Feathered Friends

... is this week´s theme for the SPA challenge.

Bow Legs

This week´s Three Muses challenge is "Couples" - well, mine isn´t too happy it seems ...

(All images by Finecrafted Designs.)

More Fun with Hidden Vintage Studios!

As you can see, I´ve had much fun with both the first image kits from Hidden Vintage Studios!

(Did you know that their images come as jpgs too?)

The collage below is a second piece made with the Siblings Rivalry kit (all additional images by Tumble Fish Studio).

The two collages above were made with the Red Headed Stepchildren kit, and the first one features two freebies you can download from the new Hidden Vintage Studios blog here.

My first collage "Wearing of the Green" illustrates a popular Irish song about those times when wearing shamrocks as patriotic Irish symbols was forbidden (all additional images by Tumble Fish Studio).

The second one is quite unusual for me because I´ve used a fantasy setting here ... (background by Mr. Whiskers, lightning by Downunder Studios, bird by Tumble Fish Studio, all at DeviantScrap; crow by Angela Blanchard, lizard by pixelmusic, brushes by Fall´n Stock).

... and smile!

Yes, if you love really good vintage images, you should smile today because Melissa and Tracey have launched their "Hidden Vintage Studios" at DeviantScrap today, yeah! Congrats to both with this piece using their wonderful girls image.

(additonal elements by Tumble Fish Studio, glass negative by Christina Renee)

Daffodils

As I´ve never been to Wales, I had no idea that the daffodil is the national flower of Wales and St. David the patron saint. I´ve found some very interesting information online when I googled this week´s SPA theme ... and decided to ignore it, LOL! Well, I´m a reader and a lover of poetry, so of course it had to be William Wordsworth´s famous poem for my postcard! (What a pity that a single card is just too small to use all verses ...)

(Credits: envelope by Jen Reed, Daffodil by Dover Images, Lady on couch by Finecrafted Designs, brushes by HJR and FidgetResources.)

The Power of Words

Here´s a little handbound booklet made from torn watercolour paper, then stenciled and stamped, using several quotes I like. You´ll find it in the latest March/April issue of Somerset Studio (page 117). See the front cover above and the back cover below, then the three spreads.

Domestic Goddess

Another digital collage with a HouseHold theme - goes well with the latest episode of "Desperate Housewives" I´m just watching ;-)

(All images by Tumble Fish Studio at Deviant Scrap.)

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Today, we´ve had a few rays of sunshine in the afternoon, and if you close your eyes, sometimes the air begins to feel like spring ... just the right time to join a Garden themed ATC swap!

Desperate Housewives, Episode 3748

For a city girl like me, the vision of neighbours watching each and every one of your steps and actions is horrible. But the life of this lady in this spread for my altered book "Untold Stories" turned out even worse: She once dreamed of a quiet life with her husband and daughter in a cute little house, but now her husband has left her, and her dream has turned into a personal nightmare under constant supervision of her neighbours ...

(All images are by Tumble Fish Studio at DeviantScrap.com.)

Wasted Life

Another digital collage with the HouseHold kit mentioned below - this quote could be hanging on my wall!

(All images are Tumble Fish Studio. Brushes by Inobscuro and Brusheezy, textures by Shadowhouse Creations.)

Spring-Cleaning

Did you know that I hate housework, especially cleaning? And above all I don´t have a bit of talented for doing it ... seems like making a mess is much more my business ;-) And I even hate to clean up my "art table" because I don´t find anything when it´s all clean and tidy!

Maybe that was the inspiration for my digital collage playing with the new "House Hold" kit by Tumble Fish Studio!?

(additional images are also Tumble Fish Studio at Deviant Scrap - Freestyle 2 and Greg´s Anatomy)

Find Your Nest

This is my entry for this week´s Three Muses challenge themed "Art in the Round". All images by Tumble Fish Studio.

Some Fish

A few years ago when I was in Berlin I took this photo of a beautiful window that I´ve now used with Nancy Donaldson´s great encaustic textures (you´ll find them here if you want to play).

(The first picture is the original photo, the second one shows the result after using three different encaustic textures.)

Gothic

Here´s my entry for this week´s SPA challenge themed Gothic.

All images by Downunder Studios, textures by Shadowhouse Creations.

Smile!

I´ve had fun playing with some Tumble Fish digital kits today ...

(For those who do not understand French: The paper in the background announces a circus act about decollating someone.)

Imagine If ...

... you could take a master class with any artist you know, dead or alive, who would it be and why? This has been one of the most difficult questions in Seth Apter´s survey "The Pulse" this year, and I had a hard time with my decision. It could have been Sandro Botticelli, Adolph Menzel, or Horst Janssen, artists whose work I admire, but I´ve chosen someone else. Just have a look at Seth´s blog today to find out the answer.

Call it Steampunk!

Whenever I´ve been working digitally for a while, I can´t wait to get my fingers inky again and spend some time with my stamps! So here are my ATCs for a Steampunk swap I´m in.

Texture Playing

Here´s my entry for Nancy´s latest texture challenge. I´ve used five different textures here. The quote is by Jonathan Swift. (The picture below is the original photo of course.)

Strength

One last digital art journal page from my online class that has ended on Sunday ... This one was made with class material only, and I´ve had much fun playing with it for the prompt "Strength".

Escape

The difficulty of today´s Digital Art Journal page themed "Escape" was to use a pre-made PS action called "Vintage" that changes your photo dramatically ... I tried it on several photos but couldn´t find one that looked as good as my old school, so I decided to go back to the days of 1983 when school was out forever, and added a few verses of Supertramp´s song "School" (as one of our tasks was to journal onto the photo).

