Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Ella's Edge

I would like to  share with you an art process I discovered. It sounds odd, but I love the results.   I found this product called CitraSolv. It is a natural cleaner and degreaser made from orange essential oil.  Yes, my art smells great, lol.   You can read more about it HERE.  This cleaner removes ink on  National Geographic magazines.  The ink their publication uses reacts to the chemical compounds of the cleaner. My photos show the results. I thought about doing a before n' after, but I didn't want to worry about copyright issues.  Anyway, I though this would make an interesting prompt. I think of the art as being like an Indian Spirit Walker.


An Indian spiritwalker is one, who walks with the spirits to receive guidance and wisdom to use for his people's benefit.  Various techniques are used to achieve a trance-like state such as fasting, rhythmic drums and songs, psychotropic drugs, isolation or sensory deprivation and dressing in animal skins and masks. The journey to the spirit world helps to seek answers to questions on community issues such as famine, disease or individual healing; dream interpretation or weather prediction, etc.   Native Americans believe that their guiding spirits meet the spiritwalker in this trance and pass on the wisdom their tribe needs.

Your challenge is to pick a photo and see what wisdom speaks to you and share your wisdom in a poem~




    Big Sky Road


Wishing Tree

Soul's Wing


Spirit Guide




Unfulfilled Dreams



I hope if you try this art experiment,  you will tell me. I would love to see what you come up with :D
It is fascinating how it manipulates the ink and blurs the lines.  I hope the photo you pick, speaks to you, guides you.  I look forward to your insight, I mean poems~    I know I wish we could all meet someday and have a big Toad Pow wow!  ;D   Did you know if you see a toad, it is a good omen~





26 comments:

Kerry O'Connor said...

I always feel the positive energy which emanates from this site, Ellen. Must be on account of the toads :)

This is a fascinating challenge. I love the idea of letting go of consciousness to meet the spirit guide or muse of poetry. Thank you for another stimulating challenge.

Jennifer Wagner said...

This is such a cool idea. Thanks for sharing this technique--I definitely plan to try it.

Mary B. Mansfield said...

Amazing cool images, Ella! There's a couple of them speaking quite loudly to me at the moment, I'm just hoping they don't decide to go quiet on me mid-sentence!

A quick question for you (ok, 2 questions) - are we allowed to use these images on our blogs and if so, how should we credit them?

Ella said...

Hi Mary-Yes,use the images and link to me. Oops, sorry I should of said that before. Yes, use them...please ;D Thank you~

PoetLaundry-Love your name ;D
It is fun~ I can't wait to visit the thrift shop and see if I can find some older issues~ I would love to see how your art comes out~

Kerry-Thank you! :D I thought it would be an unique idea~ Yes, I think it will be intriguing to read poems that walk us through our muses/our spirits~

Sherry Blue Sky said...

I LOVE this prompt! My cup of tea! Ellie, you always have such wonderful prompts and ideas. This type of art is something I hadnt heard of and I LOVE the stunning images that result........I will definitely write something today based on one of them. Thanks, kiddo.

Ella said...

Sherry-I wish you could pop over and try it! An expensive spray bottle and this product, plenty of newspaper and some Q-tips. So fun and it smells amazing :D I can't wait to go find some more mags~
Thank you!

hedgewitch said...

These are really really neat pictures, Ella--I will definitely see if I can't do some spiritwalking. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Hannah said...

Ella!! So creative!! This is such a neat idea and I can almost smell the citrus from here. ;)

I definitely enjoyed this...letting the muse feel out the suggestions hidden within the art.

Thank you! :)'s

Grace said...

Beautiful Ella ~ I would like to use your images in my future posting, credit to you ~

My share is up ~ Happy day to everyone ~

Lolamouse said...

Ella,
So cool! I want to get some of that Citrasolv! I'm trying to decide between two images and playing with some ideas. Will definitely do something with this prompt. Love it!

Ella said...

