A new painting and how to clean raw beeswax!

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!

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

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!

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.

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! ;)

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 though. I know from experience that my creativity will return some day but I have to be patient and especially be kind to myself! 

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!!!