Tiot, Inspired by and Tag Tuesday

Hi Everybody!

We had a cold, grey and frosty day here. I saw on the news that there was chaos in some parts of the States due to ice, so take care those of you living in those places.

Today I made one piece for two challenges, Try it on Tuesday and Art Journal Journey, Inspired by.... At Tiot our new challenge runs for 2 weeks, and you are asked to use fabric (not ribbon) on your creation, so I hope that lots of you will join in. I was inspired to make this woven art-journaling by Sheila Hicks, an American Textile Artist, who makes wonderful art with weaving. I started off by making a little frame out of cardboard, which I threaded up with twine.I wrote a quote onto a piece of paper, which I placed under the strings.  I then stitched it to a piece of partly peeled and painted corrugated card in A4. I wove various strips of fabric - vintage linen, vintage braids, string, fibres, fancy yarn and burlap through the frame. When it was finished, I stitched with zig-zag stitch down the sides to hold it all together. For the background I took a slightly larger piece of chipboard, painted it with terracotta and added some gold Utee round the edges before gluing the woven piece onto it. The quote I used is, 'We sleep, but the loom of life never stops, and the pattern which was weaving when the sun went down is weaving when it comes up in the morning' (Henry Ward Beecher).

I like the idea of having a message hidden in the work. To finish it off I added some beads threaded on to twine and a couple of feathers. I will use this as a journal cover.

At Tag Tuesday our theme this week is 'Texture'. I used corrugated card, partly peeled and gessoed for the base. I added some strips of paper recycled from old projects and a piece of fabrick as matting. I stamped the image of Da Vinci's Leda (Lost Coast Designs) onto card with archival brown, clear embossed it, and distressed the card with vintage photo. As embellishments I used various scraps of ribbon, a wire flower, some fibres and a muse token.

Also linking to Moo Mania and More, anything goes.

The sun kept trying to appear, but didn't have much success.

Two ravens were my first visitors this morning, which annoyed all the other little birds....But I love their glossy blue-black feathers.

The Rhine is sinking further, so that's good, although there is still too much water.

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

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!