MyDay 014 - MemoWood

MyDay 014

A new DutchCraftwork design: the MemoWood.
An handy organizer for all your notes, bills, cards and photographs.

The MemoWood is an natural and eco friendly product. Made of recycled wood.
Solid and a great friend on every desk!

MyDay 013 - Ciudad Juarez

MyDay 013

In 2006 I participated in an exhibition in Durango, Mexico.
The exhibition was called The Death of Juarez II 2005.

It is now 2009 and Juarez is still an extremely dangerous place for women.

Since 1993, women and girls have been murdered and remain missing in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico. Most victims are slender, dark-haired girls between 14 and 18 years old who work in one of the numerous u.s.-owned maguiladora factories. Many are killed on their way to and from work. Their bodies have been found - sometimes with their blue factory issued aprons on - dumped in the desert or next to the roads leading to the unlit squatter camps ringing the city. In some cases, the victims are mutilated and horrilby disfigured. Objects have been stuffed into their vaginas or anuses and in some cases their left breasts have been hacked off. Many are strangled, then stabbed repeatedly. Others were found with their hands tied behind their backs. Some have their panties removed, even if they are still fully dressed.

More info:
Bordertown - a movie directed by Gregory Nava.
Ciudad Juarez

Thank you Ladies

Treasuries

I want to thank Evihan, Missminoes, ChromaSmear and Alatvian for featuring my work in the beautiful treasuries they made!

MyDay 012

MyDay 012
It wasn't a great day today.

Nothing serious happened but time sort of slipped thou my finger while I slowly lost control over the day. Around 15.30 I decided that I could do two things. One: lying down in the hammock in the garden. Two: preparing some stock photographs.

I choose the last possibility as I was sort of afraid to fall asleep and wake up around six and then having to move my body to the kitchen to cook dinner. Not very appealing... so with a handful of jellybeans spread out in front of my keyboard, I opened my photography map on the PC and looked for the Curacao images.

The funny thing with preparing travel images is that you sort of jump into the scene and revisit the place again. So after about ten minutes I was back in Curacao.
Did some pictures of the Quarantine Building near Spaanse Water, a shot of Boca Pistol with splashing waves on the coral rocks, two kids in a fishing boat near Saint Michel, an image of a old sport complex just outside Willemstad and this one of the oil refinery and the Jewish cemetery.

A weird place for a cemetery. I wonder who ever choose this location.
I also made sound recordings. The noice of flames from the pipes combined with the smell of an oil plant under tropical conditions.

For all the dead, rest in peace...

One and a half hour later, I had finished nine images and felt much better.

MyDay - 011

MyDay - 011

The cascade of Santa Maria Tzeja, a tiny village in the jungle of Guatemala in Central America.

I lived here for a while, in the late 1970’s. This cascade is where we went after a hard day of work on the field, to cool off and let the water massage our backs.

In the village lived about 80 families. They were Mayan Indians.
You could not get here by car. We were flown in from El Quiche and had to walk another 2 to 3 hours to arrive to the village. Our luggage on horses and on our backs.

I was there to assist in a agricultural project. We had to test different crops like soya and all kinds of beans and see how they would do under this tropical climate in highland jungle.

There was no western luxury at all, no stove, no refrigerator and no washing machine. Next to this cascade on the photograph the Indian women taught me how to wash clothes. On the stones in the river. And on the route to the cascade was also the well where we had to get our daily drinking water. A walk of about 10 minutes downhill and then back up with a water barrel on my head. I remember my protesting neck muscles in the beginning.

During my stay the political situation was not stable. Things escalated and we had to leave Santa Maria Tzeja all of a sudden.

And the situation did not get better. In the early eighties life turned into a nightmare. The military slaughtered the inhabitants of Santa Maria Tzeja. Some escaped and fled into the jungle, in the direction of the Mexican border where they tried to survive with nothing left like their horrible memories.

Now many years later, those who survived and returned, have been trying to get their life together.

I have not been back to this small jungle village. But I have sweet memories.
My dear Mayan friends, for those still out there, I learned a lot about life from all of you and I hope you are doing well…

MyDay - 010

MyDay 010

Growing old...

MyDay - 009

MyDay 009

Almost every week I drive 60 km up and down to visit my parents.

They are living in Friesland, a province famous for it's cows, cheese and sailboats.

There are a lot of lakes here and during the summertime many tourists will spend their holidays on the water.

I was sixteen when I moved to this part of the country and during that time didn't like it at all.

I used to live near the beach and close to Amsterdam. Moving to the north felt like going to Siberia. And worst of all, they speak their own language in this part of the Netherlands. It is an authentic language, called Fries. I would not understand a word...

But as hard as life can be... you get used to everything.

And so did I.

Now, many years later I live again in this northern region of the country. I have been away for a while and lived on different continents, but eventually came back to the north. It is quiet, green, flat and windy here. A good place to live...

MyDay 008

MyDay 008

Hubby reading a magazine in the garden.
Strange coincidence...

MyDay - 007

MyDay 007

Again a day behind my desk.
Well ... it was no summer day at all, so staying indoors was not hard.
Working on stock photographs again. I can tell you , this is not one of my favorite things to do. Just like yesterday, the routine is the same... before uploading: cleaning up technically, writing descriptions and finding keywords like:

... Hut; beach; thatched; sub tropical; sea; sand; ocean; color-image; blue; nobody; outdoors; horizontal; nature; landscape; seascape; cloudscape, clouds, concept; tourism; travel; destination; vacations; non-urban; coastline; horizon; tranquil; lifestyle; leisure; Florida; North America; square...

