Anniek's Art

A fresco jar

2012-03-12T11:57:00.001+01:00

Another project for Joyce's workshop is finished! It's a fresco jar with cute little birdies I copied from Marjolein Bastin.

I'm feeling really tired at the moment. I think I need more sun!!

Another fresco.

2012-03-04T15:10:00.001+01:00

This is my newest fresco for Joyce's workshop! It's a sample chart with 3 different kind of surfaces using plaster of paris. The first bird is made on a surface with only plaster of paris. The second bird is made on plaster of paris mixed with sand and the last one is made on plaster of paris mixed with dirt (black sand) from my garden. The birds are copies of Marjolein Bastin's work.

Mermaid fresco box

2012-02-21T14:46:00.001+01:00

My latest project from Joyce's workshop! It's a fresco made on a small wooden box which I have found in a thrift shop some time ago.

I finally get some grip on how to obtain the watery look!!!
It's a perfect altered box to keep some of my ATC's!
Next lesson is about working with and on plaster of Paris. You can even use this on an art journal page!! Can't wait to get started as soon as I've found the plaster of Paris I must have somewhere in my stash!

Cherub fresco

2012-02-18T22:49:00.000+01:00

I finished another fresco from Joyce's workshop, this time it's a cherub. This fresco is a bit bigger then the first two I've made and it's made on canvas (24x30 cm or 9.45x11.81 inches).

Close up of the face!

Because the colors looked a bit harsh and wouldn't go away with water I took some sandpaper and sanded the fresco. So that's why you can see some white lines. I kind of like them!

I'm already working on my next project. It's a wooden box with a plastered lid. I hope to finish it in the next couple of days.

A month later

2012-02-14T22:26:00.000+01:00

It's a month and 2 days ago that my dad passed away. Sure we have known for a couple of years that he had cancer, but he did so very well until one month and a week before he died! In a way we weren't expecting him to die this fast, although it was always somewhere in my mind that we were going to lose him sooner or later. In the end though it suddenly went very fast.
Well life goes on and we're doing okay, even my mother.
I started a new online workshop from Joyce van der Lely a couple of weeks ago. It's all about making fresco's. It's a fun technique but also difficult.
The first fresco I made is this owl.
Doesn't he look cute?!

And this is my second fresco: an angel.

I really need to make a better photo of this one! IRL it looks much better!

Rest in Peace dad

2012-01-14T21:19:00.003+01:00

April 17th 1928 - January 12th 2012

Short break.

2011-10-27T20:46:00.000+02:00

Last week my sweetheart and I went to Germany for a couple of days. We went to Zorge in the Harz. It's about 450 km from where I live. We both badly needed a short break. Zander stayed with one of his coaches at her home. He doesn't like to travel.
We were very lucky with the weather and visited lots of different places. Because we're not used to walk in the mountains we only made a couple of short walks, but even then we had sore muscles.

On Monday we went to Goslar. A city with lots of Fachwerk houses. My sweetheart needed some new walking shoes, so we bought those too.

On the way back to Zorge we stopped to take pictures of a small waterfall.

After we returned home and had Diner, we went for another short walk near the apartment.

On Tuesday we first went for a short walk near Zorge. There was a small stream, a waterfall and a lake. It was very charming.

After lunch we went to a small town called Stolberg known for it's Fachwerk houses and castle. In this castle used to live Juliana van Stolberg (1506-1580). Our Queen Beatrix is a descendant of Juliana van Stolberg.

They were renovating the castle.

On Wednesday we went to a nice sauna in Bad Lauterberg. We first looked around in the city and then took the cable way to go up the mountain. We had a cheap but delicious lunch in the restaurant. The sauna was great, with an Aufguss every half hour. When we came home I felt very lazy and we went to bed early.

The next day I was feeling great and although it was rainy at first, it turned out to be a wonderful day with lots of sun. We went to the Brocken (highest mountain of Northern Germany) by steam train. We left our car on a parking-lot in Schierke and walked up the mountain to the train station. It took us about 15-20 minutes because it was very steep. When we left the station of Schierke the sun was shining but by the time we reached the top of the mountain it was foggy and there was snow! We found out later that the fog is there for about 300 days per year. Although we didn't get a nice view over the Harz it was fun anyways! It was freezing cold on top of the mountain but there was a guy running past us in a t-shirt and short pants. He was one of several people who runs up and down the mountain every day!!! When he was passing us the second time (still running!) he had a sandwich with sausages and something to drink in his hand. On our way down to Schierke I took pictures standing on the balcony just behind the steam locomotive.

