Flowers, birds and leftist tendencies

Hi everybody!

We are having some very changeable weather here - hot and humid one minute, and torrential downpours the next. I managed my walks in

between the heavy showers, but don't want to be caught out in one just now.

Today I did my first left handed journal page, and it took much longer that it would have taken with the right hand. I sprayed the background with some leftover drops  of spray inks, and printed the image onto the page when it was dry. The image is from Gecko Galz. It is called 'femme funk' and is available as a single digi stamp.

I coloured parts of the flowers with oil pastels, painted over with a water brush, and gel pens and a white highlighter. It is much harder to do more or less accurate lines with my left hand, but I am sure it is good practice. I used lots of diamond Stickles on the peacock. The white flowers are some rub-ons from my wonderful bit-box.  The quote has been computer generated, and I have forgotten from whom it is, sorry.

I am linking to Art Journal Journey, flower power.

And believe me, when it rains -

it rains!

I told you in a previous post that it is Schützen Fest - 'marksmen's festival' here, and the 'big' festivities take place here, just opposite the meadow where the horses are.

You can still see the heap of cut wood left over from the big storm.

My fave is this vintage carousel - and no, I did not go for a ride on it!

At Manus Mikrokosmos the photo challenge this week is in the  garden. I don't have a garden, just a little balcony, which is still a pleasant place to sit and drink coffee and watch the birds. My bird is a movement alarm, and sings merrily every time another bird or fly or bee comes near him, and the real birds often answer, too funny! And I enjoy watching the birds who visit to get food, and a squirrel who is partial to hazelnuts!

That's all for today. Take care, have a good one, 

and thanks for coming by!

Things with wings, arches and horses

Hi everybody!

Thanks for all the good wishes for my poor thumb. The doc gave me cortisone injections into the joints, and now I have a plaster cast almost up to my elbow, so that the joints will all be rested. I hope it will be taken off in a week, but that will depend if it is better or not. In the meantime I am learning one-finger left handed typing, and trying to see the positive side of it - I can't do any h*******k,  dish washing, dusting, cleaning etc. Now that is something! And as I can't wash my own hair, I went to the hairdresser's and came out with a nice, new cut and style.

Today I am sharing one of my DT pieces for Gecko Galz, which were luckily made a couple of weeks back, as I can't do anything this week.

The journal page has been made using paper from the Isla Bonita collection, and digi-images from the Free Spirit set from 'with wild abandon'. Gecko Galz is having a cross promotion with this firm to show how well they fit to the GG products. The images were printed, fussy cut, coloured, varnished and partly Stickled. I added more colour to the background paper using oil pastels, and doodled some circles with gel pens. The sentiment has been written with white highlighter.

I am linking to Manon's Paper Saturdays.

And some more photos of the new sculpture in the castle ruins, the more I see it, the more I like it. These were taken BPC - before plaster cast!

And last but not least, more pictures of my cheeky friend:

Have a great weekend, and happy July Fourth to all of you in the States!

Take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Blue and yellow

Hi everybody!

Today I have my appointment at the hand specialist; it has been brought forward a few days, which is good, as I hope he will be able to do something to stop the pain in my thumb joints. I am longing to do some really messy, painty  and sticky work again!

This week I have had to be contented with making part digital stuff. The drawing here is another one of the series I made back in 1995. The originals are in red chalk. I traced the outline and scanned it, changing the line colour to blue. I printed it onto dictionary paper again, and used water colours and oil pastels to colour it. The oil pastels are easy to hold and use just now.

I am linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted, as always, by Kristin and Eva.

And this was a piece of digital fun, printed onto dictionary paper, and brightened with some neon yellow.

The weather was nice, so I was able to enjoy two long walks.

I visited the horses, as always - they are on my way to the Rhine.

We have a new sculpture in the castle ruins, and I think I like it. It has been made by Peter Schwickerath, an artist from Düsseldorf.

Some more quiet corners in the Church Close:

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

Of clouds, cows and horses

Hi everybody!

The weather here couldn't quite make up its mind today - sunny and warm, but with huge piles of clouds scudding by all day. We should be getting a couple of nice days, with up to 30°, but then it will get chilly again....We just have to take it as it comes and make the best of it!

This tag is one of my DT pieces for Gecko Galz this month. The background is an image from the background jewel it sheet. One of the good things about digital images is that they can be printed out to almost any size. The digi-stamp is one of the 'wild spirit' series from 'With wild abandon', with whom GG has a cross promotion this month to show how well the products work together. The 8" tag has been mounted onto a slightly larger one made of recycled black card. I printed the tag onto transparent foil. I kept the embellishments simple - some beaded ribbon, stickles on the dress, and a narrow ribbon tie. The flowers are paper ones which I dipped into clear Utee, which makes them look like porcelain.

(Material list: Tags, BG paper, image printed onto foil, Stickles, ribbon, flowers)

I took lots of cloud pictures today, and was then happy to see that Manu has clouds as her theme this week at MiFoc.

And I have made a collage of cloud photos, old and new:

Yesterday I visited the herd of white cows again. There are new calves now, and they seem to be very contented on their meadow. Some  came up to the fence,

and I ripped off bunches of long juicy grass and fed them - they didn't say no!

And on my way home this guy came up to say hello. I think he was waiting for some carrots!

Here's wishing you all a great day. Take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!