Exercising

 

 

Hello!

 

Obviously it is hard to break up with bad habits, ahem,

but here I am,

 back on the blog!

 

Last week was full with taking apart all kind of bags a friend gave me. Some were old, some new but ugly, but all had zippers and other haberdashery that good be useful in future projects.

 

I also received thousands of ebooks from another friend and have slowly been sorting these out and put them in alphabetical files on the computer. Some I have left out, like the book a certain mister H from Germany wrote that caused too much trouble...

 

By now I am finished doing these boring yet rewarding jobs and it is time for creativity again.

 

Last year I made several native american paintings after pictures I made when we traveled New Mexico in 2009. The digital collage above is composed of two of these pictures. The painting of the pueblo dwelling has a very different colourscheme, but the colours of the picture below have not been changed. Can you see the tipi poles in the collage?

 

 

That was it for today, have a nice Wednesday!

 

Regina

 



America dyptich

(click to enlarge)

 

Finally I finished my travel journal of 2012, the last time we toured the USA  in our motorhome before moving back to Europe. In this trip we went from Buffalo NY via Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina to Florida where our car was shipped.

 

Fortunately I kept a handwritten journal during our voyage, so it was not just memory at work...

 

In the journal I have added pictures too and while doing so, I once again browsed through the many visual remembrances and they really help to bring back other facts and especially the details.

 

These images led to composing a series of dyptichs that I call 'The Americas' and above you can see  my first one. We saw this very strange western grill fixed at a car in a museum in Nashville. I am curious how many of you recognize it and know its former owner?  Answer in my next issue!

The second image is made in a shop in Cherokee, an Indian, rather touristic village just South of Smokey Mountains Nat'l Park.

 

Nothing spectacular, just images of peculiar (to us foreigners that is) things we saw on our way... that together with the people and the landscape gave us an overall idea of America.

 

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Regina

 

Btw: the dyptich action is one of many action and storyboards that can be downloaded free from this blog

 



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

Stories of the West

Chief Joseph
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce (1840?-1904) was known to his people as "Thunder Traveling to the Loftier Mountain Heights." He led his people in an attempt to resist the takeover of their lands in the Oregon Territory by white settlers. In 1877, the Nez Perce were ordered to move to a reservation in Idaho. Chief Joseph agreed at first. But after members of his tribe killed a group of settlers, he tried to flee to Canada with his followers, traveling over 1500 miles through Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Along the way they fought several battles with the pursuing U.S. Army.

Chief Joseph spoke these words when they finally surrendered on October 5th, 1877:
'Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta Hool Hool Shute is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are - perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
Chief Joseph - Thunder Traveling to the Loftier Mountain Heights - 1877

(image is clickable)

From where the sun now stands...

original collage 4 x 4"

Montana series #5

recycled tourist brochure

In this post I wrote that some 35 collages were made by me during our two-month voyage from West to East USA this summer. And while we have returned to our island some four weeks ago, I am determined to report about this great tour; so far I have described it from Buffalo (Montana) to entering Wisconsin from Minnesota. The posts in the near future will deal about this trip, but also about the recent weeks with our children on St. Maarten, with a collage in between every now and then.
It may be confusing, but I will try to be clear about the where- and whenabouts!

The above collage I made while we were still in Montana, and while we were still encountering Native American issues and stories. It struck me that to some extend the situation for many people in this world is still very actual, like described in the words of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe a long time ago. And I don't talk about Native Americans necessarily, but think about countries with wars going on that never seem to be ended, with natural disasters that hit these countries time and again. So much to do for all of us...

Anyhow, forgive me these reflective words, I am wishing you a great summer weekend!

Regina

Montana

Detail of the Indian Monument

at Little Bighorn Battlefield, Montana, USA

Experience Montana

original collage 4" x 4"

(made of tourist brochure)

Montana series #4

Our next trip

Sitting Bull Lakota

Digital collage

Some weeks ago I made this collage and I have not posted it yet.

In a way it seems the right moment now, because we are once again making preparations for our USA-II trip.

This year (next month if all goes well) we intend to cross the country from Montana to the state of NY. I spend lots of time searching the internet for places that might be interesting to visit, in the field of (fiber) art, technical (hubby) and shopping of course. There are three options, the first from Billings to Duluth (Minnesota) and then all the way up along the Great Lakes and mainly through Canada until Buffalo NY. The second is across Minnesota and Wisconsin between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan into this state and then again between Lake Erie and Lake Huron until Buffalo. And finally the last one (which is my favorite at the moment) southbound via South Dakota, Illinois (Chicago) and then Michigan and/or Indiana/ Ohio (Amish settlements).

Our motorhome was stored in Billings during the winter, the batteries have been charged and after some dewinterizing we are ready to go, I look so forward to this voyage.

