Postcard Challenge Week 34~JAPAN

Darcy took us  back across the ocean to Japan- I thought of many things to use for my card,  such as geisha's, warriors, dragons, anime, ninja and koi fish. Since there were so many interesting things to do ; I chose several things to put on my page: Mt. Fuji, cherry blossoms, shrines and pagodas . My card was probably the easiest thing to do - Recently our world famous art museum held an exhibition on the Birds of Nature. It was small but amazing-they displayed 7 Audubon bird illustrations (including the whooping crane and American Flamingo-they were huge and amazing to see in person). There were several paintings done by Japanese artists ,most which included the crane as their subject. Anyways I think of cranes as a symbol of Japan (either  origami cranes or real cranes). The interpretation of meanings for  the crane vary , such as : Honor & loyalty, good fortune, longevity and peace (fits my storyline perfect)... So here's my work for the week.


FRONT of Card

Lots of techniques on the postcard. First I drew a crane.

Colored with Copic markers and micron pen details.

Next I used yellow green Pan pastells to color  the background.

Masked the crane and over stamped Japanese  script stamp

in black ink. Let it dry. Using white  eraser I removed a small area

of  pastel color -Added Red chop in lower left corner.

Finally a second color of green Pan pastells was used
to tone background  symbolic writing down .

 

 BACK of Card

Correspondence:

"Dear Alexander,

Okay now you have me Very worried!!!

What if the waiter Reuben is the cause for my distress?

Why is it I can't even remember him?

Please be careful- I'm concerned about your safety...

I don't know what I'd do if you get hurt on my behalf!

My best friend Sophia took me on holiday

with her to  Japan. I did a little art

including this crane~which

symbolizes good fortune, longevity and peace!

Hope to See  you soon,

Melite"

 

 

PAGE in Book



Several subjects on the page -First of all the center oval

picture is a watercolor of Mt Fuji- Then I drew cherry blossoms on right

side -also done with watercolors & markers

Colored entire background with several tones of pink Pan Pastells.

 Drew a shrine in lower right corner & pagoda in left corner.

These were colored in with black Pitt brush markers.

 

Complete Page in Book 

 

 

 This week I changed  my work up  some- I went for a more muted, pastel color scheme

Also my storyline is really heating up -

Wonder if the truth can be safely found out by Alexander?

Will Melite and Alexander meet soon?

  To Find out keep coming back to visit my Blog & PLEASE all visitors leave A comment

Love to hear what you think of the Post card challenge and my weekly art work

 

Happy Creating !

Fotojoy/Joyce



Postcard Challenge WEEK 33~SOUTH AFRICA

Another week has flown by; so another posting of the Postcard challenge-This week we were sent to the Land of South Africa. A land of such diversity- many exotic animals, and gorgeous landscapes; but yet such a troubled country. I must say there was an abundance of ideas this week to chose from; but to stay with with my storyline I chose the Savannah. There is this amazing free flight bird sanctuary called "Birds of Eden" at Plettenberg Bay. It houses over 250 species and 3500 total birds; most of these birds exist in the world's largest hectare; therefore they are so calm around visitors; so viewing them is easy. My subject for my card is a bird associated with South Africa- The SECRETARY BIRD.

FRONT OF CARD

The Secretary Bird is closely related to raptors,

but is built like a crane (tall with  stilt like legs).

They stand almost 4 feet tall, travel alot on land ,

eat mostly snakes and small rodents-definitely

not a Bird to tangle with -very mean!

Done in watercolors, makers and lots of

gray pen work.

BACK OF CARD



Correspondence:

"My Dearest Melite,

Well I have moved on from India to South Africa-

Sorry for being out of contact; not many

postal dept. where I have traveled. The

land of South Africa is Amazing!-from the dry

 Savannahs, subtropical, to beautiful shoreline.

Spent some time viewing the "Birds of Eden Sanctuary"

 at Plettenberg Bay-amazing collection of over

3500 birds-All in fee flight hectare-
Secretary Bird my fav.

Anyways I'm heading to Vienna

to visit Figlmuller restaurant - to check

on a waiter named Reuben...

Take care I'm working on

finding

You Peace & Love!

Alexander"

In the background of the card is an image

of the Baobab Tree ( for some reason my camera does not

like to focus on writing ) and a postage stamp showing

a full view of what a secretary bird looks like.

Page in Book

All images are photos(except love birds in center) ,

I took at our amazing local zoo's African Savannah.

The zoo has open plains for these animals to roam freely ;

the birds are kept in a free flight rainforest

(nice but difficult to see them all the time).

Which makes you feel you are in Africa.

Found the Africa flag font online .

Completed Page in Book

 

WELL THAT'S THIS WEEKS CARD

RETURN NEXT WEEK for

the next installment of the virtual

Postcard challenge.

HAPPY CREATING!

