Thursday, 21 May 2015

Bottles, birds and more

Hi Everybody

Another day has sped by and it is starting to get dark again.
I was able to enjoy some time on my balcony watching the colours fade in the evening sky - just beautiful. Okay, I know I am a bit obsessed with sky, clouds, sun, moon and stars, but there are worse obsessions!

For Moo Mania and More, Bottles, I made some quick sketches of some of my bottles using pastel chalks. I limited myself to a maximum of  half an hour pro sketch, and managed to get 5 done which I will be showing in the course of the next days. I love glass vases and bottles, and have a lot of beautiful examples here for inspiration. I used water-colour paper as it gives a nice texture and holds the colour pigments well.





With reversed colours:



The early bird, on the tree top, before sunrise. I don't know if it caught a worm for being up so early, I didn't either.


My resident blue jay, looking sad because the bowl was empty yet again:


Someone forgot to take their grill home:


The Rhine raven:


Looking up:


Sunrise:



Mrs Magpie, waiting for family Jay to move away so that she could come for a feed, too:


 This is my balcony!


The last glimpse of colour in the evening.



Have a great day, take care,
and thanks a lo for coming by!

Wednesday, 20 May 2015

Bottles at Moo Mania and More

Hi Everybody!

Today it's time for a new challenge at Moo Mania and More - Bottles.
 At Art Journal Journey the challenge is 'The sea' , so I had the idea to do a ship in a bottle. When I sent off my page to Susi, she showed me hers - also a ship in a bottle. Great minds think alike!







And here with reversed colours:


Today started off with some sun, but after a few minutes the clouds took over and the day was cold and windy.







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

Tuesday, 19 May 2015

Tuesday This and That.

Hi Everybody!

Hope your day is going well.

It's Tuesday, so time for a new tag at Tag Tuesday, and our theme this week is 'Symmetry'. I chose an arch diecut with a symmetric gate . I layered 2, one over the other, so that I could cut out some parts on the top one and make an open window.  The Butterfly is also symmetric, and I have tried to make a contrast by placing the other items asymmetrically. And the shadow which the sun gave me this morning is also asymmetrical. The butterfly got a layer of crackle glaze and was distressed with DI, the rest was somehow flying about my table again. I am also linking to Moo Mania and More 'Flowers'. And just for your info, check back tomorrow to learn about the new challenge for Moo Mania and More for the next 2 weeks. .





At Mixed Media Mojo the theme is Tic-tac-toe, and I chose the line with chipboard, gesso and stencil. I started off with a chipboard bird-house which dear Sandy sent me last year. I used a CWS stencil and structure paste to make the 'bricks' on the house, and gave it 2 coats of gesso and some glitter while it was still wet. The birds, cat and fence are also chipboard, and have been painted, crackle glazed and distressed. I added flowers and lace and some grass to make it homey. The crest on the roof has been antiqued with patina and crackle glaze, although the crackle glaze is hardly visible. I think my balcony birds have inspired this one!









The wind blew the clouds across the sky all day, but it stayed dry, so I was able to enjoy my walks.











I enjoyed watching the work on the roof of one of the old houses by the Rhine near the basilica:




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