Today was Art Cologne, which is the world’s oldest art fair. Normally it’s a mix of 20 and 21st century art, but this year it was definitely much more contemporary which is not really so much my thing. Regardless, there were loads of interesting things to see, and the lovely Troy and Rehan are always fun to have along 🙂 My favorite thing is taking photos in the reflections from the light display (the photo in the header of this blog is from last year 🙂 ) After a long afternoon of bizarre art we had kebab and called it a day.
Category Archives: art
Flowers and Fairs Part 1: TEFAF Maastricht
One of the nice things about my job is that I often get invited to art fairs in the area. In the last month I’ve already been to two! Last month was TEFAF in Maastricht and today was the radically different Art Cologne.
Tefaf is absolutely, mind-blowingly beautiful! They fill the place to overflowing with fresh tulips of all kinds and have everything from furniture to classical art to sculputure to modern art. I rode up with one of my students and her husband and had an amazing afternoon people watching (this is a totally different crowd than other art fairs…mainly private collectors and dealers). Afterwards we went in to the city for fritten and shopping for cheese, vla, fruity beer and toast sprinkles! Maastricht is always fun, and is full of little bistros, eclectic shops and has a great walk on the medieval city walls.
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- flowers everywhere!
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- the flowers were so well placed.
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- I’m pretty sure these tulips were specially created for this exhibition
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- so pretty
I can’t wait to go again next year!
Nothing but Flowers 2: Project finished!
And here’s the second one! I’m using the top cover of the dvd player as a table for them. I really like how they both turned out, I might just make this a theme. We’ll have to see how bored I get this winter:-)
Seriously, these are easy to make, and so much better than just dumping old electronics in the trash!
…Nothing but Flowers
On Sunday I finally got sick of having broken technology lying around my house waiting for me to call the garbage service, so I decided to do something with them. After pulling an old dvd player and dvr to pieces, I decided to use their guts to make two techie plant pots. It takes a bit of time to wait for the glue to dry before you can move on to the next step, but it’s totally easy and looks awesome! The first one is done, I’ll post pictures of the second one when it’s done. Here’s how I did it.
Tools: wire cutters, hammer (for weight), phillips head screwdriver, rubber cement
Materials: insides of two dvd players, 4 corner flower pot
step one: glue the panels on. Make sure to let the glue dry properly before moving onto the next side. Trust me on this one.
I used the wires to fill in the missing spaces. I recommend doing three at a time, taping them into place until the glue sets a bit, and then moving on to the next three
and done!
June
And here is the June photomanipulation for my book of hours project! This is my favorite one so far! Also this is my art, please don’t copy it without permission.
links to the photo stock I used can be found on deviant art, here: http://combray.deviantart.com/gallery/25983074#/d2vai6b
In the Summer
In the summer
I stretch out on the shore
And think of you
Had I told the sea
What I felt for you,
It would have left its shores,
Its shells,
Its fish,
And followed me.
—Nizar Qabbani
enjoy!
Spring Book of Hours Artwork
And here are three months of digital art I’d fallen behind on posting! For those of you who are new, I’ve been teaching myself photomanipulation, and these were my first attempts. Also this is my art, please don’t copy it without permission.
March:
List of Stock Resources can be found here: http://combray.deviantart.com/art/March-Book-of-Hours-173332610
From Atalanta in Calydon
For winter’s rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.
—A.C. Swinburne
April (this is one of my favorites):
Links to my wonderful stock resources can be found here: http://combray.deviantart.com/gallery/25870942#/d2uqxrx
闺中少妇不知愁，
春日凝妆上翠楼。
忽见陌头杨柳色，
悔教夫婿觅封侯。
(In Her Quiet Window
Too young to have learned what sorrow means,
Attired for spring, she climbs to her high chamber.
The new green of the street-willows is wounding her heart,
Just for a title she sent him to war.)
—Wang Chang Ling
May:
links to my lovely stock resources can be found here: http://combray.deviantart.com/gallery/25870942#/d2v285y
Come to the orchard in Spring.
There is light and wine, and sweethearts
in the pomegranate flowers.
If you do not come, these do not matter.
