ITAC 17: Oceania: The River That Was Made of Tears

I stumbled upon ITAC '17 and was intrigued by the challenges there.  The part of the world we're visiting this week is Oceania.  The challenge is to be inspired by stories, symbology, nature and art of the region.

Years ago I went on a field trip with my son's class to Seattle Art Museum.  There was an amazing exhibit of Australian aboriginal art that we explored.  I was especially intrigued by the art of Gloria Petyarre and when I started this project I was planning on channeling her.  The Muse had other ideas though and I went a very different direction incorporating lots of circles, symbols and a dreamtime story I found which resonated with me.  Following is my art journal page sharing the story of how the Giddy River was formed.

At first I wasn't planning on writing out the dreamtime story on my page, but as I finished up, I liked the idea of having it on there.

I have a small art journal made from gelli-printed paper that I put together a while ago.  One of these pages started as the base of my project.

The symbols on the brogla's neck are 'man', 'boomerang' (my thought for the hunter), 'water' and 'star'.

The blue circles were made with the ends of various paintbrushes.

There are some amazing projects uploaded by the guest artists/judges.  To check the out, and to find out more info about ITAC '17, click HERE.

Have a great day!