Tree Ring Life Rings Journal Pages with Poem

More journal pages inspired by Misty's workshop. The life rings are comparable to tree growth rings, which, in my case, are 62 around. Then I needed a poem or story to go with. I don't claim to be a poet, but I gave it a try, and I used a gelatin print background page from another class to write it on with a Pitt pen. I glued the page into the journal with gel medium, transferred the bird from a magazine image onto the page. I need more practice. The transfer didn't turn out as well as I wanted, so I added some pastels and colored pencils to fill in the places that didn't transfer. I also added a couple of small stamps and colored them with colored pencils.

I am pondering adding something to the right upper corner, but I can't think of anything I want to put there. Besides, for now, I like it like it is. :)

The poem is in typed version at the bottom of the post.

The bird is holding a tiny pink heart carefully in his beak. The heart represents my birth and first ring of life. I was born in my Granny's house on a Tennessee riverbank a long time ago, and I've lived near the river my whole life, except for a couple of short periods when I was little.

My life has ebbed and flowed from these river banks for 62 years, just like the water lapping at the shores, every day the same, yet every day different.

Life Rings

By Sharon Prater Pope (Feb. 2012)

Sixty-two ripples

Spreading out from my Clifton riverbank birth rock,

Cast into life with abandon,

Each ripple encompassing

All of the people shuffling in and out through the years,

All that I learn and absorb,

The effect that I have on others,

The effect that they have on me.

Circling ever wider with each passing year,

Receding into the distance

Until I fade into oblivion

And all that remains is a faded memory

And the effect that I had on others

The short time I was here.