Rejoice in the Father

Although I am not perfect, I thrive to keep the Lord in the center of everything I do, including my artwork.  Therefore, when I read the scripture featured in this week's Word Art Wednesday Challenge #24, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with a cabinet card of a cowboy that I found last Sunday at Collage Obsession.  However, I had an extremely busy week, including yesterday, so I did not have a chance to work in my studio until today.  To my surprise, this week, Collage Obsession challenged their readers to use the letter F in an illuminated form.  What a blessing!  Let me explain by presenting you first with the scripture highlighting the phrases I used.

Habakkuk 3:16-18
I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled.  Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.  Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The process was as follows.  I printed the picture, trimmed the edges with deckle scissors, and scraped the edges.  Then, I distressed the picture by wetting it and then sanding it down.  Next, I took a scrap of paper to write the bold portion of the scripture using regular and calligraphy pens with archival ink.    I took creative license and substituted the name of the Lord with one of his other names, Father.  I decorated the letter F based on an abstract design by Patricia Carter.  In addition, I used a scrap from a tag base that I ended up redoing a couple of weeks ago.  It has a script background and embossed scroll design that worked perfectly with this design.  I also used a skeleton leaf and a stylized flower from a K&Company handmade die-cut cardstock set.  To blend all the elements and my background, I stained everything with burnt sienna and moss.  I also highlighted some areas of the flower with "vintage photo" stickles.  I layered all the items as shown in the picture, and used gel medium to attach them.  Finally, I attached the picture to the journal page with black photo corners and wrote the underlined sections of the scripture around the perimeter of the collage.

I love how everything fell into place - the cowboy's pensive look, the rural life sounding phrases in the scripture, and the use of the letter F in decorative text.  It's also a good reminder for me to keep in my art journal, that no matter what, I should rejoice in my Lord and Father almighty.  Don't you think so?  You are welcome to follow my blog and leave a comment about what this piece means to you.  Blessings!