If you do come, these do not matter.
–Rumi
Hope you like them! Any tips for improvement?
February Art
Here’s my February photomanipulation from my Book of Hours (I’ve done one for each month). I did a LOT of digital painting on this one underneath various textures to get the effects I wanted. I’m pretty happy with it 🙂
Links to all stock used can be found on deviantart here: http://combray.deviantart.com/gallery/25983074#/d2usv88
WINTER IN NORTHUMBERLAND (Part I)
Outside the garden
The wet skies harden;
The gates are barred on
The summer side:
“Shut out the flower-time,
Sunbeam and shower-time;
Make way for our time,”
Wild winds have cried.
Green once and cheery,
The woods, worn weary,
Sigh as the dreary
Weak sun goes home:
A great wind grapples
The wave, and dapples
The dead green floor of the sea with foam.
—A.C. Swinburne
I’ve also done a new one I figured I should post 🙂
Sea-Hued Triton
links to all stock used can be found on deviantart at: http://combray.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d373uvq
I’m really happy with the way this turned out, and for the first time my mistakes aren’t jumping off the page when I look at it!
Also, please respect that this art is mine, no stealing!
A Very Frankish Christmas
I was planning on keeping this blog updated, but had no internet access over the holidays (which was both scary and wonderful :-)), so you’re getting it all now. First I’ll start with a photomanip. I did two for January and never could decide which I liked better so I’ll give you both, one today and the other in the next week.
Here are my fab deviantart sources: Models: link by Katanaz-Stock and link by the-stock-project, Left side background: link by blackkitty666, Right side background: link by Tigg-stock, Owl horns: link by gurukitty, Squirrel fur: link by`radioPooh, Owl feathers: link by SalsolaStock, Fox fur: link by Momotte2stocks, Cardinal feathers: link by hortley, Snowdrop: link by Rita-Ria-Stock, Juniper branches: link by ~unpurrfect-stock, Ice: link by SusieStock, Berries: link by xcc-stock and link by marlene-stock, Texture: link by night-fate-stock Antlers: link by Irie-Stock
Winter:
The rain of Zeus descends and from high heaven
A storm is driven;
And on the running water-brooks the cold
Lays icy hold:
Then up! beat down the winter; make the fire
Blaze high and higher;
Mix wine as sweet as honey of the bee
Abundantly;
Then drink with comfortable wool around
Your temples bound.
We must not yield our hearts to woe, or wear
With wasting care;
For grief will profit us no whit, my friend,
Nor nothing mend;
But this is our best medicine, with wine fraught
To cast out thought. —Alcaeus
I spent Christmas with my friends in Franken again this year, and, like always, it was awesome. They’re no-stress people, they stuff me full of pie and beer, and I get to sleep in front of a blazing traditional wood stove in a 200 year old half-timbered farm house. The eggs for breakfast come from one neighbor’s farm, the bratwurst is hand made from another neighbor’s farm, last year another neighbor donated a rabbit for dinner. Kind of like heaven.
The view from my bed.
And then, after 2 years of celebrating with them, Martin finally decides to tell me that the area where they live has the most breweries per capita of anywhere IN THE WORLD. And then his father suggests we get a case of beer and get different bottles from around the vicinity, which was the best idea of the year, as far as I was concerned. We settled with beer from within a 20 k. radius around their house and ended up with these: 
I managed to make my way through all but the Bockbier and one of the darks. Also, there was another kind of Göller we got. Still, not bad for 3 days! :-)The only one I wasn’t so keen on was the Rauch Weizenbier, which surprised me. Normally I adore Rauchbier (it’s a specialty of Bamburg where they smoke the hops before brewing the beer), but the Weizen version was a little odd.
In the Mosel region
Bingen
I also took some pictures from the train on my way down to see how my camera would hold up, and got some interesting results. Unfortunately, most of the way I was on the boring side of the train (ie. the river and castles were not next to me) Next time I’ll make sure to get a better seat :-):
This one is from the car from Bamberg to Unterküpps
And some of Christmas dinner. Jess is one of the best cooks ever. And yes, that is an oreo cheesecake. Don’t get me wrong now. Germans do amazing cakes and sweets, but they don’t understand pies, and I love that Martin (who is German) and Jess (an Ami) still mix American and German holiday foods.
