I'm back!

The month of May was spent with some seriously needed DIY on our house, and with a holiday afterwards. We've spent two weeks in green Switzerland. I've been going there for about 30 years now and I never went to see the Museum of Art in Sion. So this was number one on my list!

 Sion is the capital city of the canton Valais and situated in the south of Switzerland. It has a small old centre with little alleys and a lovely cathedral with a small square in front of it. The museum is situated in an old castle and is worth a visit. They showed works of local painters:

I love this painting but cannot remember the name of the painter... A lot is happening in this painting which makes it nice to look at, but what struck me the most is how he painted the light. The light in the front is bright which is often the case in Valais where there are a lot of sunny days, and the light in the back is the softly matted light which is so typical of the mountains. I love this!

 All three works above are from one painting by the painter Raphy Delleves (1878-1940). He was known for his portraits of local Valais women. These three women were painted while doing the laundry. The details on their costumes are so refined, I think it would have taken him a lot of time and patience.

This is a detail of the painting Mother and Child by Ernest Bieler (1863-1948), his style was going towards Art Nouveau. This is made with gouache, watercolour and pencil on paper.

What would I be painting if I concentrated myself on local women...? It would be so different.

Look at that pink!

Picture taken in our garden.

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.

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.

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.

Trying to make an impressionistic version...

Result of my attempt to make an impressionistic version of a picture I took in the autumn of last year. The heather was in full bloom making it a colourful picture.

The others tried their best as well, and pictures were taken to be inspired by each other.

And furthermore: I have planned a series of workshops and put the information on my website, so anyone who wants to enjoy painting or drawing is welcome to join! Only practice can take you that one step further!