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A New Year..?

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 22:42:31 GMT

A New Year..? September - Oktober '25

As endings goes, everything starts Anew.

And so it is for the Artschool; the Art Academy at Haarlem.

I was asked to tell something about, wel actually about beginnings.

And as i rapidly made up a speech (at home, not at the Academy itself of cource, as fast as that went - as slowly my mind wrapped around it.

Because: I had been here before.

Preparing a speech. Starting a new year. Dinner. Students.

What was it with cycles? ...

With everything starting anew? ...

With old habits and new feelings?

How do we really feel about replaying a same script - over and over and over again?

And so the start of a New Year became a leap back to my days as a philosopher, back at school, many years ago. When i was doing a Bachelor study actually.

The story of Plato: persception which is an illusion. The story of the drawings in a Cave, actually. You should look it up. An Old story - Perhaps New for you. Another Cycle.

So...: Was i stuck in my own Cave? Was everything an Illusion?

For example: Last year i stopped drawing, just to pick up a pencil very recently. In a New Year. An old habbit.

And that wasn't the only thing that turned into some kind of cycle. I stopped painting on canvas, to - a few months later - starting to paint on walls, in my home.

And stopped being a teacher in the art of relaxation approximately two months ago, just to start some classes again, just a few weeks later.

Why, why does the human seem to have a need for cycles and repetitions?

Repetation should feel boring. t actually should be something we should avoid, in my opinion. Wouldn't it be more exiting to do something New, everytime? Not doing things that we already did or that someone already thought about or invented? Wouldn't that be something? But instead the repetition feels safe, comforting and stable - at least is sometimes does, for me.

And i hate it at the same time. I Lóve New Years. And i Hate New Years. The start of te School-terms. The end of the Holiday-season.

The earning of a Diploma. And the end of learning.

The end of some relations. (For example because someone died) And the start of freedom. (Because now you have lots of spare time, since you aren't visiting or caring for the dead person anymore.)

Hate - Love. Love - Hate. The same cycle.

So here we are. As i am holding up my bag of New Beginnings. My old way of speaking and my new way of 'standing my ground' Love You. Hate You. I really do. But i am repeting myself:

Welcome, New Year..!

Summer Vibes

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 11:36:37 GMT

Memories of Summer-Vibes - July - August '25

And there it was... Autumn. While i was still waiting for a guest colomn for my site, time already caught up and there i was in te last season of the year.

Again. Time goes by so quickly and all the good intentions nevertheless i haven't been as active this year in art as i have been in relaxation and i have been very busy with my own company.

But i once started with art because it was a way that i could express myself. Don't i need to do more expression instead of less, as i grow older? What is it that makes man less expressive as an adult in comparision to when i was a child? As our backpack (filled with experiences of live) grows as we grow older, our will to talk about things with just anybody seems tot fade.

And since i express myself in art: can it be that at the time i don't want to talk to anybody about whats in my head? It might be.

i just accepted a select few assignments this year, artwise and even was selective businesswise. Instead i decided to enjoy the summer and planned a few holidays.

As our wish to talk to just everybody becomes less, so our joy for innerpleasures becomes bigger. And maybe that is where the key lays for the coming season and the coming year.

Cause joy - you see - i can share with everybody. But my pain is only permitted to come out on moments i allow it to be freed. And that usually becomes an artobject. Now i do create out of joy. And that should be an assignment to myself, in the coming season and the coming year: to collect more memories of Summer Vibes. So maybe it was a good thing this guest column was late. It allowed me to have deeper insites on myself, reflections of the period that has gone and the season that is ahead.

Autumn is here, but i still feel the joy of some Summer-Vibes..; lets start creating...!

* Might you have wondered about the picture above this column: it says 'Nahira loves' . What do i love?

Art - Creation and of course: Summer-Vibes!

Is it really...?

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 03:35:33 GMT

Is it Really...? May - June '25

Peace. Or so it seems. But is it really?

It looks like a peacefull time, moving into the summertime season.

But i can't help but feeling a lit restless.

Things haven't worked out yet, the way i planned it to and i am a planner. Someone who likes to think ahead. But somehow this months: it just aint working.

I experience a form of battle. Where it comes from? I do not exactly know, but it is there. Waiting around the corner. Swearming around in my head. The feeling of something unsettled, something undone. Some destractions and de-tours. An illusion of Peace.

There are still some challenges: i haven't started working out my idea's of an new Art idea yet. Its like everything is there: i know what i actually want to make, but i can't put my hands to start with the sketches or filling 'dummy's'.

Peace is not only a momentum: it is a state of mind also. And i can't seem to find it right now. I feel like it is storming inside: a whole bunch of idea's about my new work, but it just doesn't come out. It is just like it needs to stay in there and linger a bit more, in the back of my mind. Hate the feeling.

Since i have no other choice than to accept that this is the way it is, i try to find rest in just being in the moment en prepairing myself for the time my mind seems to think that i have time to work things out. While waiting on my body to follow the thought of making the actual piece of art, i decided to spend my time useful.

