Monday Mixed Bag

Hi Everybody!

Hope the weekend is going well!

Today I have another piece for Art Journal Journey, the sea.

This was made with all the 'sea' remnants that were flying around on my table from other journal pages this month. I Made a background with tissue paper and mod podge, and painted it with gesso and then a blue-green for the sea. I made a collage of all the bits and bobs. The washing line was left over from something else, and the gulls were so obliging to hold the ends.

I wasn't able to get out for a walk today, as I was not feeling so good, but I did enjoy watching the three young jays on the balcony. Under the watchful eyes of their parents they came to get their rations. They are very fluffy, and rather straggly and very clumsy, but really delightful to watch.

Dad keeping his eagle eye on them:

And here are the kids:

Aren't they pretty?

Have a great day you all, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

A message in a bottle

Hi Everybody!

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

Today I have another mixed media journal page which I am linking to Art Journal Journey, the sea, and Moo Mania and More, bottles. The background is a painted and dripped one which I scanned into the computer and printed out. I sketched in the bottle, and gave it a quick coat of diluted white acrylic to try to give the effect of glass. I added some shading with Gelatos, and went over the outlines with gel pens. The shells etc have been collaged. I painted an oblong white for the 'message' and write on it with a black uniball pen. I added a few bubbles with the white uniball pen, and that was it.

I am also linking to Simon Monday Challenge, X,Y, Z - here 'Y' for yellow.

Here I reversed the colours, just for fun.

Some photos from yesterday's walk:

These flowers are growing right on the top of the castle ruins:

And I love the old walls around our little town.

Have a great day you all, take care,

ad thanks a lot for coming by!

The Spirit in the Bottle

Hi Everybody!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend, and that the weather is being kind to you!

Today I have another bottle piece for Moo Mania and More. I was inspired by the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale 'The spirit in the bottle' (Der Geist im Glas), and by one of my big glass vases. I used kraft paper (A3) for the background, and painted it with black gesso mixed with a bit of blue. After drawing the outline of the bottle I painted the face using diluted acrylics and various pastel colours. Then I coloured the vase using pastel chalks. This was a fun make!

(the little spots were caused by dropping a bottle of spray ink on the table which spritzed, but I quite like the effect, even if it was not intended!)

Also linking to Friday show your face at Kim Dellow's Blog

And this is the vase. The strange spirit you can see is a reflection of me taking the photo....

The day started with a wonderful sunrise:

Mr Jay casting a longing  look at the fat-ball on the wall:

And Lilly has the last word today:

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Bottles, birds and the sea

Hi Everybody!

Another week has raced by, it's Friday already, and for many of us it will be a long weekend with the Bank Holiday on Monday - enjoy it!

Friday is time for Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristin, but everyday is a good day for Art Journal Journey, the sea, and for Moo Mania and More, Bottles.

I recycled a large piece of black cardboard (a bit more than A3) that used to live in a picture frame. I drew the bottles with pastel-chalks. I love working with the bright chalks on a black background. Sorry about the fingerprints, in the meantime I have removed them! I didn't see them till I looked at the pics! I have been trying to keep to half an hour for my bottle sketches, but this one took a bit longer - well, there are a lot of bottles!

For this version I reversed the colours and softened the edges:

Here I made a quick water coloured background on textured paper, added the birds with Dina Wakley's stencil and doodled the boat and waves.

These 2 pigeons look like they are holding an early morning chat - perhaps discussing which one should swoop down to my balcony to get breakfast first!

Sunrise and clouds:

A freshly mowed field:

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!