You can't have too many blessings!

Hi Everybody!

Here we had a warm and sunny day - great! I actually had to take my jacket off this afternoon, can hardly believe it!

For Art Journal Journey, Favourite poem or quote, I have made another page. This time the quote is in Hebrew. It is the Aaronic benediction or blessing, found in the book of Numbers chapter 6, 22-26. The Priests were required to lift up their hands and bless the people. Many thousands of years later, this blessing is still a part of the service in Synagogues and Churches all over the world. In ancient times and today in the synagogue the Cohen (Priest) arranges his fingers as shown in the illustration on the painting. There are 28 letters on the hands, and the number 28 in Hebrew numerology stands for the word 'Koach' - strength. The letters along the base of the hands spell the name for God. I used a copy of a page of Hebrew from a prayer book in the background, painted over with diluted gesso and then given a thin layer of gold paint. I added lots of metallic rust, copper and gold. For the hands I used an illustration from Wikipedia, which I printed,  fussy cut and used as a stencil. I used gold and white gel-pens from uniball for the script and hands. The lettering was done with a script stencil. The text reads 'The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.'

I am also linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted, as always, by Eva and Kristin; Stamps and Stencils, anything goes, and Simon Monday Challenge, A is for Aaronic  Blessing.

Today started off with a wonderful sunrise - the sun and I both rose at the same time today.

The swans were still paddling around

The sky was blue

And the magnolia trees are bursting into bloom, so beautiful.

Have a great day you all, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Thursday This and That

Hi Everybody!

After the sunny day yesterday it was disappointing that today was cool and rather hazy - sooner or later spring must come! I had a busy day with visits to the dentist and the hairdresser, and this evening I baked a 'Zwiebelkuchen' - a savoury onion pie, which I enjoyed with a neighbour. She brought Pro Secco to drink with it, so we had a good evening! Now I need my bed!

For Art Journal Journey, favourite poem or quote,  I have made another journal page - what else? It is also meant for Mix it Monthly, town or village. The background was painted with paints left over from another project which I will show tomorrow. I added some gold dribbles and some dark brown spray which I let drip to get the colours moving.  I used a stencil to draw the row of houses. The quote was spoken by Professor Dumbledore in the film of  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Th water in the Rhine is rising again, a lot of the bushes are under water.

The cormoran was keeping watch on his pole:

The pigeons flapped away very indignantly when I stopped to take their photo.

This view was taken from the top of the castle ruins, which are open again after the winter break.

There is a lot of moss between the stones there.

More storm damage:

This bird has taken to sitting in the tree in front of my window, and he hops onto the balcony as soon as he thinks I am not looking and feeds on the fat balls.

Have a great day you all, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Feelings of Spring at Moo Mania and More

Hi Everybody!

Hope your day is going well!
We had a sunny and pleasant day here, not warm, but warmer than it has been, although there was a thick frost in the night. It's so good to see blue skies instead of grey.

At Moo Mania and More we have a new challenge for the next 2 weeks - 'Feelings of spring'. All formats are allowed, so unleash those spring feelings and share them with us during the next 2 weeks!  For my DT piece I made a journal page, which is also meant for Art Journal Journey, Favourite poem or quote. I painted the background with water colours, and then added extra colour with Gelatos. I painted the little girl with water colours and the flowers with coloured ink. I stenciled some chicken wire and Dina Wakley's birds in the background, and stamped the bee (LaBlanche) with archival black and coloured it in. I wrote the little verse to go with it.
I am also linking to Simon Monday Challenge, A is for - Art Journaling

I enjoyed my walk with milder temperatures and blue skies today. 

This moving sculpture is on the roof of one of the houses by the Rhine, it reminds me of a giant dragonfly.

And I was very happy to see that the swans were back again. I watched them swimming down the stream yesterday, and today they were bobbing around in the Rhine near the mouth of the stream. The water is running high just now, and some of the trees and bushes are already under water.

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Signs of the Zodiac and Music

Hi Everybody!

The long weekend is over, hope you didn't eat too many chocolate eggs or other treats. I only had one chocolate bunny, and he didn't survive

the holiday....

At Tag Tuesday our theme this week is signs of the Zodiac. I made 2 9 x 15 cm tags, mounted onto dark blue card with the theme of 'The age of Aquarius'.

For Art Journal Journey, Favourite poem or quote, I have made a journal page using Shakespeare's words, 'If music be the food of love, play on', spoken by Duke Orsino in 'Twelfth Night'. The background is a mop up page, with some extra colour added with Gelatos. I glued on some torn pieces of music paper, and stamped some notes in the top corner. The 'Love' text was stamped and white embossed. The music instruments are from an old Sears and Roebuck catalogue from more than 100 years ago.

I made a lot of A4 pages last month, and have bound them portion by portion using my old thermal binder. This way they are tidy and protected, so I will definitely do this with the next batch, too.

Back with some photos tomorrow, no time more today!

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Colours, cats and a hedgehog

Hi Everybody!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend. It's a long weekend here

with a Bank Holiday tomorrow. Today the sun came out,

and although it was still cold, it was great to walk

in the sun. 

For Art Journey Journey I have made another journal page for the 'Favourite poem or quote' theme. The background was made with brushos over wet gesso, and turned out rather more colourful than I was expecting, but I decided to use it with a fitting quote from Albert Schweitzer. The stencil is home made from a free design from Stencilry.org. I painted the stencil with gesso, and added more white spots and the text with a white highlighter.

Lilly looking serious

Lucky looking fragile....

And Lilly enjoying a rest after feeding time:

Yesterday the postman brought me a little parcel from dearest Chrissie

who sent me a box containing one of her delightful knitted hedgehogs, as well as cards, some embellies, and some pretty felt ornaments which I will show another time. I have named him Spiky, and he already answers to his name. I showed him round my flat and introduced him to the other creatures living here:

He has now settled in and taken up residence on my desk, and seems to like watching what I do on the computer....

Thanks a lot Chrissie, this was a wonderful surprise.

Have a great day, and enjoy the holiday if you have one!

Take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!