After this experience we left for Rubeland where there are 2 caves open for tourists. We went to the Hermann's cave. It was nice but not as impressive as the cave I once visited in France.
The plan was to visit the old town of Quedlinburg but it was getting late and we changed our plan and decided to go to the Rosstrappe (cliffs) instead. It was too late to also go to the Hexenplatz, famous for gatherings of witches! I would love to go to the Harz again during Spring or Summer. There's still a lot for us to see!

On Friday we had to go home again. We started out to take small roads to visit Hameln. Hameln is known from the story about the Ratcatcher. There was a large Mall (4 stores) in the center of the city (very nicely built we thought because they kept the outer walls of the old buildings that used to be there, but the inside was very modern) and I bought myself some new boots. We also did some last shopping in the supermarket before we returned home.

Have a colorful Fall!!

Something old turns into something new!

2011-09-19T11:33:00.001+02:00

Just finished collaging 2 deer figures I bought some time ago. Cor and I went to a pumpkin market 1 week ago where there was this lady from Bontgeblokt, who collaged paper mache figures with just any kind of paper (wrapping paper, paper from magazines, etc.). I bought a reindeer from her and collaged that one first with the paper that went along with it.

I liked doing it so much that I immediately wanted to continue with a new project. I saw the deer figures I bought some time ago at Action and decided to collage them. They could use some color! I just used wrapping papers (about 4 different ones for each animal) and wallpaper glue.

You could collage lots of other things you don't like anymore. Make sure to protect the paper with varnish once you are done with collaging!

Girls rule!

2011-09-07T21:05:00.000+02:00

And here's my latest mixed media painting for Suzi Blu's Lalala class! This one was a bit of a struggle and I'm not very excited about how it turned out, but I show it anyway.

This is how I started. I used a copy of an image from a book with images from the fifties and collaged it on a canvas.

Then I collaged the 2 girls in the middle of the painting and collaged all kind of different papers around them.

After that I used all kind of different techniques to finally come up with this:

As I wrote before, I'm not really happy with this painting myself. What do you think?

New painting!

2011-08-29T16:33:00.001+02:00

I just finished my latest mixed media art painting for the Suzi Blu class LaLaLa!

This is also a painting I loved to make!! There had to be a bike and a fence in this painting and you had to use a sentence from a children's book.

I used a sentence from the book Harry, the Wild West Horse. Because it was about a boy and his horse I had to change the sentence: "Thomas loved to feel the wind blow through his hair" into "I love to feel the wind blow through my hair" Sara said. From another book I cut out the name Sara.

I made the fence myself (couldn't find the fence Suzi used over here in my country) from some white card board and thin wire. After I finished making the fence I painted all of it with white gesso.

This painting is about me when I was a child. I loved to feel the wind blow through my hair when I was riding my bike! Red and blue were my favorite colors growing up.

Here's a detail of the painting where you can see the glitter paint I used:

Going healthy!!

2011-08-24T15:21:00.001+02:00

Today I picked up my first paper bag with organic vegetables. I have the Holland bag for 2 persons with only veggies from my country. This week there are 6 different kind of veggies in the bag. You can't choose upfront what kind of veggies you would like to have, so it's always a bit of a surprise. Of course all vegetables are from the season!

Here's a photo of my bag:

Starting on top left and going clockwise: savoy cabbage, little gem, chard, tomatoes, carrots (in 3 colors!) and fennel.

I already have eaten some of the savoy cabbage, the little gem and the tomatoes. It tasted delicious!!! There's plenty of vegetables for a whole week for 2 persons and even more and it costs cheap (€7,95) in comparison to the vegetables you can buy at the organic food store. All vegetables are freshly picked the day before you can pick up the bag at one of the many points of sales.

For Dutchies look over here for more information about the bag and where you can get it!

A new painting and how to clean raw beeswax!

