Still busy

The kids have finished their exams and it's only one more week until the summer holidays start. Can't wait! This week has been unbelievably hot here, we're having a heatwave and there hasn't been any (sufficient) rain in a long time. Tonight it finally cooled off a bit, and hopefully tomorrow it'll rain. That's something I don't usually say, but now it's really necessary. The poor farmers are getting desperate ....

I finished another week in my journal. I decided not to use the stamps anymore to write down what had happened, but I'm not thrilled with how my handwriting looks. Still have to figure out a way that I like ...

It's looking a bit blue-ish because I took the picture outside when it was already getting dark. I had so much fun "dressing" them with collage :-) I want to do more drawing on there, but there's not enough space. Maybe I should write a bit less. Still experimenting.....

This is how it started:

I also did another map-spread. To deal with my feelings of horror concerning that horrible fire in London. Those poor people... Imagine being trapped like that, with no where to go and no saving in sight. It must be devastating for the ones who lost loved ones.

And that's it again. I'm linking to Paint Party Friday, as always. There seem to be less people participating lately. I wonder if it's because of the summer, or because less people are blogging. It looks like Instagram is taking over from blogging. I still prefer reading blogs though, so I sure hope people will continue to blog....

Anyway, time for the funnies!

And the ones to think about ...

Thanks so much for your visit! Enjoy your day and have a beautiful loving weekend ♥ ♥ ♥

Busy busy ....

Life is very busy at the moment, and last week I didn't even have time to blog. We are back at renovating the parts of the house that we didn't do yet, and it's still so much work. I have been trying out things in my new journal though, and I finally managed to sort out (almost) all of my collage-material. And discovered the fun of collage again :-)

The journal that I started is meant to be a kind of logbook that I can look back in and find out how I spent my days. Not too detailed, just a few of the things I (want to) remember from that day. It's also meant to give me the incentive to create a little something every day, even if it's just a doodle. I'm still figuring out how I want to do it exactly, so it's a case of trial and error at the moment. Been looking at some video's on YouTube to get ideas.

Here's my first week:

Things I learnt ....
- even though I like the text done with stamps (I saw it in some other examples) it is just way too much fiddling for me. I am not known for my patience, and I'd much rather spend my time drawing or painting
- it looks too much like a diary at the moment, but I don't know yet how to resolve that
- it doesn't yet feel like it's mine, except for the 2 girls

I first started out with drawing a face. But then decided that's not what I wanted. I want weird and playful and not just drawing a face. And then I came across this video on YouTube, and decided that was perfect for my journal. Have a look at the video, she has a lot more of these and I really like her work. So that´s how I start my figures, and then I finish it with doodles and collage. I didn´t make a picture of the first week´s start, but here´s the start of this week´s spread:

I love how unpredictable it is. I wouldn´t be able to draw these characters if I just started plain drawing.

Apart from this I've also been experimenting with digital art. I have so much to learn yet, and I can't really put the time in right now. So for now I'm just making simple things, like this one:

I used images of art that I made in the last years, and mixed them all up. Face, hair and body are all from different artworks. It's like collage but the scissors and glue are replaced by the computer. I put it all on a background of one of my in-progress-painting-pictures. Oh yes, I added two birds too. It's the same bird but flipped horizontally and sized differently. That's the beauty of the computer, you can change every image so easily. And of course I needed to add a quote :-) I'll definitely try out more of these.

And then I received this surprise card in the mail from Robin! That was so nice, seeing that brightly coloured cat (the name is Chester) looking at me from the mailbox. Thanks Robin! If you don't know her quirky art and the wonderful and funny stories she writes on her blog, you're in for a treat. Have a look here!

Well, that's it for this week! Except for the funnies of course :-)

And the less funny ones ....

Linking to Paint Party Friday and looking forward to seeing what everyone's been creating this week!
Take care of yourself, thanks for visiting and have a lovely day and weekend!
See you next week ♥ ♥ ♥

another month, another wallpaper ....

One of my favorite months has just started. And the weather here has been amazing. I so enjoy the warm sun, being able to walk around without a jacket, having the windows open all day. It has been quite hot last week, too hot for the time of year, but I still like that much more than cold and rain.

So, to celebrate the start of June, I made a new wallpaper. Here it is:

And you can download it here if you want it on your computer as well :-)

I also made some new map-people, with quote of course ....

not easy sometimes, but so necessary ....

That's all for this week. I have been experimenting with different kinds of journaling. I'm still trying to make art a daily practice, and I'm always complaining that the days fly by so fast and wondering what on earth I have done during the day. So I kinda want to combine the two, and make a kind of diary journal. I'm still thinking about how exactly and trying out some ideas. At the same time I'm experimenting with digital journaling. I don't know enough yet about layers and masks and all those technical things. But it's so much fun and I'll figure it out somehow :-) I hope I can show something next week!

I'll be linking to Paint Party Friday. Why don't you join in!? It's a great group of artists, and they always welcome new people.

I will end with some funnies, and oh my, how I needed them this week. Especially now that Trump decided to withdraw from the Paris climate deal. What an absolute ass!! How can the people that still support him live with themselves?? It's a mystery to me...
Anyway, I'll just enjoy the funnies ... (and I hope you do too!)

And here's a link to a short clip that had me laughing out loud. Don't know whether it works. but if it does, it's worth watching :-D

And of course, this wouldn't be complete without the more serious ones ....

Take care of yourself today, and have a fabulous weekend! Thanks for visiting ♥♥♥