Thursday 1 October 2020

New challenge at Art Journal Journey!

Hi Everybody!

Today we are starting a new challenge at Art Journal Journey, and this time Chris is hosting. Her theme is  'Hold the line' and she will tell you all about it on the blog, so hop over and take a look. I am also rejoining the team at AJJ, and Chris will be joining, too. As always, projects of all formats, 'real' and digital are welcome, and the challenge runs for 4 weeks.

I made an A3 mixed media piece with a black background. I scraped the paint on thinly to let the white show through. The sunflowers were added with stencils and structure paste, and the centres filled with gilding flakes. I sewed gold threads from the sunflowers to the dragonfly clips to 'hold the line':







Hope to see you joining in and look forward to visiting your blogs!

Some autumnal colours:







Rust fits good to autumn!





On Tuesday evening the clouds and rain disappeared and the skies cleared:



The moon was beautiful:




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

64 comments:

  1. Wow, that journal page you created was amazing. The way you tied the dragonflies to the sunflowers was quite ingenious. I am truly impressed. The black background adds to the mystery and helps the sunflowers pop off the page. What an amazing first entry you have shared with us this month, dear. I SO look forward to sharing art with you at Art Journal Journey from now on.

    My first reaction was to pick the red leaves with the hanging berries. Then I moved on and saw the rust and my heart skipped a beat. Then the variegated leaves that reminded me of maple leaves caught my eye. Today I am having a hard time deciding my favorite photo. This is one of those days when they all look exceptional.

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  2. Love your art - as well as all the photos!

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  3. Hi Val, good morning! Hope you slept well. Sorry your freezer broke, that was a hard day for you, and hope the repair helps. Your new page is wonderful, what a beauty! You really have the best ideas! Have a great day, take care, hugs, Sarah

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    1. Hi Sarah, thanks. The thermostat was broken. Had to throw out EVERYTHING! Have a nice day, hugs to the kids!

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  4. Hi Valerie wow what beautiful colours you have in this post and your mixed media work is fabulous,I love it and a fun way of please hold the line,take care my friend xx

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    1. Thanks Sheryl, it's going to be fun coming up with other ideas!

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  5. das ist interessant wie du dein Journalseite gemacht hast, gefällt mir und die Sonnenblumen kommen toll zur Geltung!
    Schön die herbstliche Pilze und bunte Blätter un diesen tollen Vollmond. Bei mir ist auch einen Tag Nebel und einen Tag Sonne wie heute morgen.Kaum Wind dafür Insekten scharen weise.
    Ich habe auch einen neuen Kühl- Gefrierkombi kaufen müssen und jetzt war auch noch der Herd. Wenns kommt dann gleich richtig bei mir.
    Gratulation bei Art Jorunal im Team zu sein wieder, toll freut mich für dich.
    Ich wünsche dir einen schönen Tag und pass auf dich auf!
    Lieben Gruss Elke

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    1. Danke, liebe Elke, Du bist so lieb. Ja, wenn was kaputt geht, dann richtig. Alles hier is so alt so es kein Wunder ist wenn Sachen zusammenbrechen. Dir einen scönen Tag, pass gut auf dich auf!

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  6. Really gorgeous project, lovely design and colours used. Awesome pics. xx

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  7. Love your sunflowers {my favourite flower} and I am enjoying your Autumn leaf colours, for here we haven't hardly any leaves left upon the trees to turn colour. Fungi are always so fascinating, and what a floofy, fat robin!
    Stay safe and well, Deb

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    1. Thanks Deb, Autumn is sunflower and pumpkin time for me, too! That robin was really sweet, I left him a handful of bird food so hope it cheered him up on that cold and gusty day!

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  8. Oh my, those sun flowers dangling on threads from the clips against the black background look gorgeous. Its a fabulous page for Chris's theme choice, and so good to have you back with us at AJJ.
    The photos looked lovely the robin was my favourite today.
    Stay safe.
    Yvonne xx

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    1. Thanks Yvonne, it's a strange theme to fin ideas for, but we'll manage! Glad you like Robin! Have a safe day!

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  9. Good morning Valerie: Looks like you are off to a fine start with your most recent challenges. Perhaps all of the coloured leaves now falling from the trees would make a great addition to one of your pieces, or do they get too brittle? Is there a formal adjudication process for the various entries? It still amazes me that you can come up with new ideas day after day. The little robin you show is really puffed up - or perhaps just plump! I have no doubt that robin images will appear more frequently as we approach Christmas and crafters look for familiar themes. I am looking at the fungi too. Now they dry well and remain pliable. Maybe that would be a good component. There might be a whole new range if materials opening up. Miriam received a copy of a beautiful quilting magazine from Australia yesterday with a full page featuring one of her creations, so she was pretty happy. Weekend is almost here! Hugs from Canada. David

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    1. Hi David. It is possible to use leave but they need some preparation so they don't crumble to dust. The challenges are all just for fun. If a prize is given it's mostly a name pulled out of a hat. Congratulations to Miriam on being published, what an honour, ou must be so proud of her, GREAT! Yeah, weekend is almost here. The taster course at Lifebook I've started is keeping me out of mischief all day, that's positive. The deep-freeze part of my fridge broke, had to throw everything away. A neighbour put a new thermostat in it for me, so it's working again now. And I went shopping early this morning and got supplies to fill it again! Have a fun day, I'm off to paint some more. Hugs to you both!

