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

Dots, ceramics

 

Hello!

 

Today is a day full of possibilities for me:

no appointments, no musts or whatsoever

 

the only thing I have to do is finding inspiration for my new painting

which will have to be: WATER (in the broadest sense)

 

So despite limiting myself ref. surfing time on the www, I had to go there and (like often) came across some eyecandy, oh boy..!

 

 

As you may know I love many things, materials, colors though of course I have my favorites... During my creative life there have been many questions from friends to participate in all kind of workshops (with different materials). Mostly I refused. Not because I did not want to try, on the contrary, it was more the fear that I could get hooked and would develop yet another passion...

 

Nowadays we have the luxury of being able to enjoy a myriad of art and/or decoration without going to a museum or participating in workshops. That luxury (I really feel it as such) brought the images in this post.

The above pottery is of Christina Guwang, a French ceramics artist, she makes the most fantastic 'bols'. I just love the simplicity, the neutral color scheme and of course the dots!

 

 

this ceramic piece is of Alan Wallwork, a British potter

The rhythm of the dotted pattern makes my heart sing...I just get happy of looking at it. I have tried to analyse this phenomenon but until today did not succeed to explain why, what it is that exactly makes it a feast to look at. Must be something psychological, I don't even know whether I want to know, haha

 

Last but not least this picture

 

 

my favorites are:

nr 3 top row, 1 and 2 middle, and 3 bottom

This is students work of the MIT in Cambridge, USA

 

These patterns could be sewn on my Pfaff machine one day!

 

 

So far my eyecandy for today. Gonna use my possibilities, see you!

 

Regina

 

 



Challenging myself

 

 

After yesterday's post, in which I wrote about the main goal of this blog, journaling my everyday life,

 

I made a promise to myself, a challenge it is called these days. Promising sounds to me like there is no escape, whereas in a challenge the failure is somewhat built in, or made more or less likely.

 

Whatever, I challenge myself to post every (or every other) day. From this day on! Because I like it, because I have missed it, because I love to look back and read about then and there. This is very strange with me, because I normally hate history, or reunions, but it could be an age thing, don't you think so?

 

 

This morning I discovered these lovely B & W pillows on Pinterest. And with a cold winter day in Spain ahead of me and a cupboard full of fabrics (also B & W) I intend to start sewing. Together with a question of a friend, who needs a polka dotted dress to be turned into something flamenco-like, my day will fly away. But at least there was a post on my blog...

 

See you!

Just a little sewing

Hi!

 

It is more difficult to keep up blogging than I expected. Nevertheless, I am determined to go on; I have been reading that this is a phenomenon with lots of bloggers at the moment, but I have had this struggle, these doubts and have to accept that nothing spectacular is being expected from me, since there are only a few visitors. But that is ok. since I mainly blog to journal my life. 

 

There were times that making art was my most important daytime activity, back on the island when I was feeling kind of isolated and loved to stay inside our tropical, dark wooden house.

 

Here in Spain life is so very different. Now that my husband is home everyday, we get up later and spend more time doing nice things together, meeting friends, attending many activities of our club. However, despite all these nice things, I miss the creative part and plan to spend more time at making, no matter what ...

 

 

 

 so I started with this toilet bag, or bag to stuff all kind of little things that can usually be found throughout one's house

 

 

in April there will be a market at our club and I want to participate with my handmade greeting cards, and with some items like this bag, in various sizes. Now I am looking for some colorful zippers, I hope I can buy them at our local market. There is only one seller that might sell them in this region, so fingers crossed...

 

I forgot to look for them during my recent stay in Holland

 

Till next time,

 

Regina

What I did...

... is upcycling coasters!

