It's not easy!

 

 

Because the monthly subject 'Not your normal flower' was ready, I took two unused canvases to last week's painting session

 

My mood was restless, I had not been willing to look extensively for a new subject nor did I want to spend too much time thinking how to start...

 

I set up my easel and just flung some colors down on both canvases. Spreading it out with a palette knife and working in rectangles and squares (I really don't know why) 

 

 

Only recently have I started to use just red, yellow; blue, plus black and white of course. In my box there are the most beautiful colors that are ready to use, but I want to learn!

The above result is horrible in my opinion, I especially hated the color green and the yellow on the right top corner

 



so after watching some Youtube lessons of Jane Davies, I followed her instructions of mixing your own Celadon color

 

I put this on the places I did not like...

 



 

on the second canvas the same green, though it did not disturb me in the same way as the bigger painting 

 

 

These are the results today. And like so often I do not know how to proceed. So I guess I leave them sitting in my studio and have a look at it every now and then until an 'Aha' brilliant idea comes up.

 

Painting is not easy, indeed...

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

Regina

Flowerish

Good morning!

 

 

It was not supposed to be a simple, customary flower

but more flower-like, making you think of flowers

So I came up with this... 

 

 

First I painted the background

 

 

and then drew some lines with my Sharpie

 

 

 

and like so often I tend to like the details more

 than the whole painting

 

This soft pastel like colorscheme is very unlike me, but I want to learn, I am learning

 

It will stay like this for a while...

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

Regina

Backgrounds

 

 

 

 

 

Hi!

 

Not much happening in my corner of Spain.

 

Though we do have the Moors and Christian

 festival currently,with its closing part tonight,

I once again did not go to watch it.

 

Somehow celebrating these fights of ages ago by way of a reenactment does not appeal to me.

Especially in this time where history seems to repeat itself throughout our Western world, I prefer not to celebrate it, how beautiful and wonderful this spectacle may be...

 

On a different note:

the storyboard above has been composed of details of some recent work by me. They are backgrounds at this stage,

I just started painting without any objective in mind, simply enjoying 'what if?'

 

We are supposed to paint clouds this time,

 but despite the fact that I love to look at skies, I feel no need to paint them.

 But that may come later,

this time just background details

 

***

Enjoy your Sunday, thanks for reading

 

Regina

 

Nothing...

...is our painting theme for this month.

Just trying to let the brushes and the paint work together,

 to discover the way in which colors interact and influence each other on the canvas

 

 

though I did not think any good of the theme, I decided to give it a go,

for I had nothing to lose

 

 

I overpainted one of the abstracts I did a few years ago

 

 

and am happy with the results...

 

 

though the theme was Nothing...

 

Bye for now,

 

Regina

Passion

 

 

Hi!

 

 This week I started a new painting. As I have written before, we try to follow a theme.

 This has its downside, but on the other hand: we can just neglect the theme and paint as we wish. However, I have noticed that following this theme can bring up surprising things !

 

That was the case with me and this month's theme: Passion

 

During about two decades I have been very passionate about fabrics, making art quilts, dying and stamping, you name it. Should one have asked what my passion was in those years this would definitely have been the answer.

 

After our  move to Spain I have hardly worked with fabrics and

I really don't know where and when my passion went...

So I did some serious soul-searching about this phenomenon

 and in the end succeeded to come up with this:

 

I am passionate about traveling, preferably with our motorhome;

about colours, not the pastel and timid ones, but mostly colourful though occasionaly

 toned down by working a short period in just neutrals; I am passionate about taking pictures and working these into digital collages... this week I explained this to a woman and afterwards she said: so it is just digital, not physical? No, it is nothing in fact, strange come to think of it...

So I don't know whether digital collaging fits in this 'passion thing'.
And finally: I am passionate about making things, beautiful things (I know,... the eye of the beholder...)

 

The picture above is a detail of my new painting. It is an attempt to paint one of my digital collages, the one you can see here

It is difficult to get the effect. At this stage I am not happy at all with the results, but that may change, it happened before.
At least it is a combination what I am passsionate about now

Happy painting, beautifying!

