I was reminiscing the other day about my childhood artistic adventures when I remembered an old favorite weaving project. Everyone in art class received two popsicle sticks and various colors of yarn in which to make an Ojo de Dios, Spanish for Eye of God. Our art teacher also doubled as our history teacher, so not only did we learn how to make a Ojo de Dios, we also were taught that it was an ancient symbol of South American Indians created to protect those who owned one. I crossed my sticks and started wrapping the yarn, beginning in the center with the eye, and praise myself on creating this magical object that would guard me and my family. That weekend I was out in the yard stripping branches off unsuspecting trees (I didn't have popsicle sticks) and looting my mom's knitting basket for yarn. When I used up her colors, I begged for more yarn. To this day, I feel giddy just thinking about the day my mom took me to a shop downtown that sold fibers of all kinds. When my eyes happened upon a variegated skein called 'Fiesta' I just had to have it! Every room in the house (and my Grandmothers' houses and the lady's house across the alley, and...you get the picture) had an Ojo de Dios.
With this memory flitting about in my brain, I decided I needed to create a canvas with an Ojo de Dios for Mixed Up Magazine. I read that the ends of the sticks represented the four elements: earth, wind, fire and water and therefore decide to use a color palette of brown, blue, yellow-gold, and green with a background collage of imagery and text about nature. I have a full tutorial, additional images and a product list in this month's issue of Mixed Up Magazine. Click on the link and head on over to check out my canvas Eye On Nature!
