circles

It's a bit quiet over here.

Not that I'm doing nothing ...

but there is not so much to tell you about

because lots of things are just still 

in progress

I simply love circles,

anywhere

the moon, mandalas, Alliums ...

Right now the garden is "exploding" with

Alliums !

True purple sensation !

Allium Roseum just all around the garden

And in a wee corner next to the door

Allium Christophii ....

(yes, I put some dead heads  in the pots some years ago)

More circles out of fabric

waiting to become a necklace

like this

a bit of this, a bit of that ....

After the wonderful day in Leiden

I did some new layers on the painting,

started on a textile necklace,

got my last piece of the felting exchange

and 

we had a little birthday boy !

(so lots of fun things)

THREE years old

is our youngest grandson

Still a bit groggy from his afternoon nap ...

but unpacking the presents with many helping hands

cured him fast enough.

*

More layers on the painting

 Getting more and more to its final state

*

It was really fun to make these little balls

like tiny pumpkins ...

together they will make a fun necklace.

*

In the mail came a well known (by now) big envelope

with a small felted piece

of the felting exchange.

(I thóúght I still missed one, but wasn't sure from whom)

Ahhhh, Caroline, it doesn't matter at all

that it was so late :

it's here now and I love it !

Thank you !

(she apologized because they have been rebuilding their house

and all her stuff is packed up in boxes .......

oh my .... terrible 

hmmmm ... you love it when it's finished 

but you don't want to be in the process !!!)

*

Two days ago I took this wonderful bearded Iris from the garden

and put it in a little vase inside,

where the bud opened up really quickly.

Some gnawing animal took a bite ...  and left it hanging there

(probably a rat, the water is near the garden and there was also an emptied duck egg)

So beautiful !

The smaller (sibirica) Irises start to bloom too

(they're a bit more purple in real life)

Mmmmmm ... Alliums !

And last but not least :

Ginkgo in his new green leaves

standing brightly in the late sunshine

Leiden - Textile Festival

Ohhhhh my,

what a wonderful day we had today !

It was the first day (out of four)

of the really big Textile Festival ,

that took place in Leiden this year.

I went there with a Rotterdam and UK friend.

(We wanted to go by public transportation,

so for me that was : bike, boat, bike, train !)

It was a really sunny day 

so we started with a cup of coffee on the terrace.

(we didn't see much sun later)

Our first stop was the Pieterskerk.

There were many installations made by groups of people

in all kinds of techniques

Then there were i.a. the pieces for the competition

"Water - Land"

There were some pretty amazing artworks !

(and there were so many more !!!)

One of the very special things I definately wanted to visit 

on the textile-route through town,

was the kimono exhibition of 

Itchiku Kubota

in the Japan museum SieboldHuis

I had seen his (much bigger) exhibition in Rotterdam in 1989,

it was GREAT to see (some of) them again

It is such a pity, but fully understandable,

that there is so little light in the rooms to see all the beautiful details well !

(ha, I think my camera took a better look than me !!!)

These are truly amazing works of art !!!

(ahhhh that rippled surface ...

and not allowed to touch it)

We visited some more places (nowhere near all of them),

I met some friends of the felting - exchange,

and then headed back to the station

(Ouch ... my feet and knees were killing me by then)

What a beautiful day we had !

:-)

a process

Last week I started on a bigger painting (50 x 50)

I did a new layer of colour

(on an old sunset try-out)

Over the new layer I did some stamps and dripping,

then I covered it with masking tape strips,

then a thin wisp with a roller.

             Part of and then                   all of the masking tape removed.

Yet another bit of paint over it with the roller.

Then I took my home made foam stencils and masks.

Slowly the first layer, the drips and the tape is disappearing ...

Now it is standing against the wall and waiting for me to proceed.

(oh ... the "before")

*

But today, I just made another cuff 

(and brooch)

for a new dress I have

:-)

sunny Sunday

(and a lovely Mother's Day)

5 - 5 - 15 ..... Liberation Day

Remembering 

harsh times, we only know from the horrid tales.

Being aware that we can live in freedom now

thanks to so many unknown people.

But unfortunately

not everywhere is freedom nowadays 

...

This May day is usualy a nice spring day :

today there was only a tiny bit of sunshine and lots of rain.

Ha, the Wisteria is called "Blue Rain" in Dutch

(though this is a white variety ...)

A good day to continue my little paintings.

These were some of the stencils and masks

I cut out of the foam sheets.

(much better to have my own ones now instead of the one from the shop)

It was good to work on more than one.

That way the paint can fully dry on one 

and you can start thinking about what to do with the next.

Several layers already there.

( When I was halfway through with number two 

I deeply regretted what I did there .....

so the only solution was : to paint over it again !

Ahhhhh that's the fun part of working with acrylics,

you can always start all over again  ;-)

And now with only a thin layer to tone it all my mistakes down

I was much happier with it )

My Leaf Moon got a spiral over its face

(so the blue leaf is less pronounced)

and lots of spidery stars around it.

(I'll wait a bit and see if I want to add more (or not) )

*

Forgot to show what the Little Bigfoot Rabbit looked like 

when it was finished by granddaughter

(preparing to take a picture herself, with little brother

taking notice)

Ta - daaaaaah !

(ha, though he has big feet, he is nowhere near as tall

as the Bluebells !)

one leads to the other

Like I told last time I sought out my acrylics

to paint the canvas on which

Summer Solstice was mounted.

(it is in its new home on the wall now)

There still were some small canvases in my stash

and I gave them all a first layer of paint.

Today I started to play with them some more

Playing around with masking tape was the second step

I'm sure I will forget to take pictures

of each and every step

.....

I used some stencil I bought  (together with my Gelliplate)

but I'm making my own masks and stencils now out of thin foam.

For some reason I don't like to use the ones

everyone can buy in the store :

it has to be more "me"

*

And ohhhhhh yes, it is

MAY

The garden is mostly green on the ground

(with lots of forget-me-nots)

but the trees are the best at the moment.

Ginkgo and Malus in the late evening sun

I  LOVE  May !