All of a sudden, while working on this Beach Hut image, I got this clear and bright thought:
Finding keywords is actually a beneficial thing to do as you train your brain while looking for synonyms and more. My braincells are challenged all the time and while thinking of this positive side effect, I don't mind doing keywords anymore. It keeps my brain sane and might slow down dysfunctions that walk hand in hand with getting older.

Lucky me, still hundreds of images left, waiting for their keywords.

(...little smile)

MyDay - 006

MyDay - 006

It was a lovely day, sunny with a temperature around 22 C and not too much wind.

But instead of lying outside on this dark blue fatboy on the lawn, I spent most of the day inside (see MyDay 002) behind my desk working on a bunch of stock photographs.

Technically checking each image, inch by inch. Followed by writing descriptions and finding keyword and concepts. Very time consuming, I can tell you that!

I did twenty photographs today ... another twenty are waiting for tomorrow.

MyDay - 005

MyDay - 005

Ever heard of a sprout vegetable kit!

Well, I got one as a present from my sister.

Growing your own sprout vegetables is easy and healthy.

It seems that these little green sprouts contain a lot of wonderful nutrients, like vitamins and enzymes. They should also slow down the aging proces.

As I am the eldest of three, was this present a silent hint or just a healty gift?

I will ask her...

MyDay - 004

MyDay - 004

Every day, after dinner, with an espresso and feet on the couch, watching the daily soap Good Times, Bad Times on the TV.
Twenty minutes watching silly people doing more silly things...

MyDay - 003

MyDay - 003

Every now and then my daughter and I make this little shopping trip to Germany.
Most of the time we go to a town just across the border, but this time we drove a little further to a city called Oldenburg.

Our trip roughly consists of the following ingredients: shopping for clothes and new bra's, drinking coffee and eating Torte at a local Konditorei, and shopping for cosmetic bargains like John Frieda shampoo, make up and special deodorant.

We always finish our trip by doing some groceries at one of the large Familia supermarkets.
Unfortunately, now with this one big Europe thing, a lot of items you find in the supermarkets, are sold in many supermarkets all over the European countries.
As I always loved to take home products that were typical, it gets harder and harder to find something that is not available in Holland as well.

Now, while writing this, something pops up. Over two weeks I will be going to Belgium and I sure will visit a Belgian supermarket to get some bottles of Krieklambiek beer. Beer made of sour cherries. Dark red, almost a little thick and soo good! The Dutch Krieks are not to be compared with this delicious Belgium beer.
My little supply will only last for a short time but that is ok. This way the Krieks remain something to long for. I do not need to drink them all year around, just once in a while. That is enough to keep them special. And that is the way I like it.

MyDay - 002

Well, this is where it all happens.
My studio ... always messy ...
Many hours I have spent in this part of the house.
I love the way the light enters this room.
It is a nice place to be...

MyDay

MyDay will be a new item on this blog.
On a daily basis an image will be uploaded.

The image has to be made by me and will be connected to something that happened during that specific day.

Peeping into somebodies life is a natural human thing many of us like to do. And not to speak of the people who liked to be peeped at...

Hope you will enjoy.

I do not know where this will lead to ...

You Are What You Eat

A week ago I started my You Are What You Eat photographic ZenZProject.
The first images of my breakfast, lunch or dinner are online now.

Week 1 and what I ate:
apple, kiwi, eierkoek, cappuccino,
shoarma bread, apple, strawberry jam, cappuccino,
soft tortilla, stracciatella yogurt, kiwi, woodberry jam,
rice, chicken, tomato, cream, red wine, union, bascilicum,
tropical crusli, yogurt,
tropical crusli, mango yoghurt

YART SALE on Etsy

ART + YARD SALE = YART !

There will be a YART SALE on Etsy.com from June 10 till June 14.
DutchCraftWork is participating as well.
During these 4 days all the Small Sketch & NoteBooks will be available for $ 9.00 instead of the regular $11.50.
So grab you chance and get one of these great notebooks for your holiday activities or use them just around the house.

Treasuries

My No.13 Small Sketch & NoteBook is in this great treasury by Dinafragola

And... my work is also featured in a Mostly Blue by Blueterracotta and in Simply Natural by Vaisto.
( ...thanks...)

You Are What You Eat...

I started a new photographic experiment.
It is called You Are What You Eat.
During a period of a year I will photograph my daily breakfast, lunch or dinner.

You are welcome to follow this process on ZenaZ Projects

Gooddodoll - part 2

It is great!

My first and lovely white Gooddodoll is sold last week and now living her life somewhere on the western coast of Canada. Her continental travel with the Dutch TNT Post only took 4 days from door to door. And I think that is amazing.

One doll sold and I hope many more to follow. As these dolls are all one-of-a-kind I am experimenting with different fabrics, making new pins, combining photography and maybe use ink stamps. It is always a surprise what they eventually will look like as I discover new things while working.

So today I made these new pins as the red and pink colored roses from China are not very strong. Using small gemstones - as lapis lazuli, carnelian, red carnet, chrysoliet - with gold colored beads make lovely pins in different color combinations.

Using these tiny gemstones also add something extra to the doll as every stone has its own characteristics.

In the Middle Ages, lapiz lazuli was thought to keep the limbs healthy, and free the soul from error, envy and fear.

Carnelian's healing properties are thought to help purify the blood, relieve menstrual cramps and back pain. It is also thought to be beneficial in the treatment of infertility and is worn to enhance passion and desire.

The red garnet was popular as a talisman and protective stone, as it was believed to light up the night and protect its bearer from evil and disaster.

Light green chrysoliet is good for the eyes, the brain, takes away anger and envy.

The Gooddodoll and the gemstones go hand in hand. They fit very well together as they are both about positive energy and positive thinking.