New York Photos

 Last weekend I was away on a little jaunt. Today I have a few assorted photos  that I took on this jaunt in the Hudson River Valley in New York state.

It was a really beautiful place. I definitely want to go back sometime and explore the area some more.

Thanks to my brother-in-law for the suggestion!

These photos are in no particular order. The only qualification is that I liked them. :)

Hope you do too.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Back to Iceland Again-And No, I'm not on a Plane

Happy Friday everyone. Another week is winding down, and considering it was a pretty quiet week for me, it still flew right by. I spent a lot of time working in my journals. I worked on pages in my summer journal, and also made a big push in my Iceland journal.  My goal is to finish that before I got back to work at the end of next week.

 I am linking up to several challenges.First of all, I am linking up to Try It On Tuesday. The latest challenge is book pages, and that's what I used as my background to make these two pages here. When I made my journal I used some pages from a  child's book about Iceland and Greenland that I found on eBay.  The left side of the spread in the back soft cover of the children's book. I stitched and then put some gesso inside the stitched part, and than I added this fun postcard of the Reykjavik Cathedral I picked up. Since it is labeled Icelandic punctuality, I added a couple of wrist watch stamps and also the little metal number. 

I also wanted to make a page about all the flowers in bloom.  I had bought this rather big lot of used postage stamps from Iceland (also off of eBay) and I decided all this page needed was for me to attached the stamps in an organized manner. I think the flowers look great on the printed background.

I liked how this worked so much I decided to do it again with some more stamps. This time I painted the page with some light blue paint and then attached some geology related postage stamps.

Iceland is so much about it geology, in fact it wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the separating of 2 large geologic plates. Traveling with 3 other science geeks, you know we had some geology talk. :)

Flowers and geology are both wonders of nature. They are also a really interesting part of the island that is Iceland. So I am linking up to Art Journal Journey. The theme this month is Nature's Wonders chosen by this month's great hostess, Gill.

Finally, I have one more journal page to show you. This is another page done on a book page, and also part of my Iceland travel journal. I wanted to make a page in my journal about some of the unique Icelandic drinks I had that week. I took a few slight liberties on the labels. The first beer-the Einstock- had a gorgeous Viking head, which I could not draw, so I used a Viking stamp I own in place of it. And I had to outline the white letters on the second beer bottle so they would show up better.

Because I painted these I am also going to link up to Paint Party Friday. Thanks Kristen and Eva for hosting.

Stop by all these web pages to check out some interesting art.

And since I showed you a postcard of the Reykjavik Cathedral, let me show you a few photos of this interesting piece of architecture.

 This is the view of the front of the cathedral from across the street.

Here's a couple of close ups. The picture above was taken with my phone and these next 2 with my camera.  I just love the dreamy colors my camera caught.

 These rock like ridges remind me of the Volcanic rocks you see on the island. The building,  given artistic license and in Scandinavian modern style,  resembles the volcanoes on the island.

 Inside the cathedral

 This cathedral is as stark as the Icelandic environment.

 I love the sky color outside the windows here. It  looks painted, doesn't it?

And this is the large set of organ pipes in the back.

 I think the cathedral is interesting architecture and really reflects the Icelandic environment and what I know of the culture. I'm not sure I'm in love with it, but it made me think.  I guess that means the architects were successful in their design.  What do you think?

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and thanks for visiting my blog.

Summer Afternoons

A couple of pages from my summer art journal for you today. Many summer days are leisurely for me, and I am savoring every minute.  I think I could get used to this laid back style. 

I take that back, I think I am used to this laid back style.

One thing I am really enjoying this summer is just hanging out at home. Coming and going as I please, not keeping to the work schedule. Throw in a few little outings, and of course my trip to Iceland, its been my kind of summer.

Speaking of little outings, yesterday I showed you FDR's home in Hyde Park, New York. Today I am going to show you his wife's home after FDR passed away. It is on the opposite side of the family property, a place called Val-Kill. 

When asked about the name, it comes from the Dutch. I guess Kill means river, and Val referred to the stream that ran through the property.

Here's that stream. Right before a huge thunderstorm struck. Kind of ominous. Cool cloud reflection in the stream.

Anyhow, Eleanor Roosevelt  is my new heroine. From what I learned, she was an amazing lady. She really believed in equality and human rights of all people, and that the middle classes deserved more of the economic pie. She traveled widely, took the reins when her husband, FDR, came down with polio, and later in life she was the US's first ambassador to the United Nations, along with entertaining many world leaders. Because she believed in human rights for all people, at one point she had a $25,000 reward for her death (from the Klu Klux Klan). That didn't stop her. She also believed and worked for world peace, especially in areas of conflict.
A woman ahead of her time. Her husband was a man ahead of his too.

Val-Kill was originally built as a furniture factory to help local people learn a sustainable trade during the 1930's economic depression. After it closed the family turned it into a place for day picnics, as it was a few miles from the main house. After FDR passed away. Eleanor made it her permanent home and lived there until her death in 1962.

 I love how this sophisticated woman chose to live in such a cute and simple little cottage. That fence is a very deep swimming pool where you might have seen photos of FDR swimming with the kids. It is under renovation now by the National Park Service.

Even the interior of this place was simple and homey and could be my house.

A lot of the wooden furniture in her home was made by the people she trained at the factory. 

To me, it makes me admire this woman even more. The other home we visited that day (we did 3) was the Vanderbilt mansion from the late 1800's.  All gilt and show and almost disgusting if it wasn't a museum.  As the park ranger said, the Vanderbilts were new money and had to show it off.  The Roosevelts were old money and didn't need to prove anything. But I think this down to earth house proves a lot of Eleanor.

When she passed away, one of her sons tried to give this place to the Park Service as happened with his father's, FDR's home.  They wouldn't take it because who took the homes of first ladies? It was doomed for the wrecking ball but then citizens collected money to buy it and save it.  Finally when Jimmy Carter was president he took it for the Park Service. I think it was smart because I don't think Eleanor Roosevelt was just a first lady. I think the hundreds of thousands of miles she traveled and all the work she actually did made her more of a premier diplomat.

Elizabeth mentioned a show on PBS (American Experience)  going through the presidents. I have just started catching the tail end of it because for some reason our record didn't record any of the earlier ones. I am going to go back and see if I can find the at least the FDR one on-line because its a really good series-if you live here in the US and like history.

OK, enough said here. Thanks for stopping by everyone.