"Remember the Alamo" (unavailable)

(unavailable......in the permanent collection of dee day)


"Standing on principle can change the course of history." Today is Alamo Day in the state of Texas. This was the day that the Alamo was under siege and all but three people were killed defending this small fortress from the Mexican Army. It was not particularly a smart military move on the part of the Texans, but it gave tremendous will and courage to those who determined that the sacrifices of those who died would not be forgotten. We are still remembering.

The first layer of this piece began with a photograph of the Alamo as it stands today. The original photo was not aged and actually looks a bit odd in a very contemporary setting with modern buildings all around.

However, with the addition of Pouring Medium plus Golden Titan Buff Fluid Acrylic, it was on its journey to looking like something from a history book. The photograph was printed on Arches Text Wove and then mounted to a clayboard panel. I then added the pouring medium mixture and sprayed much of it off with water...leaving the residue mainly on the sides and corners. With the addition of Charcoal Powder and #305 Sennelier Soft Pastel...it morphed and changed dramatically. The one collage piece is Optima (a font designed by a calligrapher) printed out on the computer and then printed onto very thin tissue paper. After preparing the surface for lettering and actually writing the quote, the piece was done.

The particular pink / orange color of soft pastel is one you might want to try. It has a "glowy" effect and works quite well with the "old photograph" look. Running the line of printed text vertically mimics some of the pencil lettering that is also running up the page vertically. This way it is not competing with my one line of written text at the bottom. Lettering placement can be a difficult thing to determine, but I have found that it is best to play off of lines or shapes that are already there. By doing that, it is like having an echo of something else. In other words, the pencil lettering becomes an echo of the printed and collaged text. Just a few more things to think about.