Rain, snakes and more

Hi Everybody!

For Art Journal Journey, Jo's 'Poetry in motion' theme,

I made a hybrid piece featuring the opening sentences of

Charles Dickens'  'Tale of Two Cities'. These sentences had me 

completely fascinated when I first read the book as a child,

and have remained in my memory every since:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

In my page I have shown some glimpses of Paris and London to

illustrate where it all happened. I am aware that the Eiffel

Tower did not exist at the time of the French Revolution, but I needed

a picture which makes an instant identification possible, so

let's call it 'artistic license' - and if you have never

read the book, please take the time to do so.
I used elements from Serif, Mischief Circus and me.

At Go Tag Thursday the challenge this week is the letter 'S'.

I cut out a snake in the form of this letter, once in black and then 

slightly larger in green card. I sewed them together with a 

snake-like zigzag pattern, and added some dots as well as some 

green gem-stone eyes. The background of the tag was wiped 

with distress inks in gradient colours and stamped. 

The snake was glued on and the top tag 

sewed to  recycled black card.

This week has varied between wet, very wet and extremely

wet. I have been dodging the showers all week. Today was,

however, so wet that I decided to have a crafty day at home,

which I am enjoying. It also means waffles, as you need waffles for

inspiration, they give you instant mojo.

The gulls don't mind the weather:

Wednesday was market day by the Rhine. There weren't many

stalls, I think the weather was not encouraging:

And now to the wonderful stall that sells fresh, crispy, fried fish.  

I was determined not to eat any this week, but as I came out of the

hairdressers after having my hair cut (It's the house directly 

behind the fish pla(i)ce), I sort of felt compelled, my feet just went 

there and I asked for a portion, I really couldn't stop myself - yummy!!!

I saw this sign on a house at the top of the street leading from the

Rhine, well over my head - W.H. means 'Water height'  in the floods.

I hope it stops raining soon!

This is the other market:

Can you see all those peppers?

 Yesterday evening the clouds got darker and darker:

Have a nice day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Weekend this and that.

Hi Everybody!
On the 5th of each month we start a new challenge at
More Mixed Media.
All our themes are anything goes, this time with 'bright'
as the option. You have 4 weeks to link your creations
to us. I made an A3 mixed media piece. The BG was
gessoed, painted and sprinkled with brushos,  water and
glitter. The bird was painted using a home made stencil, part of a set
I made of the same bird/branch in different sizes.
The text is from the Beatles's song 'Blackbird'
I have made several versions of this theme over the past
few years, perhaps because I like that song so much.
I am also linking to Art Journal Journey, Jo's theme of poetry in
motion, and Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristin.

Some people asked about the little poem on my 'Erika' journal

page yesterday. It was written by me. If quotes are by others I 

usually put their names on the page. Glad some of you liked it!

Here are the remaining photos from my trip to Nord Strasse 

yesterday. It's a journey of about 15 minutes on the tram, and

it always seems like another world compared to our little place

here. I like going on a trip, but I love coming back here each time!

The word 'Drahtesel' on the bike stander means

'wire donkey', a fun word for bikes:

This shop just sells tea, mugs and tea requisites - 

I never went in there, either!

The huge and rather horrible building is from an insurance company:

More little cafés and hidden back yards:

The entrance to the subway - some trams drive overground,

the majority are sometimes over and sometimes

underground:

Looking down the escalator:

And the view from the bottom. Then there is another escalator

leading down to the platform:

Waiting for the tram:

Here it is:

And it's always good to reach our road again. Even the air smells

different - less cars and more horses here!

When I see the post box I know I'm home:

Thanks for accompanying me on my little outing!

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Going shopping

Hi Everybody!

Hope your week is going well - here it's just

going too fast to catch up on it!

For Paint Party Friday I have a mixed media collage
using  an altered postcard. Once again I used

a b/w postcard from the 1930's, showing a statue from Georg Kolbe.

He was a prolific artist and sculptor,  but a little too eager to please the Nazis 

for my taste. I coloured the card with soft, feminine colours to soften

the hard lines of his work, using oil pastels.

 I did a lot of sewing, and stitched it all onto

corrugated card, adding some coordinating colours of burlap

and feathers:

I am also linking to altered eclectics, anything goes, and 

eclectic Elapu, anything goes

For Art Journal Journey, Jo's theme of 'poetry in motion', I have

a digitally made piece using freebies from Serif and Foxie Squirrel.

The little girl in the centre of the rusty frames is Erika

again:

Today I had planned to go for a walk along the Rhine, but as the

weather was very inclement, I changed my plans and went on

the tram to Nord Strasse, a shopping street almost in the centre of 

Düsseldorf,very 'towny', always busy, and 

with lots of 'normal' shops - in comparison to the beautiful

 and for me much too expensive

shops in our little place here.

There are lots of street cafés, and there is always something going on:

The road is always busy; bikes, cars, buses, pedestrians and trams

 often struggle to get through:

There are some quiet yards behind the houses:

This shop only sells candies and chocolates -

I did not go in!

Organic fruit and veggies:

A cow guarding the snack bar:

Kebabs with and without meat:

Fashion:

The street also boasts several Euro-shops and 2 thrift stores,

so I did not come home without some bargains. More

pictures to follow tomorrow!

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!