I actually started collecting moments, 'art trouvé' (like little objects or fabrics that i could work with) and pictures of things that inpire me. I decided not just to wait till the peace is far to be found and so i did with the thought of making plans for summer holiday:

I finally planned that trip to Egypt, knowing that it is a restless time, with the war in nearby country (Israel) going on. But i took the risk: planning to carry out dreams - or making time to working on your piece of art, might not alway be at a appropriate moment. But if you wait until the storm(s) subsides, plans may change, things may never happen. So just take a wave. Try tot take things as they come. Fill your -in-between- time with usefull prepairing. And than find the peace to carry out your plan, do not stay focused on external matters, but try to create peace and room for 'taking some sort of action' within yourself.

Try to be at peace in the midst of a storm. Even if you are at war with yourself and your own feelings and you know for yourself that so called 'inner peace' you are showing to people around you, is just pretending:

Well, Pretend.

Let hope lead the way, true inner peace will hopefully soon follow!

If not: you have found the courage to walk after the illusion or followed that dream or actually finished that Artwork. It's not the beginning that counts: what is more important than giving in to a restless feeling is looking forward to the satisfaction you may find in actually finishing what you started. Or carrying out what you had planned.

Your art work will be great. I'm sure of it.

Just as my trip to Egypt will be.

Sea, Wine, Time to Think

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 02:21:32 GMT

Sea, Wine, Time to Think / March - April '25

It is April/ March and the time is approching to think more deeply about the holiday season.

How much time will there be to make art, what will the round-up of the schoolyear be like, this year?

What changes will we be making to the study and courses next year, as for we tend to make some necessairy changes in the course and the yearprogram of the Vocational Training.

With the summer approaching i already start booking my summerholidays (i like to plan things ahead of time) but also start thinking about the old (the last year), the new (the start of the year) and the future (holidays and the last month of the school season).

We happen to close the year in may - this year - and there is still a lot to think about, to arrange and to have board meetings about.

I should think that a bit letting loose of my ambition to control situations, time and outcomes whould loosen up with a bit of wine, but nothing more is true: i find myself thinking about entering the Regional Exhibition this fall - which means prepairing in time for discussion and seeking approval of my idea with one of te people in the commission, who i happen to be acquainted with through the Artacademy.

I find myself pulling my agenda out of the drawers of my desk, to seek for appropiate dates for boardmeeting, working on a new artwork-idea and planning my attendence for a meeting with Alumni.

Summer holidays seem not have my attention at all, as my mind drifts away to all kind of short-term things that have nothing to do with enjoying or planning the coming holidayseason. I seem to have focused on finising tasks. For now. I don't know if that is a good or a bad thing. I do think that if wine has that effect, i should drink more often.

Although perhaps maybe not while planning upcoming relaxation moments.

Taking time to relax is important. Even if the making of Art can actually be a form of relaxation, having some qualtity time that just focusses on yourself and getting some (often) well-deserved rest, can feel equally as rewarding.

Just try to throw away that pencil or brush, just for a moment: put the agenda back in the drawer or use it only to plan a holiday in which nothing is obliged and making art is simply just optional. Go to musea, visit art stores, just don't do anything that takes the moment away from taking the time to relax and reload - in my opinion all artist should have real holiday moments, with back-packers-feeling: total Freedom.

Make Time. To rewind, to reload and to appear with brand new ideas!

Making art is not only an art. Since being busy with making new work and displaying them is often part of 'being an artist' it is simply also an 'art' to find time not to do so! So do just that. Plan that relaxation. And maybe plan places tot visit, to drink a wine without time to think about anything else than the glass before you.

Cheers! Enjoy planning taking 'time off', for the coming Holiday Season!!

Time Flies

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 10:49:47 GMT

Time Flies, while relaxing..., Jan- Febr '25

Life is like painting:

Once you have collected all the colours, put the canvas on the board, layed down the right tassels and are ready to paint, you look at the clock and think: 'did i take such a long time, just to get ready?' As is it in life.

In life it isn't always: you get up and go!

You stumble a few times. Don't succeed a few times. Get up a few more times and than finally, when you think you got what-is-supposed-to-be the meaning of life you look at your age and think: what happened to all those years? Where did the time gó??

Well, it is just the preparation that is so very important. You see, once you think: well, let me just paint and start up and later i'll get what i need, you might find that this will totally mess up the relaxation of enjoying making the painting. Since you now might have 'problems to solve' along the way. ('Where is the red? I am sure i have taken the read with me! Had i better not start with the hart, but taken another organ, or skin or something...')

So: time might fly whlie preparing for some relaxation, but do not forget to enjoy the moment to the fullest! You are at the right place, at the right time, and no matter how long it took you to get there: the time you arrive there is perfectly fine! You have done your preparations and now it is time to fly ...

A Good Start

Sun, 16 Feb 2025 13:25:35 GMT

A Good Start August '24 - December '24

Coffee is always a good start of the day!

