Monday this and that

Hi Everybody!

It's  another chilly and windy evening here, but we did see the sun for an hour or two today, so that was wonderful.

For Art Journal Journey, Birds, beasts and humans, and for Moo Mania and More, circles, I have made another journal page. The images used are from Gecko Galz and Dina Wakley, over a hand-painted background. I liked this background, so have scanned it and can thus use it again as a print out for future work. I have started doing this with some of my BGs, as it does save a lot of time and paint, especially when trying to produce on a daily basis. I used a white pen for highlighting again.
I am also linking to Simon Monday Challenge, no rules.

I wasn't keen on going out today, as it was very cold and windy, but Karina came and collected me, and we had a nice walk along the Rhine and through our little town. The 'Konditorei' (cake shop and bakery) was open, so we got some wonderful cake to take home and enjoy with our coffee and tea.

This is the little yard behind the florist's; I love

the old houses

I snapped the Protestant Church reflected in the windows of one of the shops:

And the sun shone for us the whole time we were out!

Hope you have all had a great weekend!

Take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Birds, beasts and humans

Hi Everybody!

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

It was cold and rather grey here today, although the sun did try to look out

for a few minutes here and there, and we have stormy and wet weather on its way. Oh well, we have to take the weather as it comes, and I know

a lot of places are having to battle with much worse conditions.

For Art Journal Journey, Birds, beasts and humans I have a  painting to share. It started life as a bright background, which got more or less obliterated by ginger and lemon tea - tasted good, but evidently not good for paper and paints. It had lots of purple splodges on it, and suddenly they morphed into yellow-spotted purple white-foot Squirmies. They look rather scary, but are actually quite harmless. The have one eye at the front and one at the back - perhaps the origin of the saying 'Having eyes at the back of your head'? Their purple skin is rather rough and scrubby looking, as they like to bathe in lemon and ginger tea, which is not good for the skin at all. Juveniles have orange coloured scales, and adults neon yellow ones. When two meet and mate, they fuse into one being with 2 heads, which makes sure that the wife can always keep an eye on her husband. Their hair is short and bristly, interspersed with soft white curls. As they are very nervous and afraid of others, they always chant 'Muttermuttermutter' when they are walking along in order to scare off unfriendly beings. They are always accompanied by the long-legged purple picker birds, who mostly travel on their heads and act as look-outs. The Squirmies have large, white button-like knobs along their front sides, but experts have not yet been able to work out what function they have. They also have white feet so that they can find each other easily in the dark. They are very shy, and rarely seen these days. If you should happen to spot them please contact the organisation for investigating yellow-spotted purple white-foot Squirmies, who will surely be most delighted to hear from you.

I managed to take a few photos of the heron and gulls today, after that it was so wet I had to pack the camera away.

Today nobody was working on the roof of the old house, which was well covered with plastic sheets to keep it dry. But I did get a picture of the old beams, which really look decayed and wormy

Have a great day you all, enjoy the weekend, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

I am the dream....

Hi Everybody!

It's weekend, so have a good one. Hope those stuck in the snow are keeping warm and safe, and that the weather gets better for

you very soon.

Today I have another piece for Art Journal Journey, Birds, beasts and humans to share. We already have over 150 entries, and the challenge runs for another week. You can see all the wonderful entries by clicking on the link in my sidebar. I used one of my ready made backgrounds - when I have time and/or colour left over, I make BGs, it's always good to have a supply. I did some background stenciling using various stencils, bought and home made, and black soot DI. The flowers were stamped direct from some Memento Dewdrop stamp pads, and then highlighted with white dots, as was the house stencil along the bottom edge. This was quick and fun to make.

I have been watching some men working on the roof of one of the ancient houses near the Church, bit by bit they are putting in new wooden beams instead of the rather decayed old ones. It's interesting to see how well they work as a team.

My visitors were queuing up already when I got up this morning

The falcon doesn't come onto the balcony, but enjoys picking crusts of bread from the garden

The jay came rather late, and was rather disappointed that the food had already been eaten, so had to be content with picking at the fat balls

 

Have a great day you all, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Van Gogh with bandaged ear

Hi Everybody!

Another week has flown by - where does the time go?

The older I get, the faster the hands of the clock seem to turn, 

or is it just that I need longer to do things?

For Art Journal Journey, birds, beasts and humans,  and Paint Party Friday I made anotherA3 page in Van Gogh style. I painted the background in acrylics in red and orange. I drew Van Gogh onto a separate sheet, and painted him first with water colours and then pastel chalks. After cutting and gluing I wrote the details along the edge and a quote of Van Gogh's underneath. I drew the smoke from the pipe with pastel chalk.

This morning started off very foggy again, but in the afternoon the sun came out - rather pale and watery, but it felt good! The mist thinned, too, but it was still rather hazy.

Here the falcon was slumbering in the tree behind the garden.

The heron was standing at his usual spot and I watched him

catch a fish:

I love the way the anchor is glowing in the sun.

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!