The next stop of our global adventure is a country that’s especially close to our hearts. 😉 Welcome to the land down under, mates! We’re in Australia!
Just like Ayers Rock, today’s artistic tradition has very ancient origins. For centuries, Australian Aboriginals have painted their faces and bodies to designate social class and order, as well as to participate in religious rituals. As part of certain spiritual ceremonies, they would smooth an area of soil to create a canvas and draw sacred designs or ancestral beings. After the ceremony, they would wash off their body paint and smooth the soil to preserve the secret, sacred nature of these rituals.
In the 1970s and 1980s, some Aboriginals began taking these ancient designs and painting them on canvas, an art form that came to be know as Aboriginal dot painting—and the inspiration for today’s artwork! Aboriginal dot paintings still contain sacred meanings and designs, but the layering of dots and patterns conceal these sacred designs from untrained eyes. Such layering also causes very cool optical effects where shapes and images seem to move forward and backward on the canvas, creating unique, striking artwork.
These dot paintings became a way for Aboriginals to preserve their culture and perpetuate traditions while creating beautiful artwork for the modern world to see. It essentially became their own unique form of decorative memory keeping as they would preserve important stories and legends for future generations. How could we resist using this artistic tradition as inspiration for today’s artwork?
We are entranced by the intricate details of this page! Our artist expertly mirrored the layered effect of dot painting to create this mesmerizing feast for the eyes. In the background, she created shiny, black dots by stippling Liquid Glass on the black cardstock. On top of those dots she placed circles of colored cardstock. She then accented those dots with Flamingo Dots and Aqua Dots. What an amazing technique!
As you go about your crafting, remember that grandiose things, like this scrapbook page and Aboriginal dot paintings, are accomplished one dot at a time. Keep this in mind when you feel overwhelmed with your layouts or with preserving all your memories. Just take life one dot at a time! You may not feel up to the task of creating a masterpiece today, but you don’t have to! Today, just focus on adding one more dot to the mix.
P.S. Be sure to leave a comment to enter to win the travel stamp giveaway!
Recipe
12″ x 12″ Face Painting Fun Page
Make It from Your Heart™ Vol. 1: Pattern 5 (with alterations)
A1159 My Acrylix® LOL, X5760 Cotton Candy Cardstock, X5758 Sunset Cardstock, X5668 Honey Cardstock, X5764 Pear Cardstock, X5762 Lagoon Cardstock, X5759 Pacifica Cardstock, X5769 Thistle Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, 1386 Black Cardstock, Z1829 Black & Grey Glitter Paper, Z2153 Sweet Leaf Exclusive Inks™ Pad, Z2641 Glacier Exclusive Inks™ Pad, Z2192 Pacifica Exclusive Inks™ Pad, Z2643 Canary Exclusive Inks™ Pad, Z2191 Sunset Exclusive Inks™ Pad, Z2195 Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Pad, Z1853 Aqua Dots, Z1934 Flamingo Dots, Z1263 Bitty Sparkles, Z679 Liquid Glass, Z1979 Marvy® Uchida® LePen™ Journaling Pen, Z3171 Cricut® Art Philosophy Collection, Z3170 Cricut® Artiste Collection, Thread
Cricut® Shapes:
Art Philosophy
1/8″, 1/4″, 1/2″ <Circle1> (cut several, p. 21)
Artiste
½” Shift <Font> “FACE PAINTING FUN”
Fun page. Great info.
What an awesome layout, just beautiful!!
Love the effect of the liquid glass. What a great layout.
Beautiful pages! The colors really pop on that black background! I would so love to be in Australia with you!
oh my gosh, love it!
I love liquid glass, this looks like a fun layout. So colorful!
For those who are interested in aboriginal traditional art and Uluru (the correct name for ‘Ayers Rock’), you might find some accurate information for beginners here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australian_art
http://www.aboriginalartstore.com.au/aboriginal-art-culture/aboriginal-art/aboriginal-dot-paintings/
http://www.parksaustralia.gov.au/uluru/
Enjoy!
That looks so neat! I never would have thought to stipple liquid glass. That’s some versatile stuff!!! Fun layout!
So interesting. I am always amazed by the many used for Liquid Glass.
Wow, such an intricate layout!
So cool! I absolutely love the liquid glass dots black on black!!
Love the layout, but love the “history lesson” more!
I love the bold colors against a black background! I can’t wait to try this!
Australia is absolutely at the top of my travel wish list!!!! I think it would be so awesome to visit and then way fun to scrap the trip!!!
