Saturday collage

Madonna

collage 5 x 7"

paper 9 x 12"

Collage and energized once again

Everything to Power

collage 5 x 7"

paper 9 x 12"

and once again I enjoyed and got new energy from these three words

YES

WE

CAN

so true, for us, you, me,

played in this video:

(please double click the link)

http://video.google.nl/videosearch?sourceid=navclient&hl=nl&rls=SKPB,SKPB:2006-47,SKPB:nl&q=youtube+music&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=MvanSfreNte4twfrp-nbDw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#q=yes+we+can&hl=nl&emb=0

Enjoy the weekend!

Experimenting

and trying to define my own style...

Unrestricted

collage 5 x 7"

paper 9 x 12"

Dreams (4)

Travel

collage 8 x 6"

This is the last collage in this series. The blue part behind the ladie's head shows a part

of the map of Surinam. Exactly one year ago we visited this beautiful country and I can still daydream of the jungle in the south near Awaradam, the sea turtles that laid their eggs near Galibi where the Marowijne river meets the ocean.

Beauty (in general, not physical) , Car (more on that in future posts!) and Ocean all play
an important role in my dreams, but this last subject is my favorite!

Tomorrow I will show new collages, so stay tuned...

Dreams (3)

Ocean

collage 8"x 6"

Time for fabrics

I've been making collages all week and still got a few to show you

in future posts. By making so many, one after another, and especially making a few little series

I realized how much I learn from these exercises.

It's all about composition I feel!

Choosing colours has never been a problem for me, as I see so many beautiful colorcombinations both around me and in books and magazines. I can hardly sit quietly and browse through magazines for example, for when I got strikken by a photograph I immediately want to jump in the creativity mode. Inspiration is everywhere. But then: the composition part, that's where designrules come in, and balance, and focal points, rhythm, line and repetition. I have always been working quite intuitively, but now I feel the need to know a little more on this subject, so I took out my books of Sandra Meech and once again read these particular chapters. That's when the above experiment started and just to prove that I really need more knowledge on the topic: I got stuck already and don't know how to continue!!

But I let it rest today,

while my brains try to find a solution on how to move on with it, I know they will come up with something..... I trust on that!

Dreams (2)

Car

collage 8"x 6"

This is the second collage in a series called Dreams. I read an article on day dreaming in a magazine and got inspired when I realised that dreams can differ very much, everyone has his own particular (day)dream. For some it is becoming more beautiful, for others it is getting a new car. At the moment this series consist of four collages, I will show more of them in my next posts. I hope you like them!

Dreams (1)

Beauty

collage 8"x 6"

Sunday collage

Enough on my Plate

collage 8"x 6"

Beautiful Lights

Beautiful Lights

collage 8"x 6"

Souffle du Verre

Le Souffle du Verre

collage 8" x 6"

magazine cutouts, acrylics, stamps

Everybody have a nice weekend!

Collage series

Pjotr

Zwolle

La Savane

Sous Toile

These collages were made at the same time. Although the subjects are far apart, I tried to achieve a kind of similar atmosphere.

I'm clearly in positive vibes: it was fun making these!

Soualig' Art

Soualig'Art

collage

11" x 8 "

(Soualiga is the native word for Sint Maarten and it is still very often used in names and events that are culture related)

Home sweet home

Home sweet home

collage 11.5 x 8

magazine cutouts, acrylics, stamps

Village Life (1)

This morning I started a new fabric

we'll see what the final results will be...

PS: again I have a new banner on my blog! I only put on the other one (with the sepia toned guys) some days ago, but I have my desk top computer back again, so I have my favorite tool PS to play with and my stock of banners is growing, that's why.

Hope you like this one too!

On our island (4)

We moved to this island some years ago and though life is sunny, the waters are

lovely and the atmosphere is rather laid back,

I sometimes really miss our trips to France...

Then it's time to drive to the French part of St. Maarten!

In the city of Marigot we started with a fresh cappucino and some delicious bread

at an authentic French bakery

after which we crossed the street to go to the market, where you can hear the people speak

Patoi and the stands are chockful of delicious and very colourful tropical fruits

and herbs and fresh cinnamon...

