Happy Easter

This must be the coldest Easter ever in the Netherlands. Kind of Easter is the new Christmas. Light the fireplace, drink wine, and put up the christmas tree? Too cold to go outside and search for easter eggs. That's for sure. Feel free to download the drawing and send to your loved ones. Have a wonderful weekend. Love Marike.

BB

When my dad was a young man he started his own photography studio. Brigitte Bardot never made it to his studio but he moved into an old building and that's where he found a box with pictures of, at the time, popular moviestars. Cliff Richard, the Beatles, Jane Mansfield. And the lucious Brigitte. The box has been on the attic ever since and the pictures have always intrigued me. We still have quite a bit of pictures and I have put Brigitte up for sale in the Etsy shop. Have a peek at her beautiful eyes. Or at other bodyparts...

Let spring begin!

Red Men (IV)

It's Lindy hop!

And if you're bored today: just start dancing. Good for body&soul. Here some help how to! And this one for some inspiration and for a happy feeling. Another one, this cheerful video for all the dutch readers, cause it's still incredible cold. And last, but how inspiring, and fun! Streetdancers vs Lindy hoppers. Just great. If this doesn't make your day....

oh oh music oh music!

The Barr Brothers. I don't think they will come over to the Netherlands anytime soon....what a shame but they have several gigs in the States and Canada.

Tree

Love

Woohoo, the computer is back. Back to work! I've been working on a little book about love. Just illustrations. The end result will be a template with illustrations, with space for pictures, and writingspace. It will make a perfect wedding-gift. Soon more about where, how, how much etc. But this is one of the illustrations I made. The penguins also live happily together is this little 'love' book.

Penguin

Bob D.

Saturday......

by Ian McEwan. My english is by no means sufficient enough to explain my love for this book. But even in my own language I won't be able to explain what I liked about this story. The words, the sentences, the precise yet subtle words. This writer just mesmerizes me with every story he writes. Just go and read this book. Im not telling anything. Just this drawing. That's all. And read Saturday, and all those other beautiful books he's written. (so much for sale on Marktplaats and IM sure in many more second hand bookstores all over the world)

Inspiration

. Several weeks ago I wrote about the Blogothéque session from the Colorado band the Lumineers. Since then they're played a lot on dutch radio. Most of stuff played on the radion is not my cup of tea, so everytime 'Ho Hey' comes by I turn up the volume and open the windows (good music has to be shared with the world). I already started a drawing inspired by the Parade-song. Then the computer crashed and nothing happend for weeks. Im up and running again. Im back at work. Doing taxes, making work. And still love the Lumineers-song. This drawing is inspired by 'the Parade'. Have a lovely sunday. Love Marike

Indira

A birth announcement. It has been a while since I made one, and I almost forgot how exciting it is. A beautiful newborn, very precious, and all the family members who love her so deeply within hours. Beautiful. Hope to see little, beautiful Indi very soon.

Red Men (III)

Red Men (II)

Today's Nrc.Next

An article about living as an expat, or in another country as your own.

Red Men (I)

Terug naar Kongo....

By Lieve Joris. After reading 'Poisondwood Bible' for the second time, I noticed Kingsolver mentioned several books a reference. One of these books was 'Terug naar Kongo'(1987) by Lieve Joris. A name I remember from my childhood, or from my highschool days, im not sure. A week later some else recommended one of her books and a week after that I found 'Terug naar Kongo' in the thriftstore. The belgian writer Lieve Joris travels to Kongo to trace back the steps of one her uncles, who had been a catholic father in Kongo. She lives with the nuns for a few weeks, travels down the river Zaire on an old barge, goes drinking in the little bars and tries to avoid the white expat community. I did not learn as much about Kongo as I wanted to, and the story did not grasp me very much. But hey, that's how it is sometimes. So forward to the next book about Kongo I guess. There is one classic that I have to read; Into the darkness by Joseph Conrad, and the book Congo, by David van Reybrouck is also recommended to me. So, let the summer begin, sun, a chair and a stolen moment, read read read.

Yesterday's Nrc H

An article about volunteerwork. The subject of my illustration is a man who helps people with their finances and their paperwork.

Donkey

The dark, long winter is coming to an end on this side of the planet. The days are longer again, and this morning light is pouring in into my living room.  In the early hours of the day i drove to the airport to pick up my sister. She just left New Zealand summer and entered European spring. With a bag full of amazing Manuka honey and a head full of stories. She stayed on a small island of the coast of Auckland where every one grows their own food, fishes for food and people still know how to catch and kill a rabbit. Inspiring. From this special place, some tomatoeplant seeds. Time to open up the balcony doors, dust of the pots and plant my seeds. And time to think about what's ahead of me. Wich creative seeds shall I plant? Which direction do I want to go? What do I want to harvest later this year? In a creative way, I mean. So while the computer is still down, lots of time to contemplate...

Today's Trouw

< The second lovestory written by Ernest van der Kwast. About the south african athlete Oscar Pistorious and his girlfriend Reeva.

This week in.....

....the magazine of a dutch bank. But this is a so called 'fair-trade' bank. They're aim is to invest in sustainbable projects rather than money-make projects. The subject of this article is how to be more sustainable at home. One advice that I'm going to look into is the website www.bookcrossing.nl. You buy a book, you read a book, you register the book and you leave the book behind for some else to read. Great idea, imagine finding a beautiful book somewhere? Just for free, for you. A kind gesture from a stranger. Have a wonderful weekend.