A day in the mountains

Last Monday, I spent the day in the mountains, a day trip I've been wanting to do in a long time. It was the perfect day, and with temperatures reaching up to a humid 30 degrees Celsius down here, it was definitely more agreeable up there. I took the train at 7am, and after changing trains twice and then on to the postbus for the last bit, I finally arrived at my destination. It felt so good to get off the bus, in that fresh air, with uninterrupted views, surrounded by beautiful nature. I love the mountains. I always feel at peace up there.

At an altitude of 2,007 metres, Dürrboden lies at the end of the Dischmatal. Above the tree line, the alp is treeless, the grass covered with rocks and heather, and at this time of the year, also with an abundance of wild alpine flowers that is just simply amazing.

From Dürrboden, you can continue and hike up and over the Scaletta pass at 2,606 metres, and on to the Engadin on tours of several hours. I only walked a few hundred metres futher up, spending about an hour happy about just being there.

I prefer to take the 13km walk down through the valley back to Davos. The path is easy to walk, and the landscape always slightly changing. Surrounded by mountains, gorgeous views, deep blue sky, fluffy clouds, the lush greens of the meadows, the colours of the wild flowers. Hardly any people, just the occasional alp farm. And of course cows.

I had also taken my sketchbook and watercolours and found great spot with a bench overlooking the valley. It was rather windy up there, though, I had to put the water on the ground, which wasn't very convenient, and the paint kept drying out. But at least I captured the feel of that day. The intense colours, the deep blue sky, the lush greens.

The Dischmabach, a small river, flows down the valley, carrying with it the fresh, cold water from the snow of the mountains. I love these alpine rivers. The colour of the water! I wish I could have put my feet into the water.

Toward the end of the valley, the landscape becomes gentler and richer. No more rock covered meadows, but instead rich farmland and trees. And more people. But still that abundance of wild flowers.

From the end of the valley to the train station was another good 45 minutes, and when I finally arrived, I could hardly walk anymore. The whole walk had taken me almost 5 hours, with time for taking photos and my quick sketch, and by the time I got on the train, I felt sore and aching from head to toes, and every little patch of skin that I missed with my sun cream was burnt, and the rest was also glowing in a bright lobster red. I was exhausted but happy. What else can you be, after spending the day in such a place!

I did some more drawing and sketching, but it is one of those weeks, when everything just turns out wrong. I'm okay with it, even a rubbish drawing is better than no drawing, but they're just not shareworthy. But I hope that the photographs make up for it. And I'm sorry for posting so many of them, and the small sizes, but I didn't have much time for editing, and I just couldn't make up my mind about which ones to choose. And I took over 200 pictures, so this is still just a small selection... :). (I think when you click on them, you can see them larger).

Trying to keep cool

I don't have a Paint Party Friday post to share today. I did actually do some painting the other night, but it was just too hot yesterday to take a photograph of it, download it, edit it, write up a blog post... And today, it is going to be even hotter. 35ºC. All I want to do is this.

Or even better, this.

But N is back in England. The second attempt took him savely back to London on Tuesday. And I'm back at work, where it is probably going to be about 40ºC in our office by the afternoon. And I have a nasty summer cold, complete with burning sore throat, runny nose and sneezing attacks. Great. I'm so glad when summer's over. At least it's Friday...

Photo Sunday May

There are those special places. Places where you feel at peace, relaxed, free to breathe, and just generally happy and content. One of those places isn't too far from where I live, just on the other side of the small mountain. In 1953, Robert Seleger, a master gardener, discovered, among the rich green fields and pastures, a patch of hill more and planted a first rhododendron there. In the following years, he travelled the world to find rhodondrons, crossing them to grow plants of different colours hardy enough to survive the cold winters. The place grew into a beautiful garden, beautiful azaleas, rhododendrons, ferns, peonies and many more plants and trees as well as rivers, ponds, a little lake, bridges, and lots of soft pathes. The water lily ponds are home to hundreds of frogs a well as dragon flies and water snakes. The air is filled with the scent of flowers and the song of birds. A truly magical place. I went there with my Mum at the beginning of the week, and we picked just the perfect day. Not only the last warm and sunny day before another series of cold and rainy days, but also when the rhododendrons, azaleas and peonies were in full bloom. Of course I took loads of photos, and so for today, it's a bit of a photo overload. (You can find more information about this beautiful garden on their website).

Happy Sunday!

Three bowls, a cylidner, and some progress with glazing

Another four pots are finished. And although it's still far from perfect, or at least from how I meant it to turn out, there's definitely some progress in the glazing department. This time I used green for the insides, but kept it neutral on the outside. I prefer the green, it looks fresher, and it fits perfectly into my living room, which has a lot of green in it.

I used a dip in-glaze for the insides of the cylinder and one of the bowls. They come in big plastic tubs and you use a pair of tongs to dip the pots into the glaze for glazing them on the outside, or you ladle some glaze into the pot, swirl it around so it covers it all the way up to the rim, and empty it back into the pot. It gives a nice even layer, and I like the fact that it has some tiny cracks that give it texture.

