Cold in Holland

This picture is taken a few years ago, when we visited the Netherlands around this time of year.

 

According to the news we see and read, the view must be similar these days, as Holland is  hoping and waiting for another week of frost, and then maybe, maybe an 'Elfstedentocht', a very popular skating route along eleven cities (villages) in the northern province of Friesland.

 

Normally I show art related pictures at this blog, but for some reason I cannot upload pictures from my computer and this one was in my blog related Picasa album, and uploadable...

 

I will try to find out how to solve this problem,

thanks for visiting today!

 

Regina

 



Summer in Holland

The last few weeks we paid a surprise visit to our children in Holland!

Despite our busy agenda, there was time left to enjoy other delicious things like...

the market with plenty of berries and cherries

a short visit to Amsterdam, where even in this urban jungle beautiful
garden holyhocks were to be admired

and of course my favorite Dutch heritage: old mills, this one is in the city of Hoogeveen, in the Northern province of Drenthe

perfect roses in the community borders of Zevenaar

and the mill in this city during the evening twilight.

Of course in July it is daylight untill late in the evening,

something one almost forgets when living in the tropics

Now we're back on our little island. Paradise is everywhere, and at the same time nowhere...

Arnhem, Gelderland

This is the old, central postoffice of the city of Arnhem; it has been turned into a great bookstore and a restaurant. Click the image for details of the brick-work!

Friday = market day in Arnhem. The weather was rainy and the atmosphere pretty desolate; many merchants use these first weeks of the new year to vacation, so there were many empty spots. But I knew that from the past few years, and still enjoyed the stalls with fabrics and notions. Despite the fact that one stall had all fabrics at half a euro per metre, I could not be tempted to buy some. Promised myself to use what I have on hand at home, and that is enough I can tell you!
The buttons, arranged by color, were real eye candy though

These fabrics I bought a few weeks ago at the Doetinchem market. The top one consists of some borders, so my two metres will give me various possibilities. The bottom, orange coloured fabric is, how can I describe it, very orange LOL. I think and hope to improve it by stamping, tea dying, and/or maybe other techniques that it may need. I think I bought it because of pure patriotic reasons...

Our vacation is almost over and in a few days we will return to our sunny island in the Caribbean. Though I enjoyed our time with the children and even winter in Holland, I look forward to resume my life near the sea and ocean!

Have a great weekend and thanks for visiting,

Regina

Utrecht: shopping, houses,canals

Being in Holland also means to me:

shopping!

Sorry, Sint Maarten, sorry United States,

but in Holland we know the places to go; I spent a lovely day with my daughter shopping in Utrecht, a very old city in the middle of the Netherlands...

the first beautiful thing (imho) I saw that day, this table, in a restaurant

a shop window still in Christmas style, the shop carries very stylish clothing

the Dom-tower (Domtoren), a real landmark from far outside the city

not only Amsterdam has canals! This is Oudegracht downtown Utrecht. Now I can understand better Rembrandt van Rhijn, Vermeer and other famous painters, the light is so special...

along the water are old cellars, that often have been transformed in small, cozy restaurants. In summertime it is very pleasant to have dinner on these littles terrasses, when boats float by. In winter it is just very decorative, don't you think so??

Thanks for visiting today,

Regina

Dutch houses

The city of Zevenaar, where we're staying with our son, is small and quietly situated near the German border. Unlike our island Sint Maarten, where lots of people we meet are from far away, the people in this Dutch city are grounded and tied here. You can feel that when you walk the streets, the people seem to see that I am not from here. This afternoon, on my daily walk, it was slippery and at an unexpected moment I fell, out of the blue. Immediately people came and offered to help me, to give me a ride, and I was not even injured!

I had brought my camera and this is what I saw:

I was so used to this kind of house, but after having lived abroad for several years I now know that this is truly DUTCH style

as is this door: simple yet stylish

and this facade made in brick stone...

downtown Zevenaar...

thanks for joining me today!

Regina

Hello from Holland

Today we went to the market in a city in the neighborhood. On our way to the railway station we came along this old mill. It is situated in a street behind our son's home, it dates back to 1560 and looks very, very Dutch!

