24Steps Art and Design

This week I am inspired by the Atlantic Salmon that swims up rivers in Scotland at this time of year (October – November) to spawn. How they navigate waterfalls involves a lot of failing and trying again and they must do this repeatedly before reaching their breeding grounds. No wonder they are so exhausted after spawning that the majority die!

When I Googled for reference images I also found the following quote:

Be like the mighty salmon and swim upstream. Only dead fish go with the flow all of the time.

It seemed appropriate – as it alludes to overcoming obstacles and having to be tough to do it – so I have included it on my page.

This is something else I enjoy about art journaling … that you can create a page in homage to something/someone you admire. It doesn’t ALL have to introspection.

Thinking about the salmon and Scotland leads straight to how the salmon figures in Celtic mythology. They were fish that were seen as emblems of wisdom and there is a lovely story about that:

The salmon of wisdom was to be found swimming in the Well of Segais. There it fed on the magical hazelnuts that fell into the water. In accordance with prophecy Finegas caught the salmon in order to eat it and gain all its wisdom. However, when his apprentice, Finn, was roasting it for his master he burnt his thumb which he put straight into his mouth. By doing this he gained all the wisdom his master had been seeking. Forever after, Finn had only to suck his thumb to gain knowledge of the future.

~ paraphrased from trees for life and other texts.

I started with a black gessoed double page and stenciled iridescent acrylic paints on to it to give the impression of water being churned by a waterfall. My salmon was added with a pallet knife in iridescent paints again. Once dry I added shading and highlights with oil pastels. I used glass bead gel to add the sparkle of water glistening in the Autumn sunshine and then splashed white acrylic ink on for the froth that is created. By adding my quote in white pencil I am sure to be able to see it against the black background.

I hope this post encourages you to make an art journal page about something you love or are impressed by whether it is celebrity, a family member, a pet, something from nature or somewhere.

Hugs, Ceri xx



Tagged as: Tags acrylic, mixed media, stencilling, wildlife art