This was a mixed media collage project that was taught by Finnabair. I have to admit when the lesson first came through my email and I saw it I didn't feel called to the lesson. Now remember I am way behind on these lessons, but I am trying to go through them as best I can. As it got closer for me to start thinking about this lesson and especially after I watched the video. I thought it would be a great tribute to my Mom and Siblings. Then as the idea came to me, I knew my siblings would not allow me to just make one for myself so I ended up making three of them. Here is the finished piece.

I did decide to take some progress photos. Here is a picture of all the found objects glued down. Some of the pieces I chose for a reason and others either made me think of Mom or they were just for decoration. The few pieces I chose with meaning are: the bottle cap - it is from Guinness bottles (one of Mom's favorite beers), the little clock - to remind us that time is short and to live it to the fullest, the little lock is a heart and the key - they represent my Mom holding the key to my heart because she means the world to me. The items that just reminded me of Mom are: the shamrocks (because you can't do anything representing my Mom without shamrocks), the butterflies, birds, and flowers (because anything with nature reminds my of Mom).

After everything was glued down, I covered everything in gesso. I ended up doing a few layers of this.

I then took some shimmering spray inks and sprayed them down.

It took me a bit to find the frames that I wanted at an affordable price. I ended up purchasing them from an Etsy shop called Scruffyrumpkins. I wasn't sure what color I wanted them, so I just purchased them in white. I then painted them with this shimmery powder type paint.