number 9


found the number 9 by the roadside the other day, the day before that I had collected the small glass shards; I imagine making a tiny door for the Project with these bits, although I don't yet see how; the house number will have to be 9 now, ha!




I find these two Rembrandts such moving images, there are stories and lives captured here, the light and textures are amazing



How calm the water's surface is on a misty morning such as today. How it reminds me of some of the almost 400 year old landscape paintings we saw yesterday.
 Amazing really how easy it is these days to travel back and forth between city, i.c Amsterdam, and countryside. 
Visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam with my dad yesterday (he was staying with my sister who lives there). Such a treat to be able to do this together. All the more worthwhile, as he is not well, I will not expand here.
From the hustle and bustle and permanent excitement of our capital (I do believe I would only be able to stare at and listen to other people's stories in a larger town/city - or perhaps I might grow immune and develop a cocoon) back to our garden, where today a young man called Joep came to our tree-rescue! There are several trees that have quite outgrown their space and our tree-climbing Joep cut off the surplus branches and suffocating ivy from a huge maple, and tweaked the two sweet chestnuts back into shape. In two weeks' time he'll be back to tackle the enormous ash and lime trees. Light and air return once more to our green haven, where I might then manage to grow a couple of plants from this guide book: 
an oldie from 1999! Arrived in the post yesterday

this tree-cloth meanwhile has been growing roots and small nodes


Comments

Mo Crow said…
what a beautiful post seeing. inspiring Rembrandts in real life and love seeing your tree cloth anchoring with the roots and nodes
Nancy said…
Ah, to see such works in person. It is kind of mind-blowing! My son went to college in Amsterdam for a year (through a program with SF State). Love the little colorful threadbeads in the ovaries. I'm glad your trees are being well cared for.
Ms. said…
In person and close up is the ONLY way to see Rembrandt really. I did see some at the Metropolitan museum here a while back. Inspiring. I love your landscapes and the fortunate 9 and the way your slow cloth is progressing.
Liz A said…
Oh, the feathers and the fine bits of grass above them ... echoed by your finely stitched roots.
Julie S said…
Those feathers, I thought they were trail finds of yours!!

I used to take the train to NYC (about an hour) all the time and now I find I am just ajitter (made that word up) inside within about two hours. Your photos make me reconsider a trip to the Met but I couldn't bear to leave autumn in the countryside for even an hour.

A nod to your dad and his health.
Saskia said…
you know Mo, as I grow older I find it easier to really take the time and look at a painting (or other artwork), just let it sink in; we had about an hour in the museum which is enough for then my concentration starts to waver and I become distracted.
In person indeed, Michelle, the brushstrokes! the textures! I wanted to touch the canvas, but controlled myself!
We woke up this morning Nancy, opened the bedroom blinds and what a sight to behold: light, glorious light streaming into the bedroom as the sweet chestnut has been groomed it now offers us a view beyond it's branches.
wow Liz, I had not noticed this coincidence.
Julie, we have those Autumn days as well, when the sun is shining and you simply must be outdoors, randomly pottering about in the garden, perhaps with a fire and a kettle on the boil.....Just this afternoon, D. and I were saying to each other, on our drive into Amsterdam for a small musical recital, how 'all of a sudden' we have time for this kind of stuff, why: because the boys are at an age where they don't need our constant (s)mothering and would much prefer their own company and so we the parents must find other things to occupy us, haha.
Saskia said…
p.s.
Nancy, I remember you having mentioned this about your son, a year in Amsterdam as a student, wow, mind blowing right!?
Julie, thank you for the nod; I will be visiting both my parents tomorrow.
Anonymous said…
sorry to hear about your Dad, but glad you are having time together...
that photo truly does look like a master's work... does land have memory? and do magical creatures live under trees? Just watched the Game of Thrones episode where just such a scene was played out. The creatures wending their way through ropy and feathery roots.
Saskia said…
thx Dee, growing old is good in many ways, however at times not easy .....
does land have memory, I believe it does; there are 'scars', marks of all kinds, sediments etc. there for us to read if we'know how; I saw a woman on the Antiques Roadshow (BBC) the other day and she had brought two pieces of what looked like scuplted stone tree stumps, they were in fact actual petrified trees from deep in the ocean and millions of years old, so yes memory is definitely there, both natural and man-made. As to your second question, I'm not quite sure: they appear in cloth, yours and mine amongst others, they turn up in the studio, so my guess is they possibly live under trees as well. As a young girl I used to play with them in the orchard in our garden in England.
Debbie said…
Love the Vermeer painting, I love many of the paintings of Dutch interiors from that period.
As to Dee's comments about magical creatures, they certainly live in my garden.

tungsten

tungsten

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