Some people like tea, i used to drink a lot of tea too!

But i have to admit that - unfortunately - i am quite fond of Latte. This means i drink at least one Latte a day. I would like to say that i am not an addict, to coffee that is, but unfortunately (once again) i cannot claim myself not to be one!

Coffee had something in it that makes me very awake and gives me a boost and i hear from a lot of people that the effect is quite te same: so, as i like to start my day with a nice cup of coffee, so i always like to start the month with a Piece of Art!

It does not exactly matter what kind of art it is; it might be a painting, a written piece or a photo. It might even be AI-generated art (which some people not consider to be art, well - i am open to discussion) Whatever it may be: i find that starting the month with a Piece of art gives me a lot of time to look at the work, to try to improve it, to remake it, to destroy it or to end up (at the end of the month) with something totally different.

You see, when you give yourself enough time to work on something so that the energy can kick in and so that you don't get tired from looking at it and don's regret killing the entire piece, i think it is good to determine for yourself when is a good time to start with a piece. Like with a cup of coffee, i like to set out a moment that feels like a beginning for me, so i usually start with the beginning of a new month. Lots of time to rethink and redesign and at the end of the month always a moment to reflect on the fact of i: either continue with the theme of the work i have been working on or that i want a new beginning!

Yes, it is good to plan - as an artist to make time for art, as the day can get full of other obligations, especially when you are not obliged to make work for school/ homework anymore.

So stetting goals in art, as an autonomous artist, is always a good start - i advice to do that when your still fresh out of school. Like 'when the coffee is still hot', so that you don't loose the tast of it, in te journey of everyday life!

Past Days

Sun, 16 Feb 2025 11:52:36 GMT

Past Days - jan '24 - juli '24

The first half year just went by like it was a sight of wind: the minutes became hours, the hours days, the days months and before i knew it i was ready with my study at the KHL Academy.

In may of that year i ended my education, but i didn't cut ties with the board.

I try to compare it with good food:

You stay at a place for some time, though you know you have tot travel. You are groing and learning in life, groing and learning in art.

You choose your lessons, you choose your teachers, just like you have a plate of fruit in front of you and you decide what is best for that moment.

You work really hard to achieve a goal you have set in art: taking a step to become an autonomous artist. Stepping into a New World: the world of fully educated artists.

Being a student at the Academy was sweet. It was a warm place to arrive, as an artist. A safe environment to further develop myself. Other students were alwasys prepared to assist, even at a distance. (online) It is an whole community on its own, with people who care, people who love art and people who love the realm, just the atmosphere of the Academy.

i cannot shake them off. I do not even want to. The environment became a part of me. I guess i'm stuck with them. Likewhise they are stuck with me: i will find my own way, i'm sure. But i'll still be there.

Sticking with them like Honey..!

Feeling of 'Spring Season'

Wed, 03 Jan 2024 08:34:35 GMT

Feeling of 'Spring Season' - December '23

The End of a Year,

Always a bit of a strange feeling to me.

Here we are, at the beginning of a new period. A new season in our lives often, too.

For me it kind of feels like 'Spring Season'. The expectation of what the new year might bring and starting over fresh - almost has something poetic.

I also leave some things behind in 2023.

People, who i've met, who just crossed my path and have temperarely walked with me into the new season. Somewhere along the road i've left them behind as i am moving forward or away from them and some of them are temporarely standing still, still trying to keep up or just not moving at all.

I do have trouble letting go - in general - so letting go of persons i met in a year will be no different. Therefore this year i also feel a bit of sadness, i can't really explain it, but it feels like i am leaving more behind than just a memory of goals that where shifted to this new year:

There will be change. Like every season brings change of the colours of leaves, death or birth of flowers, change of environment or change of just vision, this year will also bring forward the fresh rain, and when it dries up: sprout of new things to be reaped.

I am looking forward to it, but it also scares me, this 'Spring Season Feeling'; the start of something new. As i feel stronger that something is about to change as there will be a change on the area of art also.

But like with fresh flowers or morning dew that's still hanging on a leave, there will be a kind of pretty-nes around the start of this new year. I don't know why this year just feels different, but it does. I hope you feel expectation towards new goals, new things that this year will bring forward too!

So it feels like spring, in my live. And with all the dark and cold nowadays, that brings a warm glow to this season, to this end of te year.

Where it already feels for me like winter is ending and spring is starting.

Happy New Year, everyone! That all your (Art)dreams may come true, in a New Year, a New Season.

It's never easy

Thu, 28 Dec 2023 04:35:02 GMT

Rocky Roads '(It's Never Easy), About reaching goals - Oktober '23

Let's talk about reaching goals. I think that is always good food for conversation. Because having plans and wanting to achieve somthing, that on itself is a good thing. Maybe people would even say that it is something admirable. And that people who have no goals are not winners.

