Photo editing/journal page

Yesterday I noticed that my photo editing programm was loading pictures extremely slow...

Help!

 

Fortunately our home computer expert is with us in Spain, so we were able to find the reason behind this problem: a printer that is without an ink cartridge and has been put offline for the time being (cartridges we bought in Europe do not work, so we had to order from the States..)

 

By choosing a virtual printer as the default one, the photo editing software was working properly again and I am a very happy camper...!

 

So in a spare moment I made the little storyboard below from one of my former journal pages. I made several of these journal pages before I discovered my present passion:

 

Collage

 

But, in my point of view, I already see the collage technique, in fact I don't see much difference...

 

and I even wonder: what is the difference?

 

(note to self: another item to look up online)

 

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

Regina

Nashville

 

 

 (image is clickable)

 

Nashville

digital collage

 

 

Today, for some reason, I was thinking about our visit to Nashville during the summer of 2012

 Looked up the pictures, got inspired and made this digital collage.

 

 

It speaks for itself, I think!

 

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

Renovation

Hi there,

 

Long time no post...

We have been and still are so busy to turn the interior of our home as you can see below

into a more modern and convenient state!

 

 It took us lots of breaking, the floor to begin with, the chimney...removing all the debris and dust,

 

 

  removing all the furniture that was left behind

decide what was to be kept (the leather seat and sofa are being stocked in the garage right now), removing old layers of paint from doors and doorways, ceilings and walls,

 

 

The house has been a holiday retreat for only a few months a year, so it was in serious need for adaptation for our present day lifestyle... new electricity cables, waterpipes and the like

 

 

by now the tubes for the underfloor heating have been laid, the new concrete floor is covering this all. Terracotta tiles have been carefully chosen (difficult!)and are ready to be positioned on the entire upper floor. New aluminium windows and doors will arrive the next week. The walls will be finished in their final colour by then (most walls light and some a darker kind of grey). We are working from early in the morning till the evening and every night I am so happy that another day is over, that we are getting nearer to our goal.

 

From the start I knew this was going to be a tough journey, but like before this seems to be worse than we experienced in earlier renovations. At the same time I know that in a few months the worst will be over and we will enjoy a beautiful and very comfortable house for hopefully years to come!

 

Thanks for your visit, your patience also, for I am sure you understand that at the moment no artwork is being created here. Though I love to paint, it is the more inartistic kind that is being practiced by me at the moment. Please, bear with me...

 

 

Regina

Runner up

Recently we visited the Spanish mountain village of Guadalest. It is famous for its reservoir and the village itself which is located at the top of a steep mountain.

 

The reservoir looked wonderful from above the village square and the village was full of tourists as it was one of the warm, sunny days of late summer. Though we liked the view a lot, I have to say it comes in the second place for me (spoiled, I know!). For I will never forget the experience we had when we discovered Peyto Lake along the Icefield Parkway in Canada some years ago... do you know this feeling, when everything that comes after such an experience seems to be a kind of 'surrogate'. I remember that when making a trip in a hot air balloon, which in itself of course is pretty cool, then and there a similar thing happened to me. In that particular summer I had seen the south rim of the Grand Canyon and my heart was still full with that wonder...

 

In this case I am not sure yet if this was just caused by the lake itself, or the very, very touristic atmosphere in the village...

 

My compliments go to the National Park Service of the USA and Parks Canada and the governments of course, for they have succeeded to keep these beautiful landscapes saved from any commercial business and therefore you can truly enjoy nature like it is, without human influences

 

 Peyto Lake, Alberta, Canada

 

 Guadalest reservoir, Alicante, Spain

 

On another note: in the village I spotted a poster where art of Joan Vidal was being announced. The picture below comes from that poster, I cropped it out and just wanted to show it here because I was so glad to finally see something art related... and I got very happy with his use of colours. More of this Spanish painter can be found here

 

 

This was it for today. Renovation update to follow soon...

 

Thanks for visiting,

 

Regina

Tools for pics

Hi!

 

Just a picture today...

 

For my blog I mostly use Photoshop for editing. Very helpful indeed are the storyboard features of The CoffeeShop and Pioneer Woman's actions, men, do I love these tools!

 

Then there is the tablet, which features apps like Pixlr-O-Matic and all the beauty there can be found on Pinterest!

 

Picture above comes from the web, sorry can't give credits, forgotten the source, but edited just a little in POM with Josh and Cyborg filters.

 

Just a picture, like I said...

 

Oh and, Pioneer Woman blogs delicious recipes too...

 

Have a creative Friday!

 

Regina



 

Dear reader,

 

 

 

 

Finally a post from me in Spain...

 

Renovating a house is once again encompassing, it takes the utmost of me and after dinner at night there simply is no energy left to blog.

 

I must say that I am beginning to really miss the artsy/creative side of life before moving!

 

It is over a year ago that all my stuff has been packed in boxes and only little has been unpacked, firstly because of our temporary living and after that because of the renovation of our own house.

 

But hey... a few more months to go and we will live in a beautiful and very comfy house, I reckon it is worth waiting...

 

 

So in order to change our minds for a few days, and to accompany our daughter who was visiting, we made a midweek trip to Valencia. This old city on the east coast of Spain is about an hour's drive from our village, which is situated more southern.

 

Valencia is a gorgeous, very beautiful old city. We visited the old historic city centre, which is full of cathedrals and churches, the central market, the old silk trading place, and of course many lovely village squares. In the southern part of the city there is a ultramodern 'city' that was designed by the famous architect Calatrava. In the storyboard above you see parts of the roof and other structures of this ' Ciutat de artes i ciencias'.

 

On this day we visited the science museum, which was located in the building to the left. The huge aquarium we did not visit, since it was a very hot day and many families with little children were visiting that day.

 

The rest of our trip we spent shopping and we left the area of Valencia with a dinner in the National Park of Albufera, where rice for the famous paellas is grown.

 

Thus far our little escape from renovating...thanks for visiting my blog!

 

Regina