Black Ink Nights (Inktober 2016, week 1)

So I decided to jump on the Inktober Challenge* again, like last year. Here's my first week!

Above is how I got started, drawing a little toad lily from our garden. For Inktober 2 the lily quickly morphed into a little night-time story, that then turned into a whole "Nocturne" series.

Nocturne 2 and 3 above were inspired by some evening hikes along our local river Lahn, as was the night-time scene for Inktober 5 below.

On day 6 I felt a bit uninspired, and turned to some floral/ garden motifs for help. The "Flutterby" drawing below might be a nice starting point for a pattern later on.

Day 7 continues with the "Nocturne" series. The black cat for sure is related to our own cat Dikkertje,  but I was really wondering where that ladder idea came from …? Then on the next day I realized that it was inspired by the view into our neighbour's garden, where a huge ladder for cutting the ivy is perched on a wall. Funny how the mind works!

Finally more black cat adventures with "A little night-time stroll" for day 8!
I am curious myself how this will go on … I have no real plan, I just draw what comes into my mind. Maybe I'll end up with a full night-time Inktober?

*(For those who don't know, "Inktober" is a drawing challenge happening all over social media. It was  created a few years ago to inspire people to draw and be creative. Taking part means to do (and post) one ink drawing per day for the whole month of October. Inktober has a huge response all over the world and you'll find many artists, designers or people who love to draw posting their sketches/drawings mainly on Facebook and Instagram. Just search for #inktober2016 and have fun!)

Goodbye blue-green September!

We had some gorgeous late summer days in September, with lots of greens and blues everywhere … they made me feel a bit like living in a fairytale :-)

 

Now it looks like autumn is here …
But sorting through my sunny photographs I just can't help posting some more garden pics!

House and Garden at the beginning of September …

… and mid September. The Morning Glories are growing …

… and that's at the end of September!

I have been asked quite a few times if the plants might bring a lot of insects into the house? Amazingly (and fortunately!), that is not the case. Maybe it's just more attractive for them outside, with all the pollen of the many blossoms ;-) And maybe these chaps help too:

We have many of these, forming a kind of second veil in front of the morning glory curtain. I find them a bit spooky, but interesting to watch nevertheless. And their webs are just beautiful, like mini works of art! (So far I refuse to think about where they might retreat to when it gets really cold …)

Some more blue September blossoms …

The Bluebeard is always humming with bees.

A little Toad Lily.

… and other colours are there too:

Hibiscus …

… Clary …

and Brown Sunflowers.

Plus lots of green foliage that add to the jungle feeling:

Dwarf Tamarillos and Caiguas.

The Dwarf Tamarillo umbels form beautiful silhouettes against the afternoon sun.

 Now we are hoping for a mild October, we just want to enjoy all this a bit longer!

For your notes

One can never have too many notebooks! I am a bit of an addict when it comes to journals, notebooks, sketchbooks … anything book-like and bound with nice papers and a beautiful cover really. So it was clear that I had to jump on the new Minted challenge about stationary gifts (personalizable notebooks, calendars and wrapping paper): the "Wrap it Up" Holiday Quickfire Gifting Challenge.

I had way too many ideas. And not enough time. I could easily have come up with more, but I finally ended up with 15 notebooks and 4 wrapping paper designs. Only ;-)
I will share my faves here with you. Like always with Minted comps, votes are very welcome – thank you!! Voting is open until September 23. (To vote, please just click on the image, that'll lead you directly to my submission on the Minted page.) To look at/ vote for ALL of my submissions, feel free to hop over here to my "Voting Now" page.

Ok, here's some of my ideas! Starting with a pretty "everyday" notebook inspired by Eastern European folklore:

"Folkbird"

What about journaling all these precious moments, practising a bit of mindfulness? This notebook featuring a watercolour painting could be the right fit for that.

"Floral Moments"

Recipes journals are an essential too. My design features a root pattern made with handdrawn and papercut elements – good food for your soul!

"Soul Food Journal"

 For all travellers! This actually is one notebook out of a series of four, all featuring my watercolours and a rather classic design inspired by old travel journals and maps. You can find the other 3 on my "Voting now" page.

"Wanderlust Notes – Distant Horizons"

Certainly, pirates need to take notes as well! For that, this playful journal for kids and the young at heart is best!

"Pirate Clouds"

Finally, here's two wrapping paper designs for the holidays.

