Travel Swap #11 Köln

Katrin’s Travel swap has us traveling to Cologne, Germany this time around.

When I was a teenager my favorite scent was 4711 Eau de Cologne; so refreshing and pleasant.  When I graduated from high school, my Oma and Tante Inge took me to Germany for a couple of weeks (Inge, who is only six years older, and I spent a weekend in Rome too, which is another story).  One of the places I really wanted to visit was the Glockengasse and have my photo taken in front of the 4711 building

my favorite scent of late is African Tea Rose Oil

I painted the background of my postcard and stamped it with a B Line Design stamp, added German book text, along with various images, an old German postage stamp and embossed with gold around the edges.

Next stop is New Orleans, you too can play along, sign up closes on 15 June

*Happy Birthday to Sunday Postcard Art*

SPA is celebrating the end of their first year and picked HAPPY BIRTHDAY as this week’s theme…… that calls for some cake…let’s celebrate

The postcard size format, 6 x 4 inches, certainly is a nice size to play with.  I started with a junk photograph, added gesso, inks and dry brushed gesso again, distressing the surface by scratching it.  The sun face is from Paper Whimsy, the cake is from Flickr

Congratulations and thanks go out to Donna and Mandy for a year full of exciting challenges.  It takes a lot of energy and time to keep a challenge blog going.   I can hardly believe it’s been a year since I first played along.    Here’s to more fun and inspiring challenges to come!

~*Happy Birthday Pink Saturday*~

Pink Saturday

is celebrating its first birthday!!!

I first participated in Pink Saturday in October of last year

my birthday treat for you today is a trip to Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC

*you may click on the photos for a closer view*

it is one of those spots worth visiting again and again because of the ever changing landscapes

on a recent visit, there was a a light rain shower, just enough to kiss the blossoms with delicate raindrops

these are just a few of the pink highlights, there is so much to see and enjoy in these splendid gardens

this bit of Latin, Quod Severis Metes (As you ‘Sew’, So shall you Reap) was a repeated theme in the gardens

Pan points to one of the peaceful reflecting pools

if you ever visit our nation’s capital, I highly recommend a trek to  Dumbarton Oaks

there are delights everywhere you turn

walkways and paths draw you in

the smell of summer is already in the air with sweet honeysuckle perfume

I could go on and on (we took hundreds of photos), but there are lots of  lovely Pink Saturday posts at Beverly’s How Sweet the Sound that you won’t want to miss!

It is no small thing to keep a weekly blog challenge going strong, Beverly does it with grace and makes it look easy week after week.

Layer Love 4: Cracked Up

Crazed or crackle finishes have always been a favorite of mine.  Julie has us working with Distress Crackle Paint this time around and I like it!!!

I have been making two pieces for each lesson.  Here is my first canvas

*click for a closeup of the crackle highlights*

It’s another rainy day here in Virginia and my favorite photo spot on our back porch seems to be giving my canvas, that is shades of gray and black, a blue look

Here is my second crackle canvas and my first Layer Love background piece that I’ve actually created something with.  I added color by using Caran d’ache Neocolor ll crayons, along with bits of lace and a rubber stamp dipped in paint.  The images are from our Memorial Day visit to nearby Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown.

I also tried out my new Higgins Black Magic Ink, it will take more practice to get comfy with a ‘real’ nib pen

If you ever have the chance to take one of Julie’s classes, I highly recommend it.  She does a fantastic job and is a gifted artist and teacher!

My brushes are washed and ready for Layer Love 5 next week

Charmed…I’m sure

The lovely and talented Lynn from Ontario and I  swapped arches.  Lynn was sweet enough to send me her first gothic arch ATC.

I do not know how she could bear to part with it, it looks great on the screen but oh you should see it in person AND just look at all of the beautiful treasures she’s graced me with.  It feels like my birthday!

Lynn is such a talented and versatile artist

how very nice it is to get to know another special person here in the land of blog

Layer Love 3: Old World Golds

Lesson 3 with Julie Prichard taught us a lot about blending and using Polymer Medium Gloss to add texture

a little glare below, sometimes I rush the photo process in my excitement

knowing the amounts of paint to begin with seems important since you are mixing constantly to get different shades and depths to the canvas…..I will continue to practice, practice, practice

next we’re using crackle paste

Bee Love

Hermine’s challenge theme for Wednesday Stamper this week is “work with purple and green”

I created an altered Artist Trading Block (.75″ thick) using Lumiere paints and green inks