Like last year we expect to see lots of interesting places referring Native American history and I hope to be able to make many pictures for my blog and my collages.

I wonder if any of my blogreaders has some good tips for us. If so, I would love to hear from you, please don't hesitate, all information about fiber art, oldsmobile shows, great craft festivals etc. in the areas I mentioned is more than welcome...

Thanks for visiting today!

Regina

Her grandfather

digital collage

No. 2 in this week's yellow series,

to cheer you up!

Grtz, Regina

Pueblo

digital collage

This week I am busy sewing clothes. It has been a long time since I have been doing this, but over time I collected some nice linen and batic fabrics and now these are being turned into pants. No fiber art this week, just sewing, learning my Spanish lessons and

reading, lots of reading!

Right now I am reading: Haar naam was Sarah (Sarah's key), author Tatiana de Rosnay. I started yesterday and am half finished by now, it is a fantastic, sad but true story, written in a way that you hardly can stop reading.

I made some sunny collages and decided to show one each day of this week from today on, especially for all folks who live in cold climates and long for spring.

Some collages have similar subjects, some not at all, but they all share the same sunny yellow colour: today it's

Pueblo

Monday memories...

(click the image for details)

Pueblo 1

Monday,

start of a new week after what turned out to be for us a delicious weekend.

Monday morning,

for some reason (the working of the human brain never ceases to surprise me) suddenly remembering our wonderful time in New Mexico last summer, buying our RV, customizing it to our wishes, visiting Albuquerque, the Turquoise trail, Cochiti Lake, the Sandia Mountains and of course Santa Fe!

Today seemed the perfect moment to show this digital collage.

Let's make it a wonderful week and enjoy!

Bear Claw

Digital collage

Composed of images made in Buffalo Bill Historical Center

Cody (Wyoming)

USA-Canada trip 2009

Cowboys, cowgirls and hats... it is all cowboy there in Cody!

lovely boots galore...

Buffalo Bill 'Cody' , after which this little city has been named

the Plains Indians exhibit in
Buffalo Bill Historical Centre, Cody

there was a quite extensive collection of Plains Indians clothing. All images are clickable

+ + + + + +

This past summer we made a nine week trip with our camper throughout the USA and Canada. While arranging and renaming my pictures, I realized there is a gap in my posts about this journey, mainly due to poor internet connections while traveling. And once home again, everyday life seems to beg for my attention. Today I try to catch up in reporting about our trip with our visit to Cody (Wyoming)

So far we had traveled New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. And on we went to Yellowstone National Park via the east entrance. There in Wyoming, on the day before we arrived at Yellowstone, we spent a lovely day in Cody. It is a ghost town, was a busy wild west town once, we were told. But in fact it was quite lively when we were there. In the morning we visited the Buffalo Bill Historical Centre. There were five exhibits at that time; most interesting for us was that of the Plain Indians and the exhibit of Buffalo Bill Cody.

We really enjoyed our visit to this town!

Ages ago...

in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, near Fort McLeod in Alberta, Canada, the Blackfoot First Nations practised an effective way of hunting large numbers of buffalo at one time.

In short: herds of grazing buffalo were lured and directed into a stampede, using cairns and human decoys, which led the animals to a steep rock formation, the

Buffalo Jump.

After their fall, the legs of the buffalo were broken and they could not move forward anymore, thus enabling the hunters to kill them with their spears. Each and every part of the killed animals was used by the Blackfoot: the hide, the bones, the bone marrow, the organs.

Now this may seem very cruel today, but imagine those people living without any other source of food, imagine the harsh winters in the open plains, the need of warmth and shelter, there were no horses at that time either, just the buffalo, the people and their spears.

And, there were so many buffalo at that time, so history tells, that the green foothills looked completely brown by them.

Buffalo are hardly seen in nature nowadays, but this dramatic decrease only happened after the Europeans crossed the Atlantic and discovered the West of Canada, after they organized many huge hunting parties.

However, during the time of the Buffalo Jump the number of buffalo was kept rather constant

We visited the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump during our recent trip and I was quite impressed.

Close to the rock formation itself, there is a splendid interpretive center, where you can learn and see about those ancient times, the Blackfoot people, their way of life

Year round there are activities in and around the centre, like this Drumming & Dancing

the Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

Is it a blanket, a quilt?
I like the bold design and colours

Archeologists must have seen something like this
when they discovered the Buffalo Jump

This trip made me, once again, very much aware of the richdom of our times, the food choices we can make, the luxury of our homes and transport.

In 1981 the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump was established as a Unesco World Heritage site.

Yesterday's collage

(you can click the image for more details)

was made of these pictures:

we witnessed this gorgeous sunset near a place called

Head-smashed-in Buffalo Thunder

in Ft.McLeod, Alberta, Canada

It is a very special place, of which I will write a separate post one of these days
Yesterday's digital collage started with this sunset picture,

then I added

this drawing.

