Mostly Turquoise

November 27, 2009

Friday collage

What is Left

digital collage

November 25, 2009

Getting Arboreal - A nature collection- November Issue...

It was time again to pay a visit to my tree. My first contribution to this collaboration came already late, and so is this one (sorry Julie!) . And since the tree itself looks the same to me, no fall, no color changes here in the tropics, I show some photographs of its surroundings.

The hill in the picture above is Sentry Hill, it is part of a range that runs from North to South on the island. I live somewhere to the right, next to where the slope begins. In the pretty dense forest live animals like mongoose and yes, monkeys! They sometimes visit our mango trees, but I digress...

This 'staketsel' (sorry, this is Dutch) is located in the park and opposite of 'my' tree.

It serves, I guess, no other purpose than being decorative

And here it is, seen from the other side as last time.
The park is being used a lot by islanders who have something to celebrate; every weekend there is some kind of BBQ, children party or meeting of an organisation and in the weekday afternoons I sometimes see children playing golf with their coaches!

I don't know what tree it is, it bears edible little apples in February and you can see them already in this picture if you click

some other hilltops from the range I mentioned, seen from under my little-apple-tree.

There is a big discussion going on since a few years concerning this area, because developers want to build houses here. Fortunately the people of Sint Maarten for once are resisting this!
We should be very careful with what is left on places like this.
Already too much of our beaches, coast and other pristine parts of the island has been sacrified for the big money

Do you want to see more special trees, and read stories that go with them from all over the world? Then hop over to The Land of Lost Luggage, participants are on the left.
Thanks for visiting!

November 23, 2009

And so it happened

... that this little piece of fabric turned from what it was here to this blueish result!

As I wrote on Saturday, I worked without planning, as I often do. It sometimes happens when I am in my studio, listening to e.g. a French chanson or classical music, that I am completely caught by it, by the text or whatever about it, and I simply have to start 'something', do you recognize this urge to create? Caused by the beauty of something, in this case music?

Back to this work above, I have to say that I already learned a lot of the mistakes made. I knew before that the use of acrylic would make the fabric stiff, which I considered no problem as it is not a household piece plus it was only a try-out! Yet at some moment during the process of painting, in between the several layers, I considered it worth finishing with a binding, so I did, which led to the first mistake (I expected it to be a process of trial and error...)

1. I should have put the binding on before painting, bc though I had squared the work it is slightly wavy now. Probably caused by ironing the binding on the back.

2. the acrylic paint has also made the fabrics look dull, which I don't like either. A solution to this could be adding medium to the paint.

What I love however, is the quilting pattern that is being highlighted by painting, the places that are recessed show different colours than the top, which gives a beautiful layered effect. It is clearly visible in the first picture (please ignore the difference in color of both photographs, since the first one is made inside and the other one in daylight on my veranda).

In the first picture you can also see that I added some bronze paint by stamping with one of my favorite found objects (I found it at one of our beaches and it is a weathered old buoy of a sailingship I guess, and has hardened out and burst into a circular pattern).

All in all I found this first experiment in sewing, quilting and then painting worth to be continued. What I will try next is using textile paint, or maybe even thickened dye. We'll see!

But it was fun to do, and for me this is maybe the most important part. It gives freedom to enjoy the process and not having to worry about the outcome.

November 21, 2009

Sewing machine, fabrics and paint!

It is Saturdaynight, we have a little break in our tv-programm

and I am suddenly encouraged to give it a try:

Why not?

Let me first tell how it started...

Whenever I need some inspiration, I surf the internet, like I know lots of artists do. And when I came across the website of Deirdre Adams some months ago, I felt a pang (isn't this the way it is said in English?). I mean that feeling of: thís could be the solution of my problem (no or way too expensive stretched canvases on our island), not being able nor willing to choose between fabrics and paint, and thus combining the two, having a deep desire to deepen my skills, to try something new. So I took the plunge...

Took out my scraps, not worrying about a color combination, nor about design principles, not yet. Worked frantically and without hesitation: it was just exploring the possibilities. Sewed fabrics together in a random way, continuously reminding myself of the fact that 'it is only a try-out'. Quilted it by machine

before the first layer of diluted acrylic paint

and after drying, a second session with Peynes Gray and Burnt Sienna.
It will take a lot of practising, of trial and error, before I will get some acceptable results, but this is fun to do, and exciting also!