Thursday, 4 February 2016

If music be....

Hi Everybody!

For Art Journal Journey, if music be the food of love, and for PPF, hosted
by Eva and Kristin, I have an A3 mixed media piece. The pigeon on the right is a photo, the background is part of a water-colour painting, and the yellow bird, which is , of course, the giant music-breasted warbler - a very rare bird- was painted and then scanned, digitally cut out and placed onto the background. I placed the print-out onto a background which was gessoed and sprayed. Then I continued the branches, added a few leaf embellishments, deepened the colours with Gelatos and added some tissue tape.





For 99 Faces I played around with acrylics and felt pens. 
Can you find the face?


And this is a blast from the past, a coloured pencil drawing made when I was at school, made in 1962.


We had very changeable weather, with some sun here and there, but mostly wild, wet and very windy. Even the gulls looked cold:




And the ducks:



This shows the flood marks on the wall by the Rhine. The wall is good 4 meters high, and I can't imagine what it must be like with such masses of water. The water level is normally good 2-3 meters below the level of the towpath.




I remember these 2 years well:


And here one of the old, rusty signs, especially for Elizabeth, who loves rust!


Have a good day, make the best of the weather, however it is,
take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!

68 comments:

  1. My goodness, your school drawing is amazing and I love the bird collage - I'm all for everyone singing their own song! Xx

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  2. Lots of goodies on show today. I love your bird piece, but I think you invented that name....great face, too, and the flowers are fantastic. Hugs, Sarah

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  3. Fabulous pieces all of them, love those birds! The flowers look amazing!

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  4. I think you are feeling better today, lots of interesting things such as those flood marks. Beautiful music mixed media and I did find the face! Love your coloured pencil drawing.

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  5. Hi Valerie, Hope you're having a better day. Love your awesome piece with the bird and music. I believe this to be true. We do sing our own song.
    Love your colored pencil work. Just gorgeous. You are such a talented artist in every way.
    Have a great evening. xo
    Beautiful walking pics too and incredible markings of the flood waters.

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  6. Quite the variety here today. Those signs on the wall are amazing. Love the rusty one too. The year my mother was born...No I cannot imagine waters that high. Weird warm and Spring like today. Maybe we'll see that yellow warbler of yours. xox

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  7. OOhhhh the birds are perfect. I think the yellow is just the right tone. The photos are always a highlight for me.

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  8. I love your birds and the bright happy colors!

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  9. Ohhh the canary!! I am in love. xo

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  10. A rare bird indeed! I enjoyed seeing all your art tonight. The face really took me a bit to find! Very clever and Picasso-like! Your pencil drawing is wonderful, but so different from what you do now! Have a great week.

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    1. At school we had to do what the teacher told us to do! Hard....

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    2. What a fabulous post! I love the rare bird! Your face is fabulous and as ever I love your photos! Hugs, Chrisx

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  11. schöne seiten,die vögel sind klasse.
    einen schönen freitag dir.

    hugs jenny

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  12. Was für eine tolle Seite und ich finde auch ein Gesicht in der Gesichterseite, ja... begeistert bin ich von Deinem Farbstift Stillleben! Großartig!
    Schöne Fotos sind das - von meinen Lieblingen den Möven - die Hochwassermarken sind interessant - was für Gewalt die Natur hat.. wir neigen leider immer wieder dazu das zu vergessen!

    Knuddel
    Susi

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  13. Gorgeous colours this week. Happy PPF

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  14. Liebe Valerie,
    all diese Bilder sind absolut genial, ich könnte mich nicht entscheiden, welches das Schönste ist. Die Hochwassermarken finde ich total interessant, etwas das es bei uns nicht gibt. Das Wetter ist irgendwie wild, gut angepasst an die tollen Tage.
    Herzliche Grüsse, Sichtwiese

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  15. A wonderful page, I love the giant music breasted warbler and it took me a while but I managed to find the face. The flower drawing is beautiful.
    xxx Hazel.

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  16. Beautiful. the whole display here is stunning love your creations...enjoy your weekend.xx
    {aNNie}

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  17. Your bird collage is so happy. Lovely colours. Makes me want to sing. Your school drawings are magnificent .. I adore the flowers. And of course your photos -- the little ducks sitting on the dock, and the old sign, rusted with age. I too love rusty old things. Enjoy your day. hugs, Donna

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  18. Amazing art pages today Valerie and all so different. I had to search for the face and now I have found it I can't miss it. Strange how that happens. Love the vase of flowers that would make a wonderful jigsaw. Your talent shone through at an early age for sure.

    Love the photographs and the tales that the plaques tell of years gone by. Also the rusty sign is well up on my list.