Regina

Paper to digital

Playtime in the studio!

 

 Though I am no expert at all, I thought it would be nice to give you a peek inside my digital collage 'kitchen'.

 

 

 

For the above digital collage I used the paper collage below.

This is clearly visible, isn't it?

The paper collage was made by me some years ago when we were living on a Caribbean island...

 

 

 

This paper collage speaks to me, because it embodies

some very specific Caribbean ingredients:

 the ocean and sea, the coastal shores as can be seen while

sailing and from an airplane, and of course its colours

 

To change the paper one into the first, digital collage I layered it three times 'over itself' in PS; the second time I rotated the picture because I also wanted to have yellow in the lower right corner.
For each layer I changed the blending mode and when I was satisfied a boost filter and my 'signature' (turquoise native indian sign below right) were added.

 

The digital one shows that layers add so much more depth than the with the paper one.

 

However, I must say I love them equally much...

 

Thanks for reading and yes,
if you liked this post I would love your comment

 

Regina



I'm pretty sure...

I have not posted this picture board on this blog yet,

 

so while the weather is dark en cold in big parts of the world,

 

I bring some merry, Caribbean pleasure!

 

 

 

 paper, paint, collage

 

 

Till next time!

 

Regina

Studying the possibilities

Hi!

 

After having made the viewfinder this morning, I decided to take the upper left

part of yesterday's picture. First I cropped it in my favorite photo editing program

to 'get away' from the other 3 designs

 

 

This already looks more interesting to me...

Then I rotated the picture 90 degrees and layered it on top of the above picture,

after which the real fun started!

 

 

I then cropped it somewhat, used various blending styles and a palet style filter,

 and this all ended up

like this picture

 

 

Finally a gradient color layer was added on top of the above design and then rotated once again 90 degrees CCW

 

I am not sure yet if this will be my definitive design, it looks like it is possible to translate it into acrylics. But maybe I first make a second design by strictly using black and white.

Ahhh, endless options

 

Enjoy the weekend!

 

Regina



Doing nothing

HI!

There was a time when I made things like this...

I collaged on cardboard in a favorite colourscheme and just

fixed the nine parts together with copper wire.

I long for that creativity, to get it back into my life

Need to browse through my inspiration picture file more to

feel that need to create, more than it exists these days...

The above work has been hanging on our Spanish veranda

 during some years now and I feel

now it is time to replace it by something new,

or something completely different maybe

We'll see, I keep you posted!

Enjoy your Sunday,

Regina

Spain report: colours!

HI!

After a long break due to vacations, I am finally back on my blog. It has been a very wonderful, great trip we made throughout the Northern coastal provinces of Spain. While I am still full of all the beauty this landscape offered us, I am slowly getting back into my normal rhythm again and even finished sorting out all images I made.

So, because I am so happy to be able to post again, I will start with some very colorful, sea related images. Whereas in the Caribbean  life was full with vibrant colours, life in Spain normally is more natural, e.g. the colours of rocks, earth, wood play the leading role here. Though I love a neutral colorscheme very much, I now have a longing for the abundancy of real colours, so here they come:

this colorful fisherman's tool we spotted in a almost completely grey little harbour

in Asturias

 



 

a group of guides getting instructions,

Playa As Catedrais, Galicia

 

 

more tools, like in picture 1

 

 

my private Bay Watch! He was not very busy that day, for the water was cold...!

Saturraran, Asturias

 

 

What else do you need?

Cap Agustin, Asturias

 

I hope you liked this first issue of my travel report, more will follow soon

Thanks for visiting, grtz,

 

Regina

Painting lanterns

After we moved to our current house, the men started the renovation.

It was a time of much noise and dust, the tiles of our complete floor

had to be removed in order to install a new concrete layer

to enable the solar energy pipes and system to work.

 

At that time there was not yet much participation needed from me

 (or so I thought)...

 

So, inspired by this idyllic picture

 

 

...I remembered these storm lanterns that we brought to Spain from our house

 in the Caribbean.

They had been left behing by the former owners of that house

 and I have a tendency of always taking with us something of the past.

