Deep is the Ocean of Love. Collaborative Art Journey #22. Original Art and Photography.

Magical rock-pools.
Seaweed and shells. Starfish and sand.
Hidden beneath rippling waters. Layer upon layer unfolds.
Before my eyes. My heart opens wider. Receiving this infinite space. ~Ally.

'Deep is the Ocean of Love.'

I love the different people and communities here at Steemit that encourage us to move ever further into whatever it is that we do.

Participating in both the 'Color Challenge' and 'You See ~ I See' has given me the extra nudge needed to write more about my work. And creating this work now for the 'Collaborative Art Journey' has inspiring me to experiment with new assemblage 'methods' again ~ That I find to be VERY exciting.

The Collaborative Art Journey Community has now attracted over 76 artist members, who together have created over 357 works of art based on images provided by @everlove each week.

'Collaborative Art Journey #22'

For the 'Collaborative Art Journey #22' creatives in all fields have been invited to transform @everlove's image: 'Tangled Webs We Weave.' Some amazing creative works have already been submitted and you can see them at: INVITATION: Collaborative Art Journey. 'Tangled Webs We Weave'

As soon as I first saw @everlove's image, I was reminded of rock-pools and my experiences of gazing into them. Where the longer I've been able to keep my attention softly focused beneath the surface of the water, the more life I've been able to see in their layers: Seaweeds surrendering to the ebb and flow of the water. Rocks, shells and starfish.

In my ephemeral assemblage work, I collect small bits and pieces from our natural bushland and incorporate them into my simulated 'landscapes.' Brittle pale green lichens that turn to delicate drifts of orange russet in water are my special love: Which I envisaged somehow incorporating into 'Tangled Webs We Weave.'

'Tangled Webs We Weave.'

This is the original image 'Tangled Webs We Weave' offered by @everlove that I used as the base for my collaborative piece: 'Deep is the Ocean of Love.'

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My Process.

• Changed the slightly tinted image to a black and white image in Lightroom.

• As I was going to be covering this area with other materials, I intensified the dark areas to give more contrast between the dark rock and light lichens.

• Reproduced as a black and white print.

Where to Begin?

Sometimes before beginning a new work, I will hold an impression of a person in my mind, feel my connection with them and dedicate the work to them.

This piece was created with a particular friend in mind: A water sign. So already I was thinking: Watery hues of soft aquas to deep blues, creamy off-whites with muted purples: Sand and river rocks. Lichens and starfish.

I gathered about me the natural materials I would select from: Sand, stones, shells. Spanish moss and lichens. Berries in indigo and red. Russet autumn leaves, wattle and wormwood leaves. Roses, camellias and jonquils from the garden.

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Stage 1.

• A light scattering of fine sand overlaying the print. Sand collected at Dee Why beach.

• Sand modulated to barely cover the middle 'lichen' areas. Gradually becoming denser towards the edges.

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Stage 2.

A heart shape formed with smooth stones and a scattering of smaller pure white stones.

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Influence for Stage 3.

• Snail trail: Abstract drawings made by sea creatures as they travel over the sand covered rocks of a rock-pool. Photograph taken at Boomerang beach.

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Stage 3.

• Snail trails drawn with a fine brush through the sand within the heart shape.

• Added more tiny spiral shells.

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Stage 4.

• Experimenting with a water arrangement as an overlay.

• Experimenting with the overlay at different heights above the heart in the sand.

• Photographing with different apertures to obtain a soft background against a clear foreground.

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Stage 5.

• Playing with a slightly different arrangement.

• Happy with the separation and the resulting contrast of foreground and background focus, but I still wanted something a lot simpler in the foreground.

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Final Image: 'Deep is the Ocean of Love.'

• A light sprinkling of sand over the snail trails in order to draw new ones.

• Larger rocks, a few more tiny shells as well as some oyster shells were placed around the outside of the heart shaped rock-pool.

• A new water arrangement as an overlay: Green lichen with the first of the winter double jonquils: Floating like waterlilies.

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About my ephemeral work.

Relatively small assemblages or arrangements are built from flowers, weeds and plants combined with other natural materials that I find in the local bushland or surrounding urban streets.

During the creation of these pieces ~ The process is incredibly magical. Thoughts of anything else are silenced.

Sometimes hundreds of photographs are taken at the different stages of any arrangement. Sometimes a song or quote or other ideas/thoughts/words come to me, as I look at the resulting images. Giving form to new expressions ~ Short 'poems' to accompany the images.

A fuller description is in my introductory article: The Heart of Immortality.