Strolls through my hood usually get me out of my studio, they help me get unstuck and often I get inspired by what I see and get new ideas to create something. It is part of my philosophy about Artful Adventures in Mixed Media – which is the subject of my book. But …there is not much strolling through the hood lately due to the Lock down and so I thought …I take you on a stroll through the house :)

This is what happens a lot of times in the morning – as soon as we are done with breakfast the cats climb on me ..I am not sure why and what this means …maybe they just see me as a living cat climbing tree.

This is Bobby Pretzel supervising the masks I sewed for us, family and neighbors. I think he did a good job.

Here are some that I made with the fabric I sun printed a while ago with my stencils.

And here are some of our neighbors, cleaning up the street – because it has been a while since street cleaning occurred, and some assholes think it is cool to just litter the streets with their rubber gloves…and yes I said assholes…there is no nicer word- sorry.

I wanted to show our new stained glass window too – I am sooo in love. We had it made by a local artist Keith, aka TF Dutchman– he makes amazing contemporary artwork with stained glass and a while ago he came and checked out our fireplaces and the other stained glass window we have to come up with this design for us.

The window makes me just so happy and the colors and light through it are different at any time of the day- it is the best thing :)

Like many people I have been baking more and more bread. Well …I am a German and I do love bread for breakfast-and since our artisanal bakery closed I knew I needed to get into this because that is also one of the things I miss a ton from Germany. This is still a no-knead bread as we were lucky enough to have yeast at home- but now I am out of flour and there is no flour …we shall see when my order online is ever going to arrive. Weird times my friends, weird times.

Easter was a bit sad without the usual family gatherings- but I put out some decoration – to make me feel happy. The tulips are fake …there are not tulips to get this year -but these are from my friend Birgit Koopsen in the Netherlands, and she brought them with her a while ago. They fake people out all the time thinking these are real LOL. The eggs are wood – aka also fake to make sure the cats are not destroying them…you see…lots of fake things going on this time hahahah.

Here are Bobby Pretzel and Mingus not really social distancing – LOL- They are bringing us so much joy!

I am so happy for our garden and I cannot wait for more flowers to show up and warmer weather to finally sit outside with a cup of coffee and breathe some fresh air.

We have been sitting outside some evenings after work with a lots of layers of jackets to just feel the air and listen to the birds. Every day there is a beautiful cardinal visiting- I assume he was there before but it is the first time I noticed him as a regular visitor. It is a beautiful sight and like a gift. You notice a lot of things to be grateful for that you usually take for granted in a time like that. That is a good thing. 

I hope you enjoyed this little stroll though the house and I hope you all are safe and sound. Until next month! 

Nat

Strolls through my hood get me out of my studio, they help me get unstuck and often I get inspired by what I see and get new ideas to create something. It is part of my philosophy about Artful Adventures in Mixed Media – which is the subject of my book. Here are some photos that I gathered in the last couple weeks.

Well a lot of those photos were taken before we all were practicing social distancing. And the more these inspire me – a good reminder to enjoy the little things like meeting with friends in a cafe or a stroll through the hood. Speaking of a cafe – I love the “fence art” by Norman Kirby above that made its way into this new-ish restaurant.

St. John’s Church – a gorgeous gorgeous historic landmark church – which is falling apart. I am reading a lot about this church and it’s history in this neighborhood. I will def. write a separate post about it – it is so fascinating and I will def. do a painting of this church.

This made me smile. Bentley Avenue also has the nickname of “Doctor’s Row” – there are a ton of beautiful victorian Mansions on this street and they have become unaffordable in the recent years (if you find one you could buy you would have to pay a ton of money to bring it back to livable status) – so this tiny Bentley house is pretty much all we could afford hahahah

Speaking of Social Distancing- those guys have no clue and boy they are soo cute. Here is Bobby Pretzel on his foster blanket on my letterpress- he loves that spot.

While Mingus loves to perch on the Banister – he is such a riot.

Speaking of beautiful churches- I can not believe that I was never before in Grace Church downtown – I lived there for 6 years and somehow never made it in until now when a friend of mine was singing there. So colorful!

Another row of beautiful brownstones – I love the balcony on the left!

This former victorian mansion looks really sad

I wonder if the scaffolding means restoration or stripping it down from it’s last architectural elements. I would be surprised if that house could be saved but you never know.

I loooooveee this building – I am not sure yet what used to be in there back in the golden days- but it is sooo cute. It has been abandoned for a long time – I hope someone buys it and revives it. A friend of mine who is actually a real estate agent said that a lot of those abandoned buildings in the neighborhood have been bought a long time ago by investors and they are now waiting for the perfect timing to sell those for a hefty price. It makes me angry as to what this does to this neighborhood.

A little bit of a sad Hope sign but at least hope :)

This beautiful house was once built by one of the richest men in Jersey City in 1860 – he died impoverished and the building is now an apartment building. Some of you might recognize it in one of my paintings ;)

Same street- more gorgeous apartment buildings!

These are Dutch Queen Anne Houses Row Houses. And yes that is a style as well – and reminds me indeed of Amsterdam.

and this little street with the small town brick townhouses makes me just happy- it is super cute and I cannot wait for the trees to be in bloom.

Hope you enjoyed the Stroll through my Hood! Hope you are all well and stay safe and healthy! Loves!

Join me today, March 27th at 2pm EST for a LIVE chat on Facebook – Let’s catch up and see how everyone is doing!

Nat