Sunday, August 5, 2018

Patriotism


As you may know by now, Bleubeard and I are hosting Art Journal Journey this month.  My theme is Count your blessings.

I am blessed in several ways as this journal page shows.

First, I love my country, at least most of the time.

Second, I am proud of my flag.

Although I'm not sure I would say I would die for my flag, I know I would condemn anyone who intentionally defaced or burnt it.   After all, many brave soldiers have died for this flag and what it stands for. 

That may be why our soldiers' coffins are draped with this flag.

On Tuesday (August 7), I will have the opportunity to have my voice heard by casting votes for both federal and state offices.  In the states, we have something called a PRIMARY, part of a two step process, where a group of candidates are voted on and the field is narrowed down to one candidate in each of the parties my state allows.  The winner of each primary election become's the party's choice for the second step, which is the GENERAL election.  The general election is held the first Tuesday in November.  For Kansas, we have the following parties: Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, and Reform.  There are at least five candidates in each of the first two parties and at least two in the other parties.

In the primary, you must declare the party you want to vote for.  In the general election, you can vote for anyone you choose in any of the parties.

Voting is a right women should never take for granted.  It took us in the U.S. long enough to win the right to vote, so we must never squander the opportunity.

I am blessed in many ways today.  I have the right to fly my flag without being persecuted, and I have the right to vote in the two step election process.

For this page, I began by running a piece of 110 lb card stock through my printer and printed the words.  Next, I drew the flag using a ruler and metallic colored gel pens.  I colored the blue and red using water soluble crayons.  I went through all my postage stamps that had flags and tried not to repeat any.  They are really quite popular stamps.  Finally, I colored the little girl paper doll and attached her to the page, standing her on one of the flag's stripes.

Bleubeard, my fearless and welcoming co-host and I are delighted you stopped by and invite you to join us at Art Journal Journey where my theme this month is Count your blessings

14 thoughtful remarks:

Valerie-Jael said...

A very patriotic post! Enjoy your day, Valerie

aussie aNNie said...

Sure is patriotic and fabulous.x

Marfi-topia said...

I think this turned out great!

Cindy McMath said...

A great patriotic pages. I like the use of the postage - especially the star used where the stars would be on the flag - a nice abstraction. The little girl is very cute and fits well with your theme and on your page. Oh and thanks for letting me know about the comments in your post a couple of days ago - I thought it was losing my marbles! :)

froebelsternchen said...

I love this page! Firstly it is so lovely and well created - with much thought! Great composition and every little detail placed with much care and not just does the page look beautiful it also gives the visual artisitic realization of your thoughts about our rights to vote and what means patriotism to you.
I love the tautology of this post and not just this.
I love this entry for your theme as you ♥♥♥ set us thinking with it!

Happy Sunday to the wonderful host and Co.-Admin and her four-legged helpers !
Hugs, Susi

RO said...

Like you, I love my country, and am proud to have served in the military. I never tire of looking at our flag, and yours is depicted so well. Those stamps are pretty wonderful too! Hugs..and Happy Sunday! RO

CJ Kennedy said...

A wonderful reminder of the rights we have in the USA.

My name is Erika. said...

This is super page and I love your collection of flag stamps. I tend to go for the other designs when I buy stamps, but you have made me look twice at the flags. They are pretty, aren't they? And our primaries are not until next month here. We have only 3 parties here-Democrat, Republican and Libertarian. We sometimes get independent runners but if you register independent you can chose to vote in either party. I haven't heard of reform at all. I wonder if it's not a registered party in NH. This will be an interesting election in November for sure. Hope all is well this weekend. Hugs-Erika

kathyinozarks said...

Good post, love your art page.
Us women especially must never forget what it took before us to give us our right to vote-and it is so important that everyone votes-in every election.

Divers and Sundry said...

I'll wave a flag in your honor, although I do support flag-burning as a form of protest. I think some people these days (not you, but I hear them rant on FB) are quick to favor honoring the flag over honoring the freedoms we've fought for.

We've had 2 primaries this year, and some thought that might depress turnout Thursday. It didn't, though. So Hoorah! for people exercising their right to vote. My grandmother had 3 children before she could vote. It's a more recent right than we often remember.

craftytrog said...

A wonderful patriotic page Elizabeth! xxx

Meggymay said...

It was a good post for me to read today as you explained so well, this part of your voting system.
Your page looks super with all those wonderful stamps you used and the delightful young girl carrying her flag.
We should all feel proud of our own flags and I think respect the flags of other countries.
Yvonne xx

kathyinozarks said...

thank you much for the encourgement-I am mordanting some of my beginner yarn from the spinning wheel I did a couple years ago-will do both dye baths as described in the article--mordanting the wool yarn now as I type.
thanks for the good luck-hugs

Jeanie said...

Nice collection of flag stamps and I really love the image of the young girl you chose. Very thoughtful.