 

These were coasters with a sturdy cork background, covered with very ugly, traditional Spanish images

 

Think bulls and fighting, think flamenco, think Madrid, just the kind of stuff that some people still think tourist want to take home (imho not) 

 

 

but I saw possibilities and in my ongoing attempts to beautify my surrounding

I cut out some pages of my favorite magazines

and just glued them on the coasters, let them dry and

put some heavy books on them for some hours

 

I then brushed on a layer of matte laquer as a finish and now they are ready for drinks!

 

 

they have become very me, I think...

the circles, the beads, the black and white, the natural colours

 

 

so far crafting

 

On the more artistic field I am working on a new painting that has to do with rust! It is quite a challenge, again, but after a difficult start, I am beginning to believe it might work out...

 

Later, dear reader, later...

 

Regina

Pillow makeover

Remember the dress from this post?

There were some remnants after I made yesterday's scarf...

 

 

and this pillow definitely needed more contrast, after being bleached by the

Spanish sun

 

 

so I auditioned the remnants by simply putting them over the pillow

 

 

... and then chose this piece.

Simply stitched by hand without ripping out any previous stitches,

the easy way

 

Enjoy the weekend

 

Regina

A different medium

Many years I have succeeded in refusing to work with different materials than fabric and paper...

 

It is not that I did not want to try, but knowing myself and my enthusiasm, I expected it to disturb my focus. I thought I had to make choices and thus it was fabric (quilts, sewing, art quilts) and paper (collage)

 

But about a year ago I let this selfimposed regimen go!

 

And started painting, more on that in future posts...

 

I have to say that it is nice to feel free to experiment with different media, so when I recently saw the decoration chain on this blog, I decided to give it a try.

 

 

 

there was a package of air drying clay left from our Caribbean period

(you see I was tempted already back then!),

and fortunately this material is also available in Spain

 

 so I made over twenty big beads, let these dry during two days and then painted them twice

 



 

the clay was white and I wanted it to become more or less concrete coloured. Then I remembered I had seen these little sample tins in one of the paint stores...

 

Most of their stock were empty tins (it looked so organized and impressive to me!), but there was one colour Down Pipe present in this size

so I now have completed this huge decoration chain and will certainly find a place for it, will show pictures then, ok?

 

 

and last but not least: this is how the recycled dress from this post turned into a scarf. I wore it with a sense of elegance (the drape is gorgeous!) yesterday on our 43rd anniversary diner in a lovely 'chirinquito' near the sea.

 

That's it for today, thanks for reading and enjoy your Wednesday!

 

Regina



After my 'sabbatical'

Well, dear followers and other readers of this blog, I am finally back!



After what seems like ages, but in fact is over a year, I am ready to restart blogging again. It has been, among very much activities in other areas, a time for me of hesitating. Should I close my blog? Let's wait some more...No, I am not ready for such drastic measures. Is someone missing this blog when nothing 'happens'? Not really either. With everything that is already being written on the web, with Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook etc., it sometimes felt like I really did not add anything interesting at all . But, while I regularly had a look at former posts I also felt like I myself was missing something: the journal aspect of Mostly Turquoise. I no longer can look back at my life, what I did then and there, and what I created at certain moments. And this is a big one for me!

 

So, after all this considering of pros en cons, I decided to give it another try.

 

Our life in Spain has come to a point that everyday life has gained a kind of rhytm again, and there seem to be less things that have to be done first, with the renovation of our house completed.

 

There is one thing that has come to full bloom since last year. My love for thrifting! After our Caribbean period, we are once again living in an area in Spain where there are few shopping possibilities, let alone fabric stores. But: we do have charity shops, thrift stores, and these are the places one can find real gems with some luck (and an artist eye, I think).

 

The dress below is my most recent find. It is sewn on the bias, so one size fits all...

And it fits, but of course does not flatter me at all, I am feeling like a pig in it. But the fabric is beautiful, for me it has the right contrast, favourite colours black and neutral, the kind of cotton is perfect for decorating. My first idea was to cut it up and sew some pillows (but there are already tons of these...), then a scarf came in mind (the same here, but a girl never has enough scarves is it?) 

