Rain, strangers and a new home

Hi there all. Already back at work for 2 weeks but not on the internet much. Holidays are almost over, my kids have one week left, and then everything will be back to normal. We had a lazy vacation, the first week camping we had nice weather, but the second week we went home because of the rain. I do love rain, but this was lots and lots of rain and that's not so nice while camping.  The kids didn't mind luckily. Next year we're off to France or Portugal again LOL.  The first day i had to work again, guess what?  A very hot day with lots of sunshine. Life sucks haha. :-S But i can enjoy the sun when i have my day off.

I wrote about some news i have to tell you when i am back. So here it goes:

first of all i am building a webshop for Splash splash kisses and almost ready for your visit. With lots of nice poppy stuff i think.

But most exciting: we are going to move again! The house we live in now is nice, but we are a bit strange for the neighborhood. We don't have a bourgeois taste so it seems, whatever that means. We drive an old car that takes us to places, thats all that counts right? We don't like to spend lots of money on a shiny new car, if the car drives than the car is sufficient for us. I wear black clothes most of the time, we listen to strange music, we don't like cultivated gardens and environments, the same garden as the neighbors with lots of concrete etc. It seems that some neighbors of us are upset because of our free, a bit wild front and backgarden. But they don't come to us to talks about this, we are very nice people really, they complain to the housing society, so this feels not good.

But in the beginning of next year we are moving to a nice project: Saksen Weimar. This was an old terrain with barracks for the military. When it wasn't in use any longer for the military, it became the place for artists and musicians with concerts and expositions.  And now the housing society is renovating all the beautiful old buildings, and inside the buildings there will be appartments with ateliers. And we are the lucky ones to rent one of these appartments. I have to admit it's a bit of a presomptuous project, there also will be new houses, expensive houses, so the terrain will be much more structured, no large metal statues etc. anymore. This scares some artists off. But i have faith in it, i can see through it. Artists will be artists, you cannot control them. Especially when they are living together, inspiring each other. Another project here in Arnhem, for artists, also a bit presomptuous, also scaring off artists in the beginning, prove i am right. ;-)

It's so nice to live in a home with artists around you yeay! I can't wait haha, but i have to be patient......

An old photograph of the barracks.

This is the gateway to the terrain.

Entering.......



One of the buildings in which our appartment will be build. Our living room has 3 windows, and the atelier next to it has also 3 windows! The width of our garden will be about 14 meters.  Are we lucky bastards or what?



That's it for now. I also have done some new drawings in my holidays, i will upload these in a new post. I will be visiting you all pretty soon. Stay happy!



Warm feelings in winter and a bit of delicious, scary excitement.

Again such a lot to tell, where shall i begin? First of all, i already had spring in my thoughts and feelings but King Winter woke me up. Finally we have a winter and today it's snowing again. I am happy it's a good winter, not wet and blubbering, but clear, dry air, sometimes sunshine and because the waether is clear it's also very cold. When sitting behind my table, drawing, i can watch the snow falling and spotting all kind of birds in the garden and the old, big tree standing behind our house. Which reminds me to finally upload a photo of my working place.




 


Twelve o'clock, midday

  

Afternoon, after snowing all day long.








  

I am on RedBubble for quite awhile, but i didn't do anything with it. Until now. You can buy there cards and prints of my work. To support me and at the same time you will have a beautiful Momo Luna Signal. Ofcourse i ordered some cards myself, to check the quality of it and i must say the cards are beyond my expectations. They were larger than i thought, the image is bright and sharp, the cards are really very beautiful. Click on the Cards & prints diashow on the right and you enter my page.

 I also found Harry Kent on RedBubble that made me very happy because i love his art very much. I also ordered some cards of him. Again very great quality.  I think we should send each other cards more often. Not only with Christmas or a birthday, but to let someone know you care. A real card is much nicer than an email right? So take a look at RedBubble, there are lots of great artists with wonderful cards and prints.

For all the nice support and friendship i'm going to send my loyal blogfriends a little package. To thank you for that. I also received this week a package myself from my blogfriend Renilde. I love her art a lot. I love the fairytales she spins and the beautiful blues she uses on her palette. A special Renilde blue. :-) Thank you so much sweet Renilde for your beautiful gift, i am very happy with it!!!! Very much so.

