My Final Souvenir: What You Seek is Already Yours

I finally finished my piece inspired by Paris this week. I had an idea around the end of October after my opening at Pyramid Atlantic. The large wooden book with the red silk blood pouring out of it was the source of my inspiration. I wanted to use the wooden canvases. And slowly over the next six months, I plugged away at it, which I frequently shared on Instagram. Well, really four months.

Using the @goldiblox ribbon to measure for my final art project.

A photo posted by Caroline Armijo, Paper Artist (@carolinerarmijo) on Jan 27, 2015 at 11:34am PST

Measuring my binding materials

Finally started creating one of three collages to use in my final piece for my #Souvenir series. Hooray for Paris! I have spent quite a bit of time contemplating this last piece.

A photo posted by Caroline Armijo, Paper Artist (@carolinerarmijo) on Feb 15, 2015 at 1:52pm PST

Creating the collage

The collage portion of my final #Souvenir is complete. Hooray for #Paris, #journaling and #crazy dreams. They are all here in the ribbons for a extra-large Jacob's Ladder.

A photo posted by Caroline Armijo, Paper Artist (@carolinerarmijo) on Feb 18, 2015 at 11:00am PST

More collage work and the title of the piece

Not making any promises this is going to work. I think the collages need to be longer.

A photo posted by Caroline Armijo, Paper Artist (@carolinerarmijo) on Feb 18, 2015 at 1:36pm PST

When I realized the binding wasn’t going to work out as planned

I think I finally figured out God's call to return to an old project. It took looking back at 2003, which I'm sharing today on my blog. #RethinkChurch #announce #Lent

A photo posted by Caroline Armijo, Paper Artist (@carolinerarmijo) on Feb 18, 2015 at 9:30pm PST

When I realized that I am supposed to be writing about Art and Play

Making progress on my final #Souvenir piece. Henry didn't want me to hide the #collage strips. They fit perfectly in the back. #miracle #woohoo

A photo posted by Caroline Armijo, Paper Artist (@carolinerarmijo) on Feb 24, 2015 at 9:44am PST

Discovering the collages fit perfectly in the back

#Souvenir #progress report on my #Paris piece. So this is where the collage goes. Maybe time to test the panels to see if I can create a real Jacob's Ladder.

A photo posted by Caroline Armijo, Paper Artist (@carolinerarmijo) on Mar 3, 2015 at 10:29am PST

Seeing them all side by side

This puppy is #finished. I think. After months of debating my next steps, my Paris piece has been assembled. I'll see how it flops tomorrow. #joy #100daysofjoy #The100DayProject #oneword #art #Souvenirs

A photo posted by Caroline Armijo, Paper Artist (@carolinerarmijo) on Apr 15, 2015 at 7:43pm PDT

Even though I had no idea what I was doing, I proceeded to bind the pieces together anyway. The bottom canvas fell off. So I tried again here.

Done. After six months. Tomorrow I'll make a video of the Jacob's Ladder at work in case it only works once. #Souvenirs #Paris #sculpturalbook

A photo posted by Caroline Armijo, Paper Artist (@carolinerarmijo) on Apr 27, 2015 at 7:12pm PDT

This time I added dozens of nails, sealing this works fate. I don’t know that I can hide it if it fails.

Here it is yesterday's #joy and the answer as to whether I am going to submit this piece: No. It did work! The final #Souvenir for #Paris. #100daysofjoy #the100dayproject #oneword

A video posted by Caroline Armijo, Paper Artist (@carolinerarmijo) on Apr 30, 2015 at 5:41am PDT

A video of it working

And, of course, there is the fate of the piece.

So I have mixed feelings about this. Of course. But I believe in the art. There is always magic and messages in the art, which is why I am dedicated to practicing it. So there is one part of me that wants to fix it and submit it to a show in Texas and … But I think that this series and this piece and my journals keep telling me over and over again that I need to focus on writing. I am just too hard-headed to hear it. So for now, I will display my final piece as it is and, like the small foot walking off the canvas, move on.