Still life and land life

Hi everybody!

Time is flying fast, and the weekend is almost over.

We had a beautiful, sunny and dry weekend here, so I was able to be outside a lot, and enjoyed my walks through the autumn landscape very much. I managed another 15 kilometer today, so was happy with that.

I have made a mixed-media piece for  Mix-it-monthly, where Conny wants to see a still life, with light and dark blue, yellow, red and white. Well, the colours are at least more or less right!

I started off by sticking some paper scraps and bits of vintage paper onto my paper (A3), and some strips of bandage. The chemist here recently had a box full of old bandages which were to be had for nothing, as they were past their sell-by date, which means they are possibly not sterile any more, which did not worry me. 

Then I gave it a thin coat of gesso so as not to completely cover up the papers.

Then I painted squares, using water-colours, in various shades of red, yellow and blue. I let each layer dry before adding the next one. It was much brighter than I wanted - sorry, forgot to take a photo, so I gave it another coat of diluted gesso.

I used a large scroll stamp (thanks again, Chrissie) to stamp into the wet background to add some more texture and patterning.

Then I drew my blue glass vase with pastel chalks, and added some tulips (well, I hope they look like tulips).  And that was it. I am linking to Mix-it-Monthly, still life,  Artist Trading Post, anything (mixed media) goes, and Moo Mania and More, bright and cheerful

Today I walked to the dilapidated castle, Schloss Kalkum again. 

I met these nice horses on my way:

The old water mill always looks beautiful:

The castle ghost is  starting to spook about:

I love the still corners of the park:

The ducks were happy and hungry as always:

Then I walked home through the fields, where the farmer was busy harvesting:

And I visited the  cattle again - aren't they gorgeous?

I took loads more photos, but will save them for another day.

Have a great day you all, whatever you are up to, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

The last drippy forest....

Hi everybody!

It hasn't rained yet today, and the sun is shining, so it was nice to have a dry walk again! The paths through the fields and trees are still very soggy, but better than they were!

This is the last of the drippy paintings for my forest theme. I have 2 more 'ready-dripped' ones, but they are more in an under-water colour scheme, so will use them for another project. The background was painted with left-overs again, using brown, orange and some gold metallic, and then sprayed, dripped, and dried in various layers. I used more of the metal patinas this time, too, and some gold ink which I dripped on. I had some spray ink residues in my bottles, so dipped a brush into them and flipped them on, which gave a nice mottled look. Just having fun playing and experimenting, as always. I added lots of fairy dust, and some bistre powders sprinkled on very sparingly. I found lots of sprites, strange beings and little monsters, which I outlined with white or other gel-pens. I drew and painted the toadstools and used some die cuts as templates for the bats. The bats are white to show they are VERY hungry and in need of a good meal.... The spider just crawled on the page, so I left it there.

I am linking to Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Journey
Frilly and Funkie, colours of autumn and
ACC, Halloween

The close ups with the fairy dust are hard to photograph!

When I go for my walks and come back along the Rhine, I am always happy when I see the spires growing larger as I move towards them:

This is the gateway-tower over the entrance to the Marien-Hospital

 Here is the spire of the Basilica:

That's all for today! Have a great weekend, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Spooks in the forest, sparkly leaves and rain

Hi everybody!

Wednesday was a very cool and wet day here, and only cleared up a little

in the evening. I still went for my two walks, well armed with raincoat and wellies, and although I didn't manage as much as usual, I still got in 12000 steps altogether, so it wasn't bad for the squelchy, wet conditions.

This is another of my spray, drip and run paintings. The BG was painted with blues and grey left over from other projects, and then I went to work dripping and spraying. I dripped on some metal patinas in rust, green and orange, and sprayed them with diluted home-made sprays to get the colours moving. I repeated the procedure till I liked what I had, and added some fairy dust to the last spray. Then I outlined the drips using different gel-pens, and outlined some of the strange forms with a white pen. It looks to me like figures hovering above the bare tree trunks in the forest - perhaps the tree sprites? I added some of my embossed and glittered natural leaves, and some plants and berries. I drew and painted some fungi and grass along the bottom edge. The last additions were the fairy and the little elf.

I am linking to Art Journal Journey, Deep in the forest; Simon Monday Challenge, falling in love with - Autumn; Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristin, Soartful Challenge, leaves and Moo Mania and more, Bright and cheerful.

I love the patterns in this burnt log, which was on one of the many fire-places along the Rhine

The rain filled the little stream leading to the Rhine and made the water spray and splash:

This chappy was disappointed because I had nothing for him today:

The corn was standing in water:

The paths were full of puddles:

But even puddles have a beauty of their own:

Have a great day you all, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

The spooky forest and more....

Hi everybody!

We had a cold, wet and windy day here, lovely weather for 

wellies and raincoats! The sun showed itself for a few minutes in between showers, but not much. The clouds left some gaps this evening, so I was able to enjoy the view of the moon glowing in the dark sky, just wonderful.

Last week I made a spooky forest scene for Art Journal Journey, deep in the forest. My picture shows a ghostly, white forest which can only be seen during the month of October, when it slowly comes to life; during the rest of the year, it just seems to be a collection of dead and dreary trees. It wakes up when it hears the raucous laughter and festivities from the pumpkin field - the pumpkins there are notorious party animals. If you are ever nearby, take my advice - go in the other direction!

I used an A3 sheet of paper, painted the background with some black and white acrylics left over from another project, and then had fun putting it all together, The pumpkins are part of a paper napkin that Jeannette sent me recently, together with other fun Halloween stuff. I sketched the trees with a white pen, and coloured them with white oil pastels to give a chalky look. The witch and the trees are die cuts. I am also linking to Simon Monday challenge, Falling in love with - Halloween!

The clouds were fascinating to watch today: 

There was an abundance of fungi in the park:

Autumn is a wonderful time, even in the rain!

And the crowning glory was once again the moon.

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

and thanks a lot for coming by!