2011-08-23T22:45:00.002+02:00

I finished a new painting for the Suzi Blu class LaLaLa. I already gave it away to a bee-keeper in my village who was very kind giving me a big chunk of raw beeswax a couple of weeks ago. More about that later on!
This is the painting I especially made for him:

I used a shadow box without the glass. I first put a thin layer of modeling paste on certain parts of the frame and than used a small piece of a thin sheet of pure beeswax with a honeycomb motif as a stamp. Let it dry and then put gesso over it. Let it dry again and cover with yellow paint (glazed) mixed with some gold Mica powder. Let it dry and finish with burnt umber (glazed).
For the painting I used a small wooden box. I covered the back with pieces from a page of Winnie the Poeh (where he climbs a tree and flies with a blue balloon to get some honey).

This is a detail of the frame I decorated myself.

And here you can see more clearly that I've used a shadow box.

The bee-keeper was very surprised and he liked the painting very much. He gave me a big hug and told me that if I'm in need for some more beeswax I can stop by anytime!

So this is my story about how I got in touch with this bee-keeper and how I made the raw beeswax suitable for using on my paintings:

On August 1st I went for a bike ride in the afternoon because the weather was finally warm and sunny again (we've had a horrible Summer this year in my country!). In the next village I saw a sign near a house that they were selling home made honey. The bee-keeper was mawing his lawn and I asked him if he also sold beeswax. He told me he had just given away all of his beeswax to a befriended bee-keeper who happened to live in my village. I had a little chat with him, thanked him for the information and bought a pot of honey. When I arrived back in my village I went to see this other bee-keeper and he gave me a chunk of filthy/raw beeswax for free!

So this is how my chunk of beeswax looked like before I cleaned it:

With a knife I scraped away a lot of the brown stuff. The bee keeper told me
that it's crystallized honey.

I then put the chunk of beeswax in a small casserole which I then put in a large casserole with water. I slowly heated the water without letting it come to boil.

I put a nylon stocking on top of a square plastic container and pored the melted beeswax through the stocking. All the filthy parts in the beeswax
stayed behind on top of the stocking.

I let the beeswax in the container rest for about an hour and then used a knife to cut it loose from the container and ... voila : a clean chunk of beeswax ready to be used for one of my next projects!

Finally something new to show you!

2011-08-01T21:29:00.001+02:00

A couple of weeks ago I started a new class at Suzi Blu's Les Petit Academy and I managed to make a couple of the assignments.

At first I made a meditating bunny. The new technique I learned was to make scratches in the beeswax and then rub on oil paint and wipe off most of it. Some of the oil paint (I used brown) will stay behind in the scratches.

The next assignment was making a dark colored petite doll. I loved making this painting! Again I used the same technique with making scratches, only this time I used a braider. The flower trim at the bottom costs a fortune at Pippoos but I think it's worth it!

After the second assignment I made a very small painting on wood of Suzi Blu and her pets.

And today I finished a similar painting on canvas of Suzi and her 2 doggies.

I'm not sure yet what my next project will be because I'm also still a member of Natalie's class: Woman and their Unicorns. She hasn't been very active for the last couple of months due to her final exams but is now ready to finish this class.

Garden update

2011-06-21T12:35:00.002+02:00

Summer started here with a rainy day! My garden loves it, I don't!! My body hates humidity because of the fibromyalgia. I hope we'll have better days with lots of sun very, very soon!

Last week I worked a lot in my back yard and this is how it looks.

I bought some new plants and replanted some of my old ones. I like the wooden stairs which I bought at a thrift shop last year.

This photo is taken from the other side. The old zinc bucket first belonged to my parents.

Another styled corner in my back yard.

The pink Clematis is blooming!!

I bought this fountain last week because I like the sound of calm running water.
At first the frogs that are living in the water basin (at least 5) were a bit afraid and they all jumped out of the water when I installed the fountain. One of them stayed a long time looking at this new item in his home.

The frog that was brave enough to stay and watch.

I also worked in my vegetable garden. Everything is growing so fast! Especially the potato plants. I used 8 potatoes with sprigs or shoots that I wanted to throw away because they weren't eatable anymore. At first I planted them in my square foot garden but there wasn't enough room for 8 plants so I had to replant them.

I planted 6 of them just outside my garden where they have a lot of space to make new potatoes.

In front there are 2 potato plants and 4 French beans.

