Mental floss

Hi Everybody!

Oh my, it is sooooo hot here. The asphalt on the roads is melting,

other roads are cracking apart - things are not made for these extreme temperatures here - nor was I!

For Art Journal Journey, post and postage, I have another journal page to share. This is another one where I was inspired by a stamp. I bought the stamp years back in England, and have kept it till now. There is a whole series of these funny ones, but I just concentrated on this one:

And then I imagined standing in front of the mirror in the morning and flossing my mind, so here is my personal version of the stamp, drawn, painted and collaged onto an A3 background painted with gesso:

It's not really a good likeness, I never paint my fingernails!

And just for fun:

I am also linking to Kim Dellow's Friday face art.

I was up extremely early today - it was too hot to sleep, and by the time the sun went up through the haze I had already washed three loads of laundry. At least they dry quickly in this heat!

Have a great day, take care, 

and keep warm or keep cool as the case may be!

Happy Independence Day to all friends on the other side of the Big Pond!

Thanks a lot for coming by!

When the postman rings....

Hi Everybody!

We had the hottest day of the year till now here, 37° outside and 32° inside -

for me a touch too hot, but we have to take it as it comes!

For Art Journal Journey, post and postage, I made a mixed media page with Postman Pat. This was an English children's programme, which was shown from the beginning of the 80s. He is a wonderful postman,  who delivers the post day for day no matter what, and always accompanied by his cat Jess. I painted the A3 background with gesso, drew Postman Pat and Jess, and painted them with water colours. I knew I had a postman Pat stamp in my stash, and after searching for hours I found it (Okay, I could have copied one from the net, but I knew I had it somewhere....) The letter was made from a sheet of paper folded into letter form, and stamped.I wrote the sentiment by hand and drew the airmail pattern round the edges before collaging it.

So many postmen deliver our post day for day whatever the weather, so this is also a thank you to all of them.

I am also linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin.

I went out earlier today in the hope that it would not be so hot, and had a walk along the Rhine, and then through some shady streets and alleys in our little town.

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Postage Stamps and blue skies

Hi Everybody!

It's really hot here this week, 34° outside, and not much less inside -

I think it's summer!

Last Week the Queen visited Germany, and this was my inspiration for this journal page for Art Journal Journey, post and postage. The queen has been pictured on more stamps than I could ever try to count, and a few of them are here. I have often seem similar caricatures of the Queen, and I had fun drawing this one. The background of the A3 page has been painted with gesso, and I drew the cartoon with a Pentel pen and used Gelatos and India-Ink pens for the colouring. The golden trellis and post mark were stenciled. I had so much fun that I drew a second one, which I will show in the course of the month. I was asked if I do all of the journal pages for the month in advance, and have not yet managed so many. But I do have 17 ready made, which leaves me some time to join in other challenges, too.

Today started off with a great sunrise, and I was fascinated by the beautiful skies with little, fluffy clouds.

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

New Challenges at Art Journal Journey and Moo Mania and More

Hi Everybody!

Today is a double challenge start, with new themes at 

Art Journal Journey 

and

Moo Mania and More.

At AJJ our challenge is post and postage.

I know most of us send emails more than letters these days,

but it is always a great feeling to find a letter in the mail-box.

Well, perhaps with the exception of bills and letters from the Tax office....

But letters from friends - especially handwritten ones, perhaps

with some art in them are always a source of joy.

This theme gives us lots of possibilities to live out our creativity.

You could journal about the history of the post, how the post works,

about stamps - old ones, new ones, special editions, first day of issue letters etc.

Or perhaps you could use old letters, love letters, letters from famous people

in your journaling. 

Or what about collages using old envelopes, stamps, letters etc?

Perhaps it will inspire you to make some Mailart and send some

love in a letter to someone. I am sure you will all be brimming with ideas,

and Susi and I will be posting examples nearly every day to get your inspiration going.

My example shows a wonderful set of stamps from the Solomon Isles  using owls.

I did not want to use the originals, so the set was scanned, printed and fussy cut.

To make it look more realistic, I pricked along the perforations with a needle.

And of course, from owl to owl post to Harry Potter and Hogwarts

was just a logical jump. 

 I painted the background with gesso, and then gave it a thin colour wash with blue for the sky. The pictures of Harry Potter and the Hogwarts crest were from Stencilry. I am looking forward to seeing your journaling for the theme of post - postage.

At Moo Mania and More the challenge is to use swirls. All formats are allowed, so let your creativity swirl and flourish, and link up your creations!

My tag and the die-cut swirls were painted with Vivacolor Maya Gold paint in ice blue. The background paper for the tag and Moo is from Gecko Galz. I added some colour-coordinated embellishments.

Have  a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!