He Has Risen!

The color story in this week's The Play Date Cafe PDCC 123 challenge is probably more closely related to Jacob's coat of many colors.  However, for some reason, I was led to create a collage celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In addition, since God created such a colorful world, why shouldn't his Son's vestments be a reflection of this?

The inspiration for my collage technique came from one of my favorite artists, Henri Matisse.  Matisse was a French artist known for his masterful use of color.  Although his works verged on the abstract, they were definitely figurative due to his strong use of line, form and space.  Although he was an oil painter and sculptor, in his later years he started painting with scissors, due to an illness that limited his original artistic endeavors.  He would use paper that had been coated all over with paint and then cut out shapes to use in his compositions.  In his words, "Cutting straight into colour reminds me of what a sculptor does."

For my art piece, I began by sketching out my idea in my art journal.  I then transferred the components of my figure of Christ to a piece of tracing paper to use as pattern pieces.  Next, I took a sheet of Canson Mi-Tientes "jeans" colored paper to use for the background.  I traced all my figure pieces to "electric green" Post-it Craft Paper (Full Adhesive), as well as to off-white, "teal" and "tangerine" DCWV Textured Adhesive Card stock.  I cut, assembled and attached the pieces to complete the figure of Christ on my background.  (I used a diamond punch to enhance the crown.)  I used a black Micron pen to draw the details on the face.  To add some interest, I enhanced the background with free cut "electric green" and "tangerine" strips.  Finally, I punched a heart and three daisies from a sheet of DCWV Adhesive mat print using EK Success punches.  The print coordinated perfectly with the color story, so it helped add cohesiveness to my design.

This was truly a meditation piece for me, since it enhanced my Lent experience.  May it bring you as much peace as it brought to me.  I now leave you with the biblical passage which inspired my collage design.

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’”

Luke 24:5-7