Beautiful art by Renilde, i'm very happy with her lovely gift.




The wonderful cards of Haryy Kent, available on RedBubble.


And last but certainly not least: in March i will be participating in a group exhibition. The topic of this exhibition is:  Sex without joy, or unfulfilling sexual experiences. The curator asked me if i had something fitting this theme so I sended a mail with a suggestion of three drawings of mine. Unfortunately i was a bit late and there were already enough contributors. Typical me. But the curator likes my art, so she was going to check if i can have some space afterall. And she made it possible. I am so happy, excited and a bit scared haha. Because there are some well known artists on this exhibition. So i have to try not to get intimidated and to feel trust in myself. But this tiny bit of anxiety gives me butterflies, like the fear you have in a rollercoaster, you are scared and at the same time you have so much fun.  Soon more information about the exhibition.

The three drawings for this exhibition:   





Tenderness is weakness

 

Do you see who i am?



 
 
 

F*ck me doll - I dare you!

  




And to make this cold winterday even warmer and more perfect: i ordered an agenda with great photographs of Crissant. It arrived today and it's even more beautiful than i could imagine. If you wanna support this lovely lady check out her Blurb here.  I wish you all a perfect weekend!




Great agenda from Crissant.

 

I blow you a sweet Christmas kiss!

Tomorrow it's Christmas day! Soon this year will end and i'm looking forward to a new year. What will 2011 bring me? 

This year, 2010, has had it's ups and downs but i'm so lucky that it ends as a happy one. There's hope and  my problems are slowly turning into possibilities.

This year was a very wonderful year for blogging. I'm so happy to meet nice people (YOU!) from all over the world. And i am so very, very happy with all your kind comments and support. Bringing me joy, confidence and also inspiring thoughts and ideas as well. I appreciate your visits and comments so much, even more than you will know. It's so great to send my fellow bloggers some of my drawings or cards at times. And i'm always surprised by the sweet packages i receive in return. I don't expect anything in return, but my sweet blogger friends are also kindhearted  and enjoying the happiness of giving. Thank you all! 

Sweet Rachel, i am so very happy with your wonderful book full of your even more wonderful poems. You are such a kind and sweet lady. Your sweet comments and support always make me smile and every time i read your poems i hear sweet laughter like bright little bells......

Our country and i'm sure all over the world is retrenching on expences. My Christmas wish is a hopeful one:

Don't retrench on your heart. 

You, my dear visitors have a kind heart for leaving me such wonderful comments and support. So therefore i give you this heart of gold.

I wish you all nice Christmas days and a fantastic new year full of LOVE, friendship, warmth and lots lots of creativity!!!  Kisses for all of you and even more kisses for my special friends (you know who you are) ;-)  I'll be off line till january, so see you later!

♥ Falling in love

Hi wonderful blogfriends! So you notice, i'm back. The holidays was one of the lonelinest i ever experienced, but therefore interesting, confronting and clearing my feelings and thoughts. And i have made some new drawings that please me a lot. But i'll post them one by one in a new post.

I fell in love with Bretagne (Brittany) big time. I was never before in this area but it's so great, amazing, wonderful. It stole my heart. For interested in Celtic history, I loved the celtic influences you could sense everywhere. I never saw those 'open' towers of the churches, but it looks gorgeous. I love the rough nature, the huge rocks on the beach, the menhirs and dolmen that tickles my imagination. We had a wonderful view on a bay from our tent. I loved to stand on this hill, the scent of the fresh sea, listening to the sound of the waves and the seagulls, the wind playing with my hair and thoughts, i imagining that i'm a celtic lady searching the sea for the boat of her lover. Nearby our camping there were the remains of a celtic community, so that's where my fantasy comes from. ;-)
The weather where we were was warm, but with soft rain and always a wind. Exactly how i love it. My boys loved to climb the rocks with their father. And the youngest one was tickled by the history of Normandy (we were there the first days of our holidays) so he was sometimes a soldier, hiding in the dunes or on the rocks.
I have reloaded my batteries, hoping to safe this energy for awhile.
It's good to be back though as well and i'll pay you all a visit in time.

