Bountiful September…

before too much more time passes I wanted to join everyone over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth’s T Stands for Tuesday to say hello…

my focus is still on purging and clearing out while we continue with some home improvements…

consequently I have not been on the computer much at all…

♥~ hope you are well and enjoying your September ~♥~

“Wherever you are, be all there.” -Jim Elliot

 

Saint-Jean de Luz

maps have always been a favorite thing of mine so imagine my delight with the new MAPS challenge at Art Journal Journey this month…

it will be the perfect opportunity to create more pages in my French Travel Journal…

on our Best of France tour we got to spend a few hours in the Basque fishing village of Saint-Jean de Luz…

the red and white buildings were all very neat and charming looking…

it must be a bustling place during the summer months…

a map page torn from my 1974 Michelin guide to France was a nice beginning for this spread along with a couple of our photos…

~♥~ thank you for your visit and Happy June ~♥~

 

Giverny in April…

getting to visit Monet’s Garden was one of the reasons we decided on Trafalgar’s BEST OF FRANCE tour (we can not speak highly enough of our brilliant tour director Krista Taylor and great coach driver Francis and thank them so very much for a memorable journey through France)…

we visited on a Wednesday and there were quite a few people there…

such a beautiful place both inside and out…

we can only imagine how crowded the gardens would be later in the season with the parade of flowers that never ends…

standing on the Japanese bridge even without water lilies blooming was a dream come true (I wanted to bring my paper parasol but it didn’t fit in the suitcase so my fold up Monet’s Garden umbrella had to do)…we lingered a little longer and then had a bite of lunch in the village under a bright red sunbrella where we also visited a cute boutique for some cards and a slice of berry tarte…

we were delighted by the precious rabbit hopping freely around the garden…

leaving the village of Giverny and walking back to our coach I spotted a great bird refuge sign that inspired me to create a page in my French Travel Journey linking it to Art Journal Journey for their JOURNEYS theme…Erika couldn’t have picked a more inspiring theme this month as it has really helped me keep busy working in my travel journal trying to preserve some memories…(French text, heavy gesso, pan pastels, French bird refuge sign photo, used tea bag, pressed Virginia flowers)

Le Château de Chenonceau

 after a picnic of crusty bread and delicious Morbier cheese we strolled through the cutting gardens leading up to  Chenonceau castle…

there were lots of tulips for the stunning arrangements we would discover a little later inside the castle…

I was so excited about this visit we only managed to pose the traveling tea cup in one spot in the garden and then back in the box she went…

Mr Magpie had the big camera and I was mostly using my phone camera…

this fairytale Loire Valley castle was built on the site of an old mill on the River Cher with its first mention in writing in the 11th century….

it is sometimes called “Château des Dames/the ladies chateau”…throughout its history there were numerous women who influenced its destiny and design…

the sumptuous  fresh flowers arranged so artfully in the well furnished Renaissance rooms took my breath away…there is a team of florists that renews the flower arrangements twice weekly… 

they looked especially splendid in front of the 16th and 17th century tapestries and other art masterpieces…

adding water elements to the arrangements was brilliant and fitting…if I lived nearby I would get a chateau season’s pass so I could visit often…

the village of Chenonceaux spelled with an “X” was really charming too…

we could not help but snap a photo of this gentleman on his bike with a baguette maybe heading home for lunch…

I am also sharing a spread in my French journal for Art Journal Journey’s JOURNEYS theme this month…

here’s wishing you a Happy T Day along with everyone over at Elizabeth’s Altered Book Lover…

merci pour votre visite!

winter dreams…

playing with paint and gesso (regular, clear and heavy gesso) and bits of paper and peeled napkin for this 8 x 10 canvas…

thinking out loud to my husband that the piece needed something at the top he had the wonderful suggestion of adding a twig over the window (the lady is an image I have had in my files for about 8 years which was a freebie from Shabby Cottage Studio)…

we just happened to have some weathered wood that we’d brought back from a favorite beach last summer and that got my wheels turning for the finishing touches for my mixed media canvas…

I am joining Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Journey “Winter Wonderland”…

