Inspired by....

Hi Everybody!

The weekend has flown by here.

After my busy day yesterday I slept well and was able to go for a long walk this morning. It's getting colder again, but it did stay dry, and the water in the Rhine is slowly going down again.

For Art Journal Journey I made another Painting inspired by Rosina Wachtmeister. I couldn't resist having another play with those cats. The background was a brush-wipe page, which was stamped and then spritzed with some specks of white and gold and sprinkled with fairy dust. I added more colour with pan pastels. The cats were drawn with my stencils onto gessoed paper and coloured with felt pens and pan pastels. The flowers and sun were collaged. I have now packed the cat stencils into my stencil drawer, but I am sure they will be taken out again at a later date!

The woodpecker visited again this morning, hungry as always.

I met these woolly jumpers on my walk today:

It was very cold and windy at the lake, so I din't stop there long.

At Schloss Kalkum I enjoyed the winter flowering tree:

This bird was busy looking for worms:

The sky was very dramatic, with lots of black clouds. The sun kept struggling to make an appearance:

I love this view from the tow-path, with the old canon on the wall, the little houses behind the wall, and the basilica in the background.

The castle ruins made a strong silhouette:

The evening sky was beautiful with delicate ice-cream colours.

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Another Modigliani for Art Journal Journey

Hi Everybody!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Another day has flown by. I went to a friend's, and we were busy sewing carnival costumes. Slowly, slowly, we are getting there, I think we will soon have them finished. It's fun finding new ideas all the time, changing direction here and there and making alterations. Earlier in the week I sewed a pink satin rat for a friend who is going to carnival as a pink punk, and that was fun, too.

For 'Inspired by the masters' at Art Journal Journey I have one more Modigliani piece. This time I chose the portrait of Diego Rivera, the husband of Frida Kahlo. Modigliani painted it in 1914. For the background I used another brush wipe and experiment page in A3, to which I added some more colour with sprays, and stamped onto the wet paper with a background stamp. The portrait was once again painted on a separate sheet using water colours and pastels. It was fussy cut and then glued to the background. I chose a quote from Frida Kahlo this time : 'I have suffered two grave accidents in my life, one in which a streetcar knocked me down. The other accident is Diego. Diego was by far the worst'. Their relationship was filled with  quarrels, separations and reunions, but neither seemed able to live without the other.

Today started off cool and very misty:

Here is the pink punk rat; her name is Ratty:

Have a nice Sunday. take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

A Mixed Media project

Hi Everybody!

It's weekend again, have a good one!

Today I have made a project for the 'Fragile papers' challenge at Paper Artsy. I will be back with another painting for Art Journal Journey tomorrow, my next 'Modigliani' is ready.

I started off by collaging a postcard with torn pieces of vintage book paper. I distressed it with antique linen and vintage photo DIs. I printed a photo of me taken on my first day at school back in 1952 and made a photo transfer using golden gel. I faded the photo to 80% before printing to get a very worn and vintage look.

The background has been made from corrugated card, partly peeled, gessoed and liberally sprinkled with gold Utee. I added some fragments of vintage letters and book paper, which I pressed into the folds of the cardboard. I fixed the postcard to the backing with DS sticky tape. I used some scraps of burlap, vintage lace and a strip of stained, vintage linen tied to a shabby bow. I added a textile rose and a little feather, and the sentiment 'imagine'.

I am also linking to Moo Mania and More, anything goes and to A vintage Journey, use a portrait.

Early this morning the sky was clear and the birds started to gather:

 The water on the meadows is getting less and less, I hope all will be back to normal in a few days. The water birds are still partying!

The fire place is slowly emerging:

I saw these strange toadstools on a tree trunk:

When the cock crows?!

The evening sky:

Have a great day you all, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Modigliani, geese and dogs

Hi Everybody!

Hope you are having a good day whatever you are up to!

I think the Meadows looked a little less flooded today, let's hope the water is really receding.

For 'Inspired by the Masters' at Art Journal Journey I have once again chosen Modigliani as my inspiration. I have one more finished, too, but it is hard to stop - the more I look at his paintings, the more they fascinate me! I used a large sheet of black card for the background, a little larger than A3. I must have used it at some time as an underlay sheet while painting, as it had spots and streaks of colour all over it. I added  more  colours with pastel chalks, and left the green streaks at the bottom as decoration. I painted the lady, Jeanne Hebuterne, with water colours and pastel chalks, and then glued her to the background. Then I had a little mishap with some drops of coffee that splashed onto her, but okay, it's art journaling and not for the family portrait gallery! I wrote the quote from Modigliani underneath this time, as it was too long to go around her head. I have had great fun this week spending time with Modigliani!

I am also linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin, and to Moo Mania and More, anything goes.

The ducks and geese are really enjoying the flooded meadows by the Rhine:

And these 2 dogs had great fun chasing each other through thewater and splashing around!

 A lot of the trees are covered in toadstools:

 The fire/grill place is a bit too wet to use just now!

Have  a great day you all, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!