A fairy tale forest

Hi everybody!

The weather here has been very changeable today, from black clouds, rain and thunder to sunny intervals, a bit of everything. I was lucky to stay dry for my walk, so that was good - my new wellies still need to be inaugurated!

I have used another of my water-colour backgrounds today. It was painted with green and blue, and then sprayed with blue, green and purple. I sprayed in many layers, always with the same method - spray, let it drip, let it dry, and then the next layer. Then I turned it upside down, and outlined most of the drips with metallic gel pens. It reminded me of strange trees, so my magical forest was born. I added some purple birds (Dina Wakley), a unicorn (cut from a DP pad), and the TH branch trees in purple and green. Hänsel and Gretel are a copy from the frontispiece of one of my ancient books. The angels are watching over them to make sure they get home safely....

I am linking to Art Journal Journey, living beings, and Mix it monthly, trees, and Simon Monday challenge, rock the techniques.

I enjoyed making this, there is something very satisfying in just  playing about and picking up childhood themes again.

Clouds were frequent today:

The ducks were having a great time swimming round in circles and chasing away a gull who evidently wanted to join in:

The cormorant was sitting on the pole again, looking a bit like a statue.

The Rhine was grey and the landscape dissolved into the mist:

Have a lovely day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Water, sky and more

Hi everybody!

Yesterday started off sunny and warm, and a couple of hours later it started raining, and in the afternoon it poured and stormed - we seem to be in for a few wet days so I am glad that I have my new wellies ready to wear! The night was lit up by lightning and the thunder was not good for sleeping....

 I spent the afternoon painting water colour backgrounds in A3 size, This is something which is  very calming and  I like to have a stock ready to work on. This one was perhaps inspired by the lovely sunrise and the blue of the skies and water yesterday. When it was dry I went to work with the stamping. I used Ryn's beautiful sea bubbles stamp, with embossing ink and white EP, as the blue reminded me of waves. The stamp of Leda, looking down on the scene, is from Lost Coast Designs, as are the underwater plants at the bottom. The birds were stenciled with Dina Wakley's stencil. The other stamps were a set I got as a present, and I don't know the maker.

I have written a quote along the right hand side, from Goethe(1789): 

Wind is the loving

Wooer of waters;

Wind blends together

Billows all-foaming.

Spirit of man,

Thou art like unto water!

Fortune of man,

Thou art like unto wind!

I am linking to Art Journal Journey, living beings, and Paint Party Friday.

I saw this huge Dahlia (?) yesterday, about  10" diameter, really beautiful.

The sunrise was beautiful:

And the heron was out fishing again:

And last but not least, the horses, busy grazing, as always.

Have a great day you all, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Moon-faces, keys to the kingdom and birds

Hi everybody!

Another warm and sunny day has flown by here. I went to a trial session for dance-gymnastics this afternoon - ouch! For some reason I now have a lot of bones and muscles which are groaning - It was fun, but perhaps a gentler sport might be more suitable for my advanced years!

I have been having fun again with the Dina Wakley stencil I bought last week. This time I painted it onto a piece of old, rust-stained linen to make my hanging. I did not try to wash or iron it, I wanted the original distress to show. I fringed the edges, and then stenciled the faces with Viva-color Rust. The corrugated background  (17 x 37 cm) has been partly peeled, gessoed and then daubed with gold, bronze and rust paints, and embossed with Frantage vintage gold and copper. I sewed the fibres on by hand to give the faces a wild and witchy look, and added some brown glass beads from an old necklace. I  used a piece of an old bracelet to make a loop to hang it from. I know things like this are not to everyone's taste, but I do like grungy stuff. My neighbour thought the linen looked like it had come from a Mummy's tomb....who knows!

I am linking today  to Paint Party Friday, hosted, as always, by Eva and Kristin, and to Simon Monday Challenge, Rock the techniques and AJJ, living beings

The large texture canvas I started last week is finished, and I have called it  'The keys of the kingdom'. My neighbour looked at it, and said, 'Yes. Well, what is it?' Good question, no answer - I just had fun playing with the colours and texture. As I used metallic paints, the colours seem to change according to how the light falls on it.

Today a big Heron was sitting on the rocks down at the shore under the castle ruins, really beautiful, and it was fantastic to watch it spread its wings and fly off over the water.

And this duck is always the first to greet me - does she know I always have something in my bag for her?

Have a great day, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Flying or floating?

Hi everybody!

We had a beautiful day here. It started off cool and a bit misty, but

soon warmed up, and this afternoon was like a hot, summer day.

The background for this piece was made on Saturday using some of my leaves and ferns. I got a bit carried away with the spray, and it looked more like an underwater landscape by the time I was finished. This inspired me to use Ryn's beautiful rising bubbles stamp, which I white embossed.

Then I got to work with stencils - the houses and sky, the birds from Dina Wakley, and the floating/flying lady, all of which I drew with a white pen. Mary Poppins is a stamp I bought on Saturday from Lost Coast Designs. I stamped her with Archival black and embossed her with black EP extra fine. I fussy cut her and outlined her with white after gluing her between the bubbles. To finish I added my quote and some Stickles.

I am linking to Art Journal Journey, Living Beings.

The horses were grazing through their little paradise, as always:

The crows and ducks were partying on the shore:

The logs were washed ashore today:

And the naked man in the market square has got a new head covering:

Have a great day, take care, and thanks, as always, for coming by. I appreciate your visits and comments very much.