Hi Lolamouse, yes do get some and try it...the video shows you how!
I can't wait to visit the thrift shop tomorrow and see if I can find some older issues of National Geographic :D Thank you~ I am gathering thoughts and words now :D

Grace-Yes, I would like that!
Please let me know when...Thank you I will come by and visit :D
I haven't had a chance to work on the other art form, but will let you know~

Hannah-Thank you! Yes, my garage smelled amazing for days ;D It is a cheery smell. I even let my daughter and her friend have a turn at it. I used Q-tips to paint some of the ink in different directions. So fun.... ;D smiles to U

Hedgewitch-Thank you! I didn't see the common theme till I after. It is an intriguing art experiment~
I loved your latest poem...one of my favorite of yours! :D

Sherry-I meant to say inexpensive spray bottle. This product will last awhile. I didn't think to take a photo of the bottle, till after I had filled the spray mister~ ;D

Kay L. Davies said...

Ella -- I wish I could put my wisdom into poetry, but I'm afraid I don't have the computer time to be able to do so. (See explanation on my blog. It's not that I have too much wisdom to handle.)
K

Serena said...

I really loved this challenge, the first I've tried on this site. Your photos were amazingly inspiring. I thought about them all day at work and I kept thinking of the photo of the wishing tree, yet what inspired me when I returned was the photo you call Spirit Guide. And then the poem just came out... Thank you!

Susan said...

Fun to let go and climb in.

flipside records said...

Ella, those photographs are phenomenal ... as is this prompt. Excellent and exciting. Thank you.

Kerry O'Connor said...

I am so sorry that I was unable to access the home page on my computer last night. I will be around this afternoon to read the responses to these amazing images, and I hope to write a piece myself.

Janine Bollée said...

Hiya Ella,
I'm trying it as we speak: using a land's end catalogue and our washing-up liquid which boasts grease cutting citrus compounds. We shall see. At present all it does is buckle :-)
The spiritwalker got transformed into a modern European version. Hope that is OK with you. I enjoyed the vision it gave me though I was sorely tempted to give it an more likely present day outcome.
Thank you for sharing your inventive mind with us each week.

Mary said...

Ella, I loved your post, this concept, and your pictures! I asked the great spirit for inspiration, but so far he hasn't answered. sigh. But I enjoyed reading the poems of those to whom the spirit spoke!

Ella said...

Mary-Thank you! I'm working on my now. I might have a chance to hear some spirits. The house is quiet for maybe one hour, lol. Just let it happen... I'm just collecting words, for now and hope inspiration strikes :D

Aprille-I so admire your efforts :D
You know I read about this online and couldn't find the product and used something else. It did not work~ I eventually found the product and bought a magazine. You can spray the page and wait 10-15 minutes for the process to work. I tore out all the pages I wanted and then would put a few out to do at one time. I also misted inside the book and closed it and let it set up. It is an experiment...have fun! :D

Kerry-I look forward to your poem :D I am behind on my visits, but hope to catch up this morning. I had another posts for PUnited.

Flipside-Thank you! It is sooo fun, you would love it... :D

Susan-Thank you! Where is the big bon fire, the dancing and chanting? lol! Toad chanting of course~

Serena-Thank you so much! I know the Wishing Tree is my fav, but I am leaning towards another photo, too. I look forward to your poem~

Kay-Take Care! I know you are busy and your spirit is needed elsewhere! Do take care (hugs)



Margaret said...

I was supposed to be taking a blog break to get work done for my daughter's upcoming homeschooling... but I am a weak, weak, person. ;) I guess I'm addicted.

My poem was done very quickly... I hope it doesn't show too much. ;P

Jack said...

Wow, such a beautiful post. Good vodka, pretty rocks everywhere, what more could someone ask for.

Ella said...

Jack-You are fun ;D

Margaret-I was weak, too...Daughter called took her exams and I had to leave to pick her up and returned only 30min ago. We had to finish up school shopping. I now will enJOY your poems after dinner~ Yes, you your poems will be my dessert!
I'm in shock...Halloween candy is on the shelves....augh! ;D

Leovi said...

These compositions are beautiful

Ella said...

Thank you Leovi :D

Susie Clevenger said...

Beautiful images Ella, thank you so much for sharing them with us for inspiration.

Ella said...

Hi Susie! Thank you and all who walked among the spirits this week~
I'm still working on mine!