Tag Tuesday and Kandinsky cased

Hi Everybody!

Monday started off here fine and sunny, but in the afternoon the promised rain and wind reached us, so the next couple of days will be wet. But wet days are still fine for walking and even better for painting and crafting, so I'm not too sad about it!

Today is time for a new theme over at Tag Tuesday and of course, the challenge at Art Journal Journey goes on all month, so plenty of time to be inspired by the masters! And at Try it on Tuesday you also still have a week to enter the colours of autumn challenge.

The theme at Tag Tuesday is 'crown it'. I made a quick tag using corrugated cardboard, peeled and painted white for the background. The image is one of Astrid's freebies,  which she generously offers on her blog. I stamped one of my Paper Artsy 'clockwork birds' onto the tag, using Archival back and super fine black EP. I added some embellishments, and it was done.

This Kandinsky picture looked so simple .....mistake! It was hard! Anyway, I cased Kandinsky, using my own colours. The background was sprayed with a light pink spray, but it is hard to see here. I used Sharpies,  felt  and gel pens for the drawing. I am linking to AJJ, inspired by the masters.

Monday started off really well, with a beautiful sky, I love the colours:

I enjoyed my walks along the Rhine and by the lakes.

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Georges Braque and autumn photos

Hi everybody!

Here we had another sunny and mild autumn day, so hope you had a good Sunday, too. I had a long walk this morning, and was invited to a birthday party this afternoon - 10 women, three huge cakes, and plenty of Sekt, coffee, tea and fun.

Today I have been inspired by Georges Braque, a French painter and sculptor, who together with Pablo Picasso founded the cubist movement. He often used shapes and figures to make his pictures, which is the inspiration for my piece today.

I used some home made stencils to cut out the bird and sun, The shapes were used first as masks to cover the background while spraying, glittering  and embossing, and then I cut new ones for the picture, arranging them to leave a shadow. This was fun and easy to make, and I have cut some more stencils to use on future projects. I am linking to Art Journal Journey, inspired by the masters.

At Manus Mikrokosmos the photo challenge this week is Autumn. I have here a small selection of my fave autumn pics from yesterday and today:

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Matisse, Happy Mail and a beautiful sky

Hi everybody!

We were blessed with another wonderful Saturday with mild temperatures and sunshine, and I much enjoyed my walks along the Rhine and through the fields. In between a friend came, and I helped her craft a surprise for her Dad's birthday,  and later her daughter came for her English lesson, so Mum was in the kitchen and daughter in the living room, and I went back and forth! But it was fun! And of course we managed to drink a lot of coffee, eat cookies and chocolate and chat!

For 'Inspired by the masters' at Susi's  Art journal Journey, into which Susi puts so much energy and soul,  I have created my version of Henri Matisse's 'Blue nude'. I made the templates for these cut-outs some years back for another challenge, so it is always good to have them ready prepared. And even better that I found them straightaway! The background has been painted with blue, black and Viva rust and sprinkled with a mix of hologram EP and fairy dust. The EP was a mistake, I just grabbed the wrong pot, but decided to try it out, and when heated it gave a wonderful background, which I have since tried on other projects, too . I used the templates to draw the figures on some rather faded DP, which I got for nothing because it had been in the shop window - I like the faded effect, and it was just right for here. I had fun playing with Matisse, and hope that some of you will also be inspired from the Masters and join us at AJJ!

Last week I received a wonderful package from Patty of Magpie's nest.

Thanks, Patty, for all of these gorgeous things. She wrote lots of little notes, explaining things, and my fave was the one below, which really made me smile! There are 2 wonderful lavender wands, which she bound herself, which smell heavenly, and are now tied to my bed-head, as lavender helps you sleep. There is a Swan Vestas box filled with little goodies, a wonderful Frida card for my collection, a funky bird wall hanging made with a hand carved stamp, wonderful paper napkins, and loads of fibres, pretty papers and ephemera. All in all like Christmas come early!

Thank you, dear Patty! The little bird is hanging in my arty kitchen, and all the other things will be treasured and used!

This little hand sewn bag was also stuffed with goodies, and wrapped in lovely tissue paper.

The sky today was truly a joy to behold. This morning it was just beautiful, but this afternoon, as I came home from my walk, it was glorious:

Here's wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Take care, have fun, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Inspired by the Masters - Art Journal Journey Challenge for November

Hi everybody!

Time is flying by, and a new month has started bringing us a new theme for the challenge at Susis's Art Journal Journal, 'inspired by the masters'  - or mistresses!

Take inspiration from any famous painter, and create your own art. I am co-hostess again this month, and am looking forward to see from whom you take inspiration.

I have started with Niki de Saint Phalle, as she would have been 84 on October 29th. She is perhaps best known for her over dimensional, colourful  'Nanas', huge statues of women with luxurious body forms.

This one, the protecting angel, is in the main station at Zürich.

This is the lifesaver fountain in Duisburg, a neighbouring town.

I have tried to show the happiness of her art with my journal page. I made some figure templates, and used them to draw the outlines. This way I can make more at any time. The background was given a coat of gesso and then painted with diluted sky blue. The figures was painted with acrylics, and the patterns drawn with gel-pens and felt-pens.

These are my 'house-Nanas', who keep me company on my desk:

The flock of sheep moved to their next grazing place, a few kilometers up the Rhein, so I visited the horses on their meadow near the castle ruins. As usual,  they were busy grazing:

Can you see the wasp sitting on the toadstool?

This afternoon I removed all the stuff that was cluttering my table, threw some things away, packed the rest into the right boxes, and scrubbed the table top. I am enjoying the view and wondering how long before it will be back to normal!

Have a great weekend, take care of yourselves,

and thanks a lot for coming by!