FOTOJOY/Joyce

Postcard Challenge WEEK 32~MALTA

This week we find no new correspondence from Alexander (since India) . Since Melite is still haunted by the unknown events of Austria; in a last ditch effort she decides to make a side trip to Malta. Melite hopes by visiting all the tranquil settings of Malta; ( including the many  amazing churches) she hopes to find peace that has been missing from her life the last 6 months.  One of the amazing churches Melite visits is the San Gwann Parish Church. This is a relativity new church(1959), it was built over an old cave site where many other churches once stood .The San Gwann Parish Church was built by Capuchin Friars and the church is dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes.
One interesting Fact about  Malta is it  has over 359 churches , which equals 1 church for every Kilometer!

FRONT OF CARD

This is my version  of the gorgeous painting

 that hangs above the altar at

San Gwann Parish. It was done in watercolors and

a little pen work. The image is of the Virgin Mary giving

instructions to  Bernadette Soubirous to return the grotto.

(Bernadette was 14 years old when she had the first apparition.)

 Bernadette returned the grotto several times and finally dug

a hole to reveal a  stream of "Holy Water" that lead to several miracle cures.

Bernadette later became a Saint,  and  the location of the stream

became a  shrine to "Virgin Mary "

One of the  sayings Virgin Mary said to Bernadette was:

'I promise to make you Happy, Not in this

World, but in the Next'



 BACK of CARD

Rather Plain back this week; but here's what Melite writes to Alexander:

 

"My Dearest Alexander,

Since I have  not hear back from you ; I'm assuming

you are still in India trying to save the Bengal Tigers.

I have decided to venture out on my own trip. I went to

Malta looking for some Peace from all the visions ...

I visited many old churches while here but; was predictably

drawn to two. The San Gwann Parish Church and the

Parish Church of Our Lady of Carmel in Fgura. They are

newer churches but a deep connection to  the healing

powers of the 'Virgin Mary'-

I did get blessed by the Friars here with Holy Water

and pray this may lead to 'me healing'.

I hope by the time I get back to Greek homeland

of Schiza you will have sent me a card.

Please take care of yourself ,

Melite"

PAGE in BOOK





This is the view of Our Lady of Caramel Parish Church

in Fgura, Malta at night .  Done in acrylics  with the stain glass

windows done in watercolors - The background in was done

 shades of blues to black. The 'Malta' title was stamp

onto an image of the beautiful handmade Malta lace.

COMPLETED PAGE

This was an interesting week of arting -

Most of my weekend was spent away from home-

Traveling to a stamp &  paper arts convention

So I will be viewing everyone's  work tomorrow.

Happy Creating

Fotojoy/Joyce



POST CARD CHALLENGE Week 31~DENMARK

Well this week has been more difficult than last- Especially when I got home today to find out my posting did not post correctly ; therefore I'm entering the whole update tonight ! So Sorry for asking everyone to check out my blog a second time this week!

While researching  Denmark I found out  a few interesting facts about the country. First of all, did you know Denmark is "The HAPPINESS Country in the WORLD"? Secondly it was once known as a "Land of Many colors" - Thirdly Denmark is home to Legoland, Tivoli park ( reminds me of the modern day amusement park with lots of famous artwork mixed in )-Denmark has the world's biggest population of cyclist and of course they eat many strange foods such as smoked Eels (yuck!) I mostly thought of Denmark being cold , land of vikings , dragons, mermaids and the place where Hans Christian Anderson wrote about. Boy was I wrong -it really is a beautiful and colorful country. So with that in mind I wanted to make a colorful card and page.

FRONT OF CARD

This card is based on a travel ad from the 1930's -

How much more colorful could a sunset be than this?

Done in copic markers

BACK OF CARD

Correspondence:

My Dear Alexander,

So I hope while you were on your "Mission"you received my cards?

Am I correct in who Ruben was?

Because I'm still having visions of dark rooms and I'm not sure if this is my answer.

Anyways I stopped in Denmark (Copenhagen is so colorful and friendly!),

to check on purchasing sheep for my farm (no luck)-

Are you heading close to my home soon?

I miss you and long to have a deep conversation with you ! 

Until we meet  soon,

Melite"

PAGE IN BOOK

Lots of color here - First of all the sky, pier,

water and ships were done in water colors.

It is  Nyhavn Pier in the Copenhagen region.

(very  unique and colorful entry to a town).

Many of these buildings are restaurants & cafes.

Most photos  I found of this area was crowded 

 with lots of people strolling Hand-in-hand

(remember Happiest country). The buildings were

done in Prismacolor colored pencils. The title

of the page is in tribute to Legoland- I found a

Lego font and spelled out Denmark.

For good luck I added the flag of Denmark too.

COMPLETED PAGE

WELL SORRY For the technical issues this week -

Also  Thanks to everyone  for all the positive

 support these last 32 weeks-

Can't wait to view all the cards

from this week!

Happy Creating !

Fotojoy /Joyce