The Moon Journal continues

After all those vacation posts you must be aching for some actual artsy stuff! Well, here's some spreads from the Moon Journal. I didn't do much in it in my vacation, but now life is somewhat back too the everyday normal the journal is revisited as well. And yes, I still enjoy working in it. So...here we go!

By the way, I'm testing the largest image size on blogger. Let me know what you think. Great or too much in your face? I took these with a camera app (I had little time for editing today), so they're a little different from my usual journal or artsy pictures, but you get the...ah...picture. ;-)

In the past few spreads I've been experimenting writing with different pens as you can see. My biggest revelation was finally finding a good white pen to write with. It's the Uniball Signo white gelpen and I love love love it. The fifth and last spread were written on with that pen. The second spread is (partly) written on with the Sakura Souffle pen which is also quite could, but as you can see the line is not as fine and also the pen empties very fast, which is not a good thing if you write as much as I do. Still that one also will write on just about anything and is a good alternative if you don't have the Uniball Signo. Just my two cents worth on white gel pens.

I'm slowly getting back into my everyday life rythm, but I'm sure glad it's weekend! Just to make you a little jealous let me show you how most of the island looks right now:

That's right, wildflowers everywhere! It's so gorgeous here right now. I don't think in all my eight years of living here I've ever seen so much in bloom. Very idyllic.


Hope things are in bloom where you live, although I know that some of you are having winter (hello down under!). Wherever you are and whatever the weather, I wish all of you a wonderful and artsy weekend!

Last of the vacation slides (and a mention on Create Mixed Media!)

All good things must come to an end and unfortunately there's no exception for vacations. My second vacation week flew by in a state of bliss, mostly spent on my island. I didn't really do any art, but I did visit an art exhibit on the main land, I looked into several artsy books and...I took a lot of photographs (bet you didn't see that one coming). So today I'll show you the last of the vacation slides and then I promise to shut up about it! ;-)

So green, so tranquil, so beautiful.

A narrow path through the dunes. I walked many paths.

In the Groninger Museum there was an exhibit by Yin Xiuzhen.

Her work just blew me away! Wow!

Most of my days however were spent going on long lazy hikes.

And everything was in bloom!

I even took a self portrait I actually like (very rare).

I was surprised how well my phone could photograph these close ups of flowers.

And of course I walked on the beach a lot too, there was a lot of wind.

Now I have been back to work for two days already and I'm slowly getting back into my regular routine, but it's not easy after 16 days of total freedom. I wish my job didn't take up so much of my time, but of course I can't do without it either, since both my cat and I like a roof over our head and food on the table. ;-)

I'm closing off with a little bragging, because Ricë Freeman Zachery asked me if she could use my blogpost on my travelbag of art supplies for her blog on the wonderful Create Mixed Media site. If you don't know about this site yet, go check it out, because it's like a treasure trove of inspiration and ideas. Anyway, Ricë not only mentioned me, I actually got to give some tips on traveling with art supplies, like I'm an expert or something. I was ever so flattered! You can read the post here. Read her other posts too and above all: check out her podcasts, there's nothing like them. She really knows how to talk to artists.

And with that I end my vacation blogging. I'm way behind on other peoples blogs and on my yahoo groups, so if you think I've been ignoring you I...well actually... I have been ignoring you. I was on vacation! But I haven't forgotten my blogsy pals so this week I'll try to catch up with everybody, promise.

Wishing you all a wonderful and very artsy week. Next time I will show some journal pages! Until then!

Indexcard collages from my vacation

As promised today I will show you the eight collages I did while I was away staying in my sisters house for a week.

It was quite challenging to work in such a small format again. There was a time when I did loads of cards and even atc's but recently not so much.

I did enjoy it though. I also enjoyed working with a minimum of supplies. Just magazine images, a couple of stickers, some pens and a very small supply of pretty paper and tapes that I had taken with me on my trip.

It's good to limit your choices every now and then, although I must admit that I prefer to work in my own house where I have loads of materials and choices to pick from.

I know a lot of people find this stifling, but it's the sheer amount of choice that always opens my eyes to new possibilities. This is why I never order my stash according to color or themes.

My only organizing tactic is 'like with like'. By that I mean that paints go with paints, stamps with stamps and papers with papers and so on.

This gives me the option to combine things that otherwise would never end up together. You can see this very well in my journal where for instance the strangest words are combined with the oddest images.It's all instinct really.

With these cards my choices were more limited, but I still tried to put stuff together without thinking too much and just going with the flow.

These cards will also become a part of my indexcard journal and will end up with holes in them for the bookrings. I look forward to putting it all together.

And that's all the art I made last week. It was fun to do and it has made me want to do more card sized art again. Who knows where it will lead to! ;-)

Hope you're all having a wonderful artsy day!

Back home and some indexcard paintings

Back home again on my island. I packed all my stuff on Sunday morning and was quite relieved I could fit it into this:

The big blue and white shopper was completely filled with purchases (well, except for my coat which I planted on top, because it was quite warm that morning). It was really heavy too! But I did manage to bring everything home with me.

I left a little surprise for my sister and her husband to thank them for trusting me with their home.

A big bunch of flowers, a little gift for the puppy they are going to pick up this week (ooh so cute!) and since I had my index cards with me anyway I made them a little welcome home card too.