But: setting a goal is not the hard part at all. It is nothing to be admired for. Anybody can set a goal, but not everybody has endurance to achieve it. You see, when you plan something, when you start to imagine the situation as it will be, when you wil fulfill your plans, you are not in the least bit at that spot, at that place of 'winning'. You're not halve there: with setting a goal, the most difficult part of your plan wil start. And that is: enduring untill the end.

The road to the goal is never a paved road, with no roundabouts, no curves, no troubles or doors that may be closing, on the path ahead of you.

It is never easy. There will always be sómething. It might be little, it might be big. And giving up, not pushing through is an answer that might be given, sometimes too easily.

No one, not one person or situation can set that goal for you. Sure, people around you may have demands or expectations, that probably gonna lead you towards setting a goal. Some of which may lead to making plans and setting a goal which never would have been a goal you would have thought of yourself without any pressure from others.

But you are the person who desides to give in to that. That is the flat situation. Being aware that reasons to come to that desision to set that goal could always be more complicated, that there could always be something (big) at steak - i'm just going tot flatten it down to that:

You are always in control of your own live, nobody can force you to set a goal, nobody can make you reach something you don't want achieve - unless you allow them to do so.

Don't ever let somebody take over your live or threaten to do so. Set your own goals: reaching things yoú want to achieve, is hard enough, as it is.

Built your dreams, set out towards them and endure. Never start the journey with the vision of the dream, but with the focus on what should be the result at the end. The chance of succes will be higher, if you let your actions be guided by what lies ahead.

Keep your eye on the reward. Whatever that reward may be after reaching the goal. (It may be - for example - better health, more money, getting selected for that one exclusive exhibition.)

So the reward is te goal.
not the goal is the goal.

Do not be tempted: don't look away, keep your eye on that.

And than you are already a winner!

Enjoying Summer

Wed, 27 Dec 2023 10:30:27 GMT

Enjoying Summer - A season of rest - August '23

Ahhhh Summer, the season of rest. For the schools are closed, people are leaving for - or getting back of - hollidays.

Although it is a time of rest, enjoying sun, sea and summerfun, it is also a time to look forward to a change of weather.

Wether that may be personally, careerwise, in the starting of a new schoolyear or just because it seems like there is so much time, but in a month or two we already start working towards the end of a year.

So, although having enjoyed a little moment of peace and rest and just fun (cause everything looks better when the sun is shining, for me that is and hopefully for people in general) it is also a good moment to start thinking of the things that are ahead.

As for when you leave certain tasks or waiting obligations lying on the shell too long, it may come aroud, found you and bite you in the nose.

Yes, not prepairing for te things that lie ahead may look you in the face one time and then you have to work double as hard, not even remembering a bit of joy of the rest of your last season.

So now summer is starting to pass, prepair for the fall of our livetime: the time when it gets dark soon and we might feel like we have little time to complete our tasks. Maybe we might feel a bit more tired, when the days start getting shorter.

Already begin thinking about what you really wanna finish up, before the year ends, so that you can work gradually towards it.

It will make you enjoy those moments of rest even more, because you know that if you plan it well, more moments will be ahead.

Rest well,

Enjoy,

and work towards to a well planned skedual!

So that you can really:

Enjoy Summer!

What's another Year?

Wed, 27 Dec 2023 09:21:58 GMT

What's another Year? Finishing, to start again - June 2023

A year passes so fast! A year at the academy, that is.

By the time of june i am busy with focussing on the summer but also closing up activities for te Academy, since it is now summer holidays.

The year has finished and a new year has not even started but of cource there is already consideration about how the next year should start and i'm have contact with one ore more other board members already.

It has been a busy year for me. Artwise, but also with coaching.

A lot of unexpected turns in the last area and working hard to reach my goals. So hard that even the time for the Academy had to suffer under it some times.

Well, that's just the thing about being me: i do so much stuff together, sometimes even i don't know how it al fits in my agenda.

But it does. And it makes me feel guilty towards the Academy, guilty towards the people i coach, guilty towards myself but most of al: guilty towards this incredible talent called: 'the talent of being able to make Art'. I'm really selling it short.

I had to make a difficult dicision. Although i love drawing and i was really enjoying the fact that i had picked it up again resently (spending more apare time with making drawings, that is), i had to let that one go. Time can only be spent ones and i noticed that i might be needed on other area's. So i gave it up.

I ignored the voice in my head that said: 'What's another year? You already been used to running from one place to another this year a lot, anyway. Why don't you accept that for this new season and finish wat you started picking up again?

Indeed (i am a christian) i remembered an old lesson in one of the biblebooks - i can't remember which - that finishing is better than starting. So although i stopped with the drawing lessons at the Academy, i started drawing whenever i saw a chance. Once or twice a week instead of every day. Because: what is another year running, when you can slow down and take steps easily? One drawing at the time.

So i finished some kind of way: stopped with the lessons only to start drawing for fun and without having assignments for that. It feels lovely. I'll gladly advice everyone to continue something they enjoy for a while, without the pressure of having to do so. I'm sure you will find a way in that, like i found mine. Hold on to that thought, when a season is changing.

