'Inspired by'.... on Saturday

Hi Everybody!

It's weekend - enjoy it!

For 'Inspired by the Masters' at Art Journal Journey I was inspired by Ellen Jackson, an artist from the USA who works with paper to produce woven art, paper patchwork and mosaics etc. Her works integrate weaving and contemporary art. Lately I have enjoyed playing with scraps and strips of paper and fabric to make collages,  and to experiment with art forms other than 'just' painting or sewing. This week I had a parcel from Susi, and it was wrapped in grey packing paper. While watching TV I tore it into narrow strips, and that, together with an A3 cardboard from the back of a drawing pad, were the main ingredients for my work. I am sure this is not to everyone's taste, but sometimes I just like to have fun experimenting!

It started off like this:

I splashed some acrylic paints, fairy dust and some sprays onto it. 

When it was dry I added in some more strips of paper (this was the wrapping paper from my Galaxy chocolate from Suze)

I added more colours with pan pastels, wove in some strips of old letters and printed papers, and added some leftover alphas, which for me always represent the words we speak or think. I wrote a quote along some of the strips, 'The normal happenings of everyday life, that weave the fabric of life's big scrapbook'. The words are part of the 'about me' I wrote on my profile when I started my blog some years back, and tell what I was aiming for in my blog.

This was a fun project, and I have already started some more paper-play pieces.

Today was very cold and frosty, and rather misty, but I enjoyed my walk along the Rhine:

The water level is still dropping, the tree on the right was standing in the water last week. The blue balloon has gone!

The ducks, geese gulls and the heron were all looking for food:

This ship made a nice splash of colour in the grey surroundings:

The little robin was all puffed up to keep itself warm

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

This and that on Friday

Hi Everybody!

I am not sure where the days between Monday and today went, but they went!

We had a grey and cold day here, but we have to take the weather as it comes, 

and just hope it won't get really bad!

At Art Journal Journey we still have one week of 'Inspired by the Masters', and I have another Van Gogh inspiration today. I kept to the same theme as 2 days ago, with a window looking out onto a scene. I painted the background (A3) with blue over gesso, and then had fun spritzing white paint and gold ink onto it. My coffee maker now has some white and gold spots on it, too, I think it looks quite nice. The scene in the middle is one I painted for the last 'Inspired by' challenge, and didn't use because I didn't like the colours. This time I gave it a coat of diluted gesso, which made it much better, and then glued it onto my blue page. The window frame was made with strips of white card, and the flowers and trellis were punched with some gorgeous giant punches that a friend sent me for my birthday. 

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

I have been rather fascinated by the toadstools growing on so many trees around here. We used to call these ones 'fairy steps' when I was a kid.

These are really huge ones on a massive, old tree, that lost half of its branches in the big storm back in June last year.

And believe it or not, the blue balloon is still bobbing along the Rhine....

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

More textile art journaling.

Hi Everybody!

We had very frosty, cloudy/sunny winter weather today, which I much enjoyed on my walks along the Rhine. The meadows are now mostly free of water, but the river level is still rather high.

For Art Journal Journey, inspired by the masters, I have another textile journal page inspired again by Sheila Hicks woven art. I started out with a piece of cardboard from some packaging, which I painted with black gesso and then stamped with a background stamp. Probably a waste of time, as you can't see much of it....Then I cut vertical slits into it with my cutter. I wove various ribbons, pieces of linen, braid and yarn through the slits. Then I stitched round it with zig-zag stitch to hold it together at the sides. I sewed it onto a piece of hand-painted and stamped paper (A4), which I then sewed onto a large piece of coloured card. I wrote 2 quotes about weaving round the edges. 'We all have our own life to pursue, our own kind of dream to be weaving, and we all have the power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing' (Louisa May Alcott) and 'Life is a loom, weaving illusion' (Vachel Lindsay). I am enjoying doing some textile art journaling just now, perhaps I will make another one!

I m also linking to Moo Mania and More, anything goes.

Yesterday evening the clouds lifted and we had quite a nice evening sky.

This morning started off beautifully too, and stayed nice all day.

Te geese and ducks are still enjoying the abundance of water just now:

The sky was really impressive:

And I watched this boats man cleaning the decks while chugging along the Rhine.

But why did this blue balloon choose to go for a swim in the Rhine?

Perhaps we will never know....

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Van Gogh and Happy Mail

Hi Everybody!

Hope you are having a good day, and that the weather is being kind to you!

For 'Inspired by the masters' at Art Journal Journey I have made a piece (A3) reminiscent of Van Gogh. I have painted this scene many times for various projects. Today I decided to cut it into squares to look like the view out of a window into the dark night outside. I started off by masking the area I wanted to paint blue on my journal page, and splattered it with white paint and fairy dust while it was still wet. The starry night picture was painted onto a piece of cardboard packaging and cut into 9 more or less equally sized pieces. I glued them to the background and then added a picture of Van Gogh's self portrait, mounted onto a scrap of hand-painted paper. I wrote a quote at the bottom.

When the masking tape comes off you have straight edges:

Today I have some happy mail to share with you. The wonderful card and stencils came from the lovely Teresa in Canada. She sure knows what I like playing with - lovely stencils - THANK YOU!!! I especially like those basic shapes,  and have often wished for stencils like this!

These lovely things came from from dear Susi.

There is a new journal, and a handmade journal cover, a gorgeous card in Susi's inimitable style, stamps, a new Craft Stamper magazine and some stickers. Am I lucky, or am I lucky? THANK YOU!!!!

This Christmas card has been traveling from the States for nearly 5 weeks, but found its way at last - snail mail! It was made by the talented Sandy, who makes the most gorgeous altered paper bags you can imagine, with an enormous attention to detail. The tag was in the front pocket and the card inside. 

THANK YOU!!!

If you have time, look at the blogs of these lovely ladies if you don't already know them. Thanks again to you all!

And now some of my visitors from today:

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!