Sometimes, when I'm trying to go to sleep at night (it does not always come quickly) I turn on a YouTube video about something, or someplace, interesting. Usually sleep comes quickly then.
Easter Island was featured in one of the videos recently, so when I saw @shaka's template photo, it was natural for me to think of this scene.
@shaka's Template Photo
The most recognizable artifacts from Easter Island are the gigantic Moai statues. I have represented these (approximately) in my collage.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, there are 1000 Moai statues on the island. All are megaliths, carved from volcanic rock. The rock came from the Rano Raraku volcano, and was carved into statues with the use only of stone implements as tools.
The statues weigh an average of 14 tons, and average 13 feet in height. There is a lot of speculation about why the statues were built. Most experts theorize that each statue represents a powerful chief.
Moais on Easter Island
Credit: Aurbina. Public domain
The first European to set foot on the island was a Dutch seaman, Jacob Rogeveen. He saw it on Easter Sunday, so he decided to call it Easter Island. However the first people to discover the land and settle it were Polynesian. These were seafaring people, who navigated thousands of miles by observing the stars, wave direction, and by observing landmarks.
Modern Replica of Polynesian Double Hulled Canoe
Credit:HongKongHuey Used under CC 2.0 license.
Knowledge of the sea was a skill passed down through generations. Such was the skill of the Polynesians, that it is believed their explorations took them to the shores of South America. DNA analysis has shown that there was contact between Polynesians and native Americans.
As is true of virtually all indigenous cultures that had contact with Europeans, the population of Easter Island, the Rapa Nuiwas eventually decimated by the association. At one point there were approximately only 110 indigenous people left on the island. Indigenous flora and fauna also suffered as a result of European contact.
I did some reading about the kinds of plants and animals that might be found on the island today. There are turtles and lobsters, a variety of birds (yes, herons, as in my picture) and a lot of grasses. There are not a lot of trees. There are, remarkably, no snakes. One of my early renditions of the collage featured snakes. That collage was discarded when I realized my error. Plus, the collage was a mess.
You can see I had a lot of trouble with this collage :) The rooster had to go also. There are roosters on Easter Island, but this one just didn't fit. (The snake was courtesy of @seckorama on LIL and the rooster courtesy of serhottest on LIL). There is a heron, borrowed from @redheadpei on LIL, in the background of this collage. The heron also didn't make it into the final.
I began by separating the cliff in @shaka's template into sections:
I found some Moai statues on Pixabay, authored by
Hugo-Leroy and antoinese0. With great difficulty I blended the heads of the statues onto the pieces of cliff.
I played around with the template. Separated the sand. Added water, from @muelli on LIL, and a turtle I had contributed to LIL some time ago.
You'll recognize the double-hulled canoes. I couldn't find one with a sail, so I just drew that in. This image came from Pixabay. Thank you seguir. The herons and grass (sedge is found on Easter Island) were also from Pixabay. Thank you james demers.
You'll notice the odd texture in the background and in the statues. I ran the image at several stages through different GIMP filters, including Emboss and Neon. Eventually I got the effect I was going for, though I'm not sure how ;))
LMAC runs a contest every week, starting on Thursday. So, tomorrow a new round starts. The contest ends on Monday night. Wednesday, today, the winners are announced. You can check out the winning collages on the LMAC blog. I don't compete in the contest because I'm on the jury, but I make a collage just about every week. It's great fun and a challenge. The announcement for this week's contest was here.
LIL, the LMAC Image Gallery, has become an intrinsic part of the LMAC community. Anyone on Hive may borrow from the library (as I did today) and anyone may contribute to the gallery (as I do regularly). Instructions may be found here.
Thank you for reading my blog. I wish everyone a peaceful, productive week.