What a beautiful and unique layout. Thank you for sharing the history from Australia.
WOW!! That is amazing! It has inspired me to got busy on my pages that I need to finish. One dot at a time!
Wow! How wonderful to incorporate the Aboriginal style into our layouts. Well done to the person who did this one. I’m incredibly proud to be an Australian myself living in a beautiful area of southern Victoria.
This layout has even given me a reality check on how I can make my work mine by using my local area for inspiration.
Love this company and love this blog.
Thank you!
Jaz
Love this Layout! So Fun!
I just learned something new about Austrailia and a VERY creative way to accent a page! Thank you for this wonderful adventure!
Wow, that’s awesome. So creative!
This is my back Yard! all be it a 5 hour Drive but here in Alice Springs it is considered just around the corner 🙂 Ayers Rock is now called Uluru as it has been restored to its original Aboriginal name. In Alice Springs we get to see many dot paintings my favorite stamp set is the Australian Adventures with the Dot animals it has made my Layouts very central Australian. One thing of interest the Dot paintings that are handed down from elder to there tribe are often Topographical Maps with blue circles representing water, small boomerangs children ect. These paintings were essential for this nomadic group of people to know where to find water, food, tools left behind, there boundary’s (as some tribes do not get along) and to basically help them survive. Thank you so much for visiting my backyard and I am looking forward to trying out this new recipe. From the Desert Scrapper CTMH Rebekah Axe
Very interesting post. Love the layout.
Super cute!!! I love the colors!! Thanks
Love this layout. Love our Australian outback. Uluru is spectacular to see! I highly recommend it. Thank you Rebekah Axe for sharing a little more about the Dot paintings. One of my neighbours is of Aboriginal descent and does some beautiful Dot Paintings.
This is a beautiful layout, love all the dots.
Amazing inspiration piece and an amazing page. As I looked at this, many of the CTMH stamps with circles and dots came to mind. Will have to look them up to see what artwork could come from this inspiration.
Such a fun layout. Love all the colors and love the many ways in which we can use liguid glass. Thanks for the inspiration.
Wow, how creative! I love how the colors pop off of the black background.
Very nice!
This is really cute with the pattern of dots!
Would love to meet some Aussie ctmh sisters, a kangaroo or two and bring my daughter to visit her high school buddy who moved there years ago.
I am sure many of us would love to meet you 🙂 and introduce you to some kangas 🙂 I have a friend in North Carolina with the same surname as your are you related?
When I get back from Australia in the spring I will definitely have to incorporate some dot art into my scrapbook pages! Wonderful!
At least now I can say now I’ve “visited” Australia, albeit virtually. *sigh* Maybe one day for real. Thanks for the trip!
Wow! What a work of art. Not for the faint hearted with all those dots but the result is stunning. Good old Uluru! C’mon Aussi, c’mon!
Very beautiful 🙂
Awesome layout! Love the creativity!
The background paper is awesome. Sounds easy to recreate.
When I taught geography to elementary school students, we would create “Aboriginal art” with students’ names. One of my students asked me if the name of one of the tribes was the “Zentangles”!
Love the Australian outback, grew up in the northern part of WA. Uluru is spectacular to see dry & wet! Love when it rains & you get mini waterfalls off Uluru. I love Aboriginal there is a lot of meaning & spirituality about the artwork. Love what the artist has done to get the dot painting look – what a great technique, it looks so effective. Will have to give this technique a try. Thanks for sharing this
I love this layout! The brightly coloured circles pop off the black background and the liquid glass dots are a fabulous addition. I definitely want to try this technique. 🙂
Great page layout! A beautiful interpretation of a truly unique art form.
I was fortunate enough to go to Australia to visit my family working there a couple of years ago. BEAUTIFUL, BREATHTAKING, WONDERFUL trip – love everything about this friendly country, except maybe the snakes!
Stunning! The patience it must take is staggering 🙂
What an absolutely stunning layout. Truly an artist! It is gorgeous. Thank you for the inspiration.
This is a beautiful layout! And labor-intensive!
I want to try this idea but it would take forever
Love this layout! Thanks for the tips with liquid glass – never thought to use it to make dots on a page. Very cool!
very cool!
In LOVE with the liquid glass dots! My layout mentality tends to be more artistic, an expression of my emotions and thoughts during the moment the pictures were taken. I love the fluidity and movement the dots create along the page.
Loved seeing Australia and bought some artwork there. Our favorite was a hand painted boomerang we purchased in Ayers Rock. The people were soooooo friendly and welcoming.