Remember from my previous post how small the leaves were from the radishes, spinach and lettuce?

This radish looks ready to be eaten!

The first flower of the Nasturtiums that are growing near my square foot garden in front of the English wooden fence!

The zucchini also made flowers!!!

There's still a lot of work and growing to do in my garden!

Happy Summer!

Growing fast!

2011-06-07T11:21:00.003+02:00

Everything in my garden is growing fast. We've had a lot of warm and sunny days but also some rainy days.

Look!!

Garden 1 with Turkish spinach, lettuce (2 different kinds), radishes, red beets, Spring onion, strawberries. There is still room for the carrots, celery and more Spring onions.

Garden 2 with lots of herbs, potatoes and green beans.

The carrots, celery and Spring onions almost ready to be planted in garden 1.

Tomatoes are growing slowly but steadily. These are a low and hanging kind of sort of tomato.

The first flowers in one of the pumpkin plants.

The first red strawberry!

These are Sweet peas or Lathyrus.

The young animals are also growing fast. These young ducks are almost as big as their mom (on top).

And there's a new member added to the pond. First time ever that I've seen a young goose (from the large geese) been added to the population of pond animals in my neighborhood. Edited: I don't know what happened to the young goose but after a couple of weeks it suddenly was gone!

Proud parents and their young one. Some other young geese are in the background. These are from a much smaller type of geese (Barnacle Goose or in Dutch Brandgans).

Momma and her baby.

Daddy and his little one.

And finally I want to show you some photos of a strange creature I noticed in my back yard the other day.

At first I saw this:

It was very small. That's my finger and I have very small hands!

About 15 minutes later it looked like this:

Soon after I took this photo I went for a bike ride with Cor and when we returned home it was gone. We looked it up on the internet and it turned out it is a night-moth called the White Ermine. Never saw it before in my life!

This is how it looks like when it's fully grown:

This photo is made by: http://www.tomkruissinknatuurfotografie.nl/album/Vlinders/Nachtvlinders/slides/Tijgervlinder-1.html

Update.

2011-05-26T22:26:00.006+02:00

Things are slowly getting better! EMDR treatment is completed and I almost feel like my old self again, although I don't feel up to start or continue my creative projects yet. I'm still going to see the psychologist for some other issues I want to work on.

Not so long ago I started square foot gardening (in Dutch look over here)because I needed to do something with my hands. I made two wooden boxes (1.00mx1.20m and 1.00m x1.40m) and put them in my garden where there is just a couple of hours of sun. I'm not sure if it will be enough for the vegetables to grow but we'll see! I always wanted to have my own vegetable garden but with the fibro I thought it was impossible. Square foot gardening however is very easy for me to handle and I love to see how everything that I have sown is growing into small plants! So soon I will be eating veggies from my own garden!

And in my front yard I have put some pumpkins and zucchinis in holes in my lawn which I have filled with compost.

I also have some new neighbors. They moved in a couple of weeks ago.
I have 3 nesting-boxes around the house and they are all occupied with new families of great tits (2) and blue tits (1).

Creative despair! ;)

2011-04-28T15:07:00.000+02:00

Since I've started the EMDR treatment about a month ago it seems that I lack creativity. I just can't get to painting or drawing or mixed media art. I have been doing some crochet and have been working in my garden a lot tho. I know from experience that my creativity will return some day but I have to be patient!

When I went to see the psychologist I discovered that I'm again suffering from PTSS. It seems that once you've had a PTSS it is more easy to have it again when something unpleasant happens in your life. In my case it had to do with someone I completely trusted and who took advantage of me. I'm having an EMDR session every week and it is mind consuming. The good thing is that it already starts to feel less painful when I'm thinking about the moment that I felt used. In the beginning there was this big painful 'knot' in my stomach but this morning it felt less painful and much softer. Like the first time I went through EMDR, my body is telling me exactly how I felt when the bad stuff happened. Sometimes it's hard for me to find the words to describe how I felt or what thoughts went through my head, but my body remembers and gives me signs.

Celebrated my 54th birthday a couple of days ago! I wasn't in the mood for a big party and just asked Cor and his mother, my parents, a friend and 4 neighbors to stop by for some afternoon tea, cake, drinks and snacks. Zander and the lady who works with him on Tuesdays took care of the 'catering'. He did a great job and I was very proud of him! When I told him that, he gave me a big smile!

