Sunrise, wild geese and a Hitchcock moment

Hi Everybody!

It's weekend - enjoy!

We're enjoying (?) hot and sunny weather here, but I will be happy when

it cools off again. My thermometer showed over 37° degrees today,

and that is too much for me, especially as it also heats up uncomfortably inside. But we have to take it as it comes!

For Art Journal Journey, Gill's lovely theme of  'Nature's wonders',

I have another hybrid page. For this page I used one of the photos of today's sunrise, which I digitally altered to a Van Gogh style 'painting'. I used a stencil to add the bird, and the text is part of the sunrise-sunset song from 'Fiddler on the roof'.

I didn't get much sleep last night, it was just too hot, but it did wake me up in time to watch the sky lighten and the sun rise.

I went out for my walk 2 hours earlier than usual in the hope that it would be a little cooler:

As I crossed the last field leading to the Rhine, I must have disturbed a gaggle of wild geese, who flew up honking above my head, and really scared me. I didn't have time to focus, just pointed the camera and shot - it was definitely a Hitchcock moment:

When I got back from my walk it was 27° inside and 37° outside!

Have a great weekend, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Summer's Bounty

Hi Everybody!

Another week has flown by, and it' time for Paint Party Friday again, 

hosted by Eva and Kristin. I am also linking to Art Journal Journal, nature's wonders, and Moo Mania and More, Nature's beauty.

The painting of a rose is one I was not happy with, so I digitally 'cut out' the part I liked best and added the sentiment from Gertrude Stein, part of the poem 'Sacred Emily' written at the beginning of the 20th century.

This is a digital re-working of 2 paintings made last year, combined with the photo of Saint Swidbert. The first was part of a painting of the Basilica windows, placed over a painting made of a house nearby, with the photo of St Swidbert's statue placed in  between. I love to be able to combine art and photos to make new art, and this is very exciting and fascinating technique for me:

We have had hot and sunny weather this week, giving us blue skies and 

blue water in the Rhine:

The Nile Geese:

The ducklings have grown. They are almost as large as their parents, but still hang out together as a family. Mr and Mrs Duck can be proud of their 6 young ones:

I love the sharp contrasts in light and shadow:

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

New Challenge at Moo Mania & More

Hi Everybody!

Today we are starting a new challenge at Moo Mania and More -

Nature's Beauty. This fits well to our theme at Art Journal Journey,

Nature's wonders, so I have one piece for both challenges. The background here was made in a marbling techniques, dripping colour onto  wallpaper-paste and taking the colours off with a sheet of paper. With this sort of marbling you can control the colours a bit, move the drips with a tooth-pick, or make patterns with a comb etc. This looked to me like a tree and water, so I scanned it into my computer, and digitally added the texts and the photos of the birds. The Hebrew word is 'shalom' - our world so needs peace right now.

Some of the wonders I see when I go out walking:

This tree-stump has been totally colonised by fungi

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!