Without running, but just with passion and whenever it is possible to create the time, you might come to enjoy what once felt as some sort of heavy duty again. And maybe, just maybe, there will come another moment when you will prepair your wings once more - to take off with this (talent) and just fly...!

The Time 2 Create

Thu, 11 May 2023 00:16:53 GMT

April '23, Lets Start Something New: Time 2 Create!

Old wine in new wineskins.

That is an expression that we sometimes use in Holland.

You might have find your work to be just that, some day. Some everyday moment when you are just creating art. Well, you won't be the first one who tried to paint like Picasso, who changed some works into a true Gauguin or made something that was typically Basquiat.

You might even have been proud of it!

But remember: they already were discovered and had their moment of fame. Even worse for your own chances: they are actually still very much 'alive', with exhibitions all over the world.

So...: you can meet them. Even be fond of them. Even walk together for a few moments. But remember: you already have your own 'mate'. You already share your live with:

Your Own Style.

You might - at times - loose site of it.

But making art is sometimes very much just like being married! With you creative pen, your camera, your watercolour pencils. Once you have found each other and it is a match, you will probably stick together for the rest of your live. Even though you might lose interest some time in your live, still there will be something at some point and some time, driving you back to that 'Great Love'. In the end: you will be loyal to each other.

So this 'loosing that very important drive to create, is probably some time (or times) in your live.

So what to do when one day creating something great, or even nice, or even medium will not work? Of course you can walk away, just like in a marriage. But you will always return some day and you might miss being busy with that other part of you, terribly. So i hope you don't walk away. But will just accept the moment. Accept getting stuck. Because sooner or later you will return to your love. And try not to loose your ambition and spirit in the mean time. You might just try accepting the down-period will, because there will be a 'High' to help you to work towards good works, great photo's or even greater writings again.

Try to be faithfull to that thing you love, by still giving it time.

And just start over. With an artwork, a painting, a writing piece.

If you don't know what to write, make or paint: just 'borrow' some of the inspiration of old masters. Nothing wrong with that! But i would advise you don't get stuck in that. Picasso actually died years ago and small chance that you are to be discovered to be his re-incarnation.

And ofcourse in stead of the name Picasso you can fill in any name of any artist, writer, photographer of anyone that you admire and try to - well, sort of - imitate.

So please, let whatever great creativity is inside you evolve in your own system and season it with a bit of new inspiration you will find in yourself.

Let the old wine not just be something borrowed, 'something blue', but let this be a marriage of 'something old and something new'.

Surprise the world with your great outcome.

You don't always have to do it alone. But just don't be that wanna-be Gauguin or other artist either.

Yes, I love the dutch proverbs!

They have so many ways to express the same thing in totally different contextes.

So - because making art is so much like prepaing a meal, by mixing al the ingrediënts together into something wonderfull - i will close up with a nice Dutch proverb that i myself find to be very applicable:

Just add that seasoning to your work, with:

A little bit of you and a little bit of Maggi!

Enjoy re-discovering making your art with some old masters and -may a suggest- just a little bottle of really delicious Old Wine !

The Mole - February '23

Sun, 12 Mar 2023 17:58:35 GMT

Retreat or Attack; being a Mole - February '23

We all know them. Anyone who had any succes in their life, has a some point met one: a Mole.

They look a lot like haters or share some similarities, but are not exactly the same:

A Mole can be a hater, but a hater doesn't nessecarily have to be a Mole.

I have to explain myself now.

In the country where i live in, we have this populair tv show, it is called 'Who is the Mole?' In this show the Mole of that particulair season tries to keep the profit that the group makes as low as possible ánd tries to sabotage the game. In the meanwhile the Mole had to make it look like he (or she) is working together, so that no one will get suspicious and the Mole will not be discovered.

Sometimes it's really not so different fom real life.

In my case i met one of my Moles when a group of students tried to set up an special group at the Academy, where i am a Board Member.

I wasn't even suppose to come, but since the other Board Member had an obligation i tried to make my way up there.

I couldn't be there at the time it started, but i found it important that questions could be asked to the board - in case there were any - so i went there. I was sorry i spent my time traveling there because i didn't meet friendly people, but ended up in hostile environment.

It was not that the people had been as obviously unfriendly before, but they were certainly not my 'friends' at the time of the meeting, with one specific person - who is much older than the rest - taking the lead in disrespecting me. I could have started a subcutaneous battle right there, but i decided to be a Mole too.

I showed some irritation, could not totally hide my anger, but i chose for the most strategic move at that moment. And just like a Mole - a real one - i pulled back. Just because one or more haters (i knew there was at least one hater now, but actually i am convinced there where more)had the brutality to disrepect me like that, in public, it didn't mean i had to fall back to that same low level, which is in my eyes really low and tells more about the other people than about me anyway.

So when do you retreat? Would it better to be a Mole or is that not defending yourself?