 

 

 

the dress like I bought it

 

 

this detail I immediately loved

 

 

on the table after I cut it open.

 

This is where I will start from. First I have to find the threads where there is no bias (don't know the proper word for it, ont the grain or something?) and then cut it in as big a size as possible.

 

This was it for now, I am happy to be here again and hope you can appreciate it too. Thanks for your patience. One big, final THANK YOU for Rayna, you know why...!

The weather is wet and grey...

... inside the house it is warm and cozy.

 

Pictures I made a while back in a friend's home at the island. Metal sun in terracotta dish, black and white patterns are details of two vases in her kitchen.

Combining naturel with black and white: always attractive and never boring me...

 

no punishment to be inside, with my pictures, computer and PS

 

Have a lovely Sunday!

 

Regina

Black and white

Yesterday I downloaded a new app on my tablet. It is something I have wanted for a long time, but somehow I never did it, until now! Now I can finally edit the pictures I made with my tablet right away and put them online, without having to upload it via my desktop.

What  a find, you may think, since people have been doing this for 'ages' already.... I admit, I am no computer expert, but I feel proud to have figured it out myself. Today's picture shows some of my Moroccan plates in black and white, wheres in real they are blue/burgundy on a cream basis.

 

This day will be spent by moi with some gardening, some sunbathing (!) and hopefully finishing the collages I wrote about yesterday. Enjoy your Tuesday Wednesday!

Just black and white please

maybe because the Sint Maarten weather is grey these days,

as much as I love colours, sometimes it is only neutrals that I want...

driftwood from the beach

detail of a journal page

Australian island with river

detail of safari style cushion

and finally some other beach finds

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day!

Regina

Current work

It all started some weeks ago with discovering a how-to of making shishas.

(you can read more about them here)

Since we do not have much possibilities to buy this kind of materials on the island, I started to look at what I could use for the big mirrors instead. Scarcety can be good for creativity...

Instead of the large sequins I now use the bottom of peanut cans, the Pl-brand that is. I draw tiny circles with a small Antillean coin and cut them with an old pair of scissors. To make them less sharp, I sand the sides et voila: mirrors!!

The cushion above is one of my first completed works and boy do I love it!

I can not show it in full, because it might be a Christmas gift or something for sale at Art in the Park next February, don't know yet...

detail of another cushion, cotton and silk, rather earthy colours, machine applique and hand worked sishas. This work is not finished yet, some 20 more shishas to go...

detail of a more contemporary panel, inspired by one of the 'bols' at this site,
ready to be made into a wall hanging

On another note: we are approaching the end of the 2010 hurricane season and I am glad that we only had Earl passing the island. I cannot even imagine the damage a category 4 or 5 hurricane might cause, seeing what already this one did to infrastructure and houses.

Another reason to be very thankful!
And now we have winds again, and cloudy and greyish weather some days, that are good for getting back my energy and inspiration!

I hope you have a wonderful Sunday,
thank you for visiting today!
Regina

Working

on this, now ready for the next step

feeling full of energy and inspiration...

more after the weekend, so please keep coming back and in the meantime:

have a great weekend!

Regina

Painted quilt

In this post I showed the above quilt. It was too neutral to my taste, lacked a hint of color.

A visiting friend agreed and when both of us took a detailed look at the quilt's fabrics, we came up with this rusty color. And yes, when the bubbles had been emphasized I could not resist to add some bronze acrylic paint too. I like it this way, it can be hung and shown, but I don't think it is for sale because I see it somewhere in my home, sometime...

Thanks for visiting!

Experimenting results

In November last year I have been experimenting with painting the fabrics after the quilt has been finished. If you are new here, more can be seen here and here

This first picture I have shown before. I must say that I liked the quilt already here and really had to stick to my goal, or I would not have dared to do it!

However, it did not meet the image or idea I had in my head, so I started to paint...