Sorry for not having some new photos of my art work! Be patient!!!

Spring is in the air

2011-03-27T18:58:00.006+02:00

Today was a beautiful day with lots of sun!! This afternoon we (Cor and I) went for a walk with the dog along a canal near my village and this is what we saw .....

..... a blue sky reflected in the canal (Noord-Willemskanaal) near Oudemolen;

we counted 11 Deer (actually fawn) enjoying the sun and eating some green grass;

a buzzard sitting on a pole. These photos are taken with a 12x optical zoom but the buzzard was still very far away.

And now I'm going to try and work on one of my creative projects. I have 3 projects that I'm working on at the moment.

1. Mermaid painting:

2. Angel:

Building up layers around the angel and dove.
I started this one a long time ago when I was in Suzi Blu's workshop Angels, but I never finished it. I decided last week to give it another try.

3. Drawing unicorns for Natalie's workshop Woman and their Unicorn:

Last week we learned how to make a frontal unicorn head and the one on the left is my first try. Haven't finished the shading yet!

PS Yesterday we went laser gaming with my son, 2 friends, Cor and I. It was still for my son's 17th birthday earlier this month. It was my first time ever and although I wasn't sure upfront of liking the game I thought it was lots of fun. The first game I even was the number one scorer!! And the second and last game I came in second. Today however I feel every muscle in my body aching and I also discovered lots of bruises on my arms and legs. But ... it was still fun!!

She now has a beard!

2011-03-15T17:36:00.000+01:00

Today I received 2 packages from a Dutch online web-store with some books about unicorns. I love the book called The Unicornis Manuscripts written by Michael Green!!! 'This curious and fascinating work combines a mystical temperament of the late Middle Ages with a purely Renaissance spirit of scientific inquiry.' Now this singular manuscript, bearing the cipher of an obscure philosophical brotherhood from fifteenth-century Italy, reveals in convincing details the habits, characteristics and natural history - even the origin - of this rarest of creatures.

When I was watching all the beautiful drawings and paintings I noticed that all the unicorns were having beards and I decided my unicorn would also get a beard. So here she is with beard!

My first unicorn sketch

2011-03-14T22:03:00.000+01:00

Last week I started with a new online workshop: Women and their Unicorn and today I drew my first unicorn!! She looks like a deer or fawn and has yin/yang beads in her hair. The yin/yang symbol suits her name and personality. The name of my unicorn is Pachamama Yemaya.

Pachamama or Mamapacha (pronounced as Patsjamáma) is the name for a goddess from South America/Peru. She stands for Healing/Wholing/Holy. For the people from Peru and Bolivia from before the Inca's she was the earth, worshiped in many different ways.

Pachamama opens her arms for you. It is time to give into her embracement. It is time to heal/become whole and to think about your own Holiness, to recognize yourself as a sacred being. Open yourself to Pachamama and you will be healed.

Yemaya (pronounced as ímazja) is an African-Caribbean Santeria-goddess of the sea. She stands for surrender. The people that come to Yemaya and surrender, will see their problems dissolve into the water of her embracement.

Surrender to Yemaya doesn't mean give in! You ask for help so that you can do what you want to do. Your wholeness will nourish if you can see that you can only surmount some difficult situations if you surrender and open yourself for something bigger.

This morning I went to see my family doctor to talk to her about how I feel lately. She knows I don't like to take pharmaceutical drugs so she suggested I go see the psychologist again, who helped me a couple of years back with the PTSS (post traumatic stress syndrome) I was suffering from. I'm going to make an appointment with her tomorrow. Maybe we have to do some EMDR again. We'll see!

New update!

2011-03-11T12:21:00.000+01:00

I've had a bit of a rough week, feeling extremely tired with lots of muscle pain and feeling very down. I'm going to see my family doctor on Monday and talk to her about how I feel lately. I've already had my blood checked but there were no abnormalities, except that I'm low in vitamin D (21).

I didn't work much on the painting and I'm not satisfied with all that I've done but I show you a photo of it anyway.

In the end I think that the carriage will be painted in gold and that I will sand it so that some of the brown and more layers of paint, which I will be adding soon, will shine through.
Don't forget to click on the photo for a closer look!

