T sTands for a new challenge at Tag Tuesday

Hi Everybody!

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend. We had a dry day on Saturday, so it was good to see some blue skies. The Rhine is still rising in its bed, and yesterday we had plenty of rain, too. A lot of water there comes from other rivers and streams further south which flow through here to get to the sea, so I am thinking it will be very full today.

Today we are beginning a new challenge at Tag Tuesday, and our host is Pinky.

She has chosen 'Women / Mother's Day / Feminine' as her theme, so this time we are celebrating all the strong women in our lives. The challenge goes live Monday evening. Hope to see YOU joining in. My tag shows a strong and happy lady drinking a coffee and reading a book. The coffee links to my next theme, too, as it's time again for Elizabeth's T sTands for Tuesday link party, where we share our drinks. So here a warm welcome to all of the ladies of the T Gang!

As some of you know, reading and coffee drinking are among my hobbies, too!

I love looking into the windows of this shop in Düsseldorf, lots of beautiful objects, including cups, mugs, and Nanas that I love so much. I can't buy there, but I can and do look:

The 'clinic' where broken china is repaired is on the other side of the road:

These mugs etc were outside another shop, nicely arranged on a tea-chest:

And this is in the thrift shop there:

On Tuesdays I like to walk through our little town and look at all the flowers at the market:

 I bought some daffodils, and enjoy watching them open in the vase:

And the water is still rising:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Weekend Post

Hi Everybody!

It's nearly weekend, so hope you have a good one! We've got more rain predicted, and the Rhine is already high, so thank goodness for waterproof boots and coats! I think my fingers are starting to respond to the treatment, they don't feel so bad today, so that's very good. Thanks to all who sent good wishes, much appreciated!

For Eileen's green challenge at AJJ I have another hybrid piece, put together using a hand-painted background, some strips of torn book paper, a vintage photo, and some elements from Serif. The photo shows a distant cousin of Erika, and her name was Emily, but I haven't been able to find out more about her. I placed her here in the window. The original photo was sepia, but  tried a new trick and changed the figure to green, leaving the background sepia. So I am also linking to TIOT, new technique, and to Paint Party Friday.

Here is the original photo:

This week I went on the tram to Hofgarten to visit my feathered friends. There is lots of green there, too:

Here at the Rhine the water is once again rising, a lot of the meadows are underwater, but the paths are still walkable, even if it's all rather muddy:

And our local bookshop is showing a lot of books about strong women:

Have a great weekend, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

New challenge at More Mixed Media and Rain's Thursday Art Date

Hi Everybody!

I'll get started straightaway, as today I have several challenges on my programme. The first one is the monthly challenge at More Mixed Media, which is always an anything mixed media goes challenge, with optional green for this month. You have 4 weeks to join us there. 

My journal page is A4 size. I used 2 images from LaBlanche which were transferred onto paper using a turpentine transfer. You can find tutorials on YouTube to learn how to do this, for example here.

It's easy to do but you need to work outside because of the fumes! The background was first painted with diluted acrylics in diagonal stripes of blue and green.  I am also linking to Eileen's theme of green at AJJ and to 

Paint Party Friday

Thursday is also time for Rain's Thursday Art Date, and her theme this week is 'What do you see?', a theme I like, as eyes and seeing are often an integral part of my artwork.
At the end of the 1990s I suddenly saw strange lights and black flecks in front of my eyes, and thought at first it was a migraine. Later in the day - it was  Friday - I went to the ER of the eye clinic and was examined. After the doc had put drops in my eyes to widen them, he gasped with horror when he saw what had happened. The retinas on both eyes were torn, and on the right eye there was a gaping hole. Both eyes were given a laser treatment straightaway, a torture which took more than 2 hours, and then I was packed into a hospital room with bound eyes. It was a very scary experience, and the staff couldn't tell me if I would be able to see again. The next morning they operated on my right eye, and on Monday on the left one. It took several weeks before I was able to gradually see again, and I was very thankful that after a few months I could see and read well again. There were more operations to follow, 12 in all, and then cataract operations on both eyes. I can't see as well as I could before, and I don't know if there will be more operations in the future. But I am very thankful that I can still see and take part in life normally. Perhaps this explains my fascination with eyes.
And one thing I did see in the time where I was recovering from my OPs was that I had wonderful friends and neighbours who cared for me, helped me and encouraged me, and that was great!

And of course, I'm sure we all know the wonderful quote from
Antoine de Saint- Exupéry:

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

This altered art piece from Paul Klee was made a few weeks back, but I think it belongs here:

And I love to see the peaceful radiance of Buddha figures, here in 2 pieces made in previous times:

I like making half-visible faces:

And the Eye of Horus is always fascinating:

This is one of my Modigliani Knockoffs I painted some years back - I love his philosophy of painting the eyes - 'When I know your soul I will paint your eyes'

And this was a drawing I made of my eyes after I had recovered from the first operations:

And some photos from Pexels:

If you're still awake and with me after all that, well done, have a cup of tea, coffee or something stronger as a reward!

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lo for coming by!