Being As Brilliant As The Lisianthus Flower
Original Watercolor Collage 12x12x1-1/2-on canvas
This flower reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by Marianne Williamson:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. You're playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
In this flowers bud stage, the petals are tightly wrapped around each other in a spiral pattern. As the flower begins to open it unfurls and opens to loose flowy beautiful petals. Like it’s been liberated. When I feel this tightly wrapped I should remember the Lisianthus flower and learn to unfurl and breathe deeply.
This collage has vintage music paper as its base layer. To soften the paper I used a white acrylic paint /glaze mix. The flowers were painted on sketch paper almost like tracing paper and then collaged onto the music paper. It worked so well that you can hardly see that it’s on top of the paper. It almost melted onto the music paper. I will definitely use this technique again. This brand no longer exists, so I’ll be on the hunt for another paper that acts the same way. I for one love the hunt!
The pictures below give you an idea about the process.
