Collage and more

Hi Everybody!

We had another grey, cold  and misty day here, but at least the wind was not as unpleasant as yesterday, so that's something.

For Art Journal Journey I have made another collage for my giant journal. Actually, I  made 17 collages in the past couple of days, all with strips  of leftover designer or hand-painted paper, combined with other bits and bobs, and will be showing them  in the course of the month. For this one I used a brush- wipe page as background, and after turning it around a few times I decided it looked like an underwater scene. I added some strips of paper cut off from the edges of larger projects, some of which I cut with  fancy scissors. The tree is a die-cut and the fish has been cut out of a magazine. I added some gold threads as embellishments, and some blobs of gold ink, and did some outlining in white ink. I am also linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted, as always, by Eva and Kristin.

Today the landscape was almost devoid of colour. The seagulls were still having fun swooping around.

These flowers were growing in a niche in the castle walls.

Woody Woodpecker was hungry, as were all his friends:

The tractor was waiting for the ferry:

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

From Russia with love

Hi everybody!

Another day has gone by in a flash, and I didn't get half of the stuff done that I had planned to do. A friend came this afternoon and we crafted together, and quite a few hours disappeared there - why does time go by so much quicker while crafting and painting than while doing the  h*******k?

We had a very cold day with a nasty, biting wind, and it seemed to whet the appetite of the hungry birds who came time and time again.

For Art Journal Journey (collage)  and Paint Party Friday I made another mixed media collage, using an image from Gecko Galz  'From Russia with love' collage sheet.

I painted a page in my giant Journal with gesso, and placed the image in the middle. I added structure paste as snow, spreading it partly over the image and taking it over the rest of the page. When it was dry I painted the page with water colours. and added some extra colour with pastel chalks. I used liberal amounts of glitter to make the snow shine, and added a fence, the tree and the figures in the foreground.

The landscape was grey in grey and misty in the morning, in the afternoon it was just dark grey.

I watched the ships passing along the Rhine:

I never thought I would see Grace Kelly chugging along!

On my way home I watched this bird, some sort of kestrel, which kept hovering in the air and scanning the field on the look out for food.

I got a better photo when it sat on a tree:

This little bird was sitting in the tree outside my window, but would not turn around for a decent photo!

And the Jay was hungry as always:

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Collage and birds

Hi Everybody!

We had a very chilly day here with an icy wind, not really my cup of tea, but I suppose we have to take the weather as it comes!

I wrapped up very well for my walks, and enjoyed them in spite of the cold. 

I also had lots of feathered visitors today, which was fun for me. I bought a huge bucket of mixed bird seeds and treats at the Discounter's today, so it should be enough to keep them happy for the next few weeks!

I have another collage for Art Journal Journey,

I really enjoy making them. I made it on a large sheet of craft paper which I glued into my Giant Journal, this way I can do some machine stitching on it. It's a very grungy collage. I painted the background with gesso, and glued various ads from some old Sears and Roebuck catalogues onto it. I have a huge pile of these old papers, which are slowly disintegrating. I gave it another coat of diluted gesso. The huge '2' had already been stenciled onto it at some time, and I added the moon faces from Dina Wakley, and some numerals, stenciled with Viva rust. Then I added some strips of tissue tape, old linen and cardboard and machine stitched them. And I deliberately left the threads hanging, and didn't just forget to cut them off! I know not everybody is a fan of such grungy stuff, but I do love it.

I watched this bird sitting in the tree behind the garden for about half an hour. It is very large, and I have no idea what it is - does anybody know?

The jay was trying to hide behind the plants:

But I got him here:

The magpie was glaring at the jay, which was doing its best to eat everything - I wonder what it was thinking?

And this pretty fellow is very cheeky and chases all other birds, big or small, away from his balcony....

I met the Thrush down at the Rhine:

And the Woodpecker also got a large amount of the goodies!

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Tuesday this and that and the neighbour's cat

Hi Everybody!

Hope you have all had a good start in the new week. We had a cold and grey

day here, with icy winds, but it could have been worse!

I got out for 2 walks, gave my student 2 hours of coaching and managed to do the shopping. Then I decided that the rest of the day belonged to me - and that means being in my crafty kitchen, where I started several collage projects. As things need to dry in between layer, it's quite good to work parallel on several pieces. And I managed a quick tag for Tag Tuesday, which I started rather late in the day.

For this collage for Art Journal Journey I used a sheet of craft paper, a little larger than A4, and then glued the finished collage into my giant journal. I used pieces of old backgrounds, paintings and stamped projects which I cut up for various reasons (perhaps because I didn't like them!) and scraps of tissue tape and old linen. The face is from Dina Wakley, framed in a piece of paper left over when I die cut an oval. I added stitching to finish it off. The lady is wearing chipboard specs. I had fun making this and all the other 'scrap' collages, and it is a good way to start reducing the boxes of scraps. I am also linking to 'Trees' at Moo Mania

At Tag Tuesday our theme this week is dancing, so I made this tag using an image from Gecko Galz, which I matted with gold and green mirri card. I added some flowers and beads as embellies.

I managed to get some photos of the Jay who visits my balcony every day. He is very shy, and very hungry, and I can only take the photos through the window, but at least I got him this time

These two were waiting impatiently for me to put the food out:

The gulls gobbled up my bread quicker than I could throw it:

The water in the Rhine and in the lake was grey and cold:

And the neighbour's cat was skulking in the fields at the back of the house this afternoon, probably looking for mice.

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

and thanks a lot for coming by!