It is situated in the interpretive center that is part of this Unesco World Heritage site

The first result was too dull, there did'not 'happen' enough for me,

so I added this guy

which in fact was an ugly wooden statue at the entrance

of a roadside visitor center where we had coffee. When seeing it, I was immediately

intrigued by his barb of nails, seeing possibilities for use in my collages.

As I wrote yesterday, I try to make my digital collages in more subtle colours for some time. I am a selftaught PS-er, far from experienced, and by setting this goal I hope to expand my knowledge bit by bit.

One thing I''m wondering: did you like my explanation of how I compose collages?

I would love to hear from you, I really do...

Enjoy your day!

Americana!

Sooner than I had expected, there was a chance to blog again, so I grabbed it with my both hands... as promised, the American flag, to be seen all-over and on lots of items, like this buffalo in West Yellowstone (from a placemat in one of the restaurants, I understood that it has Theodore Roosevelt's face on it)

On the eve on Independence Day, from some houses in Ocean Shores, Washington...


now this must be a very familiar sight for you American readers, but being a Dutch lady I really liked these flags and the way they are decorating the porch

in bouquets in the supermarket

and this splendid war bonnet in Buffalo Bill Historic Center in Cody, Montana where I also took pictures of clothing of Native Americans, which I think you will like. I keep that for later though.
Thanks again for coming by!

Canyon de Chelly

We had to make a detour to visit this Canyon, but it was worth it!

First we made a trip on the North rim of the canyon where we saw many of the ancient dwellings of Anasazi, Pueblo and Navajo tribes. It is amazing to realize that people have been able to survive in this harsh environment. On the day we visited, it was rather cold and windy, so that gave a pretty good impression of it. In the afternoon we toured the bottom of the canyon by jeep. There was a Navajo guide that gave us a lot of inside information about things we otherwise might have overseen. The pictures below give an impression of petrographs and petroglyphes, some dwellings and rock formations.

Petrographs, we learned, have been made using different kinds of mud. They are paintings in fact, whereas petroglyphs have been carved in rocks

cliff dwellings, click the picture for details please!

lichen can be seen everywhere, but I loved this one!


vista into Cayon the Chelly as seen from the North Rim

Now we are in the vicinity of Denver. Yesterday we travelled Colorado from West to East, for our motorhome needs its first service. In my next post I will tell about Ouray in Colorado, where we have stayed for a few days. I don'nt know when that will be, for there is limited posibility to access the internet on campgrounds, or it is very slow.
Thanks again for visiting my blog!

Santa Fe

Navajo rugs

Native Americans of pueblos in the vicinity of Santa Fe,
selling their handmade jewelry

Sunday we spent the day in this lovely and interesting city. Last March we were there also and already got an idea of the many galleries and museums, so I had to come back here. On Canyon Road there are nothing but galleries: you name it, you find it. It was rather overwhelming, so this time we stayed in the old Santa Fe city centre with it's mainly adobe buildings. We visited one of the museums with art of Native American artists and a few galleries. Of course we did not miss the Governer's Palace with all the Native American people, respresenting their Pueblo, and selling mainly jewellry and some pottery. Lots of visitor's checking all the stuff that is laid out on blankets on the ground, I must say that I had some difficulty in ignoring the asking eyes of them.

When I told our guide that these people seemed to look so sad the question rose: are they to be saddened or to be envied. His answer was: probably both, as they get real good prices for the things they sell. But I don't know, when you think how this people once must have lived, and to see them like this, depending on the tourists...like so often happenes with indiginous people all over the world.

All in all I liked our visit and especially the abundance of all kinds of art. If it was not so dry (almosts 0 degrees humidity!) then it could be my place to live!
I encounter difficulties uploading pictures, so today I am limited to these two. Hope to be back with a post on Canyon de Chelly soon, have a great weekend!

The Turquoise Trail

Gorgeous sunset, Cochiti Lake

New Mexico, land of buffaloes,

of the Historic Route 66

MADrid, town of hippy people,

rock carving in Petroglyph National Monument,

Albuquerque

Saturday we travelled from Albuquerque to Santa Fe by the trail above. It had a campground where we stayed one night, beautyful vistas over the eastside of the Sandia Mountains and San Pedro Mountains. We made a stop in a the quaint mining town of MADrid, which was chockfull of galleries, nice little artsy shops and old hippylike people. After visiting one of the leading galleries there (with some quilts of Deirdre Adams in it that I was very lucky to recognize!) we continued to Santa Fe. In an outlet we purchased some suitcases and camping chairs. That night we stayed near Cochiti Lake, which is near a pueblo of Native Americans. Yesterday we spent in Santa Fe, I will write about that in a future post. I already can say that it was ART, ART, ART!!!

We're going to Canyon de Chelly today, bye!!