How do i cope with haters or Moles?

Well: i always think about which is gonna benefit me more at long term.

Yes, it might give an amount of satisfaction to react immidiately and humilite the person right back. But that is not always the smartest answer. In my case, i do have a certain position, which reaquires of me that i can react within boundaries of my own anger. Yes, i am human and i can react accordingly. But i can also be more mature than an another if the other is obviously acting a bit childish or hypocrite (in comparison to earlier behaviour towards a person, i mean)

I would rather be the Mole that retreits at a certain moment which shows i have much more power over the situation and a have learned from my parents a form of respect, than just take the bate and becoming really angry.

A Mole, that probably should identify as a hater, but is not brave enough to do so and in acting that way, looses my respect.

But i dó respect the fact that having haters means you are not a nobody, but have reached something that - for whatever reason - they might be b bit envious of. It is nothing, nothing that means something.

So in a twisted way my Moles not only take me higher, but also give me perfect opportunities to practise things like:

- patience,

- respect and

- repressing negative emotions

So just keep that in mind, whenever you meet a mole.

It not only trains you but confirms that you have reached something.

I would say that behaving like a Mole right back - which of course depends on the situation: sometimes it is absolutely the right behaviour to defend yourself 'on the spot' - can be a good choice, at times.

Being a Mole right back deserves way more respect than acting like a Mole: because Moles are blind, but the people surrounding and watching the situation obviously arent.

The Contradictory of Time

Sun, 12 Mar 2023 15:43:36 GMT

Shadows of passed Time - Januari '23

Sometimes, when i'm really busy and my agenda is all filled up, i have to think - even if only for a second - about 'The Sands of Time'.

As (in Prince of Persia) i can't help to associate how time goes through our hands like sand, in real live we often don't need a reminder how fast time goes. If we only take an 8 hour working day of someone who has a family with kids, you can just imagine the person getting up at 6 o'clock or 6.15 am and being busy with washing up oneself, the stuff the kids need tot take bread and drink to school, filling the schoolbags, waking up the kids, getting the kids ready for school, letting them eat and drink. And after that: getting the jackets on, taking the schoolbags. Driving, walking or bicycling tot school. Than setting of for work.

Of course the day is not finished, after that. Let continue with working for 8 hours, and of course also have at least a half an hour extra time added for a lunchbreak. Closing off at work, picking up the kids. Going home, cooking, eating together, washing dishes/ putting them in the dishwasher and do a little work in house while the kids are relaxing for approxemately an hour, then going to the bed ritual and sending them off to bed.

For most families it will then already be seven o'clock, 8 o'clock or - if getting kids to bed is really a challenge - at 9 o'clock.

Lets say untill they really sleep it wil be 15 minutes or an half hour later. I'll just take as an example 8.30 pm or 9.15 pm that te evening really starts, for the rest of the family. Some go to bed at 09.30, some at 10.30 or 11.00 pm. How hard it is to do something usefull in between that time, that is not hanging on the couch and watching tv.

Well, i imagine that we all reconise some of the element in the picure i painted digitally, above. Even if you don't have kids, you can fill in a lot of the elements around a morning cyclus and a evening ritual.

So let me do some suggestions; Since a day has 24 hours, but seconds, minutes and hours seem to slip out of our hands so easily.

- work with priorities (and make yourself one of them)

- if you want to do something that normaly you wouldn't have time for, get up a little earlier and -very important- stick to your plan!

(example: go running for half an hour, if you want to sport but you normally don't have time. Write/ draw for half an hour, make a -start with- an artwork)

- also very important: if yóu don't function, the system will get stuck somewhere! So make time for yourself. In little things (also eating a sandwich in the morning, even if it is rush hour at home) of on a bigger scale (Take an hour for yourself and leave the house if there are more persons in the house, to ensure you really can use that time for yourself. Go walking, or go to the library for reading. Anything that gives rest, comfort and a so called 'zen' feeling in that moment that you have for yourself)

And last but not least: there are lessons to be learned from the past!

So my last advise on this issue would be:

We make mistakes, we all get into situations where at some moment we don't have enough time - in whatever the situation is. Think about what you could have done in order to - at that time - create a little extra time on the moment that it would have been most presious and use it, in future situations.

Let shadows of whatever time you lost, in the past ,

not rob you from the joy of trying to do better:

today or in the future!

New Beginnings

Sun, 05 Feb 2023 10:40:15 GMT

New Beginnings - December '22

As i am writing this, it is not December anymore, but i remember December all to well:

A strange, unsure time with a war going on in the world and prices in stores rising far beyond levels of what seems fair and affordable.

At the time i recieved more money than i usually do, a sort of bonus and i was really thinking, overlooking what the goal of the extra amount would be. At the time, groceries are very expencive and using electra just went to the roof. Pricewise anyway.

So i started thinking immidiately about putting the money into - what i call dephts, but are in fact bills.

Which actually was no different from the other years.

