maandag 22 april 2013

Open studio this Saturday

Finally, Spring and sun have come! I cleaned up the studio and look forward to be meeting some people this Saturday. I have made new bags and I have a lot of nice small gifts to see.
Open: 10-17 hours, welcome for a look around and a cup of coffee!


Inspiration by Dutch craft in history

In the old days people took time to make objects from wool, wood or otherwise. My grandmother for instance could knit mittens with those intricate patterns, she did this while chatting away. Other people made their own utensils for the kitchen and why not decorate the with patterns?
I went to the Schokland Museum this weekend and there I found some examples of these old crafts:

This vase was made by a group of people (Trechtervolk) who lived in the Netherlands a long time ago.
 
 These buttons were used to keep scarves together in the neck. The picture is not very good, but you can see different designs.
Different decorated plates, I see a lot of blue and terra.
The museum is situated on a small hill which used to be an island for a long time but which has become part of the land when the Netherlands decided to make some lakes into dry pastures. It has been preserved well and is a small treasure.

maandag 15 april 2013

Inspiration from tribal crafts



I have a lot of interest for old crafts, for instance embroidery, weaving, colour use etc. Somehow the craft of the native Americans interests me in particular. I was thrilled to discover that there was an exhibition in Amsterdam on this. I also could not take pictures here which was too bad because they had some interesting objects.


The polar bear has such an organic shape and shows real joy, I like it. The embroidery on the shoes is also cheerful and so skillfully done, in my mind I saw the women sitting there concentrating on their patterns and colour use.
This exhibition is closed now.

vrijdag 12 april 2013

Inspiration from Nordic Art

I thought I'd write a bit about where I find my inspiration. It is quite diverse I must say, but let's start with several exhibitions.
At the moment there is an exhibition in the Groninger Museum (north of the Netherlands) on Nordic Art and I really enjoyed it. Because of the Nordic light the colours were often soft and this gave an intimate feel to several paintings. 
Another thing I noticed were the paintings representing a scene in the home. Maybe because it is often cold in the Scandinavian region, it was easier to paint a scene inside? And of course it was also cozy inside which gave warm light.
This painting represents a scene after the modelling session, the model is dressing herself and the painter is playing his violin for some distraction or contemplation.
Unfortunately it was not allowed to take pictures, there was one painting with a really mysterious atmosphere, I could not find a card of picture of it.
The exhibition lasts until 5th of May.