One never knows...

What Adventure Lies Ahead

original collage 5 x 5"

recycled tourist brochure on cardstock

Yesterday was very special, because it was my once-a-year crit meeting with my artistfriend from Holland. I wrote about her before and you can read that post here.

As an artist I am working quite solitary, more like a hermit sometimes :-) Only once a year there is an opportunity to show my work to the public (in real) and that is during Art in the Park in the month of February. Of course I have my blog to show the art I make and I am very happy and thankful for my regular visitors that leave comments: they are so appreciated!!

Yet I cannot say that the traffic on my blog is impressively busy and in fact this does worry me somehow, but not too much. I know that the numbers would go up rapidly if there is a giveaway, but what is the use of these one time visitors that only come by for the possible profit? Another possibility is to ask visitors to first become a follower: same objection for me, I go for quality rather than quantity. I do know that there are valid reasons to keep a blog for other reasons than mine, as a marketing instrument e.g. and that is fine too. There is a place under the sun for all of us, imho.

However, what makes a huge difference, and I am fully aware of this, is the fact that I do not have to sell my art to make a living. I am very lucky that some years ago, when I came to this island, we decided that it would mean the end of my 'company' career and I could be free to 'play' as much as I wanted to, not exactly a feminist way of life, but hey, I have been there decades ago and am simply happy with this situation today. As my children say: you have earned your spurs... (a literally translated from Dutch proverb). This monetary freedom gives me another freedom: that of making the art that I want, that I need to make sometimes, but for other reasons, reasons that lie within the artist, me. I want to stick and cherish and stay faithful to my way of making art, so here it is, I finally have it all written down!

The above collage is one of my travel series. I discussed our recent travel along the Great Lakes in the USA and Canada yesterday guided by my collages, which was a great way to interact on what we both share: enthousiasm for both art and traveling. The collage is made with what was on hand in our motorhome at that time: some paper, a gluestick and tourist brochures. It does not mean anything in particular, but at the same time could mean everything.

Do you know what I mean?

Wishing you a very good Tuesday!

Regina

Crow and dancing queen

Crow and Dancing Queen

original collage 5 x 5"

passion series # 5
recycled tourist brochure on cardboard

Enjoy your Sunday!

Regina

Some good things this week

Well, it is Friday already and as usual the week has passed by so quickly!

I want to make it a good habbit to focus on the good and positive things that happened, so as to counterbalance the negative messages we hear so very often.

For me good things this week were:

- resuming my body balance classes. BB as you may know, consists of some Tai Chi as warming up, a fair 'portion' of Hatha yoga and Pilates exercises for the core somewhere in the middle, and the lessons end with a 10 min relaxation/meditation. The exercises are done with beautiful music, like e.g. there is White Flag form Dido and New York sung by Alicia Keys, there are lots of BB videos on Youtube

- spending time again in my studio. I made frames (passe partouts) for some 25 collages, many of which I have been showing on this blog over the past months, the travel series included. In a few weeks it will be Art in the Park again and I will offer these for sale, which is a bit scary I must say, so any experience/advice you may have is welcome...

- I started a new art quilt in red-brown-stone colours mainly. It is too early to show pictures, yet for me it definitely is a positive development to have started sewing again!

- it was the most beautiful Full Moon that we witnessed shining over the ocean, it once again felt like a present...

-and last but not least: hearing Ajan Farah singing at my favorite beach bar Karakter. Like me Ajan is Dutch and we both have been living on this island for some 5 years. I had been told a long time ago that she had a wonderful voice, but she recently decided to follow her heart and pick up again her singing career, and that is very BRAVE. The youtube video below shows very attractive shots of our island in the sun, I hope you enjoy Ajan singing: Where I Stood!

Thank you Ajan and Serge (he is her manager, husband and assists with all kind of technical issues) for giving this to us

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mg4-jBJlzA

I send you...

I send you...

original collage

5 x 5"

papers on cardboard, acrylic paint

Another one I made last week. Quickly made, hardly thinking of composition and subjects. Symbols in it that I seem to respond to me a lot these days, universal items like Fatima's hand and the heart, of course. Symbols of peace and love, nothing to hide, pure intentions. I send them to you!

Regina

Back to collaging

Tango 1

original collage 5 x 5"

Passion series #4

The collage above is the first one after getting back to our home in the Caribbean last week.

We had a great time in the Netherlands, with plenty of winter, like many of you have. I managed to only slip down one time and that fall did fortunately cause nothing worse than a somewhat painful wrist, it is over already by now.

I did not make plans or choose a word for this new year. Last year I chose a word for the first time and I must say it has been a good one, it was USE as you may remember and can read about here and here.

But good as it is, I have realized that in fact it was a useless thing to do, since I already have this word in my 'system' for a long time! O.k. maybe this time I have been realizing it more than on average, but being the practical and simple person that I am, I don't like to throw away stuff that is still in good condition and prefer to use it. Yet it helped to prevent me from buying too much, which is not that difficult here on the island LOL. But we do have the attractions via the internet here; I think I can say that I just bought several books via the web, most of them pre-USED of course.

Back to my collage...

I am at a time of introspection, of consulting my inner 'Regina' if you can say so. Have been wondering why I return to making collages instead of working with fabrics, as they are equally favorite with me. One thing I know is that making collages gives me quick results.

However, these are not meant to be great art, though I mostly like what comes out of it. Do you have that too, that you mostly like what you make??

As for the meaning of my collages I can only say that I start with a inner image of let's say a certain colour combination and I want to make a collage using those colours. Then out comes the box with all my papers and the searching begins. But while I am looking for specific pictures/colours, I often get distracted by what comes 'along' and chances are that this ends up in my collage, a pretty intuitive kind of working this is.
About a year ago I participated in Shelley Klammer's online course of making quick spontaneous collages. You can read more about her here.

One thing we had to do was work very quickly, not think too much and than after some time try to let the collage speak to you. Though it sounded pretty vague to me at first, I have to admit that it worked for me...

So I resume this way of trying to understand my work with the collage above:

It's main subject is about dancing the tango, but there is also a smaller image of a ballet company of the city of Arnhem. Now I am not a dancer myself, I simply lack the grace and the courage to express myself in this way, but I adore people who have this passion; furthermore it shows a western boot. Well, that could simply be because I love the west (of the USA), I love good country music, I love the romance of these past eras. The text in German I have probably chosen (remember, I try to understand my work!) because I know that language and in a certain period of my life I had to use it everyday. And finally the stamped golden swirls and the yellow pink flower parts: they add colour to the collage and support the topic in my opinion.

There it is: the collage as it speaks to me today...

Thanks for visiting!

Regina

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