Sabbatical | Mixed Media Project

To say Amoretta was worn, torn, battered, and dejected was to imply that a masterpiece had survived the bonfire. In reality, she'd received a terminal medical diagnosis that completely floored her. Family and friends lent supportive ears, but acceptance evaded her. Why me? she repeated in desperation to seek alternative treatments and third opinions.

Finally, she traded her relentless, unforgiving corporate career for a year-long sabbatical in a remote seaside village. In reality, she went into hiding, waiting for a final countdown.

She arrived on a Friday evening. Nothing extraordinary about the retreat, she sighed. Her diagnosis she couldn't ignore. A decision she had to make on how best to handle her life going forward. Single and childless, the meaning of life escaped her.

Desperate for a distraction from her own failing body, she began exploring the rugged coastline and stumbled upon a half-buried, rusted iron hatch leading to a forgotten WWII-era cliffside bunker.

Her love of adventure and exploration temporary returned, forgetting for a moment about her diagnosis.

Inside the bunker, sheltered from the coastal wind, she discovered a massive, meticulously preserved archive of handwritten journals, sketchbooks, and letters.

Apparently the items were left behind by a local coast guard watchman decades ago.

Fascinated by the discovery, she gathered some of the smaller items and returned to the hotel hoping no one admonished her for removing them from their sanctuary.

A lifetime of beautifully documented human resilience. Quiet observations of nature and profound wisdom was written by a man who had faced his own isolation. He found comfort by the sea.

Amoretta spent her remaining months submerged in the watchman's words, reading every weathered page until his memories felt like her own.

By the time the final journal closed, the frantic terror of her diagnosis had quieted into a deep, unshakable acceptance.

Returning the material to the bunker, she headed back toward the hotel. In her sorrow, she'd forgotten to notice the white-capped waves. Beautiful palm trees swaying in the cool, gentle breeze.

But most importantly, footprints in the sand of time. Yes, they'd eventually be washed away. But not before someone took note of them and knew another person was there before.

She finally understood that human lives, like stars, do not truly end if they leave a light behind for the dark. She telephoned her family and friends to ease their worry. They volunteered to join her. She accepted.

In the meantime, she set to work busying herself, enjoying the serenity of the retreat.

While she waited for her family to join her, with steady hands and a peaceful heart, she uncapped her own pen, turned to the blank pages at the back of one of the last volumes of ledgers, and began to write her own story for the next weary traveler to find.

For my current mixed media project, I searched for a free-sourced image of a pensive female. The colors in the photo and design surrounding her head and body drew me to her possible plight. What was happening behind the masks.

I overlaid the female image with my two pure fractals I created in the advanced fractal rendering program, Apophysis 7X.

Below are my steps in which I utilized Canva, my design program, to blend the different type images which began with a blank, white canvas. I then added layers of elements in accordance with my upgraded Annual Pro Membership that includes for the blending process.

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The images I include are listed below:

^{Woman's Surreal Portrait ~ Yellow flower on dark background - Contributed to #LIL by @borjan ~ Yellow-vented Bulbul - Contributed to #LIL by @digitalis ~ Pure Fractal titled "Flower in Flower" ~ Pure Fractal titled "Veil in Pink"}