    Have a good day

    Love Chrissie xx

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  19. Valerie, your yellow bird art is just fantastic, one of your best ever! Maybe it is the contrast of colors. I don't know, but it really appeals to me. Also the student illustration of the vase of flowers is beautiful. I particularly like the way you were able to do the reflections of light.

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  20. Your very rare bird painting is just wonderful, so much imagination and art in one picture. I must add the giant music-breasted warbler to my list of birds to look out for, haha.
    What a great painting you did at school, how very skilful, and beautiful too.

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    1. They only live in Scotland on days when it's more than 28° with no wind or rain!

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    2. Oh dear, that's it off the list then.

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    3. Still can't see the face, although I can see the bird.

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    4. The face is there - red nose and blue lips!

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    5. OK, I think I see it.........😘

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  21. Stunning bird! I thought number two was something I might have done...lol. love the face in vibrant colour! Lastly love that Gorgeous floral! Wonderful work this week!

    Hugs Giggles

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  22. Finally, a bird I actually recognize (grin)! Usually, I can't tell one from the next, except cardinals, of course. This is a beauty, and the added embellishments make it even more enjoyable.

    That elusive face took awhile for me to see, but I think I finally got it. Really clever use of the materials, too.

    Your drawing from school is wonderful. It looks like one of those 16th Century realists whose paintings look so real, even the dew on the leaves looks like it was fresh.

    Thanks for the rusty sign. What I wouldn't give to be able to use that in my art. It's simply incredible, and being so old, I'm sure I'd get a good print.

    Those poor birds. The duck poses are true to form when they are sheltering their bodies and faces against the wind. Such a great post today.

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  23. Love your musical bird, maybe a warbler? We can see that colorful art isn't something new with you. Your highschool art clearly shows your love of color. Happy PPF

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  24. I love your birds and the way you did them. Quite similar to what I did this week, cutting and gluing. Your school painting is gorgeous as well.

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  25. great variation in your art projects Valerie. but oh, that yellow bird piece sings of summer and so I LOVE it!! That last photo of the rusted sign is so cool-and I can just see you playing with it in photoshop:) Happy PPF and soon to be weekend!
    PS- Downton Abbey is a hugely popular series which sadly is currently in its last season. Kind of a Masterpiece Theater like series. I was hooked from day 1 season 1:)

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  26. I admire the way you transformed your work over the years and have taken it to such a bright and playful place. Love the color quality and layered in your birds.

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  27. Happy PPF, thanks for dropping by to view mine

    much love...

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  28. Gorgeous pages... love the top one with the music and bird as well at your abstract lines (yes can see the face!) and your flowers from 1962, amazing!, very talented :) I lost my drawings from when I was a teenager, somehow my Dad misplaced the box in moves. Take care, Shirleyxx

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  29. Love your pages!
    xoxoxo
    Michelle aka MiSchra

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  30. Fantastic art today again Valerie. Love the birds and had to realy look close for the face, but when found it is a great piece of art.
    Yvonne xx

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  31. loving all the photos and your first bird piece is wonderful!

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  32. Such sweet bird song in springtime!

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  33. Gorgeous photos. Love your art, the sunny colours are fantastic for the imagery you used. Tracy x

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  34. Fabulous post Valerie. I love that blast from the past piece, what an incredible floral drawing! How interesting the markers are for the water levels, the climate sure is changing! hugs :)

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  35. Great bird page Valerie, and your school drawing is so beautiful, obviously always very talented.
    Loved today's photos with the ater levels.
    Have a great weekend.
    Avril xx

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  36. Fantastic artwork and post. Love your mixed media piece - your beautiful rare bird reminded me of an old canary my grandmother had for many years and which was almost bald.
    I didn't see the face straight away either - but that was a cool idea and I could sit for ages and see different things in it. Love the colours too.
    Your coloured pencil drawing is just amazing ( I had to show Dave as I knew he would love it too)
    Hope you had a better day and are ok... have a lovely weekend.
    Gill xx

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  37. I really like your birds!!!! Thanks for the pictures!

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  38. Absolutely ADORE your "rare giant music breasted warbler".... just LOVE. What a FABULOUS creation - the colors are spectacular. Love how you continued the branches and leaf embellishments.

    And honestly.. no I can't find the face but... hubby walked in and found it right off - errrrrrrrrrrrrr. I love the bright colors and this is a really fun way to create a face!

    And Valerie - what a lovely drawing from years ago. Wow - always so talented. So happy you shared. XX j.

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  39. I love your birds!! The music-breasted warbler is too cute. And the vase of flowers is spectacular! You are very talented.

