Frida, flowers and ducks

Hi everybody!

Wooohoo, the sun is shining for a few minutes here - wonder how long it will last? Hope you are all feeling fit and well at the start of the new week.

Today I have another Frida piece to share. This was the first piece I made when I started thinking about what to do, and was more or less an experiment, but I still like it. I made the images using the positive and negative parts of my Frida stencil, with black paint on a sheet of floral DP. I added lots of doodling, using gel-pens in various colours, and wrote words from Frida's diary around the motives. I also added some of the die-cut flowers that Susi sent me as embellies, apart from that, I kept it simple. I am linking to AJJ

My very windy walk yesterday took me to visit the horses:

I passed by the lakes:

I saw that some magnolia trees have flowered for the second time this year:

And saw these flowers in a front garden, I love the colours

A tree had fallen over the stream:

And the castle ghost was there again:

The ducks were swimming happily in the moat of their dilapidated castle:

And the leaves of the creeper are turning red - summer is on its way out!

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

Stamping Frida

Hi everybody!

The sun is trying to squeeze through the clouds this morning, it would be great if it didn't rain again all day. It is really chilly this morning, with a touch of autumn in the air, the days are getting shorter, and in a few days the kids go back to school - summer is starting to leave us.

For the Frida Kahlo challenge at Art Journal Journey I have made another page. It is rather different this time. I have a Frida Kahlo stamp stamp, which I used here. I also had some rolls of coloured metal foils, which I did not know what to do with. I played around, and stamped the image using  a Tsukineko glue-pad, pressing the foil onto it and then pulling it off again. Some of the metallic colour stuck to the image, enough to give a wonderful, grungy effect.  A few of the foils would not work this way, so I stamped the images with Archival black and then painted over parts of it with tacky glue and a thin brush. Then I was able to  pull colour off the foils. When it was done, I had a huge heap of coloured images. I cut them out with  fancy-edged scissors and arranged them onto a large sheet of black card. I love the grungy and scratchy effect, and will surely try this idea again. The quote I have used is from Diego Rivera, and is one that I find very moving.

I am also linking to Simons Monday Challenge, scratched up.

The clouds were interesting again yesterday so on the way back from my wet walks I took some pictures:

The Rhine is very full and grey:

The horses keep grazing whatever the weather:

I was pleased to see a brave soul had pulled the rusty shopping cart out of the river and put it next to the garbage containers to be collected:

Have a great day, stay creative, take care of yourselves and thanks a lot for coming by!

Red hot Frida and cold and wet walks

Hi Everybody!

Friday here was wet and cold all day. On my walks I only met dogs, horses and some big umbrellas with legs under them. But ALL of the benches along the Rhine were free today, I could have sat anywhere I wanted....

I am sure it will not come as surprise when I say that I have another Frida journal page to share today. Yes, I have Frida fever, and it probably won't stop till the end of the month - and I am enjoying it!

This time I have tried to combine the challenges at Moo Mania and More,  Hot Summer, and AJJ, Frida. So I made my Frida page in hot and summery colours. I based my drawing on a Frida picture I got on a bookmark,  drew it in A4 size, and scanned it into my computer. I digitally changed the colour to red, and printed it out onto paper that I had painted and spritzed with red and yellow water-colours. I added more colour using gel pens in red, neon-yellow, green, brown and white. The words I have chosen are from a page in her 'painted diary' and mean love, heat and pain. It was fun using colours I don't usually even think of!

I am also linking to Manon's Paper Saturdays

Everything was wet today, but the rain does make the grass really lush....

There were hundreds of wild geese at the Rhine, making a big noise,  the usual ducks, and of course, the resident swan. It really was weather for the ducks!

This afternoon I visited the horses here round the corner. They are definitely susceptible to bribery, and love apples and carrots.

And one lesson we can learn from the horses, birds and other animals, is to take things as they are, to keep calm, and just carry on....

Have a great weekend, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Frida in blue and gold

Hi everybody!

I know I say every week that time flies quicker and quicker, but it's true - another week is nearly over, and it's time for Paint Party Friday again - hosted as always by Eva and Kristin. And I am sure it will not exactly come as a surprise when I tell you that I have taken Frida Kahlo as my subject again! We are all in Frida Fever just now!

I used 2 canvases, 15x8", which had been painted dark blue and stenciled with a diamond pattern at some time in the distant past and then somehow hidden under a pile of junk stash. Anyway, I first pasted  a triangle from the bottom almost up to the stop, using a thick mixture of  metallic paint and  bead gel. I used a spatula for this as it was too thick for a brush. Then I sprinkled a handful of micro-beads over it, and waited, not exactly patiently, for 2 days till it was dry. The pictures of Frida Kahlo were mirrored,  printed out, and fussy cut. I soaked them in water to make them more pliable, and then glued them with decoupage glue from LaBlanche. When they were dry I used 2 coats of glossy varnish to make them more durable. Then I had some sticky fun with glue and gilding flakes, and that was it.

I am also linking to Art Journal Journey, Frida Kahlo.

Today was cold and mostly wet. It was gray and overcast in the morning:

And not much better in the afternoon

And the horses  just carried on as always....

Here's wishing you all a great day. Have fun, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!