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Thursday, August 27, 2015

Wildfire

Wildfire
Washington state is burning.  Thousand upon thousands of acres are on fire or have burned.  The 2015 fires have surpassed the record for acres burned in the past, a record no one wants to exceed. Upon reading about the fires in the newspaper I decided to create my spread, Wildfire.  When reading the stories about life lost, homes destroyed, animals trapped, animals surviving when all was thought lost, I just started this spread and it is where I ended up.

I did not know where I was going when I put orange paint down as my first layer.  I did not know where I was going when I added gelli papers over parts of the orange or when I used the petroleum jelly technique.  The stenciling came next and an idea started sprouting.  The background looked like what it must look like in the midst of these horrible fires.  When the horse was added I needed something but I was not sure what.  WORDS!  Yes, words were needed.

This spread is a diptych and is in a round robin journal that is just starting (I have two beginning September 1).  You can see a bit of the cover showing through the middle of the spread.  The faint white line is the next spread behind this introductory one.

3 comments:

anonymous said...

Wow - that sounds scary. Fire is so awe-inspiring but terrifying. The news can be very parochial at times - I didn't even know of the Washington State fires. I like the background to your piece particularly.

tgarrett said...

The fires are so horrible- your background is so much like the burning the continues after the flames .

Irene Rafael said...

Great spread, John. I love how you start off not knowing where the piece is going. I do the same. I get the most delight from the process. So sorry about all of the fires!