Monday 1 September 2014

Living Beings - New Challenge at Art Journal Journey

Hi everybody!

We had another grey and wet day here, I was not the only one out for a Sunday walk with wellies!

Today is the start of a new challenge over at Art Journal Journey, 'Living Beings', and I have the honour of playing hostess again. 

I have decided to concentrate my efforts for 'living beings' this month on the work of Beatrix Potter, whose magical work was an important part of my childhood. I still have the complete set of Peter Rabbit books, and they are one of the things which I will never part with. She was a very talented painter and illustrator, whose work hangs in the Tate Gallery in London, and painted all her creatures with great love and respect. I am sure many of you will have seen the wonderful film of her life with Renee Zellweger, 'Miss Potter'. If you are interested you can read more about her life here (English) or here (German).

I want to try to show some of the living beings she created this month, and try to paint or draw some of my own. Your creativity has no limits, you can interpret the theme as you want, with art journaling about any things that live or have lived – unleash your creativity and show us what you can do!

For my piece I painted an A3 page with water colours, and sprinkled on a bit of the wonderful bistre powders sent to me by a friend, and this gave a great grungy look. I fussy cut my characters and put them in scene, together with a photo of Beatrix Potter, watching over her creations. I had great fun making this, and hope you will have fun creating your pages and sharing your living beings at Art Journal Journey.








On rainy and misty days the landscape seems to just dissolve in the distance




The horses were busy grazing as always


And I met this little mouse on my way home, very fitting for today's theme!  The photos are rather grainy, it was dark under the trees where she was scurrying around looking for food




Have a great day, take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!


35 comments:

  1. wonderful theme for this month, nice work. And great capture of that mouse.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Was für eine wunderschöne Arbeit Du gemacht hast Valerie! ♥
    Und Du bist eine echte Beatrix Potter Seele, wenn sogar ein Mäuslein für Dich posiert!
    Hab eine schöne neue Woche -- bei uns ist jetzt auch eine Art Dauerregen eingelangt..
    ist das nicht schön? Da hast Du Deine Spaziergänge für Dich ...
    bei Sonnenschein kan eder spazierern gehen - aber bei Regen ist es viel schöner!
    Knuddel!
    Susi
    ( Bei uns startet die Schule heute wieder, Brüderchen schlummert noch seelig und ich hab schn die erste Maschine Wäsche angekurbelt...

    wunderbarer Start in einen Spetember wie ich meine!

    ReplyDelete
  3. morning,,lovely animals and photos its rainy here too but hoping for sun later

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love this theme, just gorgeous, your journal page reminds me of Lake District holidays long ago! We got back safely, the weekend was very hectic, will mail you later! Hugs, Sarah

    ReplyDelete
  5. moin valerie

    ooohh deine Seiten sind soo zauberhaft und wunderschön,die kätzchen und Mäuse sind niedlich.
    hab auch schon eine Seite zum thema fertig,stell ich nachher mal ein.
    bei uns regnet es auch,und ich finde spaziergänge bei regen richtig schön,weil man fast alleine auf den strassen ist,deine bilder sind wieder klasse,besonders das mäuschen ist soo süss.
    hab mir gerade einen cafe gemacht,und später geh ich zum Hausarzt wegen dem rücken.
    wünsch dir eine schöne Woche :-)

    GLG Jeannette

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gute Besserung! Ich mag es auch im Regen wenn wenig Leute unterwegs sind und die Welt gehört mir!

      Delete
  6. Love the photos, mmmm not sure about the mice though...now you had your wellies on did you, just a taste of what's to come I think in your part of the world...Now your creations are just gorgeous, love the quotation as well...super love it.xxxThe Journey is the Start

    ReplyDelete
  7. Can't wait to see more of your Beatrix Potter ideas Valerie the one today is fantastic with so many of her wonderful characters.

    Love the photographs and especially the little mouse which is so pretty-well it is in that environment not sure about them inside lol.

    Nice day here yesterday but dull and wet today so I will have to get some wellies I reckon.

    Have a good day today

    Love Chrissie x

    ReplyDelete
  8. I devoured these books when I was a child, all the characters have such great names. Love your little mouse friend! Xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great theme, Valerie, and love your evocative picture.
    Super photos today, I love the misty days and the little mouse is possibly asking to be painted and included in this month's AJJ.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for the reminder of the movie, I added it to my Netflix! :) Love the theme, can't wait to see everyone's interpretations! waving hi from the hills of North Carolina ♥

    ReplyDelete
  11. I adore Beatrix Potter books I too have the collection from when I was a child... I could never part with them...your journal page is beautiful... Love the little mouse you met on your walk....Have a happy week ahead... Hugs May x x

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wowww, was für eine wunderbare Seite. Total klasse, gefällt mir sehr. Ein tolles Thema hast du ausgesucht.