I have also started a new online workshop about Unicorns this week and I think that I will change the white horses in my mermaid painting into 4 mystical unicorns!
If you want to join me in this class and your budget is low or you know someone else who would like to join this workshop, go check Natalie's blog. She's giving away one free membership to Woman and their Unicorn! Leave a message on her post before March 14th!!!

Last update for this week.

2011-03-04T17:31:00.000+01:00

I have just had a little time for working on my painting.

I used a paper stencil and a small sponge to add some green to the hill.

Here I added some text stamping on the second hill. You can hardly see it but if you click on the photo you might be able to see it.

Finally I added some creamy white to the castle and painted the hand of the prince. The one that holds the mermaid on the left.

It was a sunny day today and this afternoon I took a long walk nearby my house. I saw a large group of deer laying in a field and I took some photos of them using my telephoto lens.

Update

2011-03-03T21:26:00.000+01:00

Found some time to work on the mermaid painting! This is what I added:

More snippets of yellow and green handmade paper.

A top made of fabric for the mermaid on the right and ...

... another top for the mermaid on the left.

That's all for today! I have been busy with preparations for my son's 17th birthday this Saturday and I also took a walk this afternoon when the sun was finally shining again. Even spotted 3 deer just outside the village!

Update on painting!

2011-03-02T22:00:00.000+01:00

I finally had some time to work on my mermaid painting! I'm not completely satisfied with what I did today so don't be surprised if it looks totally different in a couple of days!

I first cut out some paper roofs for the castle.

Here I painted the sky, the trees, hills and hair. I also changed the color of one roof of the castle.

Added some nice light green handmade paper snippets in the background and some purple paint to one hill. I wasn't pleased with that and ....

... covered it with light blue handmade paper snippets. I also added light yellow handmade paper in the background.
I hope I will have some time tomorrow to continue working on my painting.

No time to paint but ...

2011-02-25T20:14:00.002+01:00

... finally started to reorganize my art room and got rid of a lot of unnecessary stuff that I kept way to long!
So you have to wait a little longer for new updates on the painting!
I also inscribed for a new online workshop from someone I 'met' at Suzi's Academy: Natalie Neumann. The workshop is called: Woman and their Unicorn. Information about this workshop you can find on her website Vanillery Garden.

This is one of the projects we are going to make:

1) The Unicorn Bible: This will be your own personal illustrated book. Learn how to bind it, how to make paper look old and aged, how to illustrate unicorns with a pen in the old fashioned way and how to make a layout for every page. I will teach you calligraphy and how to make those beautifully adorned initial letters, like the monks in mid-century times used to do. The Manuscript will have a leather book cover with golden decorations and your own personal title to it.

Had some time to paint today so ...

2011-02-18T16:25:00.003+01:00

... here is what I painted!

First I glued down the faces with gel medium.

Here I added the carriage and horses that I printed on paper. I will glue them down permanently in a later stage of the painting.

Then I painted the bodies with a flesh color and finally ...

... I painted the sky and a little bit into the sea. It's not done by far but it gives you an impression about the making of this painting.
Have a nice weekend!

New painting in process!

2011-02-18T09:19:00.001+01:00

Finally started to work on my last painting for the La Sirena workshop from Suzi Blu. I first made a sketch on a small paper and then drew it on the canvas.

I then used spray bottles with acrylic paints, glimmer mist and lots of water to make the background. I made several layers!

After that I blocked out the figures, castle, sun, fish and starfish. I decided to use a printed picture of a carriage with horses to work with in a later stage so I didn't need to block out the carriage and horses that I drew.

I have started to work on the faces which will be collaged on the painting very soon.

Make sure to come back next week to see where this painting is heading!

She got lost

2011-02-15T17:49:00.000+01:00

You can loose your own true self in so many ways and get lost. But can you see that she's swimming out of the seaweed? Soon she'll be in the open water and free to move around as she pleases! That's where I'm heading too!

Yes, this page is about me. I felt lost for many, many years until I learned that I was suffering from PTSS (or PTSD) and was treated with EMDR. After this treatment I started to feel better and I'm still growing (with ups and downs).

PS: The lighter spot on her bra is the rainbow light of a crystal hanging in front of my window.

