Weekend inspiration (3)

Watch the video till the end.

It’s worth it, I promise!

SOC: Purple

I just discovered the summer of color.

Maybe it’s a bit late to join now, but then again: why not? ;-)

This week’s color is purple:

I used a picture of an amethyst and wrote the following around it:

The ruby and amethyst eyes of anemones

Glow through me, fiercer than stars

Charles Brasch

40 - Summer dream job

I really liked all the jobs I did so far (health care and IT).

Maybe they are very different from each other but as I have a lot of interests you could say that each one of them reflects an aspect of my personality and that every job I apply for is in fact a dream job!

That’s also the reason I didn’t make a page.

39 - Summer resolutions

Normally this prompt consisted of making a “Resolutions re-vamp”.

As I didn’t make any resolutions in January, I changed this prompt into “Summer resolutions 2011” J

38 - Resolutions check-up

This year I didn’t make any resolutions in January.

That’s why I skipped this prompt.

37 - Summer fairs

Given the fact I didn't have much time this week and I usually don’t attend any summer fair, I skipped this prompt.

36 - Summer patterns

Do I fall into a certain pattern in the summer time?

(+ incorporate a visual pattern in the page)

This picture was taken recently when I went visiting the royal gardens.

I changed the contrast to highlight the pattern.

Furthermore I wrote something about my changing sleep-wake rhythm during summer (I tend to stay up later) and a few quotes/poems around the picture:

§  In winter I get up at night
and dress by yellow candle light.
In summer quite the other way
I have to go to bed by day.
Robert Louis Stevenson

§  Oh, the summer night
has a smile of light
and she sits on a sapphire throne.
Barry Cornwall

§  Een heldere nacht
De maan regeert de hemel
Een halo als kroon
Valerie Thirifays

Weekend inspiration (2)

The past week we did explore our five summer senses.

One of them was ‘Sound’ and that’s also the theme of my weekend inspiration post this week.

All the In the sun-students are creative in their art journals, but how can an artist be creative in his music playing?

By playing unusual music instruments or by playing usual music instruments in an unusual way.

What do you think of the ‘Glass Duo’?

And here is my all time favorite:
the MozArt Group (Grupa Mo’Carta of Poland) !

Saw them once in real and they are amazing!!!

35 - Senses: Scent

What scents do I associate summer with?

§  the smell of fresh cut grass in the garden

§  salty air when you walk along the beach

§  summer fruit like strawberries,…

§  flowers that smell good

§  …

I don’t know why, but when I hear the word ‘scent’ it always makes me think of the film title ‘Scent of a woman’.

As Latin dances also remind me of summer, here is the tango they dance in that movie ;-)

34 - Senses: Taste

33 - Senses: Sound

Which sounds remind me of summer?

A few of the sounds which remind me of summer:

§  laughter (when the sun shines in general people are more happy)

§  lawn mowers

§  aeroplanes, filled with people who are going abroad

§  music (on summer festivals, out of cars with open windows,…)

§  animals: birds, bees,…

That last one reminded me of the song ‘The birds and the bees’ of Jewel Akens :-D

32 - Senses: Touch

What do I FEEL during summer?

In the blue ‘waterlines’ you can read:

§  the warmth of the sun on my skin

§  cold ice cream or sparkling water

§  a nice summer breeze

§  the laundry that feels soft and fluffy

§  sand on the beach

§  sweat because of the warm temperatures

Natalie challenged us to create as much texture as possible on this page. One of my favorite ways to do that is to use aluminum foil. Furthermore I used cotton pads and crocheted flowers.

31 - Senses: Sight

What do I SEE during summer?

WEEK 5 & 6

An overview of the past two weeks:

Weekend inspiration



30 - Boring days

Sometimes you have days where you have nothing planned, there's no work and nothing on TV.

Ideas for activities on those kind of days:

- freewrite

- watch a dvd

- art journaling

- write a short story

- send e-mails to friends

- eating (yes, Belgians like to eat well ;-p)

- play games (parlor game, computer game, puzzle)

- prepare voyages to foreign countries or little trips in belgium

- ...

29 - Travel nightmare

For this prompt I didn't make a page, although I have a very interesting story.

But it is too complicated to tell in just one page and as I said earlier, I prefer to make pages around positive things ;-)

28 - Summer flowers

My favorite flower is an orchid, but as it blooms during several seasons, it is not a typical summer flower.

It's not easy to choose my favorite summer flowers, because there are so many beautful ones.

I really like to take photographs of all sorts of flowers.

Some of them you can see on this page.

This week I went to the national botanic garden.

There I was lucky to see the extraordinary sacred lotus flower and the Mexican Calliandra.

Although these flowers don't grow in Belgium in wild, I added them to this page, because they are extremely beautiful and it's a nice memory of our trip to the garden :-)

27 - Summer picnic

What would I pack in my picnic basket?

Actually I never go on a picnic.