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  40. It's no secret that I adore birds so you're artwork had me at hello. They are so bright and cheerful which is just what we need here at the moment.
    I did find the face and am impressed with your flowers.
    You know you're in trouble when the seagulls hunker down. We've had the worst flooding here in Aberdeenshire this year than any other year on record.
    Hopefully we won't have any more and spring will come to call.
    Those plagues are fascinating.
    Happy PPF to you

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  41. Love your bird page. The yellow bird looks so ready to sing...and adding the musical score on her breast is a great idea. And I found the face!!! Your colored pencil sketch is very pretty-very classical, but you know how to sue a colored pencil for sure. Mine always look so streaky so I stay away from them. And I found the face! Cool river views today! Love the marking of those high waters. Hope your weekend starts off in a good way! Hugs!

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  42. Love your bird page. The yellow bird looks so ready to sing...and adding the musical score on her breast is a great idea. And I found the face!!! Your colored pencil sketch is very pretty-very classical, but you know how to sue a colored pencil for sure. Mine always look so streaky so I stay away from them. And I found the face! Cool river views today! Love the marking of those high waters. Hope your weekend starts off in a good way! Hugs!

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  43. Your music breasted warbler is fabulous as is your entire birdie collage.
    So much to enjoy here with all of your varied creations including your photography.
    Happy PPF liebe Valerie
    and happy beginning of the weekend too
    oxo

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  44. Love, love, love the bird collage. Also loved seeing the birds.

    Kate

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  45. Your bird collage is fabulous, and your photos are wonderful as always! I especially like the gulls and how the red from the chipping paint pulls out the reds in their legs! So cool to see the flood signs, too!

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  46. OMheart! I love your little yellow birdie! And your drawing is amazing.
    hugs,
    Teresa
    PS - Snowing all day and the wind is howling. Yes! Now this is a proper PEI winter storm. :)

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  47. Fantastic post, I always enjoy your art and specially the photographs!

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  48. There is so much to view on your blog this day. I was busy yesterday so I'm catching up on my blog reads. First, your page is excellent and informing as well. I don't believe we have those birds in our area. Your gorgeous pencil drawing is fantastic. The flowers look so real and your teacher should have been very pleased with it, giving you a high mark. Speaking of marks, it is hard to imagine how high the water was in years prior and the rusted piece is interesting too. The birds are all fluffed out to stay warm. I need feathers today as we are waiting for the repair man to fix our furnace. It was a wonderful blog post today. Thanks for sharing your photos.
    Hugs,
    C

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  49. I just love that bright yellow bird! So cheerful and pretty!

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  50. Really beautiful! lovely bird and I love the notes that are in the chest.

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  51. Great use of multi-media!

    I think I found the face!

    Thanks for sharing your diverse talents with us!

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  52. Oh Valerie how lucky you are to have captured the image of the ever illusive giant music-breasted warbler !Some of us devoted bird watcher have spent wasted hours looking for that rare bird ♥ Love the abstract face and that old coloured pencil is so darling. Nice to see the gulls again :)

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  53. How precious that little birdie is, with the music all around. And those flowers just fill my eyes. Your photography is exquisite as always. :D

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  54. Just zipping through Sugar -- there is not anything I can say that I have not said before. Your colored pencil drawing just proves my point. You are talented beyond words. I can see where you and Donna have so much in common. Also I see another very talented artist f follows you - Denise (Neesie)I must not be good at abstract paintings -- well I do have a good sense of humor!
    Sandy xx

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  55. So you've been talented at school already, wow!
    Our weather is crazy. Water, snow, sun, grey...right now it's raining sort of white drops - between water and snow. But days are longer which is sooooo nice. Have a good week!

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  56. Such beautiful art!! And, wow, I always am in awe of people who were good artists already when they were young!! I love that face hidden in all the abstraction. Our weather is cold right now - unusual for us here in the US South. I'm loving it!! xoxo Silke

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    1. Sometimes I wouldn't mind swapping some of our cold weather for a few warm and sunny days!

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  57. Hi Valerie! I'm behind in my blog reading and catching up. Wow, had to scroll a mile barefooted to get to the comment box, lol. You are quite the popular gal! Just wanted to see if you are feeling better, and tell you that your art today really connected with me. Love your yellow warbler, your hidden face abstract AND your colored pencil flowers. The teacher may have made you do that, but it must be noted people pay big bucks now to color in books like that, haha. {winkwink} Hope you are feeling well! xoxo, Aimeslee

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  58. Beautiful bird collage and the colored pencil sketch is captivating. It is very cold here too. Sub-arctic temperatures are forecast for the weekend.

    Thanks for visiting my blog and for the lovely comment.

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  59. Such a nice assortment of your art today! I found the face- is it a rooster? And the piece from 1962,my birthyear "), is beautiful! Do you have it framed and hanging? I think you should Valerie! xo

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