Sunday, 26 April 2015

Queen Balkis, butterflies and a funny bird

Hi Everybody!

We had a cool and rainy day here today. I got rather wet walking along the Rhine, but the air was so fresh, and everything smelt of spring - just wonderful. And as it was raining no one was out and about, and I love the feeling of having my piece of the world just for myself!

For Art Journal Journey, favourite poem or quote, and Moo Mania and More, butterflies, I made a journal page about Queen Balkis. The quote is part of a poem from Rudyard Kipling (who also wrote the 'Jungle Book'). Here is the whole poem:

THERE was never a Queen like Balkis,
From here to the wide world’s end;
But Balkis talked to a butterfly
As you would talk to a friend.

There was never a King like Solomon,
Not since the world began;
But Solomon talked to a butterfly
As a man would talk to a man.

She was Queen of Sabaea—
And he was Asia’s Lord—
But they both of ’em talked to butterflies
When they took their walks abroad!

I used a scanned copy of one of my painted backgrounds, added some background stenciling, collaged the butterfly queen, bird and planet, and the quote was computer generated.






Yesterday I enjoyed the blossoming trees and the fresh, green leaves in the park - seeing the blossoms against a blue sky is just balsam for me.








The blue jay sneaked onto my balcony again to nibble on the fat balls. He is always shy, and tries to hide. Today he hid behind the big cactus and kept peeking over the top to make sure I was still sitting at my desk and not noticing him! It was great fun watching him.





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

Saturday, 25 April 2015

Saturday this, that and the other

Hi Everybody!
It's weekend, so hope you have a good one!

I had more time for myself today, which was good, and was able to take a long walk and sit on my pretty balcony this afternoon, so that was good. It's great just to sit outside and read, and listen to the birds singing.

For Art Journal Journey (favourite poem or quote), Mix it Monthly (town/city) and Moo Mania and More butterflies, I made another journal page. I used a print of one of my backgrounds, adding colour with Gelatos. I used various stencils to add some interest and depth to the background. The houses, figures and butterflies have been fussy cut, collaged, and outlined with a white pen. I read the quote recently but can't remember in which book, sorry. I think we all know surreal situations like this from our dreams!






The sunrise this morning was different. The sky was rather hazy, and there was no bright colouring, the sun just appeared and hung there like an orange disc. It was a bit spooky to watch.






The little park here is full of dandelions, glowing like little suns.



Some of the flowers on my balcony. It looks pretty at night, too, when the solar lamps light up.



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


Friday, 24 April 2015

Gather ye rosebuds....

Hi Everybody!

Once again I am dog tired and much too late writing my blog post, the past few days have been too busy and chaotic. It can only get better!

I made a mixed media page for Art Journal Journey and Paint Party Friday.
I took an A3 sheet and used various papers for the background, giving them a thin coat of diluted gesso. The head of the lady is one I drew some time back from a picture in a magazine. I printed and cut it out, and coloured it in shades of brown and sepia.
I painted over some parts of the background with thinned down ochre and distressed the edges with ancient linen DI. I added random stamping , using Adirondack Espresso,  and added some postage stamps and cancellation marks to them. It was finished off with some tissue tape to cover some gaps in the paper. I crackled the roses to give them some texture. The quote is from Robert Herrick (1591-1674) and is from his poem 'To the Virgins, to make much of time'.
I am also linking to Simon Monday Challenge, due date(Date stamps)









We had another wonderful sunrise:



The blue tits are great acrobats:


The horses seem to be happy to be back on their meadow:





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





Thursday, 23 April 2015

Butterflies and more

Hi Everybody!

Sorry, just a short post again - had a hard day and am tired out, 
need to crawl into my bed!

For Art Journal Journey, favourite poems and quotes; Moo Mania and More, butterflies and Mix it Monthly, towns/villages I have made an A4 journal page - what else? The background was painted with gesso and then acrylics in metallic purple and silver. I added texture with a crackle stamp. The little girl is a stencil from stencilry.org, the butterflies were punched /stenciled and the town silhouette made with a no-name stencil.






Just a few photos from this morning, didn't have time to process the rest of the photos:






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