But if I would, there are lots of delicious things I can think of to take with me. A few of the things I would bring along:

26 - Drink stand

Unlike in America, in Belgium you never see children’s “lemonade stands” during summer.

However, if I would set up a stand like that now, I would serve strawberry summer bowl (and for the children a version without alcohol ;-)).

Under the part below I wrote the exact recipe for this strawberry bowl, along with the text from above.

Balloons

Just a page that I made last weekend:



Colors & Senses

A prompt of my own:

Which colors remind me of summer and what sensations do they make me think of? What do I hear, see, smell, taste and feel?

It was at least 20 years ago I made some origami butterflies. It was fun to do that again ;-)

25 - Vacation @ home

Sometimes you don’t have to go outside the house to have a mini-vacation.
A few ways to relax @ home:



Although you can’t see it well on this scanned page, in real the text is better visible:

§  Take pictures when you go for a walk in the garden (this gives me a vacation feeling, because on holiday I always take a lot of pictures of the environments)

§  Play parlor games (this reminds me when I was a kid and played those kind of games during holidays)

§  Prepare voyages by reading travel books and look on maps (it’s almost as much fun as going on holiday itself!)

Definitely not my best page so far, but I’m learning a lot about the use of different materials and that’s what matters ;-)

And having fun of course! :-D

24 - Siesta time

Today I challenged myself to make a collage.

First I printed out a picture I took recently of a cat that sits often in our garden. Really like how she is lying in that tree! The picture was taken on a hot day and she felt lazy because of the warmth ;-)

Then I did tear out all sorts of green out of a magazine to make the leaves of the tree. Never did this before, but I like the result! So I will use that technique again in the future ;-)

Finally added some other paper forms I already had cut out, but never used before.

23 - Summer quote



I’m a fan of nice quotes. Although I keep a lot of them in a little book, I challenged myself to find a new one for this prompt.

The quote I chose is from Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and goes like this:

English

People are like stained-glass windows.

They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

French

Les gens sont comme des vitraux.

Ils brillent tant qu’il fait soleil, mais, quand vient l’obscurité, leur beauté n’apparaît que s’ils sont illuminés de l’intérieur.

Dutch

Mensen zijn als gebrandschilderde ramen.

Ze schitteren en stralen wanneer de zon schijnt, maar hun werkelijke schoonheid openbaart zich alleen door het licht van binnen.

22 - Summer memories

For this prompt I challenged myself to use only material I already had.

That included that I wouldn’t print out any photos that we took ourselves. Thus the pictures I used come from a travel brochure. On this trip we took hundreds of photos, but they’re all equally beautiful, so I’m glad I didn’t have to choose. I enjoy looking back at them from time to time.

If you don’t know the aurora borealis (an extraordinary phenomenon), take a look at the video In the land of the northern lights from Ole Christian Salomonsen!



21 - Beach playlist

When I think of beaches, what kind of music comes to my mind?

Do you want to listen to my beach playlist?

Here are 3 english and 2 dutch songs, all (partly) about the beach:

Surfin’ USA – Beach Boys

On the beach – Cliff Richard

Miami – Will Smith

As it isn't possible to place the video here, I give you the direct link on youtube J
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwBS6QGsH_4

Zo heerlijk rustig – Wim Sonneveld

Strand – Boudewijn de Groot

WEEK 3 & 4

An overview of the past two weeks

(I also added the first prompt of week 5: beach playlist)

20 - Lazy days

If I could give up one chore for the rest of summer, what would it be?

Definitely vacuuming (the vacuum cleaner gives too much warmth on hot days and it doesn’t do any good when I have backache).

I didn’t made a page for this prompt, because in my art journal I prefer to only write down positive things.

Meaning: only things I’d like to do, instead of remembering myself at things I don’t like to do but that have to be done.

If that makes any sense ;-)

19 - Road trip playlist

There are lots of songs I would like to put on my road trip playlist.

I listed a few of them.

Most are in English, but I added one Dutch and one French song too (because these are the three languages I speak).

Let’s get loud – Jennifer Lopez

Smooth – Santana
Love the chachacha-sound (just like in the previous song of Lopez btw).

Dorpsstraat – Fixkes
This is sung in a Dutch dialect (from Antwerp).
The band is laughing with the hiphop-clichés.
Just love the lyrics and the rhythm.

Pack up – Eliza Doolittle
Very happy feelgood rhythm.

Summer in the city – Joe Cocker
I prefer his interpretation of the song to that of Lovin' Spoonful, because of the changes in rhythm,...

Any man of mine – Shania Twain
Love different kinds of music, including country.

Walk of life – Dire Straits

Bip bip – Joe Dassin
This song is of one of my favorite French artists.

Bad medicine – Bon Jovi

Crazy vibes – Selah Sue
Already posted a part of this music video in an earlier prompt, but now I give you the full version.

Desert – Luc Callaert (my own lyrics)
As I had never written a song before, a friend of mine (jazz & blues singer) challenged me.
I wrote the lyrics and he sung it.
Feel free to say what you think about it!

Merengue & Salsa music

…