Sustainable Souls - February - Extreme Weather

Hello. Today I share my February Sustainable Souls Project

The area of concern we would like to raise attention to through our art this month is "Extreme Weather". 

I live on the driest continent on earth - Australia. Our water has always been so precious to us but we have always had enough to go around.  Recently the rain has slowed down and we are facing some of the worst drought conditions we have ever had to face since the records of weather keeping have started a little over 100 years ago in Australia.

I am lucky enough to have the chance to travel my beautiful country on a regular basis with my art workshops and I have noticed the dry barren paddocks are becoming more and more apparent as I gaze out of the window of the plane.

This small piece was created to represent the destruction that drought weather can have on the land. The dead tree sitting among the dry sand with the clouds above that never shed enough water.

One of the most impacted places in Australia has been the Queensland Droughts.

The devastation that occurred through lack of rainfall between 2013 and 2015 was the worst ever seen. There is a really good article you can find the link HERE

This piece is on a little 8x10" wooden  MDF substrate. I am really loving working on wood at the moment. The smooth base it gives is so perfect for lots of the pieces I create.

I've layered acrylic block printing medium first with a metal spatula and then with dribbles to create a "sand" effect over the bottom area.

 The top is also Acrylic block printing medium but I have also added a black area with my carbon block that is water soluble. When it was mixed with the acrylic medium the two melded together to create a grey divider.

Lastly I layered more white acrylic block printing medium over both the bottom and top sections and because of the thick consistency of this medium, it just levels into the paint around it. Once the first layer had dried I added another layer of the white which stayed sitting on the top and gave it a slightly raised effect. Perfect for depicting the clouds.

The tree is a Viva Las Vegastamp! and I used StazOn to make the impression. I was so impatient and I stamped WAY too early. The base had not set properly and so some of the paint pulled away with the stamp but I actually don't mind it. One of those happy accidents

See you again soon x