The old ruin...

Some time ago I discovered this old ruin

in a neighboring village...

 

 

this is the view of it, seen from the road



 

 

places like this can ignite in me fantasies

of times gone by, of times when life was

hard, but overseeable

...

 

I decided to enter the plot and was surprised how easy

it was to get to the old finca

 



 

as for me remnants of buildings like this will remain untouched

forever, for me they represent pure beauty

 



 

for how could one ever recreate a picture like this?



 

 

the weathered door led into a small, secluded patio

 



 

that I want to investigate another time...

 

but for today this was it: my world of fantasy

so very close...

 

Am I the only one who has a crush for ruins like this?

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Regina



Martes!

 

 

Hi there!

 

 

 

Another week has passed by, time seems to run from Tuesday to Martes...

 

Above is a close-up view of one of the lavender plants in our garden. We have several of them, some of these already very old.

 

When we came to live here, the plants had been neglected and I remember going to the garden centre and asking whether it would be possible to prune them (I had no idea!):

"Oh no, you have to buy new ones, old plants can by no way be pruned".

 Now for me this is the right attitude to become suspicious and we thought: why not try it first? Of course we can always buy new ones in case our actions become disastrous.

And so we did: the plants were pruned by my DH and until today they seem to have appreciated his treatment. They flourish as never before!

 

The second little photo is of a fisherman's boat that we discovered at a very secluded little bay in our village. It is called Pirate Bay and with some fantasy you can imagine that various illegal things can happen there. In the past, but also these days with more and more immigrants from North Africa crossing the Mediterranean...

 

The only possible handicap is that there is no road close by, just a small canyon with abundant shrubs and woodland. Such a canyon is called a 'barranc' in Spanish

Barranc de la Viuda

 

  Cala Llebeig aka Pirate Bay

 

 You see what I mean?

 

with just a little fantasy...

 

Thanks for visiting today,

 

Regina



New painting and collage

Humor

was the painting subject that was chosen this time

 

Humor, mostly spoken words;

 but how to paint it in acrylic? that was the question

 

we discussed and discussed and in the end it was deducted to:

 

if it makes one smile a little

 

 

I found an illustrator whose work made me smile,

her name is Sara-Jane Szikora

 

and I made my own version of 'Self raising flower'

I now consider it finished!

 

 

One of my goals is to be able to paint without an example;

there is still a long way to go!

 

 This probably made me compose the digital collage above.

 The picture of the acrylic painting was layered 4 times over itself, in each layer adjusting the filters and highlighting another part of the first picture

 

Two versions of  'self raising flower'

by me

 

Thanks for visiting,

 

Regina



Martes...

Good Morning!

 

 

 

Now Pentecost weekend is over we can enjoy a relatively quiet period until the 'Moors and Christians' reenactments will take place in our village.

 

 

This revival of the historic war and fights between muslims and Christians is an annual event that is celebrated throughout Spain and in almost every Spanish town and village. Needless to say that it attracts lots of tourists and other visitors.

 

 

I will try to get back to these festivities in a future post, but today it it just Martes (Tuesday)!

 

The left picture is of a painting I made a couple of years ago. It is one of an ongoing series on the subject of New Mexico. Around this time 9 years ago we discovered a Roadtrek mobile home for sale through the internet from an old man in New Mexico.

We went to Santa Fe for a weekend (from St. Maarten!) where we met the owner and decided on buying it after we had spent a few exciting nights in it (among which one night in a Native American settlement near Santa Fe). We were totally content with the camper, and so we made the deal...

 

To celebrate, the lovely man took us for dinner to the casino in Santa Fe, where I saw a stunning painting like this in one of the corridors.

 

Most adobe houses in New Mexico are terra cotta - earth coloured and you sometimes have to look really well to discover them in the arid landscape. So my version of the houses is a little more 'me, eg. colourfull!

 

The second photograph is a detail of the woodish seedshells of our Jacaranda tree. Nothing to do with New Mexico, but I show it because at the moment it is showing its lovely purple-blue flowers. I just gather the woodish seedshells in autumn, put these in a bowl and let them show their beauty as is, at least I think they are beautiful!

 

This is it for today, my little story of the how and why. I hope you enjoyed it.

 

Have a great 'Martes',

 

Regina

Tuesday - Martes!

Hello,

 

Way back, when living in the Caribbean, I made a habit of composing storyboards on a regular base.

They were posted as a series called Tropical Thursday.

 

At that time I enjoyed making these very much and I am getting back to it now, here..!

But: because I am living in Spain now and my Spanish is still improving every day (if I may say so), I call this new series:

 

Martes! (which means Tuesday, of course)

Here comes the first one:

 

Martes 1

 

It has been composed by two pictures that tell a little story:

 

One of the beloved conch shell with a silk flower in it, an idea I once discovered at an hotel on the isle of St. Eustatius. I still use this decoration item in our house...

 

and the other part is a detail of a painted brown bag that I used as a gift wrap packaging. Should I receive a present wrapped like this, I would consider the packaging a gift itself

 

I hope you enjoy this first storyboard,

 

Enjoy this Tuesday, next week another one...

 

Regina

Clutch (recycled art)

For a long time I have rejected the idea of recycling art.

 I mean how could I possibly 'destroy' something I have been working on with all my heart and soul???

 

Then there comes a moment that you realise it is stocked up somewhere in forgotten places, while the purpose of it is to be seen...

 

 This is one of my former textile works that has been put away at the time, because there does not seem to be enough walls in this house to show my beauties and ultimately it resulted in my latest steps:

 

recycling!

 

 

I liked the idea of using it for a clutch

 

This is the front

 

(the metal thingies - don't know the English word- are taken from a commercially bought one that had its closure broken. The straps of my clutch can be taken off)

 

 

The inside. Closures made with velcron

 



and the back

 



 

The remainder of the quilted panel

 

Not sure what it will be turned into, for now I have put it away... (hah, again)

 

What do you think? Do you like my clutch??

Your feedback is highly appreciated!

 

Thanks for visiting,

 

Regina

 

 

 



Dots, dots, dots

 

Maybe you know I am a huge fan of dots...

 

I have used this basic design element abundantly in my art and still feel its attraction today

 

(If you search the label Design Elements in the category cloud in the side bar, you can see former posts about this subject)

 

It appears I am in very good company with regard to this:

 

Brenda Holzke is an artist working mainly with clay and showing the same love for

 shape, rhythm and even colors

in a limited color scheme

 

 Another artist that I have been admiring for a long time is

Shane Drinkwater

This image of a very simple work of art took my breath away the first time I saw it

In fact it was this work that triggered me to find out why I love dots so much...

 

and even now I still don't have the one and only answer, 

for it can be found in many fields of life, with as many possible meanings

 

Drinkwater is an Australian and his work seems to be influenced by the Aboriginals

 

 

And finally the works of Karine Leger

 

 

this is a painting that you can hear people think:

a child can do this...

However, after having painted for some years now, I know how deceptively difficult it is to create like this!

 

 

the same for this

 

 

ceramic plate, also made by Karine Leger

dots, rhythm and a little bit of color

 

I Love it!