Simply Neutrals #36

Hello dears, a warm welcome to Simply Neutrals #36!

We went to the Utrechtse Heuvelrug again this weekend, but a different part than last time. We now chose only the woodland part for wandering, collecting, and taking photos.

Inspired by this beautiful land I created a little woodlandish collage. I used wallpaper samplers, music sheet paper, pieces of two antique French postcards that I scanned (one of which you can find as a freebie HERE - the other one I will share another time), a piece of old packaging tape that was torn of a box (the brown paperish thingie), a small piece of a little digital scrapbook paper I created some years ago (the green text on green - which you can find as a freebie HERE), vintage images of an owl and a nest that I found on pinterest, some distress inks, and a bit of machine stitching.

Of course I couldn't help myself and took pieces of the woods back home with me. Little things that spoke to me. I think I'm a Magpie.

On my worktable a collection of things I found in the woods this time:

pine cones
moss
branches
fern (I think it is?)
holly
stones
leaves
pottery...

... Yes, pottery!
Well, pieces of tiles mostly.
On some of the bigger lanes you can find them :)

*****


Features of last week

This week I was in the mood for sharing the many beautiful photos and pieces of art you all shared in the party last week. So here are two photo collages with descriptions of which photo/creation belongs to who.

Thank you so much dear friends for gathering here and joining the party with your beautiful photos and art work! I really appreciate the time and effort you put into this and the love that is shared.

A walk in the woods

Hello sweet people,

Last weekend we went to my favourite woods here in the area. It's huge (for the Netherlands that is, we are only a tiny country). This time we went to an area of it which we hadn't visited before. And we were in for a beautiful surprise at the very end of the walk, a field of gorgeous wildflowers.

Here's a short film I made, come enjoy this walk with me:

Does anyone know which flowers those are? I googled it and couldn't find it, but would love to know.

Of course I brought back some little treasures from the woods like nuts and sticks. But I left this beauty below where I found it.

The woods inspired me for the art book - or journal or whatever you'd like to call it - I am making. The foundation of the book itself is finished, but I will add more and more later on. I'm going to use it as my nature journal, adding little paintings, journaling, embroidery snippets, found objects like leafs, and so on.

The pages all have something on it, so I will not have to start with a blank canvas. I added snippets of fabric and lace, found papers, I added some paint strokes here and there. The pages are of a variety of papers. Watercolour papers, book pages, fabric pages, wrapping papers, printer paper, scrapbook papers. And the cover is made out of cardboard.

Gosh, I really want to know which flowers these are. They're so gorgeous! A whole field of them, blooming somewhere in the middle of the woods.

On the back I added a snippet of fabric on which I did some embroidery. To my book I will also add inspiring quotes that I find. And photos I took myself of all things nature.

These gorgeous wildflowers gave me the inspiration for my next art book, for which I started with making the front cover painting:

Book of Bloom

Which, of course, will be about wildflowers, blossoms and other flowers, but also about blooming as a person.

I make these books with the help of a bookmaking workshop by Nellie Wortman. Unfortunately she retired this class, so it will no longer be available, but you can find other awesome classes by Nellie (and other art teachers) at Creative Workshops.

Now put on your hiking boots and have a stroll outdoors, my friend. I know we spend way too much time indoors and also behind our computers. I know I do.

Big hugs and happy day wishes,

xx Wen

Linking this to Nature Notes

Autumn in The Netherlands

NOVEMBER

Only two more months of 2013.

In the Netherlands it's definitely autumn.

Golden leave trees

until the storms cause the leaves to dance on the ground.

The best of autumn is here to be seen in October/November.

One down, many more to go...

Three days later, on the isle of Ameland, two trees in this very same street of the leave-photo above had been blown down by a fierce storm, only just missing a beautiful old building from the 17th century (1625 to be precise).

That's what November is like here.

November is misty mornings.

Just above the ground most of the times.

Everything then looks like it's missing legs, pillars, trunks.

Friesland, on our way to Ameland

November is golden sunsets

like here above the dunes of Ameland

up north of the Netherlands in the world heritage area called the Wadden Sea,

where land and sea mingle.

We were on a bike ride that day and made it home

just in time before it became pitch dark in the dunes of Ameland.

You don't want to get stuck in the dark there.

Trust me. You don't.

Spooky.

There are no street lights in the dunes...

We saw beautiful star filled skies though.

November is pumpkins.

***

What does November look like in your country?

Come share it with us at Our Beautiful World blog.

No need to be a brilliant photographer or storyteller.

We just heart to see and read from folks

and their home/area/travels around the world.

xx Wen

Lazy Daisy

Touring in a covered horse wagon in the shades of the forest

Hello dears,

What does your month of August look like?
It's all about August this week at Our Beautiful World.

Moss, pine cones and wild mushrooms belong to my nature favourites

August in The Netherlands to me means looking for wild mushrooms. Actually I saw one already in July, a couple of weeks ago.

I love looking down and seeing the beauty in the small details on the ground. It's a whole different world down there. The home of little creatures, living in the ground under our feet. I truly wish I had an amazing macro lens to capture that.

In August in The Netherlands the colours of nature are getting darker, more browns and dark greens. And everything starts to dry out. It's the hottest month here. And I'm being a lazy daisy then. I can't cope with the heat very well and am very much looking forward to the fresh air of autumn again.

We have sand dunes near the beach but also in some inland places. Like these in Kootwijkerzand. It's a popular place for horseback riders and pony carts.

What does August look like in your country? We'd love to know, so we welcome you to share it with us at Our Beautiful World, where the word prompt this week is August.

Happy August to you!

xx Wen