Top border by Beth Rimmer, ticket by Roben-Marie Smith, swirl by Manuela Zimmermann.

Listen

My page for the "Listen" prompt was made with class material only, the quote is by Epiktet.

Music

I´ve been a bit behind with my digital art journal pages but tried to catch up today, so here´s my page for the "Music" prompt. (Remember that we have to follow distinct lessons and techniques for our pages on lesson days.)

Quote by Miguel de Cervantes, bird from Angela Blanchard, egg and feather from Holliewood Studios.

Heritage

My digital art journal page illustrating the prompt "Inherited" doesn´t need any words, I think.

(background and stencil are my own, paintbox from Deviant Scrap collab kit, canvas and note from Jofia Devoe)

Darkroom

Losing sight of the possibilies in life by only concentrating on everyday problems is a fear I´ve always felt and do still feel today, so here´s my digital art journal page for today´s prompt "Fear". Don´t ask for the source of the quote, you´ll find several sources online, but that doesn´t matter to me.

(Credits: Holliewood Studio)

Golden Dragon

As I´m participating in Shannon´s Mixed Media Postcard swap, I´ve made a mail art postcard for this week´s SPA challenge theme "Dragons". This one is collaged, stenciled, stamped and embossed, and it´ll be in the mail to one of the other 160 participants soon!

Sunday Mornings

I´ve struggled a bit with today´s digital art journal page themed "Favourite", not because I couldn´t come up with some favourite things but because we had to use hanging elements (and hand draw the hangers), outline type, scanned corrugated cardboard, and a hand drawn shape with circle cut outs ...

(birds postage stamp from SherrieJD, book from Manuela Zimmermann, rest is from our class kit)

Home Again

My Thursday Digital Art Journal page is more personal than you´d probably think - yes, I´m a homebody, and there´s nothing better than coming home.

She Knew

Here´s my Wednesday Digital Art Journal page themed "Introspection". Swans, wing and moon by Holliewood Studios, the rest is from our class kit.

A Friend

Here´s my digital art journal page for today´s prompt "Friend".

I´ve tried to illustrate the fact that I´ve found many dear art friends from the other side of the pond since I´ve started blogging - and I´ve found out that some of them are very dear to my heart, just as my friends that are close to me.

(I´ve used elements from TumbleFish Studio, Dawn Inskip, Lauren Bavin and Irina Alexeeva as well as our class kit.)

Pastels

In between all those journal pages it´s time for another texture play for Nancy Donaldson´s texture challenge. I´ve used a photo that I´ve taken three weeks ago in an art supplies shop and put some mystery in it by using six textures with different blending modes (Nancy´s textures encaustic, pole 8, garage, crackle, pole 4, and pole 1). Before adding the textures, I adjusted brightness/contrast and levels, and finally I used a mask frame on the whole picture. Did you recognize a shelf with pastels when you had a first look at the textured photo?

Don´t Give Up

Today´s lesson 4 page for our Digital Art Journal has the prompt "Goals", so mine illustrates the goal of not giving up but reaching for the stars instead. This one has been difficult because Photoshop crashed several times when I tried to fill in the type loops with colour ... but as this has been one of the learning targets (besides soften a background, warpen a text etc.) I DIDN´T GIVE UP!

The lady´s shape is from Hollie Haradon, the rest is from our class kit.

Beautiful.

Today´s prompt for our Digital Art Journal is "Beautiful". At first I had no idea what to do with it because I´m more on the weird side, but then I´ve had fun making this page with a painted over background from Tangie Baxter, an eye from Hollie Haradon and a border by Marcee Duggar. The dog is taken from one of my own physical art journals, so maybe you recognize him ...

Live Forwards

Here´s my digital journal page for our third lesson; the theme was Family. I´ve tried to illustrate a quote by Kierkegaard that means that you have to know where you come from but have to go and find your own way.

I See ...

... has been a difficult journal prompt for me - but here´s my Thursday page for the Digital Art Journal class, using the class kit including the font we got from our own handwriting (how cool is that?).

Happy at Home

I´m a bit behind with my Digital Art Journal class, so here´s my page for the Wednesday lesson themed "Home". The quote is by Samuel Johnson.

Her Treasure

Today´s journal prompt for the Digital Art Journal class is "Treasure" - here´s what I´ve made with it. (Vintage woman is my own photo, background self dyed book page, circus lady from TumbleFish Studio, all other elements are from the class kit).

Prepare To Live Again

I´ve started another online class today: Jessica Sprague´s Digital Art Journaling class. Our first assignment was to make a heart themed journal page using angled text, masks and outlines, dingbats and a stroked border. I´ve learned a lot in this first lesson and am quite satisfied with my heart page now. The quote I´ve used is a poem by one of my favourite writers, Anna Achmatova.

With All My Heart

This is a birthday card for a very special friend, made with the new PaperArtsy stamps by Lynne Perrella.

Doodling Unleashed Class

I´ve had fun Traci Bautista´s free online class at Strathmore tonight - above you see my result of week one. I´ve used a Moleskine journal instead of a large Mixed Media paper here, but it worked quite well, it´s just much smaller (but still 16 x 5 inches / 41 x 12,7 cm for the whole spread) than what Traci uses in her class. There´s still plenty of time to join Traci in her class here.

More Nick Bantock Style ATCs

Here are the last of my ATCs for a Nick Bantock Style ATC swap. If you´ve missed the first six ATCs for that swap you can find them here.

Have a Zetti new year!

May the new year be like Zetti artwork: sometimes dark but with enough colour to give us hope, a bit adventurous and surprising, but with some constants to hang on to and navigate ... and creative of course!