    Schöne Fotos zeigst du wieder.
    LG Carola

    ReplyDelete
  13. Valerie, I love your project. The comparison between the grungy background and the delicate images is amazing. I love it! Jean.x

    ReplyDelete
  14. You look like your inspired and therefore did have a lot of fun making this piece. Thanks for reminding me about that film-which I haven't seen in a long time and might need to watch again soon.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Was für eine zauberhafte Szenerie, ich bin ganz begeistert wie Du sie kombiniert und koloriert hast!!
    ich wünsche Dir eine schöne Woche und uns allen bisschen mehr Sonnenschein und nicht schon Halloween Wetter. Angeblich soll nächste Woche eine Hitzewelle kommen, die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt. *gg*
    LG Anja

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Danke! Schoeneres Wetter waere wirklich angebracht! Lasst uns weiter hoffen!

      Delete
  16. What a lovely piece! You are so creative and it is lovely how it will all be in a journal. ManonX

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh yes, Valerie I have seen the wonderful film of Beatrix Potter, It's very very adorable. I really love your interpretation of this theme and the lovely creatures. I hope to see many pages like this. Amazing photo of the little mouse.
    Have a lovely week!
    Hugs, Mar

    ReplyDelete
  18. How lovely theme and your painting is wonderful, Valerie. I haven't seen the film but can imaging something of it after seeing your cute living beings. Thanks for the challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Valerie, September is going to be a very delightful and fun month for your living beings journal. The Beatrice Potter animals are so charming and put smiles on my face. Mornings will be wonderful when I check your blog. Your first page is marvelous.

    Hugs,
    C

    ReplyDelete
  20. A stunning Beatrix Potter scene and the background is so creative. That little mouse is so cute.
    Hugs Desíre {Doing Life}

    ReplyDelete
  21. Beautiful journal page, lovely creatures all fussy cut too, what a lot of work but the results are gorgeous. I really liked your pictures of that little mouse, very cool! Big hugs, ~Diane

    ReplyDelete
  22. Gorgeous page and another fantastic theme. Loved these stories as well.
    Yvonne xx

    ReplyDelete
  23. Deine Beatrice Potter Seite macht Lust auf mehr. Sieht klasse aus. Das Bistre gibt einen coolen Effekt. Containerschiffe kann man auf unserem Weserteilstück nicht sehen, da reicht wohl die Flusstiefe nicht aus. Das kleine Mäuschen ist ja schnuffig :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Oh I love Beatrix Potter, and I love what you've created here Valerie. Your real life mouse looks very sweet too xx

    ReplyDelete
  25. This is going to be another fun month! I think I would have been as scared of the mouse as I was of the spider!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was scared of the spider, but the mouse was really cute - I think the spider was bigger than the mouse, too!

      Delete
  26. I love you pages they are beautiful. The theme is wonderful so brilliant. I must put my thinking cap on.
    hugs
    susan s

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hi Valerie, well you are off to a fabulous start to your BP pages and this wonderful creation. It will be an exciting month for you and I look forward to your designs. The mouse is so cute!! Great walking pics too and the barge looks like it is carrying huge stacks of books.
    Have a great week!
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  28. Another great theme. I'll be posting soon as well. Thanks for these great ideas. xox

    ReplyDelete
  29. I loved that movie and because I have it on a DVD, I have been able to watch it multiple times. I love it when little animals are all dressed up like people living people lives - there is a word for that but I can not for the life of me think of what it is. Obviously your journal page is a delight for me!
    Sandy xx

    ReplyDelete
  30. Den Beatrix Potter Film mochte ich auch sehr. Noch eine starke Frau in ihrer Zeit....
    Ich finde schön, dass du ihre niedlichen Figuren auf deinem Bild so harmonisch versammelt hast und natürlich liebe ich deine Mäuse Schnappschüsse. Passt gut zum Thema.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Great theme and love what you have done and well done on the pics they are great love the mouse x

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. All your comments are much appreciated! Please be aware that by leaving a comment you are voluntarily sharing your name and / or the details of your blog.