When strolling along the harbour afterwards we got sight of this mural and since I seem to collect murals these days, I could not let this one go

And before we knew, it was time to drive back and we decided to finish this lovely trip with a lunch at this lagoonside terrace

(on the Dutch side of the island, you can see the French side across the water!)

Thanks for joining us on our trip!

Saturday 14 February...

Happy Valentine!

Playing with gesso, paint and stamps

(pictures are clickable)

Some of my handmade stamps...

Gesso and a second layer of paint

some Paynes Grey added
and

this will be my basis for another Portion Control work!

Portion Control 2

without realizing it: would this be Portion Control too?

(detail of this journal page)

detail of

Yesterday's work


Julie Prichard of Land of Lost Luggage has written a splendid tutorial about Portion Control, which is the subject of this month's GPP Crusade No.28. Michelle Ward is the very inspiring person behind these crusades (she is a super talented lady, you really should visit her blog!)
Yesterday I showed my results in this blog entry and Julie encouraged me to play in this Crusade. I am now a proud member of the GPP Street Team. Go and take a look at this fantastic blog, there is such wonderful work to admire!! You can find the participants and contributions here.

Have a very good Thursday!

Julie Prichard van The Land of Lost Luggage heeft een heel goede lesbrief geschreven over Portion Control, dat het onderwerp is van GPP Crusade No 28. Michelle Ward is de drijvende kracht achter deze 'crusades' (zij is een super getalenteerde vrouw, je moet echt eens op haar blog gaan kijken!)

Gisteren heb ik mijn resultaat in dit bericht laten zien en Julie heeft me aangemoedigd om mee te spelen in deze Crusade. En inmiddels ben ik een trots lid van het GPP Street Team. Neem maar eens een kijkje op dit fantastische blog, er is zoveel mooi werk te bewonderen!! Je kunt de deelnemers en inzendingen hier vinden.

Maak er een mooie donderdag van!

Portion Control (non culinary!)

Tuesdag 10 feb

I was following Julie Prichard's tutorial on Portion Control in painting, in making journal pages. Decided to use some aquarel paper that already had been gessoed. I even made a similar color choice, or my work probably would have resulted red or blueish again (hope you don't mind Julie!). So, an extra challenge for me.

I used some snippets of a wallpaper sample from my recent trip to a building market in Holland

If you are a regular visitor of my blog, you may have noticed that my work is rather colourful.
I really like bold, strong colours, but I'm equally fond of stark contrast. And where do you find that better than in black, white and neutrals? O.k. on a safari perhaps, spotting zebra's and other wildlife :)

Back to the process: this is my stencil collection, it is rather limited, I have to order or make some more.. until then you will often find the French lilie in my work, since I like it very much
( I am/was a true francophile when living in Europe)

And this is the result !

I had some old experimental work (pre www) in this frame, took it out and put my new art in.

To me it looks pretty 'artsy', what do yo think?

You can find the tutorial on Julie's blog Land of Lost Luggage.

Once again many thanks to you Julie!

PS 1: Looking at my work while typing this post, I doubt whether the Portion Control aspect did succeed as it is rather busy with all the lettering and flowering...but alas, it was the very first time I heard of it and tried, other than in eating!

PS 2: does anyone of you know where I can find/order punchinella scrap/sequin waste?

Have been looking for it at Michaels, in Holland, on Curacao with no result and thought maybe you can help me.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Today

I've got all day to make me something. As so often, I did not know where to start: will it be fabrics or paper and paint? Then I came along Julie's blog and she has a post today on Portion Control. I had to try that right away, as I love Julie's tutorials!

So those materials are on my worktable now and I am about to go spray painting outside...

The little fabric collage in the picture I did yesterday. It is a very first trying at collaging in this size, did not give it too much thinking, just pulled out some prefused scraps, cut cut cut and tada. The tada effect is clearly visible I think, LOL! I feel that working on such a small scale (4"x6") is all about compsition. Need to exercise quite a lot on this, but it was fun doing!