 

The red color of these lanterns never spoke to me and I started with one

 of these to get rid of the red paint: dissolvent first, then sanding, buf buf, and halfway this job

 my DH saw what I was doing (while he was working that hard, oh my)

.......

 

and he suggested to wait with this until the house was finished

and I reluctantly had to admit that he might be right,

 

so I put the lanterns away

 

This week I rediscovered the lanterns

and since I have this new hobby to renew, repurpose and recycle

I started with the one lantern that was half stripped of paint and

 the other half rusted, haha!

As for me letting them completely rust would also have been an option, but DH hates rust...

 



 

I probably have to put on at least one more layer

of the black anti rust paint

 

 

but this is how it looks

after this morning's job

 

Happy Painting..!

 

Regina



In love with blue

I really love this kind of blue. It reminds me of the fields of corn when I was young. We lived in Amsterdam back then, but always spent the summer in Zeeland, with is one of Hollands most southern provinces. It was the time when agriculture played an important role, more important than these days it seems. Cornflowers can hardly be seen in the Netherlands today.

 

 

(click for details)

 

The flowers above are related to chicoree, it is a wild variety. This field is near the vineyards at the end of our street, where I walk daily. This morning I did not forget to bring my camera and I was lucky that the weather was cloudy, good conditions to capture this lovely blue.

Happy days in Spain...

 

Enjoy the weekend!

 

Regina

 



Vintage find

 

Finally something textile related...

 

Yesterday I went to the local charity shop. They were busy closing the shop, but I could have a quick  look nevertheless...

 

My eyes found a stand with scarves, on which this beauty was hanging

 

 

Not necessary to beg me: "take me home!", for I fell in love with every little detail ...

the colours, the design (must have to do something with the patches, don't you think?)

I suddenly remember seeing this kind of long rows of stitches in the early textile works of Kit Vincent...so there is a link with quilts somewhere! By now I also know that this surface treatment (or quilting two layers with long regular stitches without a batting in between is called Kanta work and originates from India

 

 

The stitches in long rows seem to layer a kind of haze on the fabrics, that also unifies the separate colours

 

 

And now, for 1 euro only, she is mine...and I am so happy with this new addition to my wardrobe!

 

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!

 

Regina

 

 

Different country, different colors

 

 

Hi!

 

Only now, after having lived in Spain for a year, I become aware how my life is being influenced by the colors that surround me.

 

I chose the above collage that I made about a year ago. It already shows a change, from the abundant tropical colors of the Caribbean, to the earth tones that are dominating here in our new place of living...... but this collage still has a little turquoise of the sea in it.

 

 

Apart from the flowers and plants that are in full bloom during the hot summer months, the neutrals and quiet colors are more present here. Whereas in the Caribbean one can see people in clothes that are really clashing as far as color is regarded, Spanish people are less abundant in their outfit. Of course there is some, especially in summer, but now it is autumn here and most tourists have gone back to where they live, it is neutral what one sees. Even the Mediterranean Sea seems to change everyday from blue to grey to, sometimes this time of the year, a timid kind of turquoise and all the teal colors in between. I look forward to how my art will develop once I get back to working on that again...!

 

On another note:: renovations are going steady. The terracotta floor will be installed next week, the new windows and kitchen the week thereafter, fingers crossing, since making appointments and a planning does not always seem to work out properly here. We try to be patient, in the end everything will be all right...

 

But the rooms are almost ready, and so is my studio. I also look forward to unpack the many boxes with my materials. In the meantime we enjoy the still lovely weather, even the more autumn like evenings. In a month it will be cold and by then we hope our solar powered under floor heating is up and running.

 

Next time I will show pictures of the floor. Now it is only blank, light grey spaces, so a little contrast will add to it.

 

Thanks for reading, enjoy the weekend!

 

Regina

Gates

On Sunday mornings I like to walk and get to know the neighborhoods of our village by the sea...

I simply love the details you can see at this speed! The shadow pattern of this gate was stunning

today's walk took me uphill first. This is an upscale neighborhood and this gate was at the entrance of a huge driving lane to a posh villa. The bird statues were on both sides of the gate.

and though this one is humble, I think I like it best. The house was simple,  yet elegant and then the bougainvillea!