I can't remember taking a holiday last year. I was only busy making a living. As we get more money, we spend more money. How's that? Where is the time of saving up? The time of rewarding people for putting a little extra aside? As nowadays we have to pay for it. I really wanna turn around from spending all you can spend (it can be just about anything if you apply it to your own live: it could be spending energy, spending time etc) to saving a few - bucks, in this case. And just thinking more: is really nessecairy to spend it?

So, how about saving some, for a change?

Well, i put the money in a saving account. And as soon as i did - i think it wasn't even a day later - i recieved a massage from my bank: saving money will cost me rent and they shared with me the percentage which i had to pay. So there i thought about saving and already i had spent some money without even touching it! I think it is the same way with our energy and time. We want so desperately to keep a hold of it, to be able to keep some to ourself, but a lot of it flows away to others or to persons or activities we should not have spent (that many) time on.

But it is not to late. It is never to late to change things, while you are still alive. There may be concequenses for not acting sooner, yes. But we still have the opportunity to change things. So despite the odds i desided to safe some. I would probably spend a great amount of it in a really short time, as i tend to live up the way i can afford.

I am not going to punish myself for that, bút i can think more wisely about the purpose and the investment. So here we are at a new year and new years resolution and i have decided: it is never to late for new beginnings! For new years resolutions. For saving some money, some energy or some time - whatever it is that you need more of in the coming year. Think for yourself about how you are going to achieve that goal.

And just keep that goal in mind during the year, evaluate where you are and if nessecairy ajust your plans, periodically. So that at the end of this new -upcoming- year, you won't have to start this new beginnings all over with:

Old 'New years resolutions'!

Moving (and Standstill) - November '22

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 19:40:12 GMT

On the Move...! - November '22

So, sometimes you need to move forward but you don't. Do you know what i mean?

For me it was: i needed to do somehing for my own business as i have a business since i used to rent space for making art.

It is not possible to rent a space for that if you don't have a business. Well, not legaly anyway.

So i gave up my space some time ago. Because i had to move to many times in a short periode as spaces for art are most of the time spaces they can't sell very well for anything else. But as soon as another opportunity develops, most of the space owners ask you to give up the space.

It never is a problem with me: i don't like to stay at places where i am not wanted.

But when i moved out of the space i rented some time ago i had expected to move into a different way of handeling making art in my life. I ofcourse have another space where i can do that. But actually i dont. I make little art. At least not there. So why am i standing still? I really wouldn't know.

I think i have been so busy the last few years and months with creating a tangible space for art in my life that subconsciously i forgot that art can be made just about everywhere: you just have to make time for it and put it into a format which fits into the space you're in at the moment. For example: if you are in a train, you can even use a notepad. Make a photo of the result and let that than be the artpiece.

I myself am starting to realize that i don't need to make a room for art rather as to make a space for it to be part of my daily live. So when i am not in that space i still feel free to work on that. Like when i am in a car and moving forward: I don't álways need to go anywhere - sometimes i just enjoy driving.

As should it be with Art. So even in a little space - or a moving space, as a train - i should be able to make art.

Don't stand still, if you are in the same place as where i am.

Do not focus om making (a) Room: make some Space. In your daily life. It is always possible to make Art at different places and different moments!

The Art of Nature - Oktober 22

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 19:03:42 GMT

Beach Art - Oktober 22

Although it is already Oktober, it is really early in the year. The School Year that is. Art School started in September and already more than a month has gone by!

In one of the lessons the teacher gave an assignment to make art at the beach.

A lot of photo's were made and posted and you could really feel the cold beach weather, just by looking at the film and the photo's.

I also realised how fast time has gone by. How do you freeze time? How do you make the most of that, without enjoying the fact that seasons are changing?

Changing seasons are not only a part of live. They have to pass in order to enjoy the other seasons. A wise person once said: you cannot enjoy the 'high' - the really great things that happen to you - if you haven't experienced the low.

That is not true for all persons, but it certainly will be a truth for a lot of us!

So standing at the beach, i had just one more moment to appreciate that 'Art had touched my Life'. How would my life have been if we had never met? If i never took the step to pick up a brush?

There would certainly have been other nice things on my road. But being on that beach, looking at Art and making Art, i realised that this was certainly one of the better Seasons.

Enjoy Art. Take a walk on the beach and make art. And ofcourse: try make each Season a good or better Season, by using the less fun things in a Season to become a stronger person. Who can stand a bit of wind. And perhaps in the meantime will make beautiful Art!

Autumn in Leiden - September '22

Sun, 25 Sep 2022 14:30:37 GMT

Autumn in Leiden - September '22

On the 23th of September, autumn started in the Netherlands.

I decided to celebrate this start of a new season by leaving some things behind and make a fresh new start. I did that with visiting the old building of the Academy which had now developed into a exhibition space for artist. It was no surprise, since the space that was rented before also was in this building, with lots of other artist also being active there.