*click for closeup*

The lace near the little girls shoulders is light green

Wordless Wednesday in Our Virginia Garden

Tea Tuesday with the Birdies

here it is tea time Tuesday again….it actually feels like Monday after our three day holiday weekend

the eggs are from years ago, abandoned from a robin’s nest and rescued, kept safely in the little wren’s nest (never lived in) in a tea cup in the china cabinet

not THAT cup

lots of bird activity in our garden, robin redbreasts everywhere…acting crazy some of the time

I wonder with so many people using pesticides and fertilizers on their lawns for so many years if it’s tainting the worms and bugs that birds eat…..aggressive and strange bird behavior is something we have noticed increasingly over the years

while working in our garden on Saturday clearing out the garden border, there was a alot of cheeping and peeping going on, upon closer inspection we saw this tiny (really he was little, I was able to get quite close with my zoom lens) baby cardinal

it’s as if he closed his eyes saying “they won’t see me now”

hope he was reunited with his parents before the neighborhood cats went on the prowl for the night

mockingbirds are always good for a song with their many voices

how is it that some birds can spot a piece of bread so soon after you put it out?

our bunny rain gauge above showed 4.5 inches of rain overnight

with hungry babies to feed, this robin might wonder if she’ll ever have time for a bath…..robins visit our birdbaths often!

Join Kimmie at her Art in Red Wagons for Tea Party Tuesday, everyone is welcome to play along, be it coffee or tea!

P.S. the birds I would Love to get a photo of are the goldfinches that fly like tiny dolphins and the precious house wrens that tease us by coming up on the back porch singing so sweetly, flitting all around

*Memorial Day 2009*

President Obama called on the nation “to pay tribute to our fallen heroes; and to remember the servicemen and women who cannot be with us this year because they are standing post far from home – in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world.”

even the garden is sporting red, white and blue

a bit of Rolling Thunder cruising through Georgetown in Washington DC

Layer Love: The Old Sea Calls to Me

Lesson two of Julie Prichard’s Layer Love is “The Old Sea Calls to Me”.  I have done three 9×12″ pieces so far.  Knowing how much paint to put out on my palette for mixing is one of the things I need to fine tune; don’t want to waste any paints   I found that scanning the pieces made them look even darker than when I photographed them.

Here is my second piece for Lesson 2

and a third attempt

There is so much to learn, Julie is a great teacher…..it’s fun having painty hands!  I am going to have quite a lot of background pieces.  You can see Julie’s gorgeous class canvas here.

SPA: Numbers

This week’s Sunday Postcard Art challenge is Numbers.  My postcard began with a piece of magazine page used to “catch the drips”  while I was working on my tabletop.  I used gesso and left a couple of the words showing, a Paper Whimsy girl with African Butterfly wings, a torn piece of old data entry card with numbers and a US 42 cent postage stamp in the corner.

oh and the final touch was a piece of cotton lace

you can click for a closeup of my background

Pink Saturday: Margaret Thomas’ Peonies

In a recent post I showcased glimpses of  Mrs. Thomas’ Iris garden.  While the irises are the stars of the garden, the collection of peonies is also quite wonderful.

here is a sampling of a few of the pink ones

for a closer look, you can click on the photos

these last two photographs are may favorite, especially the double closeup views

“Flowers really do intoxicate me”  ~Vita Sackville-West

to find out more about Margaret Thomas’ Garden visit this website

For lots more Pink Saturday posts stop by and see Beverly at How Sweet the Sound ~*Happy Pink Saturday*~

India

the TMTA challenge is India, one of my favorite topics

here is my ATC

for a taste of how a sitar sounds you can visit the master, Ravi Shankar, giving George Harrison a lesson

we were lucky enough to see father and daughter play together at The Kennedy Center, here is a sample of what they sound like, ragas can be quite long and wonderful!

Postcard Swap

my childhood postcard is ready for the upcoming one on one mystery swap

it will be a surprise who sends to whom, so I can only show you a snippet until it is mailed to its owner next month

I am always cautious about over commiting, one of my nightmares is to not deliver something when I have promised…..that just wouldn’t do…..beginning is the first hurdle, after that things always (usually) move along nicely

I did manage to make a second postcard to keep, but it turned out a little different than the first….I find it challenging to make exact duplicates because more ideas keep popping up

“Mystery is at the heart of creativity.  That, and surprise.” ~Julia Cameron

WS: Mixed Media

The theme at Mittwochstempler/Wednesday Stamper this week is  “Mixed Media… show us how versatile rubber stamps are“

I have tried my hand at soldering and decided it really is not my thing…I will probably try it again sometime… but in the meantime

here is an example of a microscope slide that is taped and wrapped with wire and beads, without soldering

front and back views of words stamped onto the glass with collage pieces sandwiched in between…using a transparency, pressed flower, book text and skeletonized leaf