At this time we see lots of flowers and blossoming here on the Mediterranean coast. Oleanders, roses, plumbago, jacaranda, to name a few...

Today I was looking back at some posts on my blog that I wrote while living in the Caribbean. 

If you do that too you will notice the change in colors in my pictures. They are still colorful, but not so exuberant. It is exactly what I expected: more sun and color than in Holland, but less relentless than the heat of the islands...

See  you!

Regina

Cards

 

 

and more precise: cards; that is what I have been making lately

 

I've felt the urge to communicate in person again with people, rather than posting on Facebook. It makes perfect sense, since we now live in country where the mailsystem is reliable and it does not take ages for a letter or card to reach its destiny, to start writing again to the people I care about. Not always letters, but cards, that totally is my thing. So I found the supplies here in Spain and in combination with paper from my stash of magazines and old posters, I let the inspiration kick in and now I have a good supply of beautiful cards, imho...!

 

Furthermore I am working on a project consisting of nine collages all around one theme. They are in the final stage of creation, so once the work is done, I will show it here.

 

That was it for today. Not much, but better than nothing...

 

As always: thanks so much for visiting!

 

Regina

Influences

It's been a long time since I have been writing so many letters...

 

Though the e-mail replaced the postman (except for Christmas cards),

I have been writing many letters to friends and family all over the world lately.

 

It was the right time for that, for catching up. In these writings I talk about our impressions, of the new country, our home in the mountains, the view at the Mediteranean at a 5 mile distance, but also about the friendly people we already met.

 

Somehow these new impressions and the colours that surround me 'soak' into my collages,

hence this series:

 

 

 

 

Influences 2

 

paper collage, appr. 8.5 x 11 "

recycled magazines on paper, glue, varnish

 

As always thanks for visiting

Regina



Making a home

 

Our Mason jars we bought in the USA

came out of the boxes,

 

 

 

then I found some lovely Ivy along the coastal road. I try to grow plants out of the cutlings,

 

so have put them in the waterfilled jars.

 

Now hopefully the roots can form,

while they make me feel at home,

 

love the color of this glass,

love ivy,

 

already feel a bit at home...

 

 

Happy Sunday,

 

Regina

Benissa in pastel

This morning I had some shopping to do in the village, so after I parked my car

I walked to the village square;

 

this is what I saw on my way, come walk with me!

 

 

just a look to the right: surprise..!

 

it was a sunny, colorful walk today

 

 

my footsteps resonated in this alley,

must be difficult to enter the houses unseen...

 

 

my absolute favorite, such beauty, and to be able to witness it on a November day

 

 

mandarinas galore, nobody takes them from the trees,

they are everywhere around

(notice the downside of the balcony, with the tiles I wrote about in yesterday's post)

 

 

I so enjoyed my little stroll! Then came home and had some sunbathing on our terrace,

again, in November!

Feeling truly blessed...

 

See ya!

Regina



Patiently I waited

 

 

until my desktop computer was installed in our home

 

in Spain....



 

About a week ago the container with our furniture came driving along the small countryroad where our house is situated, between the olive and almond trees.

 

This week we have been very busy making this house our home, that is until we find something we want to buy. There's heaps for sale in the neighborhood, but we want to learn more about the various places, urbanisations, development plans and so on, so we take our time.

 

But since yesterday night, I am finally able to reduce the size of my pictures, so with that I am hopefully back to regular posting, there's a lot to catch up with.

 

The collage above I made yesterday, of ripped magazine pictures, plus some brown paper bag.

 

In a way it reflects my current situation: it is autumn in Spain, with cold evenings and nights, but sunshine mostly during the day. We live near a very traditional and lovely Spanish village that is surrounded by hills. And you may have noticed a change in my colour palette, the turquoise has disappeared, for the Mediteranean Sea is more silver greyish at this time of the year. But I expect that to return once winter is over...

 

For my followers: thanks for your patience during the time of hardly posting, I appreciate

your visit, as always

 

Regina