Autumn leaves

Hi Everybody!

Hope your week has started well. I keep thinking it's Sunday today, 

as we have a holiday here. Tuesday is Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesday,

so here a big welcome to all of the T gang, and of course, to anyone else who comes along.

For Art Journal Journey, Indian Summer, I have a hybrid piece. The background was painted and stamped, and the face was painted with acrylics and then cut out. I put them together digitally, and added some extra leaves, fungi, the bird and the hedgehog.

Last week I went to the Altstadt (old town) of Düsseldorf for a little outing, walked along the Rhine and then through the streets which were full of people eating and drinking:

A famous restaurant:

One restaurant next to the other:

The Uerige brews and sells  'Alt Bier', a speciality  in Düsseldorf:

This was the entrance to a little passageway and courtyard, filled with strange things:

My drink was, as always, cappuccino - this photo must be a forgery!

And this little chappy probably drinks water:

Have a wonderful day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Autumn fashions

Hi Everybody!

For Art Journal Journey, Indian summer, I have a double spread made in my 2nd new journal, using the new stamp from Lost Coast Designs that I recently bought at the Mecca. I was just having  bit of fun here, creating some new autumn styles for this lady....The leaves have been die cut from painted and stamped paper, the feathers are from the castle geese. The clothes were made from scraps of paper. The two ladies are looking away from each other - I wonder why?

And before I forget it again, here is my Tag Tuesday tag from last week, our theme was nursery rhymes:

And here are some more photos of my visit to Neuss last week.

There were a lot of beautiful and interesting old houses and buildings:

The arcades here used to lead to the town hall:

Modern transport:

I wonder what this lady would think if she could see the town as it is today?

A place near the Minster is called  'An der Münze' - at the Mint, where the coins were minted, and there were very interesting oversized bronze 'coins' let into the cobblestones to show what the coins looked like in the middle ages. I put them together with some of the bronze statues to make a collage:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Sunday this and that

Hi Everybody!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Today is Elizabeth's 2nd on the 2nd, so I am re-posting a story written long ago, as well as my autumn piece for Art Journal Journey.
It is a hybrid piece, using a quick scene, painted with diluted acrylics, to which I added some ink pen scribbling and stamping to give some details. The face and other bits and bobs were added digitally:

This is the 10 minute original:

For 2nd on the 2nd I am re-posting a story written way back when I was still working at the Old People's home after retiring from school:

One day when I was sitting in the cafeteria of the home where I work, one of our old ladies came in, very upset and excited, and shouted "Someone has stolen my teeth! Good teeth, nearly new, I've only had them for a few weeks!"

Looking for dentures is one of the tasks which we do on a frequent basis. They find their way into waste-paper baskets, get dropped into the loo, left on benches in the park, forgotten in shopping baskets at the supermarket and left on dinner plates or dining tables. A lot of the oldies regard them as a decoration which is in the way when they are eating, others just find them uncomfortable, or they just get "forgotten". If there is a loud altercation during meal-times it is nearly always about teeth as some residents do not like looking at other people's dentures grinning at them from the table cloth or bread basket. Well, I think we can all understand that. Some hide their dentures on a regular basis - under the mattress, in plant pots, in flower vases, in wardrobes, in other people's pockets etc, and then forget where they have hidden them. I remember reading a limerick once - I don't know who wrote it - which went something like this:

There once was a man of Blackheath,

Who sat on a set of false teeth;

He jumped up with a start,

And cried from the heart,

"I've bitten myself underneath!"

But to get back to the day in question, when Mrs D. thought her teeth had been stolen. I tried to calm her down, and said I would help her to look when she had finished her coffee and cake. Every time someone came in, she told the story again - getting more and more excited all the time; "There are thieves here in the house - a burglar came when I was sleeping and stole my new teeth - someone will make a lot of money on those teeth - we should call the police!" When she had finished her coffee, I got up to bring her upstairs to look for the missing objects of value. On the way out of the room she saw some dentures lying on an old man's plate. Before I could react, she swooped joyfully onto the teeth and stuffed them into her mouth. Well, she tried, but they didn't fit. The old man sat there staring open mouthed and wide eyed. Mrs D. took the teeth out again, said "Sorry, they're the wrong ones" and went her way.....I saw how the old man reached for his teeth and before he could put them back into his mouth I swooped down on them and grabbed them to disinfect them. This was too much for the poor old boy, who cried out, "Oh, no, not again, another thief! Is nothing sacred in this house?"

Some more early morning photos:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks for coming by!

Indian Summer

Hi Everybody!

We are starting our new October challenge at

Art Journal Journey 

-Indian Summer-

This time I am hosting, and looking forward to seeing your creations

about this wonderful season, whatever you call it -

Indian summer, autumn, fall, old wives' summer, golden October -

they are all very fitting descriptions. It is my favourite season, with it's 

glorious colour changes, blue skies, falling leaves, conkers, and clear air.

Our weather here has been warm and summery, but the evenings are getting chilly, night comes earlier, and it's fun to pull on a warm sweater again.

As always, you have the whole month to get creative and link to us, so hope to see you there!

I made an A3 mixed media piece. The background was brayered, sprinkled with brushos and sprayed. I did some background stamping into the wet paint to texture it. I painted the blackbird with a mixture of black and metallic brown, and added the text and dragonflies with stencils. The leaves were cut from painted and embossed paper, and I added some of the feathers I got from the moulting goslings at the castle. A little bit of gold stardust finished it off:

Last Wednesday Sabine AKA 'Art Bee' visited me here. I was up early and watched the sunrise, which started my day off well. 

We walked around through Kaiserswerth, chatted, enjoyed good food, coffee, cake and ice cream, and had a fun time. In the afternoon we sat at a restaurant by the Rhine, and enjoyed the happy atmosphere - some people in the beer garden were celebrating a birthday, making music and singing; kids were playing, the conkers were falling off the trees, the sun was sparkling on the water - a really perfect day! 

This is the restaurant at the old ferry:

And the ferry still exists, after more than 700 years:

We enjoyed exploring the castle ruins:

And we looked at the nice shops in 'town':

And of course, we enjoyed eating and drinking:

All in all, a wonderful Indian Summer day, and I hope we can do a repeat performance in the near future!

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a  LOT  for coming by!