Sun, moon and marmalade cats.

Hi Everybody!

I hope you are all getting back to normal after all the celebrations over the holidays and new year. 

Today I am showing the second 'cat' piece inspired by Rosina Wachtmeister for Art Journal Journey. There is one more to come, these cats always fascinate me! I used an A3 page, which had some spots of ink and paint on it, which had leaked through from the page above. I gave it a coat of gesso, and then dusted it with Pan pastels in red and yellow. I made a stencil for the cats, and drew them onto paper, and painted and decorated them before cutting them out and fixing them to my page. The flowers were stamped and coloured with felt-pens, and I added a few strips of washi tape. The sun was cut from self-adhesive paper and given a face, and I used a dinner plate to position the sentiment. When I was living in St Helens, many moons ago, I used to carry heavy things home for a very elderly neighbour who lived nearby with 2 huge marmalade cats. They were her pride and joy, and she spent nearly all of her income buying food etc for them. She always said that marmalade cats lived in their own, sweet world, and were always happy together. Well, her Sally and Solly were definitely very happy together, and this painting is in memory of Mrs B and her two darlings, who surely crossed over Rainbow Bridge together and are now living in their own, particular heaven.

I am also linking to Moo Mania and more, polka dots.

Today a crow was sitting in the tree waiting for breakfast

This afternoon I went walking in the land of the long shadows

I watched the sun go down

And saw the moon rising

All in all, another wonderful day!

Have a great day, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

A cat, birds and more

Hi Everybody!

Hope you all had a good start in the new year.

Today started very misty and freezing cold, but the sun struggled through and gave us some blue skies later in the day, and it was great walking weather.

For Art Journal Journey I have another page for our theme 'Inspired by the masters II', and this time I was inspired by the contemporary Austrian artist Rosina Wachtmeister. She paints pictures which are always happy - smiling, stylised cats painted against bright and beautiful backgrounds, sunny landscapes - pictures which are full of life and whimsy.

I used a brush wipe / try out sheet in A3 for my background. I added some colour with my lovely, new pan-pastels.  I drew the cat freehand and blocked it in with white gesso. Then I painted it with acrylics, oil pastels and felt pens.  The sun was cut from self-adhesive yellow paper, and I dusted some pan pastels in red and yellow round it. A few flowers and birds, some washi tape, and a quote - that was it.

I am also linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted, as always, by Eva and Kristin.

Morning mist

The sun beginning to push through

Frozen leaves and grass

Hungry herons:

and a sweet little robin

Blue skies

and a beautiful, winter sunset.

Have a great day you all!

Take care, and thanks for coming by!

New Challenge at Art Journal Journey!

Hi everybody!

Happy New Year to you all!

As I write this it is 2 AM and I just got home from celebrating New Year

with some friends, and we had an enjoyable and very yummy evening!

At Art Journal Journey we have started a new challenge, and by popular request, we are repeating 'Inspired by the Masters'. We are looking forward to seeing by whom you are inspired and what you make. There is so much inspiration out there, so get cracking, be inspired and join us at Art Journal Journey!

My first inspiration for this year and theme is René Magritte, a Belgian Surrealist painter, and his exploration of dreams and reality, which meet each other in his work. I made a page in my giant journal. The backgrounds were painted with acrylics; blue-black for the night, and sky blue and white for the day.  For the heads I used my stencils, and have made the Umbrella man 'my' man, I am sure Mr Magritte would have liked him, too! The houses were also drawn with a stencil.

Today was a cool and very misty day, the world around me was shrouded in mist. I love how the mist absorbs the colour and sounds.

Have a great start in the new year, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

The Last Day of 2014

Hi Everybody!

Time has flown by this year, and we have reached the last day of December.

A new year will be starting tomorrow, bringing with it new chances and opportunities, and new things to do, see and learn. I wish you all a happy and healthy 2015!

Today is also the last day of our collage challenge at Art Journal Journey.

We have had more than 200 entries this month, which made me very happy, and I enjoyed visiting lots of blogs and seeing so many different interpretations of the theme. Today I am showing a collage of my collages made this last month, and I had a lot of fun making them.

 I want to say thank you to Diane for the beautiful cards and gifts she sent me for my birthday and Christmas, and for being such a good friend through the year. And I have made another collage to show all my lovely gifts. And in addition I found fleecy leggings and  ear-warmers in my parcel to keep me warm on cold days like today. Diane's Christmas card is also something very special, made like a shadow box, but which can be folded flat to send - just stunning! Thanks a lot, Sweetie!

And last but not least, some impressions of my corner of the world today:

This view always reminds me of Narnia!

Breakfast time:

The jay is very hard to 'catch' as he never keeps still!

The hawk sat in the tree for a long time today, and we watched each other....

Snow and ice:

Here's hoping that the New Year will bring us health, happiness and peace.

Have a good celebration today, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

See you again in 2015!