This and that

On Facebook I have a weekly storyboard that is called Tropical Thursday. Last December I decided to post the original pictures on my blog here, since the storyboard does not come out nice here. However, with these pictures on blogger I provide some background info that does not come on Facebook! The first picture above is of the entrance of Fort Amsterdam in Curacao, former Dutch West Indies. In this centuries-old fort the government of this island is being situated. This arcitectural style is very 'Curacao-ish', as is this yellow colour, e.g. you can see it in the old countryhouses all over the island.

There is a wonderful antropological museum in the centre of the capital Willemstad. It is called Kura Hulanda. A big part has been dedicated to slavery, as well as impressions, documents and items from African countries where many slaves originated from at that time. The picture above is from a wall that is situated at the museum's entrance square. The text speaks for itself, the top one is in Papiamentu, which is the language of the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.
The Papiamentu language consists of Spanish, Portuguese, African languages, English and very little Dutch

Kura Hulanda was constructed by remodeling one of Willemstad's dilapidated neighborhoods into a luxury hotel. You can walk through the little streets and get a good impression how it was
back then. There are many Dutch influences, like these tiled roofs, whereas the shutters make them tropical of course.

and in closing this post:

this is how my latest work turned out. I intended to over paint the whole with a lighter colour, and started with the lower left and upper right corner. This provided a depth that I liked, so I decided to stop with the paint there and then. The picture fragment was a bit too much standing out alone, so I adhered a little piece of fabric with the ciphers and the final addition of the little gold squares. It is finished now and I must say I like it... on to the next one.

Enjoy your Thursday!