Thought to pimp it up a bit by adding a frame in Big Huge Lab.

Now it is time for my espresso, have a lovely day

Sold! And a giveaway...

Art in the Park 2009 has been very successful!

Lots of visitors and participants and a very lively atmosphere. I still was the only participant with 'fiber' stuff, yet received plenty of compliments and positive feedback on my creative products. And what's so funny: I had no expectations at all on selling anything, maybe some small items and guess what happened: sold some quilts, pillows and bags and just a few of the smaller things!

Because I am so happy with the success and positive words that encourage me to continue this way I want to share it with you and do a giveaway (is it do?? or keep??).

The first three commenters on this post will be rewarded with a present

Since I am a beginning blogger and visitors are not yet in the hundreds a day (ha!), you have a big chance to win,!

So leave a comment on this post before next wednesday 11 Febr 13.00 pm (New York time)

and maybe you are a lucky winner...

this beauty left my booth

and this quilt has a new owner too...

Enjoy your Monday!

How it can start...

And here I am again, back on this beautiful tropical island.

Coming from my home country full of shopping centres and lovely cities, with endless possibilities of buying, exhibitions and culture, I had some trouble in the very beginning to find my art materials and inspiration here. The lack of opportunities to view art other than painting is what bothered me most. As an artist I am always on the lookout to make my surroundings more beautiful, and though I know that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, this need to create has to get out, be met with!

But over time I have come to even appreciate this 'scarcety'

Because it can happen:

that I once again find inspiration in this old cherished Peruvian (I think) bowl

dig in my fabric stash and
find some used, but almost new curtains I once received from a friend

combine it with this tablecloth I could not resist to purchase just for the fabric
(I felt so happy that day!)

and create them in something like this...


Have a wonderful weekend you all !

Some results

Most of this week's activities refer to

Art in the Park, which will be Sunday next

Enough stock to sell by now. I only

have to make me some business cards and voila:

here I come!!

Don't you love this bag of Ikea fabric?

Kura Hulanda (the museum)

The day after Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States I visited the Kura Hulanda museum on Curacao. This splendid anthropological museum is located in the old neighbourhood of Otrabanda and is part of the Project Kura Hulanda. You can read more about it here and here. The museum consists of several restored old houses, each of them holding a specific theme, like e.g. Countries of Abraham, Dogon Culture, African Kingdoms and Evolution.
And although I had visited the museum before, I was even more impressed this time! I am sure I was partly influenced by the emotions of the day before, actuality put on a kind of extra 'layer' for me. A prominent part of the museum has been dedicated to slavery, it's trade and abolition in the USA and elsewhere, shipment, slavery today etc.. And while I was walking through this part, reading all the miserable stories, looking at the pictures and instruments of torture, I felt ashamed. I know, I know, it was not me, but I know that until today there are people of my race (hate that word!!) out there who are still feeling superior and are still thinking like the old slave traders and owners once did.
In my blog I usually focus on beauty and art, but for once I felt I had to write a more political and personal tinted post. This is the reason I had to wait until today, I had to get my thoughts clear on how I wanted the focus to be. Now that load is from my mind, I can only fully, once more, agree:

YES, WE CAN!!!

(click the pictures for details)

words by Nydia Ecury (Antillean poetess)

instruments of slavery

feeling ashamed by this...

Dogon Culture

African Kingdoms

Den Kunuku di bo mente:

Rosa rabia.

Planta pas.

In the garden of your soul:

Weed out rage,

so as to sow peace.

In de tuin van je geest:

Woede wieden.

Vrede zaaien.

(Nydia Ecury)

Inspired by: Peeling paint

(Kura Hulanda Museum, Curacao)

I really love these peeling surfaces...

(wall on old building in Scharloo, Curacao)

would like to catch these bubbles in my fabrics and/or painting

One of the very valuable things I learned from reading many blogs and seeing all these pictures:

to look at my surroundings in a different way. There is beauty all around, if only you see it!