A little proud

 

... because my necklace is finished!

All parts are recycled and the 53 big chunky beads have all been made by

me!

 

 

Now to search my wardrobe for the proper outfit to wear it,

could be all kind of natural colors I guess

 

 

the beads are made of rolled strips of watercolor paper, glued with

Elmer's glue and a finish of matte Mod Podge

 

 

I can see lots of other possibilities for this, e.g. using

washi tape (that I mostly make myself too...)

 

Not annoyed yet after over a week of rain and even snow here on

the Spanish Costa Blanca...

and so very grateful for my parents that tought us how to

spend our time, to make things, to read

... the most beautiful gift you can pass on to your children I dare say (after lots of love of course...)

 

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

 

Regina

Making beads

 

I have been making beads lately, lots of beads

These ones are made of rolled strips of watercolor paper

 

When the glue is dry, I finish the spiral with a kind of gypsum,

the stuff to repair tiny cracks in walls...

then they get sanded with very fine sanding paper

 

 

all kind of stuff that has been waiting in my studio is being used in this process

 

The travel themed stickers are from a booklet I once bought in the USA

 

 

 

Right now I finished almost fourty beads, still 10 to go. 

And I can wear my travel necklace!

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

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

Brochures from the past

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

 

 And that creativity and artistic activity may be

 a big part of the new year.

 That's my wish for all of you.

 The world needs more handmade things, art, whatever, at least the world does not need more screen time, imho

 

 

 

In 2012 we made our last motorhome trip in the USA

 and like the years before I gathered much tourist brochures and summer festival material. Many of these were turned into collages and the above digital one is, again, made up by layering in Photoshop one of these paper collages.

 

It says: connect with the unexpected. Wise words if you want to grow, as a human but also as an artist. Don't we often hear a variation of this: what if?

 

Food for thought, plenty, always,

 

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



Inspiration

Hi!

 

I am almost recovered from a serious cold.

 It lasted way too long and therefore this morning

 I finally got out of the house

 to do 'something nice'...

In my neck of the woods, that is in this piece of

coastal Spain, it is

charity shopping!

 

 

I was very lucky today.

Ah, the inspiration I found there

The possibilities these treasures offer

 

 

 Look at those parts, the closures, the materials

 I can derive  from this necklaces

 once deconstructed...

 

 

And to end this post: wishing you everything from the digital collage.

You may need it, we all need it, everything, and more...

Happy Holidays!

 

Thanks for visiting,

 

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