Sunday 8 January 2017

Art Journal Journey

For this double page in my journal for Art Journal Journey, I have jumped back to August when we went to the Highlands of Scotland and went on a day trip to the Isle of Skye. We went to the Waternish peninsular, a part I had never been to before.  We travelled as far as we could get and came upon the churchyard at Trumpan. The ruins of the church are a grim reminder that the resident MacLeods were there worshipping on a Sunday in May 1578. A raiding party of MacDonalds set the thatch alight and all but one young girl were burnt to death. It was in revenge of an atrocity done to them by the MacLeods on the Isle of Eigg where they were taking refuge in a cave from a raiding party. The MacLeods set a fire at the entrance of the cave in an effort to force them to come out. All 395 MacDonald died- the whole population of the island.
The rest of the story is on the page

I inked a vague background with distress inks and then cut out and adhered the photographs and information.  For some of the gravestones I used dictionary definitions and I ripped up some grey paper for the others. I adde some stamping and texture paste as it was looking a bit flat.
The churchyard looks out over to the Western Isles, Harris, Lewis and Uist, it's a beautiful spot, and this year we are having a week on Skye to explore a bit more.

The double top picture was taken in very poor light, the scans are the true colour.







8 comments:

My name is Erika. said...

I think this is a fascinating page! I can't image a whole clan getting wiped out in one day.Sounds like a fascinating trip and I take it you've been there before. Scotland is one my bucket list. But then about a 100 other places are too. How to chose? If only there was more time and more money. Ha-ha-Hugs-Erika

Valerie-Jael said...

Your journal spread is lovely. You visited a wonderful and very interesting place, that's for sure. Thanks for joining us at AJJ, hugs, Valerie

Heather said...

A stark reminder of grim times past, but your pages are beautiful.

Meggymay said...

Its a wonderful journal spread Wendy and it was good to read the post and the history of the area.
Yvonne xx

Let's Art Journal said...

Beautiful pages to remember such a facinating story, thanks for sharing :-). Have a great start to the week! J :-)

froebelsternchen said...

What a fantastic story and a wonderful journal spread to go with it!
Happy New week! Thank you for joining Art Journal Journey again Wendy!
oxo Susi

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I had intended to get by sooner, Wendy, but my slow computer, time, and life got in the way. You have created a fabulous spread for AJJ, and I am thrilled to learn about this battle.

For the life of me, I can't imagine one family through spite, and one raiding party because of revenge getting wiped out. It appears the entire event meant a whole lot to you, because these pages are really incredible, beautiful, and poignant. I'm so glad I was able to stop by, because I learned a lot of history today.

JennyJ said...

That is an awesome page Wendy - what a brilliant spread - beautifully executed but with such an interesting and tragic story - you have captured the scenery in the background to display the information wonderfully - you have inspired me - I never thought to do something like that - so interesting but so aesthetically clever. I love it JJ

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