I started adding tiny dots and tracking marks using just the watercolors made from the soils of Australia to the background.
Then I stained the entire thing with diluted walnut ink to bring the background into the warmth of the tracking paths of my own travels there.
It took a couple of days to make all the marks but no time at all to stain the surface with the ink. Then I wanted it to feel right, sound right. So I waxed it heavily with a paste wax and used heat to get it deep into the surface. I avoided waxing the cloth shadow etchings.
I used my colored shifu threads to stitch time marking marks onto the lower darker third.
And finally I added a backing of cotton that had been chemically rusted via Adele’s instructions. There was lots of ironing and waxing over every new addition to embed the marks even further into the paper “cloth”. The paper has a Drys A Bone feel to it…that clothing line of the Australian Outback with oiled surfaces.
I covered small stones with kozo paper that had been colored with Australian stones in case the piece needed weighting at the bottom to help it hang flat.
I did not like them that much. They distracted from the time marks.
When sewing the backing into place I added two small loops in each upper corner for hanging. I like how it looks, feels and sounds. It is very much about my experiences there and am thinking of a new title for it. The word, “Walkabout” is too spiritual and/or mired in Aboriginal history for me to be comfortable with. Anyway I think it might just be finished.
Lesson learned….just do it….don’t think too much…..just do it.
Til next week and whatever else I have moved on to.