Dark Africa

Hi!

 

Below is my latest painting. We have some topics 'in stock', and this time the group chose for

Africa.

 

Had I not sold my painting of the little elephant recently, it could have immediately fit in...

 

Though I have never been there myself, my mind has created an image of this continent, based on written and photograhic input via various media

 

So, what to chose?

 

I was thinking about Karen Blixen's story that is to be seen in the famous 'Out of Africa'-movie (still admiring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep); or the many safari reports and stories of friends, but more recently also the miserable story of fighting groups and as a result the many, many refugees that hope to get a better life in  Europe these days.

 

Africa therefore remains dark for me and it is this dark and unknown part of the world that I wanted to emphasize in this painting of a Congolese mask

 

 

Dark Africa

acrylic on stretched canvas

50 x 60 cm

 

The border is more cream colored in real, the picture is a little blueish

Initially I wanted to paint cuba cloth details in the border,

but after a first try on paper they took away all emphasis from the mask, so I decided to keep it solid

 

 

It was a challenge to make the painted mask look like wood, but I think this painting technique with scarce paint does help a bit... you can click the images for a better look

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

Regina



Digital collage

It has been a quiet week for me. I have installed my serger after a long period of inactivity in that field; in fact I don't even sew as much as I used to do. With so many charity shops in the area that offer cloths that often are almost new, and also a shopping center not too far away, there seems to be no need to sew fashion myself. But, there must be a very large fabric store in an old factory in one of the other villages, and now that I have the address it is one of my goals for next week.

Other than one would expect, there is no fabric being sold at the many markets here, just upholstery stuff. So you will understand that I am happy to now know at least one address at least and hopefully I will not be disappointed...

 

But with the serger I made two duvet covers with fabric that was in my stock, and I felt happy that I managed to get the pretty complicated machine working again...

 

Then I have been painting, of course.

This time the subject is Africa, a very broad area with lots of painting possibilities. I chose a mask, surrounded with Kuba cloth, The painting is almost finished, but there are some challenges ahead, I will show this work asap

 

 

 

And since only text is not 'done' these days, I made the above digital collage this evening.

 It is composed by layering two images. First a detail of one of my paintings, on that the second picture which shows a wooden bird standing in our windowsill. If you look closely you will discover our neighbor's house on the other side of the street! I love how the yellow bird, which is a reflection of the brown one has taken over the colour of the underlying painting.

Just a little playing here in Spain

 

Thanks for visiting and a happy 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

Painting again!

After all summer traveling, my life on the Spanish Mediterranean coast has settled down to normal again. That means I have taken up singing in our club choir again, being active as a boardmember of same club, and above all:

 

PAINTING

 

detail, showing used technique

 

 This time our suggested theme was: young animals and I chose not to paint the predictable dog or cat, but an animal that I feel strangely attracted to...

I love the colour of their skin, the wrinkles, their quiet and determined appearance, not showing any intent to hurry or being pushed by whatever

 

 

Initially I wanted to paint an fantasy type elephant, so I started by painting a multicoloured background. But somehow, since I work in a spontaneous way, the upper part of its body pretty much looked like a real one, so I then followed that path and here it is:

 

my young animal!

 

After two days in the club's gallery, there was a lady who wanted it so much and now it is

sold. I feel very lucky!

 

Wishing you a great weekend, wherever you are,

 

Regina



Before traveling to the cities...

...we visited

Bardenas Reales Natural Park first!

This UNESCO Biosphere reservation is situated in Spain's Navarra region and was the perfect start of our vacation

A friend who had recently visited this natural park was very enthusiastic about it and compared it to some canyons in the USA. And since it was on our route to the upper Spanish provinces, we decided to give it a try. After having stayed the night at a camperplace close to a series of cave dwellings, we headed to the park's west entrance the next morning





camperplace in Arguedas, near the west entrance of
Bardenas

much wanted information about the park...

What was really special about this semi desert area, was the emptiness, and the lack of any commercial sign and activity. No restaurants, no bars, nor wifi, let alone shops for souvenirs, nothing but bare fields and splendid rock formations. Almost unimaginable that this is possible these days...

Nothing but emptiness, the perfect decor for movies like
Airbag, Accion Mutante, The Pride and The Passion and even
 The World is not enough (19th James Bond movie)

 

a bare landscape, the result of erosion by water and wind. A landscape that housed crocodiles and turtles in the past, but now is the habitat of eagles, vultures and all kind of reptiles

 

 

 

looks like the perfect hiding place to me for the above mentioned creatures...

 

This formation is called 'Cabezo de Castildetierra' which means as much as

'Head of the earthen castle'

 

And with this picture I finish this post about a very remarkable place in our current country: Spain

 

Thanks for reading,

Regina

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Hi!

Considering the success of our first trip, we went on a second motorhome vacation throughout France, Belgium and the Netherlands. I now finally have the energy and time to post again.

 

But this time I am not going to apologize, since this is my blog, my space to document my life and of course, if there is still someone out there (hello!) who reads it that would be great, but seeing all blogs rapidly making place for Instagram and who knows what else, I think it is only good of me to not give up..!

That being said, I revert to our holiday in Spain.Visiting the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao was certainly one of the highlights of our trip! Boy, what a building, what a fantastic design! The building itself would have been an absolute goal to travel to, but of course there was art inside...

When we visited this summer there were three exhibitions running: one was of Andy Warhol's prints, one of Louise Bourgeois (Cells, quite interesting) and The Paris School. We visited the last two exhibits. Beside that there was Richard Serra's permanent installation: The Matter of Time, consisting of several huge kind of labyrinths of Corten steel. These were absolutely stunning!

 

The pictures give only a slight impression of the splendor of this museum, I can recommend it to everybody should you have a chance...

 

by architect Frank Gehry

 

Guggenheim inside

 

 

ah, the construction of it all!

 

 

outside, just looking up



 

 

a model of Serra's work

 

 

look at the human at the right, the work was huge

 

 

patina at the inside of one of the installation's parts

 

Well, this was it, I am back at blogging at last and look forward to any comment.

Thanks for reading!

 

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