Submerged

This is another mixed media collage I made using the monoprints I posted earlier. I have changed this one so many times. I think it's finished now. I didn't really have a "water" theme in mind when I made this one. It's still part of the series I'm working on called "Finding My Way Home".

The image of the little girl is one of the Digital Grounds images I had made using molding paste and pearl mica flake. This particular image was "ruined" when I tried to seal it with the sealers that came in the Digital Grounds kit. After I had applied the sealer the image turned a shade of green. I was not happy! But I kept it thinking I could maybe use it for an experiment later. I had worked so hard to get that molding paste/mica flake base just right for printing the images! All of the images from that particular sheet of molding paste turned a green hue. Lesson learned: DO NOT SEAL molding paste!!

Anyway, after making the background with the monoprints I noticed that it resembled being underwater. I looked at the little girl image again and decided she would fit perfectly since she has that look, too. If you look real closely at her image you may be able to see that I added a couple of pieces of mica tile: one jagged piece on the top and one on the bottom. This gave her a shattered glass look. I liked the effect. Here is a closeup:

What was also interesting was when I added the mica tiles I noticed that she now looked like she was crying. There was a little stream running from one of her eyes; probably from where I adhered the mica. Even more perfect!

This ties into the theme very well. I did feel submerged in grief, loss, anger, the whole thing when I learned of my mother's death. Like the little girl I was drowning in it all. The "5" represents five years since she died and "94" was the year she died. All of this is just part of the work I'm doing trying to FIND MY WAY BACK HOME.