For the other two bowls, I used a paint on glaze again, 'vintage green'. I think I didn't paint the layers on thick enough, even though there were three layers. The glazes are just so different to the colours I'm used to, and I have to learn to use them differently.

The outsides are looking a bit better too, compared to last time. Still a bit patchy, but altogether a lot more even, and I seem to have managed to cover everything. I used paint on glazes for all of them, two different ones, both light with a bit of a mottled effect. Most of my course colleagues seem to prefer bold, smooth colours, almost black on the outside, and bright yellows, oranges, reds and greens on the inside. But I prefer the more muted, uneven colours with different effects. I think it somehow suites the natural material they're made of better. But that's of course just my personal taste.

I'm especially pleased with my cylinder (which my teacher helped me made, of course, otherwise it would have ended up just another 'eggbowl'). While I don't really know yet what to use all the others for, this one I made with special intention - to keep my brushes in.

Almost finished! - Trimmed, fired, glazed, and ready for the last firing

Last week, I learnt how to trim my bowls in order to prepare them for their first firing in the kiln. To trim a bowl, you fix it on to the wheel, cut the excess clay off and establish a foot on which the bowl will stand. It's a bit of a scary process, so much that can go wrong. But it all went alright. Mostly because my teacher did most of the trimming, and I just scraped off the bits in the middle, which took me ages. And apparently, I didn't do a very good job at it. But I was just too afraid to cut too deep and make a hole.

This week's pottery class was really exciting! After last week's trimming, my first four bowls had gone into the kiln for the first firing, and were ready for glazing. 

Glazing in pottery is completely different than painting. You can't mix colours, like you would with paints, but have to use ready mixed glazes instead. There are different glazes, and different methods of applying them, such as dipping the objects into them, or painting them on with a brush. I decided to use brush on glazes, as this involved at least something that was familiar.

The glazes dry almost immediately, and they look completely different than what they do after having been fired. This glaze here, for example, is called "Iceflower", and is a lovely white with a cool blueish marbled effect, which you can't see at all here. It's just white. Another glaze I used was a deep ocean blue/gree. The liquid glaze was just a very pastel mauve, nothing at all like the intense dark deep blue/green colour on the label. I still find this rather confusing. It gives you no clue at all as to what it will look like when finished. You have to rely completely on the samples, and hope that it will turn out like that. Also, the glazes are very dry, matt and powdery. Nothing like the smooth, shiny and hard finish they'll get in the kiln.

My bowls should have gone into the kiln for the second and last firing already, or if not, should do so tomorrow. In any case, they should be all done and ready to take home by Tuesday. I can't tell you how excited I am! I just hope they all made it savely through the firing, that none of them burst, or had the glazes running, or whatever else can go wrong in a kiln at a temperature of around 1200 degrees Celsius. And maybe one of them might even make it under the Christmas tree as a present.

More penguins, and some thoughts about art journaling

Sketching those penguins just made me happy, so I painted some more, this time in my art journal, with acrylics.

It doesn't look finished yet, but I'm not quite sure yet what's missing. Maybe some journaling? I must admit that, very often, I find the adding-of-words part of art journaling really difficult. After all, that’s why I paint, because I find it easier to express myself in images than in writing. But that's what art journaling is about, right? Keeping a diary that combines the visual element with some added words, instead of just writing. The journal part is an essential part of it, it’s what makes it an art journal. Or is it? Actually, what is art journaling, exactly?

I only heard the term "art journaling", and learned about it, about two or three years ago. Before that, I just kept a sketchbook, in which I mainly made little versions of the paintings that we did at a painting class, with notes about the techniques, paints, colours, inspiration etc. It didn't have a name. It just was a book most of us in class kept. Then I learned about art journaling. And that’s how I conceived the whole art journaling thing, that it was all about pouring your soul onto the painted pages, in words.

After two or three years of art journaling, and always feeling that somehow, I did it wrong, because of lack of words, I decided to look a bit deeper into the matter of art journaling, to find out more about what it is, how it’s done, how others do it, and what they think what it is.

Definition of "art diary" from Wikipedia:

An art diary, art journal or visual journal is a daily journal kept by artists, often containing both words and sketches, and occasionally including Mixed media elements such as collages. Such books will frequently contain rough workings, in cartoon form, of ideas later to appear in finished works, as well as acting as a normal diary, by allowing the artist to record their day-to-day activities and emotions.

 Definition of "art journal" by Marion Boddy-Evans on About.com

An art journal is a journal or diary that has a strong visual element to it, an expression of your artistic creativity and imagination, not filled only with words like a traditional journal. It's a journal for using your art to express your memories, dreams, and thoughts. How you create the images, and what type of imagery you make, is entirely a matter of personal choice. There are no rules. You can paint or draw, use pen and ink, photos, collage, doodle, stickers... anything and everything.

