Shakespeare, ducks and a Rolls Royce

Hi Everybody!

Hope you all had a great weekend, and wish you a good start in the new week!

For Art Journal Journey, favourite poem or quote,  I have another Shakespeare page to share. The background is a torn paper piece, collaged, gessoed and coloured with Gelatos. I scanned the background into my computer so I can use it again. The bard is a stencil  (free download) from Stencilry.org.  I used china ink, white and black pens from Signo, and Gelatos. The rose stamp was a magazine freebie from many years ago, stamped with archival, embossed with EP extra fine and also coloured with Gelatos and a water brush.

Today started off with a beautiful sky again, and although it was cooler than last week, it stayed sunny nearly all day.

I visited Schloss Kalkum and fed the ducks with handfuls of grain and bird seed, and as you can see, they tucked in heartily.

The castle gardens were beautiful, as always:

On the way home I saw the flowers growing on our old town walls:

And I spotted this car in market street - I think the owner has more pocket money than I do!

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Stars and more for Sunday

Hi Everybody!

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

For Art Journal Journey, Favourite poem or quote, I made a page with a  quote supposed to be from Shakespeare, although it doesn't seem to appear anywhere in exactly this form, and is probably a misquote from his play, 'Julius Caesar'. But I still like it! 'It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves'.  For my page I used a painted and stenciled background which has been ready for some time. I drew the stars and planets and 'my' head with white pen and coloured some with gold and red metallic pens.

Recently I did a private challenge with Chrissie, where we challenged each other to make something spring-like using our newly acquired sewing machines. I sent mine to her, and as it has already arrived there safely, I can show you the sewing bag I made for her. It is reversible, with 2 different sides, and has appliques on the front and the back. I did a lot of unpicking as well as sewing, and there is room for improvement, but I finished it, and am proud of that!

Lilly and Lucky are enjoying their lives, as always.

This bullfinch often sits in the tree in front of my balcony, seems to be shy, and always tries to hide behind twigs when he sees me:

And here he is in all his glory:

Have a great weekend, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Spring Blossoms, fairies and birds

Hi Everybody!

We were able to enjoy another warm and sunny day today.  I was woken up early at 4.30 by birds singing in the tree outside with an incredible volume. I nurture these birds with seed and fat balls, and that's the way they show their gratitude! Anyway, tomorrow (Saturday) is supposed to be cold and windy, so perhaps they will sleep a bit longer!

For Art Journal journey, favourite poem or quote, and for Moo Mania and More, I have made another journal page. I used the other half of the background made recently with brushos and Gelatos  for my 'Little Prince' journal page. The stamp with the apple blossom fairies is one I got as a present many years back and have never yet used, shame on me. I used several stencils to add some depth to the background, and stamped a sun using colorbox ink and a stamp from Hein Design. The blossom fairies were stamped with archival black and embossed with EP extra fine. I painted them with Gelatos, taking the colour up with a water-brush, a quick and easy way to paint. I added some Stickles to the wings. The quote is from James Shirley. I am also linking to Stamps and Stencils, anything goes.

The trees are all blossoming just now:

This wonderful magnolia tree and the statue are in the garden of the Marien Hospital here:

The herons were walking around the fields along the Rhine picking out moles:

And the swans were still bobbling along at their favourite spot on the river.

Have a great weekend, whatever the weather!

Take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!

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!