"Curiosity"

The second page for the Cabinet of Natural Curiosities is Curiosity. After reading the challenge I quickly started envisaging my page but later realized that the creative process, carefully explained with the prompt, was part of it. Oh dear, a little out of my comfort zone! I wanted to try the process as it looked so inspiring but ... with my book?

I decided to make a start by drawing each method out at random and taping them in order on a piece of card:

SCRATCH - MAGAZINE - PATTERN - PENCIL - SMUDGE - SAND - PHOTOGRAPH - DRAW - STAMP - SURPRISE - 3-D - TEXT - INK - WIPE - WRITE - PAPER - PAINT

It wasn't the order I would have liked but beginning by scratching should be easy! Each stage was surprisingly quick and although it was a little unsettling not having any idea how the finished page would look, I did enjoy it.

I used SURPRISE for my 'cabinet' and finished most of the page yesterday evening. I was not looking forward to PAINT as it was the last and I couldn't imagine my whole page covered in paint. I thought of doing a transparent watercolour wash but I had used ink for curiosity and it would run. To avoid that I ended up rag-rolling the paint on and it was a little unnerving as there is no trial run!

You can probably tell I was a little apprehensive doing all this but after going to get the groceries and returning to look at it again with a fresh eye, I quite like my page and I'm pleased I stepped out of my familiar ways.

The preparation of this page was really interesting in other ways too. Firstly it occurred to me that the items I had chosen were all things I was curious about. Actually this was not intentional as I was more concerned with the process rather than the theme. I love gypsy caravans with my favourite being one I saw in Devon with its beautiful polished wood interior with brass knobs and lace curtains; lace interests me and years ago I took a course in lacemaking. I have since found out that my forebears were Nottingham lacemakers; the book plate - what a wonderful resource books are for the curious - and the cat fits in well with the old saying!

The other thing I noticed was the number of times I asked myself "I wonder what would happen if ...?" Curiosity in action!