Roses for a lifetime

Hi Everybody!

Yesterday evening the skies started to clear up, and this morning the sun decided to show itself again. The rain was really necessary, but it's nice to be able to go out without an umbrella again.

For Art Journal Journey, time, and for the Faces challenge which Susi and I are making, I have another face - Number 3. My neighbour looked at it and said it looks like Grandma's wallpaper - well, I think he's at least a little bit right!

The background was made with some rose stencils. I got a whole packet of  different stencils from Ebay for 5€ including postage, so wanted to try some of them out. I used colour box inks in 2 colours on an A3 page again. The face was drawn with pencil and went over the lines with water colours. The dragonflies were stenciled with Archival black. Perhaps it's Sleeping Beauty peeping out through the roses after waking up.... The quote is 'If I had a rose for every time I thought of you, I'd be picking roses for a lifetime'.

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

The day started off with beautiful skies:

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On my walk I visited the flowers which you can pick yourself and put the money in a tin. Last week they were looking rather sad, but the rain has really done them good:

I noticed this Art Nouveau face under the eaves while passing a house here today - it fits well to our 'Faces' theme.

Thanks for all the nice comments on the photos I took in the Altstadt and Harbour last week, I will try to go on another little outing next week.

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks for coming by.

Time for rain

Hi Everybody!

It's the middle of the week already - where does the time go?

And I am sure that time is going even faster this month during our 'Time' theme at Art Journal Journey

I made this A3 mixed media page a couple of weeks back when it was so hot and we were longing for rain. Now it's been raining for several days, so I think it's time the sun came out again!

I used one of my backgrounds, which I digitally altered and fixed it to an A3 page which had been painted with a mix of gesso and blue. I stenciled the cogs, clock and diamonds with rusty hinge DI. I stamped the pocket watch in the corner and 'Tempus fugit' with archival black. The ascending bubbles are a stamp from Ryn Tanaka. I cut another umbrella man out of the cover of an old paper back, and let Mr Umbrella Man and his shadow go walking in the rain.

(No face today, #3 of 49 will appear tomorrow!)

For Tag Tuesday - which was, of course yesterday - our theme was net. And this is not a theme I like. Anyway, as my hair is always sticking up in all directions every morning I decided to make a hair net, using the net from my potatoes, which are now shivering naked in the fridge without their net. I stenciled Dina Wakley's Moon face onto a scrap of spare DP, gave her some wild, fiber hair and added the hair net, which I sewed together to keep it in shape.

Bad Hair Day was the result.

I am also linking to Moo Mania and More, embellishments.

Today I have the last of the photos I took in the Altstadt and Harbour.

This is a statue of Johannes Rau. He was the minister-president of our county, North-Rhine Westphalia from 1978-1998, and President of Germany from 1999-2004. His motto was 'to reconcile and not divide'. He was a wonderful person, who I had the privilege of knowing personally. He died in 2006.

The bridge leading over to Oberkassel 

The 'Landtag', the county hall where our politicians meet, nicely situated by the Rhine and near the harbour:

On old crane which used to be used for loading ships:

Love the wood structure on the side of the crane:

And last but not least, a photo from last week, taken on my balcony, showing a spider's web twinkling in the rising sun.

Have a great day you all, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Flowers, clocks and coffee

Hi Everybody!

Hope your week got off to a good start!

It's been very wet here, and the rain was much needed. The cooler

temperatures are pleasant, too.

Today is the start of a new challenge at TIOT -

Sending you flowers.

As always, you have 2 weeks to create something, and all formats are allowed.

Hope to see lots of you joining us again!

I made another flower face, which is also meant for the '49 faces'  private challenge which Susi and I have started, and of course for 

Art Journal Journey, time.

I am also linking to Kim Dellow's 'Friday Face'

For Elizabeth's T stands  for Tuesday I have a photo of my favourite drink, coffee, this time as cappuccino.

After finishing my coffee I noticed there was a chip in the cup, so told the waiter when he came to present the bill. Much to my surprise I didn't have to pay anything, so that was good!

And now I have more photos from last weeks's trip to the Altstadt of Düsseldorf.

This is the Spee Palace, now a museum:

This is the monument to Anna Maria Luisa de Medici, the last scion of the house of Medici. She was married to the Elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz, the ruler of Düsseldorf, who was better known as Jan Wellem - I showed his equestrian bronze statue yesterday. They were both great friends of art and music, and founded the first art museum in Düsseldorf (the contents of which are now for some reason in Munich!). Her memorial shows the things she loved. After Jan Wellem died in 1716 she went back to her home town of Florence, where she lived until her death in 1743. Jan Wellem was also responsible for the destruction of our castle, built by the Emperor Barbarossa, here in Kaiserswerth - there were always enmities between the 2 towns, and in 1702 it was reduced to ruins with canon balls, because Jan Wellem was afraid that his enemies could hide there! Hmm, love your neighbours - those were troubled times!

Here the garden side of the palace

The 'Spee'scher Graben', the moat surrounding the palace and part of the Altstadt:

Here you can see the perimeter wall from the palace gardens:

Another quiet street:

I still have a few photos, so will show them tomorrow.

Till then, have  a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!