We sometimes notice that people from abroad expect the Dutch to walk on wooden shoes, well they don't! Except for farmers, they still use them during their work on the fields and in the stables. Yet they are readily available for everyone, especially in this part of the country (the East of the Netherlands)

and this was the view from the train this morning.
This is the Holland that I know from my youth, the Holland I love!
Thanks for visiting,

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

Typical Dutch (2)

Now, besides the grey and rainy climate, biking is a real Dutch phenomenon.

I know that there are places in the world, like China e.g., where biking is being practised on a large scale (remember Katy Melua's: there are 9 million bicycles in Being?), but still I think that the bike as an everyday way of transport, is pretty Dutch.

The kind of bike in these pictures is being called: Omafiets, which means Grandma's bike, probably because of the low instep (I'm afraid this isn't Englisch, but you know what I mean, don't you?)

It made me so happy to see that people personalize it by painting it in lovely colours, it really brightens up the streets

this is a common view everywhere in cities, near stations and shopping centers

This one is my daughter's
Like her mother she is fond of colour...

Now on with my goal: USE (see yesterday's post)
Today I start making a quilt after having made my first official design workshop, results will be posted asap, promised

I hope you enjoy your Monday!

Back home

we travelled from a grey/white, beautiful winter Holland

to our warm and sunny Caribbean island:

I am home again!

Lots of inspiration, goals for this new year, and thankful for all gorgeous colours that surround me here,
I will post regularly again from now on, so please stay tuned!

Typical Dutch (1)

With just a few more days in Holland before we return home to our island, we are spending as much time as possible with our children. Two of them are living in The Hague (near the west coast of The Netherlands, the other one in the most eastern part of the country. So I crossed my flat homeland by train from east to west and here are some first impressions of a Dutch countryside in winter:

This is a restaurant in The Hague now; buildings like this one are often present in historic cities and have a new destination after having been a factory, storage or other kind of industrial building in the past.

'Knotwilgen', a kind of willow tree whose branches are being completely cut off every 3 or 4 years, which gives the knot. In this trees lots of birds, like e.g. owls, make their nests. You can find them along the waterside in the country mainly.
This is a typical example of a Dutch canal. The ones in Amsterdam are of course the most famous, but every old city in Holland has canals like this one in Utrecht.
This picture was made in The Hague and shows the characteristic houses of an old, big city. In the distance you can see the buildings of our central government.

I hope you liked the first part of this series: Typical Dutch

Have a wonderful weekend!

Circle of Art

This time I remembered to take some digital collages with me before leaving the Caribbean.

Making art, be it with fabric, paper or digital, has to wait until I am home again.

However, I am enjoying the beauty that is around me, as always, and this change of places feeds my creativity.

Despite the winter weather and the cold I make my daily walks. I look at my country with the eyes of a stranger, not a complete stranger of course, but yet a fresh look. All the luxury that I have come to live without or to a less extend (which is not bad at all!) amazes me. The roads and highways that are in a perfect condition, without the many potholes that we have to deal with on our island. The really crazy amount of brands you see in the supermarket and pharmacies. I mean, who is asking for hundreds of different bottles of shampoo and other hair products, who really needs all this excess? The same goes for the fashion shops in whichever town you are. While there is a big sale going on to get rid of the surplus of clothes, the new (winter!) fashion is hanging in the shops already. Do they really expect us to buy a complete wardrobe for the few winter months that are ahead of us? When seeing all this, I get a feeling, not for the first time, that I don't belong here anymore. For me the effect is that I refuse to buy anything!

So I stick to some art material and fabrics this time.

Don't think that these musings make me feel sad, for that is not the truth. It's just that I get a feeling of 'letting it go', which I assume, is not bad at all...

Inspiration from the Netherlands

a visit to a very cozy, simple tapas restaurant

even this can bring me to a very inspired state of mind

this was a fantastic mural inside the restaurant. I hope to lighten it up as soon as I am home again.

Untill then we enjoy Holland, our family, children, the shopping possibilities, the countryside
and each other.

I hope you enjoy your holidays too!