All in all it was a rockin’ Christmas! See you all in the new year! 
December Miscellany
Hi all! Sorry I haven’t been very good at updates, but between Christmas markets (I’ll try to get some pictures), a huge sewing project and end of year tests and evals, my brain hasn’t been good for much this month! First things first, (and again, sorry to those of you on facebook who have seen this already), here’s my December book of hours photomanip!
Here are my deviant art sources, thanks guys! My exceptional sources:model (it's me) and candy apple buttons: both originals taken by meRabbit fur: link by Arctic-stock and link by resurrection-stockholly: link by cyborgsuzystockbackground: link by ~AlzirrSwanheartStocktexture: link by DyingBeautyStockpheasant: link by aussiegal7bells: link by Holy-Winmistletoe: link by marlene-stockpine cone: link ~radioPoohblue jay: link by =Ayelie-stockpine twigs: link ~AthenaStock
from Portrait of a Lady
AMONG the smoke and fog of a December afternoon
You have the scene arrange itself—as it will seem to do—
With “I have saved this afternoon for you”;
And four wax candles in the darkened room,
Four rings of light upon the ceiling overhead,
An atmosphere of Juliet’s tomb
Prepared for all the things to be said, or left unsaid.
We have been, let us say, to hear the latest Pole
Transmit the Preludes, through his hair and fingertips.
“So intimate, this Chopin, that I think his soul
Should be resurrected only among friends
Some two or three, who will not touch the bloom
That is rubbed and questioned in the concert room.”
—And so the conversation slips
Among velleities and carefully caught regrets
Through attenuated tones of violins
Mingled with remote cornets
And begins.
—T.S. Eliot
In other news, it’s goddamn cold, which means it’s time to mull booze! Most people know Glühwein, but not many people have tried mulled ale. It’s much better than it sounds 🙂
Historicalfoods.com has several AMAZING Lambswool (mulled ale with roasted apples) recipes here
and here’s another 16th century version called Caudle, from The Good Housewife’s Jewel:
“Take two handfuls or more of great oatmeal and beat it in stone mortar, well. Then put it into a quart of ale, and set it on the fire and stir it. SEason it with cloves, mace, and sugar, beaten, and let it boil till it be enough. Then serve it forth upon sops.”
And if you’re stuck inside and bored, Fable 3 is AWESOME. I was so disappointed by the second part I almost didn’t get the third, and thank god I did!
stay warm!
Ties, Art and Video Games: part 2
ok, I’ve got some time again and my computer has stopped acting up, so here’s the second part of last week’s post. For those of you on facebook, you’ve already seen this, sorry 🙂 For those of you not, I made a “book of hours” to learn photomanipulation, and decided to post the corresponding one each month here. Also this work is mine, please don’t steal!
November
There is wind where the rose was,
Cold rain where sweet grass was,
And clouds like sheep
Stream o’er the steep
Grey skies where the lark was.
Nought warm where your hand was,
Nought gold where your hair was,
But phantom, forlorn,
Beneath the thorn,
Your ghost where your face was.
Cold wind where your voice was,
Tears, tears where my heart was,
And ever with me,
Child, ever with me,
Silence where hope was.
—Walter de la Mare
Here are my incredible sources (from deviantart.com):
Model: link by seanpm
Night background: link by Antithisis-Stock
Abbey background: link by TudorxRose
Harvest texture: link by GlamourousAcid-Stock
Orange texture: link by Gild-a-stock
Leaves: link by `scotto
Moth: link by dead-stock
Trees, wood, bark, lichen, moss and fungi:
link by shadoj, link by Jonathan2478Resource, link by kool007kat, link by Kaeloth, link by quaddles (love your username, by the way!), link and link by LucieG-Stock, link and link by WCat-stock, link by helly7307-stock, link by joannastar-stock, link and link by somadjinn, link by texturestockbyhjs, link by MacKenziesPride, link by prolific-stock, link by struckdumb
Thanks guys!
Young Jen in Spats 
