Making a start

...with collages again.

Combining pictures of art on the road (e.g. in coffeehouses ) with a poster I saw in Santa Fe last year, happily united in this digital collage

Little Bighorn Battlefield

digital collage

Can't wait to start the paper collages again,
have a great Wednesday!

Regina

The Hague - street art

I had been shopping already the day before, so the next day was scheduled for art. Of course I could have visited a museum or some galleries, but I know the museums of this city quite well and I preferred being outside since the weather was lovely on this late September day. Downtown The Hague had some surprises for me, however! Like everywhere in the urban jungle there is graffiti, sure, but I came across this 'organized' street art, another one of my favorite art mediums: murals

public transport in one of the alleys

this one was at a construction site

a railway underpass I came along while on my bicycle,

a very colourful surprise in the greyisch Dutch landscape

detail

obviously nobody felt the need to add graffiti...

downtown The Hague

In the meantime I have returned to the Caribbean and feel very energized. It has been a fantastic trip to my country, visiting children and friends, inhaling the fresh autumn air and enjoying everything typical Dutch. Now it is time to finally return to my studio, to my art!

You all have a great day, thanks for visiting my blog,

Regina

The Hague

Last week I was visiting this city in the Netherlands and had a great morning, walking in the little streets that surround the Noordeinde Palace, our queen Beatrix' working address. Come and join me!

Currently in Holland

Sometimes you have to do something crazy!

I had been scanning and sending youth pictures of our daughter the whole week, because her birthday was approaching and friends wanted to surprise her with an album of her 30 years until now. Browsing all these photographs brought back many sweet memories and we were talking about that, when my D5 H suggested: do you want to go?

Did I want to go?? Well, of course, always!!

So we went online, booked the flight and I could almost check in immediate, it was very last minute. I am in Holland now, enjoying the country, the fall weather that is pretty sunny and warm, the new fashion, well eh: enjoying Holland... I think you call it: I'm having a blast!!

Today I plan to visit some art in The Hague (traveling by bicycle!), I will make pictures if possible

the first birthday surprise was 'breakfast on bed'
delivered by some of her friends and our son

she was very happy and surprised with the album


I traveled a lot by train this week, visiting friends and family. Just a picture from my train, a typical Dutch picture

Thanks again for visiting!
Regina

Chicago - a fantastic day

On with my report about our recent USA-trip:

Without knowing, we had chosen the very right day to visit this famous city! I usually have mixed feelings about big cities: I am fond of them because of the shopping possibilities, the often big amount of culture and unexpected strange things you can see, but on the other hand I can't stand being much longer in such surroundings than a few days, because big cities wear me out!

But I am glad we visited Chicago this Friday June 11, because we were lucky to witness a few very special events. The Chicago Blues Festival 2010 was kicking off and there happened to be a ticker tape parade in honour of the Chicago Blackhawks that had won the Stanley Cup, there are some great videos on Youtube.

( photo courtesy Donald Peterson)

In the Millenium Park was this well known 'thing', of course we also made our pictures, but they got lost somehow. I especially liked the music theatre by Gehry, more Millenium Park pictures are here

these folks were just sitting on the pavement, not saying, singing or doing anything else but holding their black umbrellas. Was it a demonstration, a performance, art maybe??

(This is an example of what I mean with unexpected things in big cities)

one of the commuter trains,

We had to travel an hour by train again before we arrived in Chicago from Elgin (Big Timber). I know there a zillions of people that do this everyday and I feel so lucky that I am not one of them!

There was a fantastic atmosphere at the bluesfestival, and among all these people in the balmy weather, surrounded by the smell of the numerous hot dog- and other caterers, Mary Jane and the No Static Blues Band performed. Great, great, great!

I am once again convinced that you cannot (and don't have to) plan too much. Why? Because if we would have planned this, we would have had certain expectations, and could possibly have been disappointed. And that day in Chicago June 2010: we just went there and had a feeling that we received some huge presents...

Thanks for visiting today,

Regina

On Red Barns

This post will be about our recent trip to the USA, and about red barns in particular! Next to the sound of the loon, Red Barns are my new favorite, here's why:

***

Almost from the moment we entered the state of Wisconsin, we saw our first red barn.
It is very remarkable that we didn't see any of these in North Dakota, Minnesota and Montana, but of course that might be because of our chosen route. Whatever, here it was, no more cowboys to be seen, but many a RED BARN.

Regular readers of my blog will know by now that I am a big lover of colour, especially turquoise, but all colours of the sea, and sun, the wood and stones including, are a big favorite. And also that I equally love the neutrals, you better ask me what I don't love ;-)...

But these red barns really got my attention and it is funny, when you spend lots of time on interstates and highways in an attempt to cross the USA from West to East in 9 weeks, how many of them you discover. And every barn I spotted had to be photographed as well... I think I pictured hundreds of them! But shooting pictures from a distance from a speeding car is not exactly the way to get the best results, so although I kept trying throughout our journey up and including New York State, the results were somewhat disappointing. Moreover, part of my pictures got lost (by my own mistake) and we could only retrieve some back via special software.

