Wild girls




2 artists, 6 paintings

These are small canvases - a series of six  that are a collaboration between a good friend and me. I did the painting part and she added the crayon and typographie. We do this on a regular base since many years now and it's always interesting. It is a very special kind of work, and i couldn't do it with anyone else. 

We've started this way of working, when our kids were small and both of us didn't find time to paint at all. So we exchanged little sheets of paper, and each of us in turn added something here and there, until we thought it was finished. With time, we went on to bigger things and organized exibitions. At the moment, the paintings are part of an open house-show at my friends beautiful home.

Hope your week gets of to a great start  - See you soon!

Paintings: Martina Voigt-Schmid, Andrea König

Friday Pretties: A little treat for chocolate lovers


Some sweetness can save the day

... especially a cold and rainy november day!  And especially the sweetness of chocolate! This looks like the thick and creamy hot chocolate they serve in italy - a recipe by Nigella Lawson i'm going to try this weekend.  Just looking at it makes me feel better! What are your plans for the weekend?


Photo via Nigella Lawson
Hungry for more Pretties? Have a look here!

Two worlds - one garden



There are fairies at the bottom of our garden.
Rose Fyleman  

Although now, it may be too cold for them to dance and play outside. Or have you ever seen a fairy in a warm fur-coat? Garden in November and garden in June. Which one do you like better? I'm definitely a summer loving person, but can see the beauty in winter too. The graphic structures of the bare branches and twigs has got something. Keep warm today!

Friday Pretties: A new painting


Yellow and black
Something i just worked on. Sorry, the photo came out a little blurry. But you get the idea.
My artist friend Andrea is working over this canvas with a net of tiny silver dots, and i'm curious to see how this will turn out. We will present it at an open-house event soon, and i'll post aboot it as soon as i get to take some pix next week. Meanwhile i hope you'll have a fantastic weekend with enough fun to give no chance to november-blues! To get some more inspiration, visit Joyce to see  more pretties here!!

Foto & painting: Martina Voigt-Schmid

It's teatime, kids!



 Tea can save a rainy day ...

... well, at least if you serve homemade scones with it, a tradition we came to love from our dear au-pair Janine from New-Zealand. I'm not a big housewife or baker myself, but these are so easy - and perfect for grey afternoons. 

Recipe:
2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons butter (room temperature)
3/4 cup milk

Mix all dry ingredients, ad butter in little lumps, then stir in a little milk and knead a dough. Gradually add more milk, as you go along. Form a roll and cut little rounds from it. Place on baking sheet (covered with baking-paper) and bake until nicely browned. Serve warm with jam and whipped cream.

Fotos: 1st: Digitalstock, 2nd and 3rd: Martina Voigt-Schmid


And if you happen to have too many teapots in the house, stuffing your cupboards, here's what you can do with them: a teapot lamp! I really love this idea by Sweet Paul - a great food stylist, who never fails to inspire me. This was a project for for the magazine Country Living.

Friday Pretties: A paper wreath - and how to make it





Do you have old books - old, old books that are not pretty or good enough to keep? Here's something you can do with them, if you're not afraid to cut of some pages! A paper-wreath, leaves made out of printed pages. I liked the black and white look - but maybe it looks good as well, if you cut leaves out of old magazines - with colored pages. A little project if you don't quite feel ready yet to start on your christmas-decoration, and want to keep the autumn feeling lingering a bit longer.

The last picture shows you, how to do it - really simple and easy. Cut the leaves and then fix them with deco-needles on a styrofoam-wreath - that way, you can move them a little bit and adjust them to your liking. A little bow can be aded as a final touch.
Have a great weekend! And visit Joyce to see  more pretties here!!

Fotos artwork & painting: Martina Voigt-Schmid

I've been tagged ...

 Something old
(A painting i did a long time ago)

Something new
(A painting that is not finished yet)


Something borrowed
(A pair of paintings by fellow artist Susan Brown)


Something blue
(A pair of paintings on my studio wall - i can't part with them)


And something more blue
(Also by artist Susan Brown) 

... tagged by my dear blogfriend Anita from "Castles, Crowns And Cottages" with a special task to compose a post with  

something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

That sounds nice - like a poem, and since this is an art-blog, i decided to show you some paintings of mine and some of a fellow artist i like - enjoy looking!

And i'm passing the task on to

Saskia from Join my joy
Gwynnie from Gwynnie B. Designs
Chrissy from cul*ti*vate
Andrea from Andrea creates

Have fun with this project!

Friday Pretties: Happy weekend!


Me and my 3 men

on a holiday in Italy, 2 years ago. We made a day-trip to Monaco and wandered around the casino and the harbor, looking at all the magnificent boats and the deep blue ocean. Hope your weekend will be just as fine. This is just a quickie-post to tell you i love you! Will be back on monday with a fun thing - you'll see!
Meanwhile take time and visit Joyce and  more pretties here!!

Creative idea: Yarn Mobile


Round and easy

If you are like me, and pretty yarns and fabrics appeal to you, but you don't like knitting, this might be a fun project to try. A mobile in your favorite colors of various baubles, some hollow, some full. You could use almost anything round, just as long as it's not too heavy. Or make your own balls, by putting yarn soaked in glue around a ballon wit a greasy surface, similar like you'd make paper maché. You let the yarn dry, and then remove the balloon. Messy, but fun! 

Foto via tumblr, seen on spearmint baby