The Wedding Day | A Mixed Media Art Project

Her Big Day had arrived.

Careful planning for the wedding and reception venues, caterer, and decor colored her eyes and thoughts. The idea shoved to the forefront in the excitement of her parents. Especially, her mother. Thoughtful arrangements ensured the venues would be filled with as many family and friends as allowed.

The brilliant cut flashed sparkles, hiding the tears that had formed as Nicola sat staring at her hand. The ring. She'd given it as a token of her finance's affection a year ago.

However, no signs of what just happened in the church corridor occurred that she would admit during their 365 days together.

Perhaps she looked the other way when appointments were missed. Perhaps she forgave explained-away odd behavior and situations. Perhaps.

But it was no denying the facts that day. As her uncle rose and elaborated, she held her head high in silence.

"So, he left you, dear niece, here at the church. It's not the end of the world. You are definitely better off you didn't go through with it. He was a bit under the influence, mind you and maybe lost his way! Anyone who arrives at the wedding three sheets to the wind with an questionable odor not befitting a groom doesn't deserve any lass, especially you. It's a good thing you turned him around at the door and sent him on his way. Else I would have stepped in, and it wouldn't have been a pretty sight."

With that, Uncle Arthur raised his glass to the crowd.

"No sense in wasting this grand spread of a table. Go take that gown off, my dear, put on a dancing outfit, and let's get this party started."

Nicola smiled, nodded in her Uncle's direction, and beckoned to her bridal party.

My current mixed media art project portrays an unusual event at a wedding. Not all wedding events go as smoothly as planned. My theme is one of chaos and sadness.

As inspiration for the bride, I located the following free-sourced image. The image portraying her obvious distress as she holds a rose behind her back. Facing her is a cracked and broken future:

^Source

To assist in transforming her otherwise cheerful day into a somber event, I located another free-sourced background image. I envisioned this image was her pillow of discomfort and solitude as she ponders her future.

^Source

To complete my scene, I added in three pure fractals I designed in Apophysis, a fractal rendering program. One fractal that resembled a candy swirl would represent a happy event slowly spiraling out of control. It was included in the background.

In the foreground were my other two fractals as wedding decorations.

To blend all images, I uploaded them into Canva, my design program. I took advantage of the options for removing backgrounds, adding filters, and colorizing some of the images to match the background scene.

Here are my steps.

To a blank canvas, I added the background scene, then duplicated it to fill in the canvas.

I wanted the spiral effect in my pure fractal as though the situation at the wedding venue spiraled out of control.

With the background finished, I added the female image depicting a bridge. She would sit on the bed of fire ring.

I feel the scene came together perfectly to depict the outcome of a wedding gone awry.