Monday, October 31, 2022

Texas Art Journal Page

 Happy Halloween and last day of October to you. Well wishes to all. I know it's the day to share something Halloween-ish, but instead, I'm sharing a spread in my Puns & Roses Glue Book journal. It was done earlier in the month with Honey typing the blog post as I dictated. We apparently overlooked posting it, so I'm very glad I caught the error since I made it for AJJ's Tell Me A Story Challenge which expires today. 
This is my homage to Texas, which has been my home for 63 years. I began with a background of some old patterned paper of a grey cloudy sky and watercolored over it with various blues, let that dry, then stenciled with a TCW 12x12 Dot Burst stencil using yellow and orange inks. I'd cut the paper to fit the spread first and did this to each page separately. When I watercolored, I mixed different blues and one side turned out a bit different color than the other. Oh well! After adhering the background, I added yellow washi tape and several very old scrapbooking stickers around the perimeter and added some black Quickutz and Rubbernecker die cuts around the center title.
Scribbling my various water-soluble media onto the scrapbook paper. 
...and with a wet paintbrush, some stenciling and washi tape border, turned it into this!
Pretty nice background, I think. I'm happy.
There are so so many legends, fables, folkore about Texas...too many to tell here. I will tell just one. Along the Gulf Coast where I live, the first inhabitants were tribes of Native Americans, one being the Karankawas. They gained a reputation for being cannibals, based on a few of their ceremonial post-mortem rituals. They fought with Spanish, Mexican and American settlers for many years over access to coastal plains and shorelines until being rendered virtually extinct around 1858 by government order. Not only were they physically imposing with volatile tempers, but they kept coyotes as working animals and pets, and repelled mosquitos by slathering themselves with alligator grease fat (which smells worse than skunk). Up until recently they were still thought to be extinct. But now, surviving generations are coming forward and revealing that their relatives "passed" as Mexican or other Native tribal members in order to survive, due to the bounty on them. These surviving members are learning/sharing their Karankawan language and customs to retain their heritage. Back in my college days, I wrote a 30-page research paper on them and am pleasantly surprised to learn they are still around! 
Well, that's it for now. Happy Candy Night! XOX
MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:

7 comments:

Empire of the Cat said...

Love your Texas page, all the symbols are very recognisable and iconic. Also your story - wow - that is so interesting, never heard of that tribe before. I hope they are not continuing with their post-mortem rituals any more! Thanks for joining me for the October theme at Art Journal Journey this month Elle/Empire of the Cat xx

Beth Norman-Roberts said...

A very nice layout. You sure are proud of Texas. Your story was very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

pearshapedcrafting said...

Wow! A fantastic page and a great history lesson too, hugs, Chrisx

My name is Erika. said...

I'm glad you found time to join us at AJJ before October wraps up and Elle's challenge ends. I agree that Texas has gone into American folklore, and so your page is a nice pick when it comes to stories. . You used some great images. And that is really interesting about the Karankawas. I have never heard of them, and it goes to show you how many stories about our country are out there. And I wanted to comment on how your teacher made you learn the muscles and bones. Wow, that is a big job for that age. But I'm with you; I don't remember most of the muscles either. Smile. Hope you had a great Halloween and have a nice start to November. hugs-Erika

Arlene said...

Thank you for writing all the information on the native tribe. A sad situation.

Your journal page is a vibrant memory, for sure. So glad you joined us at Die Cut Divas.

Cindy C. said...

Wow what special pages!! Thanks for linking up to our October challenge gallery at Die Cut Divas.

Ines said...

Super:)Thanks for playing with us at The Creative Crafters:)Ines DT
http://inka-mojmalyswiat.blogspot.com/
https://creativecrafterschallenge.blogspot.com/