“Dreams are as simple or as complicated as the dreamer.” -Brian Herbert

Winter Dreams…

 time for something different…

inspired by Diana Trout’s video here…

I could not resist the chance to play and go a little wild…

letting go and making marks without censoring…

as I was working away in my upstairs art room I spied a beautiful rainbow just outside the window…

back to my art journal… I doodled the words “Winter Dreams”…

and using my Judikins “Klimt Sisters” (2677H) rubber stamp I stamped twice onto plain paper using two different sized round paper punches making circles to add to my pages…

lots of layers and doodling went into my crazy dream pages that I am linking to Art Journal Journey’s Winter Wonderland challenge…

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” -John Steinbeck

like the moon…

two more pages in one of my gesso journals inspired by the Artchix girl…

paper punched trees with layers of gesso and pencil and the winter moon…

joining with Art Journal Journey’s Winter Wonderland…

“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.” -Yoko Ono

rest from the wheel of the mind…

for me the winter months hold cause for celebration but also the anniversaries of loved ones lost…

bringing a range of emotions along with the chance to notice how far I have come in the healing process which is ongoing…

working in my new larger journal again with paint and magazine transfers…

the heart is a photograph of a metal hanging heart that holds a tea light…

I printed out two sets of wings and layered them snipping the feathers on the top layer gluing just the heart onto the page so the wings are free…

joining in with two of my favorite challenge blogs:  Mix it Monthly/What Wings Are For and Art Journal Journey/Winter Wonderland…

a really special way to help pass these winter days is taking an online workshop with a brilliant artist… the talented and very generous Misty Mawn… there is an early sign up rate this week and you can find out all about it HERE…

order in chaos…

the turning of the wheel of time throws me off a bit around the holidays when emotions and memories seem even more intense than a regular day which is the perfect time to escape to my art cave and play play play…

I folded this classic image around the edge of my new large art journal page gluing scraps of paper for the collage background…

a light wash of gesso adding heavy textured gesso for her hair making ridges with a plastic palette knife…

the piece for her dress was from a scrap of vintage paper stenciled with thick gesso and glued in place…

the words came about by writing quickly on a piece of scrap paper and then deciding to cut and paste each word as I often do with computer generated text…

(the bit circled on the lower left was revealed when my pages stuck together overnight peeling away a top layer)…

this really is my last entry for Art Journal Journey’s Collage/Journaling challenge since the end of the month is upon us…

finding my way…

my art journal page began with the beautiful free image of the girl with antlers which is a gift when you sign up for Jeanne Oliver’s blog…

I added the fleur de lis brad and rub on stars as extra decorations along with some other ingredients…

one last page along with my other Collage/Journaling entries (#111, 157, 165 & 183) for Art Journal Journey…

Be Brave …

my collage was created on the lid of a cigar box with a couple of images I have had printed and handy for some time…

I am joining in the Art Journal Journey Collage/Journaling challenge…

“You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.” -Dolly Parton

like a lullaby…

after waking up a few mornings before Christmas to gentle raindrops falling outside my window…

I was inspired to create this page in a new art journal that I shared with you last month here (I saw a window on my stenciled page)…

a scrap of German lace curtain was just the right size for the window…

along with a few other things I used for my collaged page (the rubber stamp is from Paper Source)…

joining in again for Art Journal Journey’s Collage/Art Journaling challenge...

Wishing you a Life that’s Good

fun to finally make time to play in one of my gesso journals…

I brought home a few new rubber stamps from a nice shoppe in Santa Fe and I am supposed to be getting rid of stamps not buying new ones!!!…

the Amaretti cookie wrapper came in handy along with the BLESSINGS image that I printed onto canvas paper from one of my hand stitcheries…

I dug out my gold embossing powder for the starburst stamped on old book text and wrote a few of the blessings I am grateful for around the page…

for the left hand page I wanted to use some alphabet stamps but was not at all pleased with how they were looking…

once again gesso and paint saved the day…I enjoy using various fonts on the computer and printing out my words…

linking up to Art Journal Journey and their Collage/Journaling challenge this month…

it is always a treat to visit the many artists that participate in the AJJ challenges and I have some catching up to do!