I have been asking myself what it is that attracts me in the red barn

and have come to the conclusion that it must be the complimenting colour scheme, of the barn and its surroundings...

the pristine contrast with the white trimwork, the windows. This colour also reminded me of the red wooden houses that are so characteristic for Norway, . Now that seriously might be another reason of my fondness; I made a trip to Norway once with my eldest son and cherish dear memories of that voyage...

when we visited Chicago, we camped in Elgin (near Big Timber) and on the campground was this very old red barn, about to be demolished. I was happy to be able to make pictures from close-up, not from a driving car this time!

The camphost told us that the barn was not safe anymore, and that's quite visible from this picture.

Once I got back home and could surf the internet again, I discovered by simply googling Red Barns, that there are millions of pictures available, so my new love certainly is not unique.

But since this phenomenon has been such a big and great part of our trip, I only thought it right to give it its due honour, I hope you liked it too!

Enjoy your weekend,
Grtz, Regina

A big surprise!

It was Saturday, July 31, 2010

We had hardly returned from our USA-trip, when our son had to leave for Europe again. One of the traditions on this island, is to make a farewell tour by boat. So my husband had been inquiring (he said...) for possibilities, but due to the low season there were no boats sailing on the usual Friday (he said..). But since he did not want to disappoint us, he had been able to make special arrangements on Saturday, so off we went that day, very, very early in the morning.

When we arrived at catamaran Celine, only the crew was present...

"Are there more people coming to sail with us today?", I remember asking. Yes there might come a few more, DH answered (he said rather absentmindedly...) and all of a sudden they appeared from behind a wall!

the friends that joined us that day for my early surprise BD-sailing party!

After everybody was aboard, we started from the Lagoon with delicious coffee and pastries. Due to the early hour, the coffee was more than welcome ...

a few of our lady guests

the catamaran Celine took us to

this bounty island Tintamarre, that is located some miles out of the east coast of St. Maarten
where we took a swim and a walk, had lunch and a lovely time together

If you click the picture you can see the isle of Anguilla in the distance

and when the sun was getting too hot, we sailed to Creole Rock, which is a gorgeous place to snorkel.

the skipper had to be back at the Lagoon bridge in time for its final opening of the day.

Here is the Sandy Ground bridge, just before we entered the lagoon coming from the sea

We finished this splendid day of sea, sun and sand and laughter (plus delicious food and drinks) enjoying a gorgeous sunset.

Today is the real day that I joined the 6X club.

A huge thank you to my husband and friends who made this advanced BD-party a very special one!

Do you see him?

(click the image for details)

Easy Rider

original collage 4 x 4"

Passion series #3

After visiting the Harley Davidson museum, I made this collage. Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda had big roles in this movie, but he had an important side-role. Do you see him, and do you remember?

Harley Davidson Museum, Milwaukee

As promised, I will give the 'where- and whenabouts' of my posts, to avoid any confusion.

Well, it is time to continue the report of our USA-trip of this summer. Life in the Caribbean is catching up and I will keep this backlog if I don't start right now...

So here we go: after Minnesota, we entered Wisconsin. To be honest, we did not have any clue about what this state had to offer, other than its east coast is situated on Lake Michigan and it was on our route! One thing I had learned during our 2009 trip, was to set my expectations not too high, to be willing to make compromises in all kind of things, to make a combination that worked for the two of us. As I did not know anything about Wisconsin, the only fact my husband came up with was the fact that Harley Davidson bikes are being produced in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

A quick search on the internet learned about the museum there, its opening hours and other possibilities. Now had we lived in another time, we might have been bikers, had there not been three young children, had we not lived in the busy Western part of the Netherlands at that time, and had we not purchased that old farmhouse in the Eastern part of the country back in the eighties, we might have been bikers. But we did, so the Biker in us never came to a bloom, but at least with me, there has always been a kind of sympathy. For reasons I don't quite understand myself, I feel a kinship with them and seem to understand their passion. So it was decided rather quickly, we were to visit this Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. And despite the terrible weather, we did not regret one minute of it. The visit was worth every minute of the drive we had to make for it, since campgrounds and big cities do not seem to go together we found a campground at about a 40 minutes-drive, but alas...

This is the very first Harley Davidson that has been produced

You won't be surprised to read this was my favourite one... ah, such a beauty!

in the museum was a big hall reserved for all kind of old advertising material, posters and in this case, shares (click for details!)

can you imagine, seeing this on the roads nowadays?

old posters of films where Harley's played a role

and finally this one, the one and only Harley from the movie Easy Rider (with biker Peter Fonda). Do you want to freshup your memory, like I wanted? There is more information here

Sorry for the last picture that's a bit blurry. Next time I will show examples of one of my new loves of this summer, I mentioned it before: the red barn

Thanks for visiting!

Regina

Safe and sound

The sun is shining again, as if nothing happened during the past week...

But we are safe and sound, most of the mess has been cleared and I hope to get time again to work in my studio, and get online of course, now the internet has been restored.

Today, once more, one of my 'early in the vacation' collages:

(clickable)

Heart Mountain

original collage 4 x 4"

recycled tourist brochure

Montana series # 7

Next time I will go on with the report on our recent USA-trip, so please stay tuned.

Wishing you all a wonderful Labor Day-weekend (without hurricanes and related weather issues!)

Regina