This view i will miss a lot. I already do. Standing there everyday, dreaming, feeling peaceful.

Beautiful rocks

The 'open' towers that amazed and entchanted me.

MENHIR

That special old language.
More photographs on my Facebook.

L'Héautontimorouménos * The self-tormentor

In my early twenties, as i started to read the flowers of evil (Les fleurs du mal) of Charles Baudelaire, i became a big fan of him. I was (and am) attracted by the dark beauty of his words which bring emotions as fear, pain, lust, hope, melancholy, loneliness and despair. His words comfort me; i am not the only one struggling with these dark, lonely emotions. His words inspire me also and they linger in my heart and work.

My most favourite poem is L'Héautontimorouménos. Especially because of the last words:

Je suis de mon coeur le vampire,
— Un de ces grands abandonnés
Au rire éternel condamnés
Et qui ne peuvent plus sourire!

I'm the vampire of my own heart
— One of those utter derelicts
Condemned to eternal laughter,
But who can no longer smile!

How beautiful is that? In all its darkness and sadness.
You can find the poem (and some translations in english) here.

Inspired by this intense poem i painted in 1988 a large painting referring to The self-tormentor.

The photographs are not good because of the flashlight. And in real the colors are more rich and vivid and intense. But i want to show them anyway. Soon i'll try to make better pics.

Acrylics on canvas * Height 150 cm * Width 200 cm

L'Héautontimorouménos

The ignorant

The addict

The cry

Lust

And for now i'm back to my garden again because of the heat indoors. I don't like heat. I'll pay you all a visit soon, when it's cooler in tha house.

I hope your dreams are full of hope. Keep smiling.

Great paintings from Brian! I'm a lucky girl.......

Friday the 7th of may i received a package from Inkpunk's Brian. It arrived at my home earlier than expected, fast mail this time. I was so happy because i knew that in it there was this wonderful painting with the tarsier. The generosity of Brian to send me this painting. How amazed i was when i discovered that there was not one, but two paintings in the package! Also the eye in the bright red and black. Ofcourse a kind letter, some beautiful cards (i will spread them dear friend) and a great sticker (3x) with a skull.
The stickers are very cool Brian, are these your design? If so, you should sell these too. Or maybe you are. :-)
Thank you so much for these wonderful gifts, for being a friend.
Now i have 4 (!) paintings of Brian and i'll hang them together on a nice spot. How awesome is that?!

Seele brennt! ~*~ My soul is burning!

I love the music from Einstürzende neubauten. Sehr! The lyrics are so dark, raw, mysterious. I think Blixa Bargeld is a genius with words and performance. I had the luck to see them perform in their early years and it was mindblowing. So the painting is all about Blixa Bargeld.

Seele brennt!

Ich bin die umstürzlerische Liebe
der Gegensex
Jeder Tag kostet mich Wunden
dabei bin ich schon jetzt
zerschunden und völlig blutverschmiert

Du fängst im Taxi an zu heulen
bloss weil ich sage
dass ich bei dem Konsum
in zwei Jahren tot bin
Alle Idole müssen sterben (Lachen)

meine Seele brennt
Ich versteck mich, sitz in meinem Loch
und warte auf die Träume, die mich retten (Kommen nicht)
Liebe ist ein Scheiterhaufenauf dem ich langsam aber sicher
von innen her zum Rand verbrenne

Ich hab gekostet
bin zu weit gegangen
werd den Geschmack nicht los
Vielleicht ist nur entzündet
vielleicht ist nur entzündet, was da brennt
An Stelle meiner Seele
an der Stelle meiner Seele
meine Seele brennt!

Einstürzende neubauten

The girl is back!

Hi there dear readers. I'm back for a week or so but hadn't the drift to log in on my computer at once. My vacation was delicious: lots of sunshine and much to see. Because of that i hadn't that much time i thought i had for drawing. The coast of Normandy is so beautiful with it's chalk-cliffs. And the sea has such an amazing color, so different. I've never seen that color before. A light shiny jade green, and the shallow parts is whitish like watery milk. That looks so wonderful.
I tried to catch it on a photograph with my cellphone but it doesn't look like the real thing. Now i know for sure i buy myself a good camera haha.

