'The hills have eyes'....... for AJJ

Hello

I've always had a bit of an over active imagination, seeing pictures in clouds and abstracts and imagining that the birds understand me when I talk to them... and hoping believing there really are fairies somewhere in my garden and little magical worlds down below.
So for  AJJ 'anything with eyes'  today my artwork was created with oil pastels - I'll leave what I was thinking to your imagination :)

There's some amazing entries already for 

this month AJJ challenge 'Anything with eyes'

hope to see you there :)

Happy Saturday..

hope you have a wonderful weekend

Gill x

'In her eyes' for 'Anything with eyes' at AJJ

Hello

I am so thrilled to be hosting the challenge at Art Journal Journey this month where the theme I have chosen this time is 'anything with eyes'.  
I thought 'Anything with eyes' would give plenty of scope to come up with some fun ideas. 
Apart from the obvious, other things have 'eyes' also, like storms, needles and  potatoes - the potatoes were pointed out by my husband Dave who does all the cooking here and thus often surrounded by potatoes waiting to be peeled :)

Although not good at it, I do enjoy trying to draw/paint faces and sometimes birds too.. they're never perfect but I always have fun doing it.
So I of course had to start the month off with an A4 size mixed media face.

I used Reeves Gouache, Neocolour 2 water soluble crayons, Inscribe  coloured pencils and white Posca pen, then added a digital quote attributed to Audrey Hepburn.

The quote says....  ' The beauty of a woman  must be seen from in her eyes,

 because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.'

AJJ

I hope you will come join us at AJJ

 and have some fun with this theme.

Gill x

We're all ..... having fun!

Hello

I have a page for AJJ where  Chris from pearshapedcrafting   has chosen the theme of
'we're all/going'  
As I live not too far away from the sea means there is always fun to be had :)
And I admit it wasn't my finest hour when making this as the heat has made it hard to concentrate and use some products.
Used inks, inktense pencils and Brushos and some stickers which need using up.

Had 3 nights having to sleep downstairs in lounge as it was so hot it was impossible to sleep comfortably upstairs. 
Friday night it was still reading 32c/91f. Saturday night - yipeeee - was about 26c/79f - still warm but it was lovely to sleep in a bed and not scrunched up on a 2 seater settee.

Outside and downstairs temps early evening Wed 24th July

 If you are anywhere that's been really hot in the last week or so  (and even hotter than here)  I can really sympathise... 
I have given up trying to stick things down with tape, especially with card making as the tape often lifts up.
I have been die-cutting mainly but having just got some new Altenew stamps I had to try them out and stamp quickly before the ink dried on my stamps :)
I have plenty of cards to assemble when the weather gets cooler.
I took photos of the layouts to remind me how to stick them down.

Dave somehow still managed to do some baking

 and use some of the Nisperos/Loquat fruit before the birds ate it all.

 

'It wasn't me - honestly - it was lying here already'

 Dave made some Apple and Loquat pies... it sure is a tasty combination! 
when we had the fruit originally from a supermarket (many years ago) they called it 'Nisperos' 
but it is also known as 'Loquat' - so I am never certain what name I should be calling it :)

Help yourself to a slice.......

 OK that's all from me this time...

this was the first chance to blog this week as my PC

like myself doesn't do so well in hot weather :)

so until next time..

Happy Sunday and hope next week is cooler and good for you too.

Gill x

we're all loving the summer flowers

Hello

At last.. I am back in blogland.... so I must join in at my favourite place              
 AJJ and the 'we're all/going theme'     which is hosted this month by
 Chris from pearshapedcrafting    
This is a mix in my A5 journal of stamps by Altenew, distress ink and some digital additions.

     

This was my original stamped page

I don't like the heat at this time of year but I do love the flowers the sunshine/heat brings.
Every year we wonder will it be the year our cactus flowers - it's the sort that blooms over night and lasts a day or two at the most. This summer it has had four flowers - three almost all at once and then about 3 days later another single flower - this is probably the most flowers its had in nearly 40 years - yes 40 years!

Our two Nisperos/Loquat trees - have had the most fruit ever. Although  one of the trees probably had half a dozen fruits only, the other one made up for that. This tree isn't native to the UK so its just luck and our climate here on the Essex coast that probably helped.

Its hard to explain how this fruit tastes  - maybe like a mix of peach, apricot, lime and something tropical - quite an intense flavour - but really lovely. Dave has blanched, sliced and froze some to save for the winter. There's still a lot left on the tree to pick which hopefully are still edible and not all pecked by the birds :)

And the reason why the fruit is a bit battered looking is probably because the trees have attracted a lot of birds. This time of the year there are a lot of young birds about and the black birds appear to use our garden as a kindergarten and leave them with us to look watch over and they repay us by devouring the fruit ha ha :)

The Hebe has a mass of white flowers

We had a lot of  Foxgloves - all freebies that have seeded from somewhere else and blown into our garden - what  a lovely treat - I love them and so do the bees :)

And I had a lovely surprise; there was a young squirrel in the garden 

and he kindly came up to the door and posed for me.

That's all from me for this time.

Thanks so much for visting here.

Happy Sunday.

Gill x

For AJJ In the sky/In the air

........real life has been getting in the way of arty things at present while I am trying to do much needed over due jobs  at home :( 
and so another month nearly gone and I've almost missed joining in with the
AJJ in the sky/in the air theme this month hosted by the lovely Erika from 'Bio Art Gal'  but I needed a break from trying to alter curtains and had a play and some fun instead and made a page in one of my journals using stamps and stencils.

I should be back to normal blogging (if not before) around early July :)

Hope your weekend going well.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Gill x

 

Hello Springtime_3

A short post as I'm rushing to squeeze this in for last day of challenge where the lovely
Jo from Lets Art Journal  has been hosting AJJ this month with the theme of 'hello Springtime'

This time I have an all digital page made with elements from  Snicker doodle 'Daisy Chain' mini kit and 'Summers End' by KAZ
 

Lat week we had a lovely warm spring week - lovely and sunny - one occasion I even had a fan on upstairs as it was so warm. Today the weather has changed and the wind swung round to the north and it is windy and chilly again - but 'spring' is trying to fight back and the sun keeps popping out from the clouds :)

Thanks for stopping by today..

Hope you're having a great weekend.

Gill x

Hello springtime crocus

Hello - hope all well with you wherever you are in the world :)
Had a week of winds/gales and heavy rain here, but thankfully today the sun is shining once again and the wind a bit lighter (which makes the birds happier too) and it feels more spring like :)

Jo from Lets Art Journal  is hosting AJJ this month with the theme of 'hello Springtime'

  My piece today for AJJ is a watercolour using Jackson watercolours and WHSmith watercolour pencils - with words added on digitally.

 Sorry not around last week, I am behind as busy making a few items for a raffle (which I just found out about) for my hairdressers sponsored seaside walk for a local hospice on April 7th. So far, have made some cards to make into a gift pack. 

 Will catch up with you asap..

thank you for stopping by.

Have a lovely day.

Gill x