Zen weekend

Last week my computer crashed, which is the cause I have not been posting as often as I intended. Fortunately a friend could save my files, including the many, many pictures and collages, I was so grateful of that!

Yesterday my studio was full of boxes, cables and all kind of hardware, both old and new, so I could not work. My new computer is up and running, but more software has to be installed by my DH. I am so lucky that he understands how important this is for me, he is doing his utmost.

Have to work, but could not. Art in the Park is in three weeks!

No other solution than my beloved hammock and books and magazines. The picture above is from my favorite Dutch magazine Happinez, that publishes besides interesting articles the most beautiful photographs. Furthermore there was a book on Taoism on the reading menu and brochures on the Tzu Chi organisation, which as you may know is Bhuddist based. This organisation helps wherever a disaster has occurred.

Strange, it all seemed to come together yesterday, after having heard all the horrible news from Haiti. Me going for fresh bread to one of the Chinese supermarkets yesterday morning, finding info on Tzu Chi, having plenty of time to read it the same day. After our holidays in Holland I am having some difficulty to get the creative juices flowing again, as it is always when I have been away some time from my home. Letting all this wisdom sink in, this Bhudda and Tao wisdom I mean ,was all that I accomplished this weekend. But I am sure there is nothing wrong with a Zen weekend every now and then!

Using it all

So I started with the first book of Sandra Meech of this post, in my attempt to live according my chosen word for this year:

USE

Normally I am a spontaneous artist. Whenever I feel the urge to create and am inspired, I just jump into action. Pulling out fabrics, papers or whatever I am needing at that moment I go for it, not much thought, no education in art, just following the vague image that I see 'somewhere in my head'.

Yet I feel that to come to another level with my art, I lack some knowledge, some guidance maybe, and that is why I chose these books that have been sitting on my shelves for some years, USE me, they called at me, we might have to offer what you are looking for right now!

In Design Class 1 you have to make a viewfinder, which then had to be placed and moved over a picture you like. Now the task is to determine all hues and colors that are in the part of the picture you have chosen. With pencils make little squares of the 8-10 colors of your choise and keep working with them on the design sheet (first picture)

I did this first class several times, feeling like a kid in kindergarden, gluing and coloring, weaving the paperstrips, it was fun!

But then came the moment that I had to make choices, and oh, that was difficult...

Now I must tell that I am working towards the annual Art in the Park and really need the few weeks that are left to make some new items. And I felt that I could not combine the design class with this deadline, because inwardly I had some ideas and they interfered with my new knowledge, so tho say. So this time I once again did it my way, nothing more difficult than changing habits ;-)

The combination of strips in the above picture is lovely, it is on my designwall and I am letting it speak to me for some time, I have some ideas but not much time, dilemma!

The word USE kept kreeping into my head however, so I took out one of the pillows I made last year of which I now think: they are so very blue. Seamripper, rotaryknife (see I use my tools!) helped to recycle one of the pillows into this preliminary result. It is not finished yet, but I think I know how to go on. Btw: the grey-blue sashing is a linen that I bought in Holland a long time ago.

All in all I liked this first week and am very eager to continue.

Thanks for reading. I wish all of you a lovely weekend!

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!

gathered, now USE!

Hi all,

I too am one of those people that gather and gather and by reading many blogs I know that I am not unique in this respect.

For a long time this gave me a rich feeling, the idea that I never would have to be bored and would always have plenty of sources to tap from when I felt the need. This habit stems from a period without the internet I am convinced, for from the time that I started to use this medium so intensively the amount of information only grew and in fact for me has become almost too much, it seems to have a negative effect on the artistic output that I like to achieve.

Do you recognize this phenomenon?

You discover a new technique, a new artist, or whatever and you (at least I!) get so interested that you want to read more about the topic and you order/buy the book, because that feels the right thing to do at that moment. Then, when it arrives at your home you browse through it quickly and often have to put it away, because right now there is no time.... Or you stick to browsing and never seem to get any further with really using it, without doing the exercises and workshops that often are so perfectly described.

So during my holiday I , like many others I assume, have been reflecting a lot and decided to change this, to really change it.

My main word for 2010 will be:

USE

... the books I gathered over the past years

... the art materials that are in my studio, the dyes and paints, the papers and canvasses, the stencils and the vast array of found objects, and of course the fabrics!

... and the tools, what about them? My new sewing machine, as well as the old one, my serger, heatgun , brushes and easel.

Somehow writing down my plan makes me feel safe, makes me feel sure and determined to act according to this verb. I am serious about it, determined and driven.

There will be 9 months for me this year to practise and learn art, for we will again travel the USA during two months in summer, and there is of course that other holiday period towards the end of the year.

After browsing my art books i decided to start with the books from the picture above. It may take a month for sure to work them through, probably longer, we'll see. Of course I will post about the results, the sketches/collages, with an occasional digital collage in between.

Other important words will be, but these are not specially art related:

spanish - tao - book reading - swimming and walking - reaching out to family and friends - watching movies - traveling - and of course blogging

Now it's time to start!

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!

Inspiration from pictures

in magazines

of ancient letters

of manmade structures

of playing children

and simple beauty...

Inspiration feels like a gift today, always!