A Documented Life -- A Puzzle and A Tiny Shot

Week 27 in The Documented Life Project: use a puzzle in your work. All I could find at the time was a book of Sudokus, so I tore one out and glued it down. What followed was some gesso, ink, paint, embossing paste, stenciling, doodling, and a bit of text from the book.

The numbers in green were done by scraping white embossing paste through stencils. When dry, the stencil was put back over the numbers and then the green paint was dabbed on. I think you can see the texture in this close up.

The current week's prompt is to use a tiny photo in the piece. Coincidentally, the prompt came while Teri and I were helping Pat celebrate her birthday. We had a wonderful day (perfect weather, no big crowds thanks to many people being away for the July 4th weekend) at Fort Tryon Park in upper Manhattan. First we enjoyed brunch at The New Leaf Cafe, located right in the middle of the park. Then, a short walk over to The Cloisters, which is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is devoted to the art of medieval Europe, in a beautiful setting overlooking the mighty Hudson River. Instead of an "artsy" page, I did this one smashbook style, documenting a memorable day with fabulous friends.

It contains my own sketches (the arches, the bloody mary), tiny photos, and ephemera from the day (the map, the museum sticker). I think my favorite part of the page is the very small photo of Pat and I, which I carefully cut around our figures and superimposed over the sketch of the arches. It just makes me smile.

I generally share my DLP work as single pages, but here is how this one looks in the context of the entire book.