blue skies turning grey

 yesterday snow and cold and winter in the land, today most of the white stuff has disappeared and temperature feels kind of like spring might be on it's way, as long as the sun shines....we've had wet snow, drifting by in swirls leaving no lasting impression, Dutch winters these past years don't quite happen

at least the studio is cosy and warm, snug with the wooden walls; i'm sketching with fabric, long drawings, landscape impressions, glimpses of blue moons - thanks to Jude - the beautiful squares are from Julie, i have so much to be grateful for.....

i thought of folding this one and now rather like it as is, the shape reminding me of a skirt, so that'll be it's title 'the half skirt'; still needs a backing for the left part plus want to integrate the right part more with the blue silk

Shakey Graves performing 'dearly departed'

musings

 we i.e. friends M & J & I were in Cologne for 2 days, on a fun-shopping-museum-wining-dining Spree!  in the first photo the Dom tower, impressive against the clear blue skies, the temperature was somewhere between -3 and -7 celsius....so it was cold, yet dry and therefore bearable. We enjoyed ourselves immensely; these kinds of short breaks feel longer and as per usual I realise I should do this more often.....Back home a day later we have Snow! and Frost! and Grey Skies! our world is limited to the view across the road: black&white fields, fog makes the world seem very small and muted. Time to head to the studio, where I played around with these two wooden tree stamps, bought in Cologne; and continued with the art of small cushions

 the blue fabric in the top right corner and the Naples yellow/mauve corner on the left below come from a delicate fabric Jude sent me, along with Harry the lion and these colourful bundles:

Jude's Bundles, minus the When Worlds Collide fabric, of which 2 small snippets were used in the cushion

 this small cushion is made with two layers of thin fabric on both sides; the colourful side is made up of four squares sewn together as Jude has taught me, so the seams fold flat by themselves, the patchwork has been basted onto a white cotton square; the grey/white side consists of two oblongs scraps sewn together in the same way, basted onto two similarly sewn cotton strips, laid in the opposite direction, creating a fake 4 part square patchwork; the tree has been stamped onto an older plain white patchscrap.

I'm very aware of how dominant the need within of being the owner of all that I make is, the ego thing is big; and yet here I have used a fabric dyed by another person I know (albeit virtual) and a stamp block created by someone completely unknown to me and what I tentatively seek (here) is a collaboration of sorts, a letting go of this ownership. Of connecting with others.....My friend A. who happened to drop by today and with whom I can discuss these kinds of things, referred to it as 'inter-being' 

I took lots of photo's of the art in the Ludwig museum, I won't bore you with all of these images; I do want to share this particular lady whom I find highly amusing as she looks away from us Cheshire Cat-like  to her left, is there perhaps something that amuses her I wonder; a glance that makes me smile in recognition even though we are forever seperated by all the years between us; alas I don't have her name, the photographer was Karl Schenker