And i made a drawing of the sea with this special colors.

Ecoute! Can you hear the sea?
Ink and watercolours on paper; 9 x 10 cm

We also visited the beautiful old roman city Boulogne sur mer with such a wonderful cathedral.






Late in the evening as my three men were asleep i finished the day with drawing by gaslight, listening to the French radio. And one evening i felt a bit alienated and a suddenly homesickness came over me.

Homesick
Ink and watercolour on paper; 14 x 9 cm.

I started working again this week, next week my two sons are going to school again and then we are back in our old daily rhytm. That's also fine and i'm looking forward to my favourite season: autumn.
I wish you all a great weekend! Sweet greetz and take care......

I am a woman

Debrina has a wonderful post about 'the beauty, strength and wonderment that is WOMAN.' And about the pride being an female artist. I can relate to that. But even in those days women have to work twice as hard to convince people that their art is really good. The art world is still dominated by male artists. In music business as well although you would think otherwise because of the many succesful women in the music business. When you are strong and know what you want you soon will be stereotyped as a b***h. It happened to Madonna. I was a singer in a band: there were five members, sometimes six. Two women and three or four men. And as we entered a club to play, it was always like.....ahhhhh so nice a girlband! Because the singer and guitarist were female. This happened ALWAYS. So therefore i don't want to be called a female artist. Because most of the time it means that you're not taken seriously. But it feels ambiguous though 'cause i am proud of being a woman and people who act like ahhhh so nice a girl........ don't mean it in a bad way. I suppose. They are not aware of the sexism in saying that. Don't they?

The guerilla girls are a group of artists who started in 1985 in New york to make people more aware of this situation. And they bring the message in a funny, sarcastic way. They do not only accuse the male/female issue, but it's also about black and white, US and Europe versus the non western world.

'In 1985, The Museum of Modern Art in New York opened an exhibition titled An International Survey of Painting and Sculpture. It was supposed to be an up-to-the minute summary of the most significant contemporary art in the world. Out of 169 artists, only 13 were women. All the artists were white, either from Europe or the US. That was bad enough, but the curator, Kynaston McShine, said any artist who wasn't in the show should rethink “his” career. And that really annoyed a lot of artists because obviously the guy was completely prejudiced. Women demonstrated in front of the museum with the usual placards and picket line. Some of us who attended were irritated that we didn't make any impression on passersby.'

More from the interview and their activities you can read on their website.

Piet Schopping

This is the art of Piet Schopping. An artist with an intellectual restriction. I'm a huge admirer of his work. Often i visit a museum of gallery, seeing art, thinking, hmmm yeah great, but it doesn't touch me. The art of Piet Schopping has it for me. His work touches, inspires and moves me a lot.

I love the fire in his images. Art as art is supposed to be in my humble opinion. I think he's a great painter.

Outsider art

The human psyche interests me a lot. Especially the experiences of people who have different ideas than the average common line of thought. When i was at highschool we, the students, visited a mental hospital. To take our bearings. Maybe some of us wanted to work in such a hospital. A charming man showed us around, telling lots of stories. With enthusiasm. An attendant we thought. So we were very surprised as he told us that he's a patient. He was a teacher but ended here 'cause sometimes he thinks he's Jesus or at other times another holy martyr. He told this with lots of humour. He commanded me respect.
When i was at artschool i became acquainted with the so called 'Outsider art'. And i became enthusiast. I am very intruiged by the art of Adolf Wölfi.

I my art i often make use of arhetypes from the unconscious mind of mankind: fear, hope, madness, love, lust. The human figures i draw/paint symbolize emotions. Most of the time they're naked and sometimes bald too. i find clothing at most times inconvenient in a picture. At least in my drawings, paintings. I don't know why.

Sinister beauty

Two old doodles waiting to be worked out. I draw these doodles while listening to the music of Diamanda Galas. Her music is of a sinister beauty and she produces the most strange, enchanting but also disturbing intonations. The homeless man, descending to the darkest corners of his soul. For the sake of clearness: Diamanda Galas is NOT a satanist or something like that. Neither am i, i believe in love and light. She uses dramatic, piercing ways to express herself. To transcribe her message. I think she's wonderful!