who 'can't' draw ...

While I would love to say I enjoyed a blissful LONG Easter/Anzac Day weekend and the beginning of last week spending time with my daughter and getting lots of sewing done … I would be lying if I said that was true.  In actuality I spent most of the time either reading the awesome blog posts everyone has been writing (hehe), and working on finishing off my second assignment for my “Making Your Mark in Drawing” unit for uni ready to be sent today.  [Postage wise, it wasn’t really going to matter whether I put it in the mailbox on Thursday or today … wouldn’t be picked up until this afternoon, what with all those public holidays – Friday = Good Friday; Monday = Easter Monday holiday/Anzac Day; Tuesday = Anzac Day holiday!!]

The primary project I needed to work on was a collage with or without fromage (basically texture rubbings) / montage (think photoes, or those montages in movies) / [and/or] texture; possibly using 'found' items, paper items/scraps, and our own personal drawings to create a collage that explored a particular topic or idea.  

I went with the beauty of God's [floral] creation which surrounds me every day here at home (including, of course a couple of other favorites I'd previously taken photos of for an earlier photography course).  I was thinking basically Gen 1:11 (in which God creates every type of vegetation to grow on the earth) and Matt 6:30 (in which Jesus asks "If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you - you of little faith?).  The last verse is one that has been throwing itself around at me on and off every-so-often over the last little while, or at least there-abouts.

Anyway, I won't bore you with the details, except that I spent between 2 and 5 hours working on getting each (individual) flower looking 'just right', while having 4-5 photos (of differing angles) up on the computer screen in front of me to give me a good idea of tone and highlights/low-lights at one particular moment rather than the time lapse over the course of the drawing.  

The full A2 size piece.  Four hand-drawn flowers, one with separately-drawn leaves; three flower photos, two with stitching added to accentuate and give texture; two quotes, three scriptural passages and one hand-written line of "All Things Bright and Beautiful" music score, all crinkled and distressed; rubbings from large fan palm leaf (background) and palm-tree bark ('frame').  All drawings hand-drawn (in graphite pencil) and rubbings (in willow charcoal), and collage design created by Larissa Hart, April 2011.

Below (close-up): If you look closely, the ends of each long 'hair' (?!), coming out from the centre of the pink flower on the top left, has been embellished with a french knot.  At least 85% of them are done!  This only took .... between 2 - 3 hours to complete, lol.

The flower to the far right, with the leaves below, is stuck on only in the centre of the flower so it almost 'rides' up, giving suggestion to the fact that the flower comes out from the leaves.

This other flower photo is embellished with stitching as well, though this time I added stem-stitching around about 60% of the petals, most of which were around the 'outside' petals.  After about 3hrs I was thinking this is going to take me FOREVER!, however not long after I felt a voice tell me that's enough.  Not all were done - and though this was hard for me to get over, I did.  I think it even looks better this way.

God was good to me during the length of this project.  

I was only able to dedicate this amount of time to this project as I am blessed with two Amazing parents who relished the opportunity to take my little one outside in the garden with them over the loooong weekend, while they collected the many palm fronds that collect at the base of the 3000+ palms we have here, and de-weeding two of the lime trees covered in blue pea vine and much extra growth below.  They also collected a good bucket-and-a-half of limes...with another two trees to attack this weekend!!!  I am looking to make a heap of lemon spread from scratch with some of these limes over the next week.

Also, much of the stitching and finishing off of the drawings were done during the wee hours of Wednesday morning.  About 12.30am I was feeling the tiredness creep in and I felt a prompt to watch a portion of Louie Giglio's dvd "How Great is Our God" which I have on my ipod.  I watched about 10 mins, right in the middle and was reminded that all I needed to do was ask, and I shall receive.  Well, I did.  I asked for the strength and clarity of mind to continue working on this as long as was needed to get this ready for postage that day.  My merciful God obliged.  Despite physically feeling like I could have gone to bed there and then, I felt clear headed and able to concentrate until I got that 'that's enough' message.  It was.

I went to bed at 5am that morning.  Was woken at 6.20am when my daughter woke, who thankfully then went out to the grandparents for breakfast, before having to get up at 7am when they left for work.  I was able to function that day - and get this finished and posted by noon-ish - until I went to bed at roughly 8pm that night, with a 1hr nap while my little one slept.

God is good.  And, for a girl who 'can't draw', he certainly has the ability to show me that I can (with time), and help where and when needed!