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  10. Beautiful art and photos Valerie!
    Happy October,
    Alison xx

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  11. Wow Valerie. That is a stunning page. I love those dragonflies holding the sunflowers. That is very creative! This is going to be a fun challenge, isn't it? Happy new month. Hugs-Erika

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    1. Thanks Erika! I'm sure we shall have a lot of fun! Have a great day!

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  12. Love your sunflower piece it is stunning as are all your photos today. I like that you zoomed in on the topic it grabs my attention.

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  13. Your hold the line piece is absolutely stunning! Love all the beautiful fall photos too, the moon is impressive!

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    1. Thanks Martha. The moon was even better yesterday evening! Hope your kitty is doing well!

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  14. Big congrats, Valerie! I am so happy to see you joining the great team of AJJ!
    I love the colourful photos of autumn, my friend, and the lovely sky.
    But I AM IN LOVE with your page. Wow! What a super page, my friend. And what a lovely idea to use sewed gold threads for the sunflowers. They seem like Christmas ornaments. Gorgeous creation, sweetie. Thank you so much once again for the inspiration.

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    1. Thanks Mia. Christmas ornaments gave me the idea! Have a fun day!

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  15. Congratulations and I'm so pleased to see you re-joining AJJ, you provide so much inspiration and this is a stunning page, love the golden sunflowers and a fabulous take on the theme.
    Lovely Autumnal photos, such glorious colours.
    Avril xx

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  16. Interesting close ups of the center of the flowers. Amazing shot of the moon.

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  17. Oh, I love this piece.
    You've got some great autumn color shots and you always get the best moon shots.
    Hugs

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  18. The sunflowers look great on that black background. And your fall pics are gorgeous. It's really so very beautiful where you are. We need to savor that before winter!

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    1. We need to store autumn beauty like the squirrels store nuts!

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  19. Beautiful photographs as always Valerie, and I love autumn and its colours.
    Love your artwork too - especially the texture on those sunflowers. It was lovely to be able to see the individual petals and how thick the gold is with them. Gorgeous centres and I love how you have entered the theme of Hold the Line on AJJ with the gold threads leading from the dragonflies.
    Hugs, Neet xx

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    1. Thanks Neet, this is a wonderful season. Stay safe!

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  20. Oooh this is fabulous Valerie! I love the textured gold, and what an interesting theme! Those Autumn leaves are stunning, such a beautiful time of year. So sorry I've not visited for a while - real life can really get in the way at times. Take care and have a great October (love your new wellies by the way) Sue xx

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    1. Nice to See you again! Life often gets in the way!

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  21. It's great to be alongside you on another team Valerie. I adore these sunflowers! Its so good to see all of the wonderful Autumn colours in you photos. I love the moon shots and have a huge envy of your camera that takes such a clear image . Thanks for joining in with my theme at AJJ, Chrisx

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    1. Thanks Chris, we are sisters on various teams now, that's fun! I must get out the big camera, it takes much better shots, but I'm always so lazy....Have fun with your challenge, it's a good one!

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  22. Happy October Wishes.
    This is such a wonderful Autumnal post.
    Great art and photographs.

    All the best Jan

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  23. Beautiful page. The sunflower is just gorgeous. I love the way the gilding flakes add pizazz. Wow, Fall colors are really vibrant and the robin is so cute and chubby.

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    1. Thanks. I think I need to get to bed, I just read, the gilding flakes are pizza...

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  24. Beautiful page Valerie, I love the gold sunflowers! WOW the autumn photos are gorgeous and so colorful, love the pictures of the moon too.
    Take care, Tammy

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    1. Thanks Tammy, much appreciated! Have a good and safe day!

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  25. I really like the simplicity of the colours, the yellow and blacks and greys, and the dragonfly clips are beautiful. Great idea for holding the line theme.
    Love the fat robin too.

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    1. Thanks Sheila. They have lots of those wonderful clips at the i€ shop, such a bargain. Have a great day!

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  26. Oh, these golden sunflowers! Gorgeous!

    Your Autumn nature scenes are lovely.

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  27. Hi Valerie, i'm so happy to read you are joining the AJJ team. You always give 100% with your journal pages & todays is just as exceptional. Loving those golden flowers it's as if their beauty is suspended in time, rich, fresh and golden. The black background sets them off a treat. Autumn is so stunning, i'm enjoying seeing the colour of the tree's change each day on walks with Freya.
    Wishing you a wonderful weekend, take care Tracey xx

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  28. Unique and beautiful art piece! Of course I loved your photos, especially the little robin! Big Hugs!

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