Aall & Create meets Sweet Poppy, Stampin Up and a Victorian poet

And now for something completely different.   I have long been a fan of a verse called Invictus.  Written by William Ernest Henley, it was allegedly a poem which kept Nelson Mandela grounded during his 18-year imprisonment on Robben Island.  It is a poem full of strength and promise against adversity and it speaks to me. 

I first applied gesso then acrylic paint to a blank canvas and stencilled the Aall & Create compasses and Sweet Poppy octopus and bubbles directly on to the painted surface. Having planned my layout, I formatted the verse to fit around my intended images and printed it on to tissue paper.  I then stamped my images directly onto the tissue before adhering the tissue to the canvas with Fusion medium. The small clipper ship, compass and anchors, are all by Stampin Up.  I restamped some images on to white card - notably the Aall & Create ship's wheel with it's perched hornbill and the large blue anchor from the "Navigate Home" set, added colour with my Copics, fussy cut them and applied them on top of the original inked image.  

I added an additional hand coloured Sizzix die cut of a toucan to the large blue anchor and a tiny bit of turquoise texture paste through another die cut to give a bit of texture.  I'm not sure I like the colour of the texture paste.  Worried I would make a mistake after all my efforts, I decided to leave it there although I feel sure there is room for more on this piece.   

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp - Make your own background

Watercooler Wednesday -#305 Helen's Anything Goes with a masculine twist

Timeout - #179 "You"

Stamping Sensations - More favourite stamps.  I just love this nautical set by Aall & Create

The Male Room - #46 Animals

Path of Positivity - #87 Anything Goes with the option of a Positive Twist

Crafty Creations - #417 Anything Goes

And because the verse might not be so easy to read in the photographs of my project, I have included William Ernest Henley's poem entitled "Invictus" below.

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.