"Little Forest"

"Winternight Lace"

Hoping that you'll like my submissions! Thank you so much for looking and voting :-)

Wild August Garden

Thanks to the head gardener's efforts and to a summer sprinkled with rainy days we now have our own piece of jungle! And this year it's as lush as never before. My own under gardener contribution is not that big: mainly watering (lots) and listening to the head gardener's plans and ideas (lots too). And well, ok, taking photographs and admiring it all!

"Project Overgrowth" from mid July to mid August! A cloth woven by blue Morning Glories and Nasturtium.

The green curtain leads to an amazing atmosphere inside and gives good shade too. Here's the view through the bedroom windows … well what is left from the view that is!

The head gardener loves to introduce unusual and exotic plant species. Here are this year's new inhabitants:

Pepper Leaf, or Hoya Santa, a native plant of Mexico. Our black Dikkertje is a normal sized cat … it's just that these leaves are enormous!

And below there's Dwarf Tamarillo, from South America, with little orange fruits that taste very sweet but with a hint of bitter, a bit like Physalis.

Our little Elderflower Tree is in it's third year already and growing fast. This is the first summer that it has got fruits.

The Hyssop plants have established themselves very well. They are a favourite of the bees, so there's often a humming cloud of insects around them.

Brown Sunflowers just because (they are so beautiful!) and Salvia Officinalis, another fave plant for the bees.

As all our plants grow in pots on the rooftop, there's a lot of watering to do on hot summer days. The garden hoses are everywhere! Tripping over a garden hose is one of the most likely accidents over here …

Dikkertje loves to lounge near to the Cat Thyme.

Below is another traveller from far away: Tree Spinach is a native plant of Nepal and South-East Asia. It can be cooked and tastes similar to leaf spinach. The young leafs are fab for salads too.

With sunflower greetings :-) I hope you enjoyed this little garden tour!

My personal fairytale route

There is an official german fairytale route that is visited by many tourists, but this here is my personal one! I live in a river valley with lots of castles, and there's plenty of stories, folktales and history woven around them. So when Minted announced the Spaces and Places Art Challenge – for artwork and photography that was inspired by a location – I knew that I wanted to show "my valley" and some of it's castles.
The Lahn River Valley is a tributary valley of the Rhine and in many parts it looks a bit like a mini version of the big stream. More quiet and secluded and with canoes inspite of the big container ships, but definitely beautiful and worth a visit too.
So here's four fairytale castles in watercolour! The blue colour scheme was initially inspired by the region's blue dyeing tradition. But I as well found that it helped me to come up with a more special interpretation, without loosing the original features of the buildings and their recognizability.

"Fairytale Route Count's Castle Germany"

Starting right at my doorstep this is Count's Castle, perched on a high rock above the river, my daily view out of my studio window. This medieval castle has a rich history and was used as residence for several counts, as dower residences for two dutch countesses, as administrative seat, as prison and almost unbelievable, as stonemason workshop. Nowadays it houses a youth hostel, a café and the local museum.

"Fairytale Route Oranienstein Castle Germany"

Just a short distance up the hill you'll find this serene baroque castle with a beautiful park – Oranienstein Castle. It was built by one of the said dutch countesses that longed for more comfort than the old Count's Castle could provide. It is one of the four ancestral castles of the Dutch Royal Family. Nowadays it belongs to the German Army, but can be visited with guided tours and often houses classical concerts.

"Fairytale Route Nassau Castle Germany"

Nassau Castle is another medieval hilltop castle overlooking Nassau town and hills. It had been in ruins but has partly been restored. The view from it's high keep is magical and you can as well get married there in a beautiful wedding chamber. Historically it is the home of the Counts of Nassau who again are closely related to the Dutch Royal Family. It is as well the source for the name of the capital city of the Bahamas: Nassau in the Bahamas was named in honour of Wilhelm III. from Oranien-Nassau, Regent of the Netherlands and King of England in the 17th century, and a descendant of the Counts of Nassau.

"Fairytale Route Lahneck Castle Germany"

Lahneck Castle is located at the estuary of the River Lahn into the Rhine and is often called the "Guardian of the Valley". It as well has a long history dating back into the 13th century, including being the last refuge for the Order of the Templars when they were hunted and finally destroyed in the 14th century. It as well has a resident ghost, the soul of a young english girl who visited the castle to sketch the view on the river, got trapped on the tower and sadly died there.
Lahneck Castle can be visited with guided tours and there's special candelit tours as well.

I hope you liked my little history tour along the Lahn River!

Please feel free to visit my Voting Page to have a look at all my submissions to this challenge and to vote for them if you like them. Thank you so much :-)