Art in the Park

Next Sunday there will be our annual Art in the Park on the Dutch part of Sint Maarten.
As I will participate once again, I need to have some small fiber stuff to sell, so I remembered these cotton coasters. I made quite a bunch of them some years ago and they really make nice presents. So I took out my sewing machine today, cut the cotton and the batting and started sewing: this is the result of a morning work! Now I need to make some more in vibrant colours...
Have a very nice Sunday!

Volgende week wordt op het Nederlandse deel van Sint Maarten het jaarlijkse 'Art in the Park' georganiseerd. Omdat ik weer zal deelnemen had ik wat klein textielspul nodig om te kunnen verkopen en ik herinnerde me deze onderzetters. Een paar jaar geleden heb ik er een flinke hoeveelheid van gemaakt en ze zijn heel leuk om b.v. cadeau te geven. Dus heb ik vandaag mijn naaimachine tevoorschijn gehaald, lapjes en vulling gesneden en ben begonnen met naaien: dit is het resultaat van een ochtend werk! Nu moet ik er nog meer maken in wat vrolijker kleuren.....
Een fijne zondag!

Scharloo - Curacao

Once a house of some rich and prosperous family...

but time, weather and all kind of other factors have turned them into this dilapidation



but with increasing cultural awareness
the Scharloo neigbourhood is slowly being turned into a part of
the city where true architectural gems can be found!

Every journey...

Art again

(click for details)

Ah, it is so good to have all my stuff available and being in my studio again! I just finished some new art pages that I want to show you right now, cannot wait another day, for it has been too long that I posted something creative. Hope you like them, if so (or not, then why?) I would love to read your comment.

Ik ben zo blij dat ik weer al mijn materialen om me heen heb hier in mijn werkkamer! Heb zojuist een paar nieuwe bladzijden voor mijn journal gemaakt en die wil ik jullie direct laten zien, ik kan geen dag wachten, want het is veel te lang geleden dat ik iets creatiefs heb getoond. Hopelijk vind je ze mooi, zo ja( of juist niet, waarom dan?) dan zou ik heel blij zijn met je reactie.

Kura Hulanda (the hotel)

Before I start up blogging about my daily Sint Maarten routine, I want to write and show pictures of last week's trip to Curacao:

Art throughout the hotel

Dutch influences, yet so Caribbean!

Room 104

One of the hotel's murals

I feel at home here...

One of the things I simply have to do whenever we are on Curacao, is visiting Kura Holanda in Otrabanda.

Otrabanda (which is Papiamento for: The Other Side) is a neighbourhood that is located on the south-west side of the Annabaai, the harbour's entrance. It is the neighbourhood where my husband grew up and it holds of course very much memories for him. Part of it has now been restored and turned into a most beautiful hotel. So imagine, both Caribbean and colonial houses in fantastic colors and a now splendid setting, saved by an initiative of Jacob Gelt Dekker. You can read more about this development, hotel and museum (I'll write about that in a separate post) here

Once again I spent some hours there and enjoyed every minute of my visit

Should you ever have a chance to visit Curacao: go there too!!

Back home!

Last week in Curacao has been wonderful. We have lived on that island some 25 years ago and although the houses have always been colourful, many of them even have stronger colours today. Quite a treat after these greyish weeks in Holland!

I will write more about Curacao in one of my posts this week, so stay tuned...

After an absence of over five weeks, we are happy to be back home.

This animal seems to have made his home in our garden in the meantime, he is quietly lying in the sun and fully at ease on his branch of the Neem tree

(click the picture for more detailed view).

I wonder if we keep seeing it in the next few days.

Now I'm off to my studio, try to make something, don't know what to start with, we'll see.

Happy monday!

Time to relax...

After having been in Holland during four weeks, we are back in the Caribbean. We're not home yet, but on the island of Curacao and we will travel to Sint Maarten next Saturday.
For me this is a real extra vacation, for we are staying in a wonderful appartment with the Caribbean sea just a footstep away! So, swimming, sunbathing and relaxing are the most important words this week.
Oh, and not to forget: taking pictures, reading (there even is a kind of library here!),blogging and reading other blogs (I did not have much time in Holland for that). And when there is time left, I could even watch a few movies. The only thing I cannot do is upload pictures, in one way or another this does not seem to work with this local provider. The pictures of this island that I made yesterday will have to wait till we are really back home.

Hope to see you back soon!