There’s an added element in both of these definitions to my perception of art journaling (although still including the journaling bit), the element of it serving as a collection of ideas for reference for later paintings. The same idea also appears in wikiHow's "How to Use an Art Journal", which suggests to use your journal for trying out new techniques, and making notes about the experiments (point 4), and also to chart your supplies (point 3) in it.

So what is an art journal? Well, there really are no rules. It's entirely up to you, it’s your playground, to do whatever you want to in it, whatever suits you. And if you don't want to add your thourhgs and emotions in the form of meaningful words to your pages, that's totally fine too. It doesn’t even have to be a journal, and you don’t even have to call it an art journal. As long as you have that special place to play, that’s fine, whatever form it takes, whatever it contains. For me, my art journals are more about trying out new techniques, and ideas, creating references. They are the place where I can uninhibitedly try out ideas for a painting, which I don’t yet want to paint straight on a canvas. It’s a record of my creativity, or to just do 'something', when I don't have the time and energy to paint a 'proper' painting. It’s my playground.

Treat it like a real diary if you want, or simply use it to collect your works and practice. The whole point is that the journal is for you, by you, and its contents are completely up to you. (wikiHow "How to Use an Art Journal")

Unfortunately, I still don't quite know how to finish off my penguin page...

Village ladies

On a cold and snowy mid-winter day, the ladies of the village have met up for a brisk walk, and some gossip, in the crisp fresh winter air, before retiring to the little village café, to indulge in several cups of Earl Grey, some cake, and of course more gossip.

It's been quite a while since I started, and more importantly, actually finished, a painting on canvas. This little 30x30cm piece developed from a vague idea in my mind, as usual an idea more of colours than subject. I think the landscape was inspired from my lazy Sunday the other week, flopping on the sofa, watching Tea with Mussolini on tv.

It's still hot and summery here, and I must admit, I'm getting a bit fed up with it. I mean, it's okay it being sunny and warm, but it doesn't need to be near 30 degrees anymore. That's probably why I felt I had to paint a cold, snowy scene. Yes, I'm looking forward to winter and snow!

Linking up to the wonderful Paint Party Friday again. Make sure to pop over there and have a look at what everyone's been up to. It's always such a wonderful source of inspiration.

Bloom

I had all these bits and pieces lying around on my desk, leftover pieces of patterned paper, a piece of burlap fabric that had decorated a nice jar of tomato sauce, some ribbon, and some pieces of tea bag.

Getting tired of shoving them from one side of the desk to the other and back, I decided to use them all up for a journal page. I didn't really know what I wanted to do, so I just glued down the pieces, and let it evolve from there. It's one of the things I like about my art journal, to be able to just let it flow, without planning.

What emerged was a blooming flower garden. I had chosen the colours to match the colours of my supplies, but of course, almost all of the paper and ribbon got covered up completely. But they added all kinds of texture. I especially liked the texture of the burlap, although it was quite difficult to paint, as it just soaked up all the paint I splashed on.

Be present in every moment and bloom

Linking up to the wonderful Paint Party Friday. Make sure to pop round there and look at all the fabulous contributions!

Stitching it all together

I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to stitch all my gelli printed pages together into a little art journal. So, at the weekend, I finally sat down to make my first journal. So I took out my little box of bookbinding tools which I had bought in London last year, and started with the first step - folding all the sheets in half with the help of a bone folder.

The next step was to put the sheets together into signatures, and then punch holes through all of them using a hole-punching tool (I used my lovely awl with its smooth and shiny wood handle).

I decided to use this beautiful red waxed thread instead of the simple white one. I just hoped that it would be long enough, as it was already cut.

I started with my stitching following the instructions from an online course I had taken last year. But the instructions were for three holes, and as I had punched four holes into my sheets, this was just too confusing to start with. So I got out my three books on making books. One of them didn't have the coptic stitch I wanted, and with the other two, I just couldn't make head or tail of it. I really like the design of Esther K. Smith's How to Make Books, but I gave up on the instructions already after step 2. So I googled stitching techniques for a video tutorial I would understand. This one seemed quite useful, but it started with attaching the cover to the first signature, and as I didn't have a cover, I just couldn't figure out the technique without one. At the end, this instruction was the one that worked for me.

When I bought my bookbinding basic tools last year, I bought both ordinary straight needles and curved needles. I had started stitching my journal with a stright needle, as the curved ones looked a bit scary, but some time after the second or third signature, I began to realise the advantage of a curved needle. It made the looping bit much easier, but in general still felt very akward to use.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if I did it the right way, but at the end, I had stitched all my signatures together, and although I hadn't tightened the thread evenly, it was all holding together and not looking too bad.

What I like about this stitch is that the journal lies flat, which makes working in it much easier, especially if you want to paint in it.

I decided to add a cover to my book, a wrap-around one, using the sheet of paper I had used to clean my roller on while doing the printing. I just improvised, and stitched it on somehow. It's not quite straight, and I'm not sure if I will keep it on.

So here's my finished little journal. I'm not quite sure yet what I'll be using it for. Not for painting, but maybe for noting down quotations and special memories and such. And I'll definitely be making more journals.