Guardian of Imagination

 I recently lost Crafty Mojo.  I went through all the usual channels- I stood on street corners calling to Mojo.  I mass-produced generic fliers.  I called the local shelter which, like me, had not seen my Mojo.  And so I began looking in the dusty corners of my internet.  I knew Crafty Mojo was lurking somewhere, but where?

 
Occasionally I saw a blur at the edge of my vision or heard a scuffle just out of sight, and as insubstantial as these experiences were, they sustained my hope that I would find Crafty Mojo again.  Last week I sighted the pitiful beast.  He appeared thin, timid, and unwilling to approach.  So, I have been luring him ever closer with the promise of sweet treats and a warm home.


While frequentling his usual haunts and only-once-in-a-blue-moon venues I stumbled across a gargoyle/guardian challenge.  It presented itself as the perfect invitation to Crafty Mojo.  I had  purchased some digital gargoyle stamps last year and even printed them for a coloring afternoon.  But the thought of coloring gargoyles intimidated me and I had no specific use for them.  (I am pretty sure that purchase qualifies the title of "hoarder".) This challenge gave me the push I needed to bring at least one gargoyle to life, work on some of those shading skills presented at my last Copics workshop (see my new button?), and convince Mr. Crafty Mojo to come home to Mama.

I began by coloring my Gargoyle- but the results only disappointed me.  Crafty Mojo tucked his tail and dipped his head with a whimper.   I tucked the gargoyle away for a couple days in order to contemplate the next maneuver.  Crafty Mojo watched from the corner, ready to dart at the slightest provocation.  A couple days went by before I realized that the answer had been sitting open on my desk all along in the guise of my art journal.  I would finish the gargoyle, no matter what, then use him in an art journal page.  The informality of the journal format excuses all mistakes.  It actually turns ugly art into an excusable and passable form of pretty- at least in my estimation.  After all, a journal is for me- no one else. 

In the end the page satisfied me enough to submit it to the Gruesome Guardian Challenge.  And Crafty Mojo? Well, he is still in his corner gnawing away on my bone folder. 

Check out the other great (and definitely more gruesome) entries at http://haunteddesignhouse.blogspot.com/.  You may decide to play along.  But you will have to hurry as the challenge ends Sunday.  So here is my entry…

Guardian of Imagination-

While I am aware this entry falls into the “tolerable category” rather than gruesome, I am willing to live with that.  While creating this page I began as a lament and then segued into a supplication that my children retain their active imaginations.  And as I completed it I realized that I had come full circle in a desperate attempt to revive and preserve my own imagination.  There is a duality in the tower of books as well; as I see the move to a digital age as another attack on the already crumbling 

 pages of art and literature.  But let’s stick to the basics today.  I included some of my children’s favorite books in the tower and put a comic book in my son’s hand.  Litte C. Mojo sits in front of the tower, and I hope that my gargoyle keeps him safe also.

Stamp credits:  gargoyle is from Saturated Canary

 

 Guard your imagination well!