Wood burned box

2011-02-14T14:35:00.000+01:00

This lovely mermaid box used to be an old cigar box.

It was a little bit difficult to work on because it's not as smooth as birch plywood.

After wood burning.

Front view of the box. I'm keeping all my colored pencils in it!

Primitive angels

2011-02-14T13:58:00.001+01:00

Another mixed media painting on wood from a Suzi Blu workshop called Angels.

Yes, it's wood burned first!

A view from the left. My sweetheart made me lots of nice frames to work on!

My first Petite Dolls on wood

2011-02-13T09:59:00.000+01:00

This was my very first Petite Doll I made after I found Suzi Blu on the web in 2008.

Soon after I had finished my first mixed media painting I made this Oriental princess.

And here they are together.

Namasté

2011-02-12T21:15:00.001+01:00

This was the second mermaid I had to make for Suzi's workshop. Until now the largest painting that I've made (30x60 cm or 12x24 inches). It is made on birch plywood.

A closer look of her face and ...

... her upper body.

For a closer look you can also click on the photo and then click again.

Mermaid

2011-02-12T12:34:00.001+01:00

The last workshop I did at Suzi's was all about mermaids. This was my first painting and my first piece of art I finished off with beeswax. I really loved working with that (love the smell!) and it gives the painting much more depth. It's like she's really swimming in water. To show you how the wax changed the painting I'll show some photos of the process of making this painting.

I started with making the background and then collaging the mermaid on top of it.

I experimented with different tail colors. Added some modeling paste to her hair and the star fish. The little seahorse is a bead I happened to have.

This is the painting before I started to add the beeswax and some stars, wool and knitting thread.
Can you see the difference?

Not all who wander are lost

2011-02-12T12:09:00.000+01:00

Art journal page with a 3/4 face I originally wanted to use for a mermaid painting.

Fairy jar

2011-02-11T09:20:00.000+01:00

This is something I learned from Suzi Blu. You can find her You Tube tutorial over here!

A closer look with my garden house in the back.

Lots of glitter and stars on top of the wool!

Love, freedom, aloneness

2011-02-11T09:05:00.001+01:00

This is an art journal page in my Goddes and Poet journal I loved to work on! There are lots of layers in the background. I even used some tule. For a closer look just click on the photo and then click on it again!

Cover for Moleskine Art Journal

2011-02-11T08:59:00.000+01:00

Here's the cover of my Goddess and Poet art journal. I'm using Moleskine sketchbooks. They have very smooth and thick paper and are great for art journaling.

Love life, live love

2011-02-11T08:46:00.000+01:00

This is an art journal page I made about a year ago when I was taking a workshop from Suzi Blu: the Goddess and the Poet. Suzi gives wonderful workshops for a very reasonable prize. With the self guided workshops you can start whenever you want.

Count your blessings every day!

2011-02-10T21:06:00.001+01:00

This is an angel I made in my art journal. Be sure to count your blessings every day!! I sometimes forget and really needed this note to self!

Angel of love

2011-02-10T21:00:00.002+01:00

This is a painting on wood I made for my parents. Actually I made it for my dad who liked the small painting (love birds) very much, but I asked him if it was okay to give it to him and my mother when it was time for them to move into the home for the elderly. I got inspired for this painting by the talented and sweet Kelly Rae Roberts. All the buttons are vintage treasures from the button box I got from my mother.

Happy love birds

2011-02-10T20:50:00.002+01:00

I love this cute little painting!

Small mixed media art paintings

2011-02-10T20:47:00.001+01:00

I made these paintings on the backside of small wooden boxes that were used for embellishments. I like to work on small surfaces.

New blog first post

2011-02-10T16:42:00.002+01:00

For some time I was thinking about making a new blog just for showing others my artsy stuff. I'm not much of a writer you see, so blogging about my life is not really my thing.
In the future I want to make an Etsy shop where you can buy my artsy stuff online but for now I'm just putting photos of my art on this blog. If you're interested in buying just leave a comment and I'll contact you.

This is a small mixed media painting. I gave it to a friend who has been diagnosed with cancer (Kahler) not so long ago. Her positive reaction on this small token of friendship and support made me realize that receiving (or making) art can really help someone! Love you Ina! I'm sure that you can overcome the cancer with your positive attitude!