Almost every artist I know is inspired by words. They hear a song, a quote, or a poem, and they're quickly creating visual images, imagining how they would illustrate the words they've heard. Over at Digital Art Quirks, our new Quote Challenge gives artists a chance to bring those visions to life.
Hosted by Nevermore, it kicked off this week with a challenge to illustrate Amazing Grace:
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me -
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.
Just seeing those lyrics brought back memories of the little white church that I attended as a child. My favorite part of the service was always when the church would rise in mass to sing old gospel songs -- Love Lifted Me, Trust and Obey, and of course, Amazing Grace. Those songs connected us all, regardless of our backgrounds, our economic status, or our ages.
Because these were the same songs sung by our grandparents, they also connected us to our past. I can just imagine my grandmother, who died when my mother was a small child, singing Amazing Grace in the little family chapel near her Kentucky home. And I can't help but think that these words gave her comfort in her last days as she lost the battle against tuberculosis.
That's how I came to do this Memory Art piece featuring my grandmother. I love digital collage, and it seemed a fitting way to honor both my grandmother and these wonderful gospel lyrics.
Collage elements and
papers (filtered and colorized) from Catherine Designs Pele Mele and
Zen Attitude kits, and the Catherine Designs/CreateWings collaboration
Create23. Font is Jane Austen. Sanded edges action by Atomic Cupcake.
