A welcome to my new Followers

I would like to welcome all my new Followers, it´s so nice to have you visiting my blog.

 This time I would like to share with you a few images regarding one of my several hobbies, as I feel an attraction for minerals, sometimes I like to entertain recycling some necklaces, I buy some other pieces to complement  and start working, hope you like it.

Volcanic stones (lava) silver, and semi-precious stones

Quartz, and silver

Quartz, pearls and silver

Spring is on the Air

I hope that Spring brings to you all lots of Sunshine and Flowers to cheer you up

  A card allusive to Spring, my chest painted with flowers and birds and two glass miniatures - artisanal work from a glass factory

A natural flower and miniature birds

Detail of the glass

A miniature basket

And I profited to photograph some of my miniature glasses

And for those who liked the chest - a few details:

The chintz tissue of a bed cover I had once

An watercolour on paper I made to match the decoration of the room years ago - 120x60cm
Please notice that I made a symmetry of the pattern

And at last I reduced the drawing freehand and adapted it to the chest. I used acrylics to paint the decoration. This chest was decorated to be presented at the Madrid Fair in November last.

SINTRA - A source of inspiration

thFrom this Blogger world -  from the blog a miniature life  Anthoula asked me what could she visit in my Country, and I remembered to put here some photos of my archive albums, (these are not recent photos) and advise her to visit the beautiful Villa of Sintra nearby Lisbon. So enjoy your visit Anthoula.

"Palácio da Vila" - with lovely interiors to visit

Monserrate, and Palácio da Pena on the horizon

Palácio de Monserrate - with beautiful gardens to visit

A cascade - you are going to find several in the gardens

Several beautiful architectural monuments

Charming private houses

Lovely perspectives to take photos

Cozy tearooms to take a cup of tea and the so well known "queijadas e travesseiros"

Nostalgic architectural details to keep

Palácio da Pena - Also worthwhile to visit the interiors

And please don´t forget to visit the Toy Museum - "MUSEU DO BRINQUEDO"

17th Century interior - Museum Collection

And at the end some of my miniature paintings inspired on this lovely Villa

Oil on canvas - Palácio da Vila

Oil on canvas - Palácio da Pena

The same Palace - Watercolour

Palácio da Pena - oil on canvas

Sintra - Oil on canvas

Enchanting world of dolls´houses at the revue HOMES & ANTIQUES

Yesterday I bought as usual the Revue HOMES & ANTIQUES, and I was glad to find that this April issue includes an article about dolls´houses, I found it very original only regret that the pieces of furniture aren´t so original., nevertheless it is wordwhile, I´m very fond of the revue.

Re-starting with a greenhouse

Today I decided that it was time to clean-up the studio and re-start working on my projects after this hard winter. And as the sky is so blue today I choosed to put on the table one of my greenhouses and try to finish it.

I know already that I´m not able to discipline myself and I  will go on jumping from a project to another till the next winter....

I bought this greenhouse  in Seville, already with this finish, I would prefer the white colour, but I think they only supply this colour.

Two years ago I started already to paint a trompe l´oeil in tempera for the background  but  today when I saw it I decided  to finish it in oil  or re-start from the beginning because I´m not satisfied with it. You know that oils can be applied over tempera, but the contrary is not possible.

This is the set I choosed to the decorate the inside, I had it already.

I hope to show you more photos as soon as possible.

Do you like Mushrooms?

Today I bought mushrooms for lunch and I thought to my self it´s funny I´m not able to eat them, because I don´t like the flavour, but I find them so attractive. 

So I profit to  show you  a box made with the technique of decoupage as proof of my appreciation to these Fruits of the Fungi World.

The box is lacquered in dark brown and the mushrooms were cut from a decorative paper; the grisaille engravings are from Nicola Wingate-Saul. One of this day I will talk  about the technique of decoupage.

And I profit to show you some photos I made some time ago during a walk with the Familly  on a beautiful day .

I´m always very attentive to everything that surrounds me, looking for sources of inspiration, and I keep lots and lots of images which sooner or later are very useful to my work.

Sometimes my camera catches details that I don´t see at the moment, here I caught a mosquito

And finally as I don´t know their names and ignore if some of them are poisonous here are the names of some of them.

(Click on the image to see the namesof the different species)

This is the glue that I use for decoupage, and it acts also like a varnish, but if you buy it you have to check if it has a gloss finish, because if you don´t want to apply a varnish at the the end this product is enough, for both operations. And don´t forget to seal the paper before gluing the paper. I use an aerosol sealer.

If you are attentive you will find beautiful wrap pappers suitable for decoupage, if you want to apply them on miniatures you may reduce them at the proper scale, and for that purpose I´m fond of Conqueror paper, both white or very light creme.

To my new Followers

I´m so glad to receive  new followers in my blog,  to all of you I send lots of marigold.

I  started already to visit your wonderful Blogs, one by one, and I´m delighted to see your work, thank you for sharing.

Ana

And finally the 3rd winner

And finally I the lucky winner for the 4rd jar is Anthoula, , congratulations to her.

I´m so glad for your participation,  and  I feel quite lucky  to find your beautiful blogs, now in future  I will also follow you. Thank you all, and I hope to organize another giveaway as soon as I can, the next time with a painting, but it will take some time because I have aleady a long list to accomplish.

For those who didn´t win, I send  a sign of Spring arriving in my garden,

I have another winnner for the giveaway

And I have already another winner selected between the 50 first followers, the lucky one is Synnove

Congratulations Synnove, I´m very pleased also to offer you the two jars.

And in the evening I will sellect one of the ladies that participated in the post regarding this giveaway, and she will be presented with one jar, the other as I told belongs already to Norma.

You have still this afternoon to participate until 18h, in the meantime please have a cup of coffee,

The two jars near one of my oil paintings

And why not a bit of a "flan caramel" I made today....

Thank you all for your participation

More about the giveaway

I have to thank you all for your participation in my first giveaway, I did´nt expect such good enthusiasm, for the moment stay a while and have a cup of tea, I will also make a pause with you and think in adding something more to this first give away.

Earl Grey tea served on a chinese cup and a miniature tea set in jade from China, over natural silk with oriental flowers and parasol. As I´m fond of tea I collect tea cups and tea sets from miniature to larger scales.

The above cup of tea belongs to a set and everytime I drink from these cups I wonder how they achieve the technique of inserting this image at the bottom with such transparency.  

As I mentioned already I have three other Blog, where I receive lots of visits, but usually people do not participate, and I´m glad to be visited by you and receive your comments, in this Blog. Besides, since I began this Blog I had the chance to visit lots of beautiful blogs that I did´nt know.

Usually I´m always very busy with my Family life and my work although I work for my self , but this year I did not yet entered my studio to work in my projects, and I blame this endless winter so I had all my spare time to dedicate to my new Blog.

Well, at this point, I have already achieved the 50 followers (I didn´t expect it so soon) and now I will give one number for each of them by the order they entered, and then choose a number .

Furthermore I decided to  buy two more jars (I hope to find more) and will atribute one to the participants in the initial post until tomorrow by this hour,  and the other one shall be given to  NORMA http://makeminemini.blogspot.com/ who kindly divulged my giveaway.  At the end I´ll ask your adresses. 

Thank you all
 Ana

                                                         

It´s time for my first giveaway

I decided it´s time to organize my first Giveaway and  as I am almost reaching 50 followers, I will select one between all of you  and give  the two silver filigree jars I bought this week, I bought four and shall be pleased to give two, it´s nice to have you following my Blog, because I like to share my work.