A Splash of Color

I love color. Bright color. Intense color. I look at some designs that are all white in white or all brown and beige, and while I appreciate the beauty and elegance of that, I have always been drawn to more vibrant colors.

Like a little splash of sunshine in the house.

Or  a bright cardinal making a statement on one of our bird feeders.

And then in my postcards, where I get to play and be daring with color! These two are ready to be sent out...

I hope you all had a great weekend! Ours was busy without much computer time, but time spent reading, being outside, much cooking and visiting with friends.

Now a new week is in full swing - amazing how time flies! I'm headed to my studio now to play a little more with color...

❧ Silke

Today...

... two more postcards are being mailed to find new homes! Whenever I paint on a "serious painting," I now take the leftover paint and apply it to a blank postcard. Fast and without thinking too much.

And the marks on it were becoming to difficult to figure out, so I put the pen in my left hand (I'm right-handed)  and made my marks that way. Very fun to do and I think it looks interesting. 

 

And I just went outside and snapped a few pictures for you of what is happening in our January garden.

The weather has been amazingly spring like and if that continues, everything will be blooming and growing in no time!

Happy Tuesday greetings from Savannah! Wishing you all a sunny day!

❧ Silke

Feeling unsettled

With Ramses purring on my lap, I am thinking about yesterday afternoon and how unsettled I had felt. All afternoon. I had free time to do whatever I wanted to do ~ paint, knit, sew, nap, read, watch a movie, blog etc. Yet I couldn't find my place. Do you ever feel that way?

Another postcard soon on it's way to a new home

One of our neighbors stopped by for a wrench as they are moving the last things out of their house. It occurred to me that everyone immediately around us is moving. That in itself is not unusual here in the US, as we are a very mobile society.

What is unusual is that we aren't the ones moving. For the first time, we are the ones staying and I have to admit I don't know how to feel about that. Daniel and I have gypsy blood in our veins and have - up to now - moved about every three years, if not to a new town, then to a new house. We've now been here for six years and it feels odd.

Is this it? Forever more? Are there any new adventures out there for us? Of course, I know the answers to all of those questions - after all, all of life is an adventure and nothing ever stays the same. And the biggest adventure lies in going inward, not moving around on the outside.

But I guess for today, I am trying to figure out how to feel settled not just on the outside, but in my emotions as well. How to grow while staying in place...

❧ Silke

More mail art

Good morning, dear friends! Once again, it is early and quiet around here. It reminds me every time how much I have always been an early morning person. Somehow time seems to move slower when most around me are still sleeping.

I made another two postcards yesterday. This is one of them ~ the other I'll show you tomorrow. The colors just clashed too much to put them together. I'm having so much fun with these. Now I just have to have a dry day so I can spray them with varnish outside and then send them off!

I would like to send them directly through the mail - I love the thought of original art being mailed as a real postcard (and they are pre-printed as postcards). And I don't care if they become smudged on the way, but you might. Any thoughts?

I'm also working on a painting, a portrait after such a long time of not doing them. And I haven't gotten past the sketch phase yet. All is ready, but somehow I'm nervous to start. Fear of not doing it right? Oh, whatever! I'm going to get started on it RIGHT NOW!

Wishing you a wonder-filled day with many happy surprises!

P.S. I am turning on the letter verification on my comments for just a few days. I keep getting spammed every day. Blogger filters them out, but I still get all those e-mails in my inbox. I think turning on the verification for a few days will have them move on from here. Sorry about the inconvenience for you!

❧ Silke

Looking Forward

As I look toward a new year, I am always filled with hope.

Hope for a yet better year, for more joy, more happy moments, more moments savored to the fullest, for more connections with friends and family, more creative projects, more marveling at the beauty of life, more dog noses kissed and cat ears scratched, more time spent in nature, more peace, more good news shared, more gifts given, and the constant awareness of infinite possibility!

More postcards soon to find a new home!

I wish all of that for you! And with gratitude for a year spent together here in the blog world, I wish us all a most amazing 2013!

❧ Silke

Grateful!

I was simply overjoyed by your comments on my last blog post and all the good wishes for the new year. After such a long-ish break, I wasn't sure I was still on anyone's radar... I am grateful to all of you!

 

I've started making some fast and small art, a tag and a postcard in this case. Some people like to paint in their art journals, I like to make my art in a format that can leave home and live elsewhere.

Send me an e-mail (link is on my sidebar)  with your address if you'd like to get one of these small creations in the mail (snail mail that is) at some point. I will be making many more throughout the coming months. They'll all be different, so let yourself be surprised by the one you receive...

It's just a small token of my appreciation for your friendship!

It is a cold morning here (cold for Savannah, that is) and I know that many of you are dealing with winter weather and huge amounts of snow. Stay warm and cozy and safe! 

❧ Silke

Interference Colors - a Postcard!

Interference colors - I am fascinated by them - how they shimmer and shine in a surprise color when you paint them on black and how they mix with other colors. I wish the scan could really show how magical they look...

I'm also working on some women and almost finished the next tag. Can't wait to show you!!

For all of you who live in areas that experienced severe weather yesterday, I hope you and your families are alright!

Sending you all lots of love...

A New Tag & A Postcard

I'm having so much fun painting these tags. Someone asked about their size - they are 2.625 x 5.25 inches, a good size to work with.

I love the colors on this one and the snippet from a poem. Months ago, I found a little old book of poetry at a thrift store. The book was in very poor shape, so I don't feel bad using it in my art (I'm funny about books and don't like to harm them in any way).

