Scary and spooky

Hi Everybody!

Today we are starting a new challenge at TIOT -

**Scary and spooky**

I hope you will all have some chilling thoughts to inspire you.

As always, you have 2 weeks to join us, and projects

of all formats are welcome.

I made a hybrid piece, with a painted background, an image from Gecko Galz

and  various digital add-ons. Would you

open the window and let them all in?:

I am also linking to Art Journal Journey, Indian summer.

 Today is also Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesday, so I hope I

haven't scared off all my guests - help yourselves to coffee!

Recently I bought these three huge mugs, all new, for 1€ each at the thrift shop.

They are from the Starbucks' collectors edition. I looked them up on the net and saw  that they are selling for between 25 and 40€ a piece! I did think about selling them, but decided to keep them end enjoy my coffee from them.

This one shows Petra, in Jordan, a most wonderful place:

Here is the cedar of Lebanon:

The Sultanate of Oman:

It's still possible to drink coffee outside, well wrapped up and

with a blanket and cushion for extra warmth:

Here are the last photos of my trip to the Clemens-Sels-Museum in Neuss, they have lots of beautiful stained glass:

St Quirinus is the patron saint of the town, and there were lots of statues

of him:

This is his silver-gilt reliquary from the middle ages:

And this is the Quirinus Minster:

And this shop was next door to it:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Ancient and modern

Hi Everybody!

Here's wishing you all a good start in the new week!

For Art Journal Journey, Indian summer, I have a hybrid piece using one of my photos, taken last year in Kettwig, a little town not far from here, as the focal image.

These are the rest of the photos I took last week in town. The real reason for my outing was to see if a little lane, called 'Reichs Gasse', was still as I remembered it, or if it had been knocked down and 'modernised'. Much to my relief I found that this little lane, tucked between high-rise buildings, banks and insurances, was still intact. The farm buildings there date back to the 17th century, and I am happy to say that the family who owns them is intent on keeping them as they are:

After my journey back in time I made my way to the tram station, past

many large buildings:

That's all for today.

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Birds in autumn

Hi Everybody!

We had some nice autumn weather today - cold and windy,

but sunny, and it was fun watching the clouds race across the skies.

For Art Journal Journey, Indian Summer, I made a hybrid/mixed media piece.

I used a collaged background, which I overlayed with a filter to give some interest, and then a cut out photo of a crow on a branch.  The other animals and pumpkin were added digitally. The beautiful quote is from the book of Proverbs.

It was fun reading the comments on the photos I showed yesterday, especially about that tall  piece of art in the penultimate photo. My visitors made some good suggestions for using it - as a coat rack, a climbing pillar, a phallic symbol, a bird perch to hang bird food on and a cat climbing post!

Today I am taking you on the next stage of my walk, to the old County Parliament building and the park around it. The politicians have a new domicile at the Rhine and this lovely house now houses the K21 - the museum of art from the 21st century.

The lake around it was also part of the fortifications which protected the town in the old days, and is called the 'Schwanenspiegel' - the swans' mirror. I saw lots of geese and cormorants and ducks, but no swans this time:

I'm glad I don't have to work on the roof, although there is surely a great view:

I will show the rest of the photos in my next post, but I do have some 

great shots of the heron in the stream  that I took this afternoon:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!