Painting such a thing as a finished quilt feels like committing a sin, that is if you do it on a beautiful quilt, o.k. let's say a quilt that has been made for it's own beauty, for the patchwork pattern or the colours of the fabrics, the overall design.

But this experiment was to create a canvas first and then paint. So I put aside my traditional quilters attitude and a wash of very diluted Peynes Grey went on

followed by a Burnt Sienna in the bottom and Neutral Grey in the top part.
Hmmm...mostly an artist's eye is veiled somewhat upon viewing his/her own work, but I had to say that this interim result was downright ugly. Looking up close there were some parts of the quilt that still looked promising (to me!), but at first glance: Bah.
So the quilt has been laying during our holidays, and I have had plenty of time to think about it. Last week a friend of mine visited and I had the courage to show my failure. And while telling about the process and the joy I felt in the former small works and the pleasure how they came out, I decided to give it another try. It was this or throwing the whole thing away, so what was there to loose was the question

This afternoon the moment of truth had come.
After mixing Mars Black and Peynes Grey I started brushing bravely.
Though it is not finished yet (I think) it is getting more in the direction of my goal, you can see that the different fabrics all take the paint in their own way.
The quiltwork consists partly of a cross pattern of bubbles, one in vertical and one in horizontal direction. Maybe I will emphasize these bubbles slightly by painting them neutral of off white.
To be honest I must say that it took quite some courage to show my struggle with this experiment to you. But I know there are many talented and accomplished artists on the Web ,so I really hope to receive some feedback!
Longing to hear from you,

Regina

Working on this (4)

Detail of my experiment of earlier this week,

right as it is now, after some layers of acrylic paint

Oh boy!

I told you it would totally change and

it is not finished yet

By the way: I almost missed the Oasis of the Seas, due to an extended visit to the hairdresser. Was able to photograph it when the ship left the harbour and as the sun had already set, the results are bad. Next week Wednesday there will be another chance, but of course there is only one maiden trip, alas! For what I could see in the pinkish dusk the ship looked ugly, and of course huge

But I like my highlights :) !

Working on this (3)

the view from our veranda this morning,

cats and dogs

so I sip my ice coffee and

continue quilting
...

Working on this (2)

Quilting, quilting...

Working on this (1)

This time I have a plan, more or less :)

it is only the beginning and may look totally
different when it's finished
so stay tuned...

Black and white!

Yesterday one of my rare artfriends on the island came to visit me. We talked and talked, about life, about family and of course about art. Besides being a gifted painter she is making the most wonderful reconstruction art. Like me she loves to use all kind of materials that had a life before and recycle them into new works of art. We also have in common that we work in a spontaneous, intuitive way, being inspired by what we see and feel for a great part. We had a wonderful time together!

As our discussion about art is still lingering on with me this morning , I am also contemplating on the week that is almost over.

For me it has been a productive week, on various levels. I have started making collages again, you can see them in my latest posts. Have been sewing clothes, finished art quilts and only have to put on the sleeves.

What has all this hopscotch of topics have in common, you wonder?

Well, to revert to the title of this post: they are in black and white.

Though I am a truly colourful person (or so they say...)

I sometimes just crave B & W!

So as a tribute to black and white and to close this post in style

I chose these pictures

chalkboards are an alltime favorite, oh, and tapas, of course (what about some black olives, mmm?)

this painting can be seen on the backside of a restroombuilding (!) on one of the island's favorite beaches. Did I mention before that art is not a priority on SXM?

Lichen on some huge boulders that you pass when walking to
Guana Bay (another beautiful beach for walking, too wild and dangerous to swim)

detail of an old wall of a building at Fort Amsterdam

that I intend to visit again this weekend

detail of wallpaper in a shopwindow in Vancouver last summer

Ah, the joy of being an artist, always finding treasures and beauty, wherever you look and wherever you are!

Enjoy your weekend...