Moon Landing

I can't let this day pass without sharing my thoughts about the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

I remember the day vividly--family and friends gathered in the kitchen, watching a tiny, black and white television perched atop the refrigerator so everyone could see.

I was too young to really appreciate the significance of this event as much as I could have.

But today, I am reminded that this was one of those rare times in history when the world came together, if only for a day, to marvel at the tremendous accomplishments the human race is capable of.

The photo is of a patch I saved from that era and the symbolism seemed appropriate for today.

Ghost Crab

Remember me? I've never gone this long before without posting to my blog. I created multiple journal pages and tags during this absence but couldn't pull anything together that seemed "blog-worthy." I guess my heart just wasn't in it.

But now I have a journal page to share, inspired by:

• a lifelong desire to live by the sea in spite of my land-locked status
• a birthday month, my astrological sign is Cancer the Crab
• a prompt from Simon's Monday challenge called "Life on the Ocean Waves"
• a beautiful photo by Sican123 of a crab with a name that describes my absence
• and, last but not least, Sara and Patti Dee who recently reminded me of why I blog in the first place. Thank you, ladies ♥.

I worked on one side of a page in a large Ranger Dylusions journal with a plan to experiment with stamped tissue paper.

I rubbed graphite on the back of my printed photo to trace an outline, used acrylic paint to lay down some color and establish values, stamped on tissue paper (packing material from a shoe box) then pasted it over the painting.

The title was made with text stickers (they appear curved because my page wasn't flat when photographed) and some stamp embossed letters on more tissue paper.

So here's what I know now:

• The tissue paper that new shoes come wrapped in works just fine for stamping and pasting. But even with plenty of glue it will be somewhat opaque and doesn't disappear completely though not as bad on a lighter background. This is true of every tissue paper I've ever used so I'm not surprised or disappointed.

• Painting tumbling waves is seriously scary and a realistic portrayal would require a ton of patience!! I have new respect for this skill and the artists who can do this.

It's good to be back--I do hope my next post will come more quickly than the last and, as always, I thank you very much for stopping by!