Here's the back of the tag. There's something so soothing and at the same time energizing about this blue.
I've been playing some more with molding paste, and here I applied it and then stamped a foam stamp into the wet paste - great texture!! And I love those colors!
Can you tell I'm having fun experimenting a little?

Wishing you all a beautiful day!

Snail Mail

Well, dear friends, I find myself in a little bit of a slump as far as my own artwork that I can show here, so I thought I'd show some of the beautiful cards I've received in the mail lately! Our dear, creative friend in Texas, who bought my painting, used a print of it to make my thank you card. Isn't that a clever idea?! I love it!!

And here are the last two collage postcards I received from my friend Beth. We have a monthly handmade postcard exchange, which has been the most fun!
Aren't these wonderful? So fall-inspired!!
And last, but not least, I want to share with you this lovely vintage postcard of Paris I received from a dear member of the Benevolent Postcard Society, a group of creative people who send monthly postcards, handmade or store bought. I love this one!
I have to say that in this day and age of the internet and e-mail, I LOVE getting "real" mail in my mailbox. My aunt still sends me letters and every time I receive one, my heart jumps a little - letters are so dear and personal, carrying the other person's spirit in their handwriting! I still have letters my grandmother wrote to me, my mom, my dad, my sister, aunt, cousins, old friends...and once in a while I take them out to read through some of them - like traveling through time!

Do you still write snail mail? Do you love receiving letters and postcards?

P.S. If you want to get some snail mail from me, send me your address in an e-mail to powers-studio.silke@comcast.net!

Green-Eyed Woman - Postcard

Here's the latest postcard I sent to Beth on our monthly handmade postcard exchange. Well, even though I varnished her twice on both sides, she did not arrive unscathed - she had a smudge on her chin and neck. So, even though I love the idea of just creating something and sending it openly through the mail, I will from now on put my postcards in envelopes. (Beth was able to get most of the smudge taken off with some rubbing alcohol - whew! )

I loved painting this woman - she just flowed out of my paintbrush in what seemed like minutes. Suddenly there she was looking at me from those gorgeous green eyes! I am offering a limited edition of prints of her in my Etsy shop if she has bewitched you like she has me.

From my last post I found out that while most of you are dog and cat lovers, not everyone of you loves reptiles. Maybe I should put a warning in the post title from now on - because I am sure I'll be posting more pictures of frogs, toads, snakes and other slithery things... I do admire your bravery in not only looking at the photos, but even leaving me wonderful comments about them!

Some of you have asked me over the past few days how much time it takes me to finish a painting and how much time I spend every day on my creative endeavors. Well, it depends. Today was a busy day, so I didn't spend much time painting - maybe 1/2 hour. Other days, I spend four or more hours in my studio. Some paintings flow right along and are finished in an hour or so while others take me much longer because they don't want to come together right away. I find that if I make a painting for someone specific, it takes me longer because I want it to be super good. If I just let it flow without much planning, it usually goes faster.

I know that this is incredibly vague, and I wonder if it's the same for all of you. I also find that it depends on how I feel - some days I feel like painting, other days I don't. How is it for you and your creative endeavors?

A Few Treasures and a Mild Obsession

The past couple of days, I have received several treasures in the mail and feel so loved! Just look at Heather's gorgeous ornament and those lovely note tags from Umama that I won in two Giveaways. Am I lucky, or what? Thank you!! (Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket...) They both have lovely blogs - make sure you visit!

Then, today, I received these two gorgeous postcards from my new blogging friend, Annika in Norway. She is a talented illustrator whose blog I enjoy on a daily basis! These are two illustrations of her hometown, Son, how it looks today in Winter (above) and how it looked in 1924. Thank you, Annika!!
And here is the latest postcard I had received from my friend Beth in our handmade postcard exchange. It features one of her stunning photos that she had altered digitally. It is just stunning!! And our exchange is so much fun - so special to receive something creative in the mail! I often think about that with our digital age - I still have boxes of handwritten letters from my relatives and friends and can't imagine being without those. There is something incredibly personal about having a handwritten letter from my grandmother who passed away so many years ago. But I digress...
Now, to my obsession! Barns! I just love barns and snapped lots of pictures from the car window as we were driving through Pennsylvania and New York. This goes so deep for me that I have a hard time explaining it in words, but when I look at an old farm, it speaks to my soul and tugs at my heart.

Daniel and I both feel a connection to rural America that we find hard to explain. We were both talking about this as we were driving and marveling how for the past 13 years we've lived in areas where we have not been close to the pastoral landscape we both love so much.







I might have to dust off some old photos to show you some of the farms I grew up around in Germany - some real beauties!

Just Quickly...

Today, I wanted to show you the latest postcard I made for my friend Beth as part of our monthly handmade postcard exchange. This was a VERY quick little painting - more a sketch really. But I love the colors and the flower. I painted the back of it green with a message in white gel pen. Then I gave it a couple of coats of matte varnish on both sides before sending it through the mail - no envelope. Beth tells me that it arrived without damage! Another successful experiment...

Beth sent me a gorgeous card with one of her beautiful altered photographs! Love it!! It's been a fun thing to look forward to at the beginning of every month!

Thank you all so much for all your good wishes yesterday on our anniversary. It warmed our hearts!! Stay tuned for the Sweet Potato Salad recipe tomorrow!