The Norse goddess, Frigga (Freya)
was also a spinning goddess. She sat at her spinning wheel during the Winter
Solstice weaving the fates of the year to come. This celebration was called
Yule, from the Norse word for wheel. Christmas is often called Yule or
Yuletide. The Christmas wreath was adapted from Frigga’s “Wheel of Fate,”
symbolizing the cyclical nature of life.
I never do anything the exact same
way when I do paintings or art journal pages.
But, following is the way I have done this page:
I draw what I want, on this page, to
show up as the main image. I begin to
block in some color on the face and hair.
This time I did the background after
getting the image down. I used a mix of
blues and let it dry just a bit tacky, then sprayed water over top and blotted
with a paper towel to get some texture going.
I did not want to lose the shape of
the spinning wheel so I used a gold sharpie to draw out the shapes. I added a bit of white on the helmet by using
some white and some of the brush that still had blue in it. I choose the color I wanted for the thread
spool.
I blocked in some color for the
dress and while it was wet, I used a paper towel to print some texture. Using paper towel as print for something not
so obvious but still have some texture is one of my favorite things to do.
Now I begin layering and
defining. I am getting closer to
finished, but there are still miles to go before I sleep.
I might add, I do not usually do
such a small painting of a character and it challenges me.
Attitude
change. Things to let go of. Things to discover and rediscover. I am going to focus on not being pulled down
by those who have me as their emotional punching bag. I will spin some new energy for self so I emit
positive energy for others without losing my own weft and weave.
©
Carol Desjarlais 1.2.20
