Creative Catalyst

This weeks creative catalyst( http://creativetherapy.wordpress.com/) is "something you remember from your childhood".  I had several thoughts running through my head when I walked out my back door and the fragrance from the blossoms on my China Berry tree caused me to freeze in my tracks.  It was so overpowering I almost couldn't breathe yet they smell so good!  I was immediately taken back into my childhood remember times at my grandparents house where most of my best childhood memories took place.  So, I decided to do a journal page using the China Berry tree as the springboard for this week's catalyst.  Here is what I journaled:

Most off my best childhood memories were times spent at my grandparents homes in Mississippi.  I spent countless hours climbing trees.  While the Mimosa was the easiest to climb, I always had a determination to climb the China Berry tree.  I was lured by all those berries!  I was told that my great-grandmother, being poor, got creative and boiled the skin off dried china berries, dyed the seeds with food coloring, and strung necklaces.  I was so delighted to move into this house in Phoenix with a China Berry tree right outside my studio window.  It brings me great joy, shade, bird watching entertainment, and this time of year, fragrant flowers that threaten to overpower my senses- a little bit of heaven.

To create this journal entry in my watercolor journal, I used the actual leaves from the tree with acrylics and stamped with them.  Since the leaves have a sort of waxing texture, I first had to coat the leaves with gesso in order for the paint to stick so I could use them to stamp.  The berries are created on Chinese text, which I thought fitting... and you know how I love asian things!  ;)  I'm thinking I need to get a bunch of the blossoms to press.  Since they are small, they would be perfect to use in fused pieces  once they are dried and pressed!  I need to do that today before I forget and then they will be gone for another year.