They didn't come back until Monday, so I couldn't see them in person anymore. When I came home I found my cat well, but my house was all full of cat litter crumbs and cat hair and I just couldn't bear looking at it, so I cleaned house first. It's odd, I always have this need when I've been away, as if I have to make the house my own again. I unpacked after that and then I could finally be pleased to be back.

My cat Peer was pretty pleased too. He couldn't get enough attention and pretty much follows me around like a shadow for the past few days, even sleeping on my bed all night, which is something he does only every now and then under normal circumstances. He's also very happy to be reinstated in his position as my personal assistant and is trying to prove just how helpful he can be by staying on top of everything...um...literally:

And with that my trip away has really come to an end. I have to say I'm  having to get used to my own house all over again. Do any of you have that too, that everything seems a little strange and unfamiliar after you've been in a different environment for a while? I'm just sort of finding my bearings again in my own place. Going back to blogging on my own laptop and getting busy in my own studio and doing everyday stuff like laundry is slowly putting me back into my own life. ;-)

But...of course I did some art while away as well and today and Thursday I wanted to give you a peek at the indexcard art I did while I was away. I made twelve pieces. Four abstract paintings with watercolor and eight collages. The collages I'll show you Thursday and the paintings...well...now!

The last one was a little experiment with doodling over different patches of color. I kind of like how it turned out and may try some more of these.

I have just also printed out a whole bunch of photos that will go into the journal I will construct from all these cards. When everything is ready to go I will punch holes through the cards and bind them with bookrings. When it's all completed I'll of course show you the finished journal as well. I just thought it would be better to show you the artsy cards before I punch the holes into them.

So, today is a beautiful day. I still have a little under a week off. I think I will go to the beach this afternoon and just enjoy the sunshine and my beautiful island. Wishing you all a wonderful day!

Vacation Blog - part five

Unbelievable but true, this will be my last blog from my vacation address. Tomorrow I will be traveling home. It all goes way too fast, but then again, all week it has also felt like time flowed endlessly. Isn't that a weird paradox? That things can go by in no time and still feel endless? At least it means I was really in the holiday zone.

Yesterday I didn't post. That's because yesterday can be described with just one photo and it looks like this:

It rained all day! So I took the most of it and slept so late my back actually hurt like hell after I got up (it did pass after a few hours, but I moved around the house like a little old lady, well, more like a big old lady).

The rest of the day I spent mostly on the couch with a double pair of socks on and wam clothes and my e-reader and lots of tea for company. It was wonderful! I wouldn't have been so happy about it if it had been like that all week, but one lazy day felt like a wonderful gift from the universe.

Today the weather was not as great as thursday, but good enough to go on another long bike ride. And of course I took a lot of pictures again and here's a selection of today's finest:

One of the many streams I photographed this week.

That dark sky threatened with rain, but didn't deliver, thank god.

Bridges among the green are just so idyllic.



A building hidden behind such beauty makes the imagination go wild.



Vorden Castle (Kasteel Vorden), one of many around here.

Also at Vorden Castle, from the side.

One windmill to keep the Dutch stereotype alive.

Horsies!

I'm lucky the corn is not full grown yet, or I wouldn't get such vistas.

I can't tell you how many farm houses like this I snapped. I want to live in all of them.

Well, that was my final outing here. Just after I came back the sky burst open with one big shower, so I have been pretty lucky not to get wet at all today. I've also started packing up the stuff I won't need anymore and have put all my shopping loot into one big bag and sighed in relieve that it all fit. ;-)

Now I will relax for one more night with a book on my sisters' couch. My art supplies have been packed already too, but I did manage to do a couple more small collages today, so I'm pleased with that as well.

Tomorrow around this time I will be back home and hopefully find my cat well. Then I can look forward to one more week off work that will be spent on my own island, so I can't complain. Life is ridiculously good right now. I wish this vacation could last forever.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and I hope you enjoyed my time away from home with me!

Vacation Blog - Part four

Phew, just got back from a day full of sun,sightseeing and shopping and frankly íf I don't do this post now it will not happen, because I'm exhausted and just want to crash. But...it was a good day. I went to the city of Zutphen which is a beautiful old city with interesting buildings and narrow streets. It was also market day, so it was quite busy and it was hard to get good pictures of the architecture. But I did manage to snap some here and there (you knew I would). Here's my slide show for today.

The last two pictures were taken inside a department store. Why? Well, who could resist this? Not me! I didn't buy any of these by the way. I just liked looking at them. And the duckies made me smile too.

I did however come back home with too much stuff and too little money. I even bought a bunch of clothes and I hardly ever go clothes shopping. My sisters can attest to the fact that the last time I went shopping for clothes it was with them and that must have been four years ago or so. I like clothes (and no I don't dress like a bag lady), I just hate shopping for them and as long as I still like what I have and it's not falling apart I will not buy anything new. But at some point you just have to, so recently I bought some new pairs of jeans and I figured I might get some new tops and skirts as well. Well, tops I found plenty, but it seems skirts are not on the menu this season. There's hardly any for sale! Really weird.

So, that's it for today. Now I will put up my feet in the garden with a nice cup of tea and my e-reader for company. I hope you all find some time to relax today as well!