They call this event the 'Kunstroute'. I don't know how they call it in English, but does it really mather? It's about looking at art and occasionally buying some.

I found this day to be a perfect day to get rid of that old, since i have artworks in my childrens room of a certain artist and one fell of the wall, just a few days ago. So i introduced my daughter to the one person that actually made the paintings in her room and she liked that.

I also looked for some new work of that same artist and am actually considering buying some.

Sometimes i find it really hard to choose the exhibitions i'm going to visit on a 'Kunstroute' because there is just so much great work to see and sometime a little... well... less great. But never the less it is worth the time to discover new things where you didn't expect them.

Even though it was cold and a bit windy weather, i felt really warm on the inside. There i was, in Leiden again. Enjoying all the great things this city has to offer and of course all the art it holds!

A great start of the fall!

July Summer Time in Troubled Times!

Sat, 24 Sep 2022 00:02:44 GMT

July '22 Summer Times in Troubled Times

In februari '22 there was the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

And before we knew it, we were months ahead an Summer started.

A really great hot, warm Summer.

It was so easy to enjoy the days off, just lingering, relaxing, laying on the beach and having fun.

In the back of my mind i remembered that there was a war going on. But i din't think about it much. So when these things crossed my mind it really felt a bit strange. How odd it is, that a few countries further people are fighting for keeping their country as they new it. And at the same time people are enjoying freedom (from school, in their country etcetera) en are just having a great summer time.

Ofcourse people can enjoy their holidays, it just hit me at the moments i thought about it. I hope that the world can continue to be a place where al different kind of people can continue to live together, respect each other and all people can enjoy the summer, without war going on. I never entered beauty contests. But i do wish for something that lots of contest participants seem to want during the contests.

Nice weather (or in this case: a great summer) and: world peace.

May '22 Assessment

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 23:35:26 GMT

May '22 Assessment

For this post: a painting which i am not so proud of. And i can explain exactly why i am dissatisfied. The colors are pale, the painting is just like an blanck canvas with something to fill it up. I didn't think about composition very much. It doesn't look anything like the still life it is representing. In brief: it is really an example of finishing a painting just because i started one.

Thats why i am in favor of assessments. Just to keep yourself sharp.

It can be a good thing to have others talk about your work. So that you don't get to confy. To keep developing yourself.

Thinking about comments and having different opinions and points of view about your work really helps to grow as an artist. And who wouldn't want to become all that you can be? Learn to handle reactions on your work? Who wouldn't?

Well, i can't imagine anyone not wanting that.

The Art Academy also has a period of Assessment. The most important one is in may, when the Assessements take place on the Art Academy. I can just feel the energy. People who are working very hard towards that final leap of the courseyear. Hoping to get comments that will help them to develop and grow further into creating art that looks good, needs litte explaining and is fresh and new in the way that the message is expressed.

I am not rather fond of Assessments. Normaly I try to avoid Assessments as much as i can. But in this case (in case of assessments for artscools) i am a fan.

In my eyes it is a about your own growth and not as much about succeeding or failing. And in that process you also grow in exepting and handeling comments on your work, in a way any professional artist should be able to. How i just love may and the Art Academy's Assessment time!!

March '22 Creating

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 22:42:03 GMT

March '22 Creating

Playing with words. Just feeling a little bit like a child again. It was my journey in march.

At het Academy (Art Academy Haarlem/ Leiden) we had new lessons: it was about making movies. Oh the joy, the joy.
How much fun it is, to create your own movies. I found out that i really liked the drawing, looking for words, working with an old machine and viewing the results.

Maybe i liked being the manager of a specific product. A movie, however small or short the movie is, is not just a small thing. It takes al lot of work and whether you like making movies or not: it's not an easy thing to do and it takes a lot of time. So in my point of view it deserves some respect.

I never made movies before, not like that. With kind of making a storyboard and working out the storyline ahead. Before this experience i always made movies out of pictures and now i had to create the images in a different way. I liked it, really liked it. I couldn't stop dwawing and creating. It was really so much fun. But it takes lots of time. It gave a lot of energy, but started taking over my agenda.

So, after the (fortunately) short period of these lessons i realized exactly how much time i had spend on creating images for movies - which is beautiful, of course - and how little time i had spend on my social live. I just had to catch up on that and realized that loosing yourself in your passion can also mean that in the end you will find yourself to be very lonely, with lots of art surrounding you. I certainly didn't want that, so after that really nice experience of creating short pictures, i ended my career as self-proclaimed director and continued working on painting in my studio.

With a door i could close after me, after working there for a few hours.

And started creating a social live again.

Awareness - Januari '22

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:12:05 GMT

A period of changes

Well, this was a time after a national lock down.

I was getting used to getting out of the house again, other than to be going to my new studio.

I 've had the new studio since oktober and i really realised at that specific time how much i hated to move. It's always looking forward tot something new, looking back on what has been and lots, lots of cleaning up, throwing things away and taking al kind of rubbish with you, which you should have gotten rid of a long time ago.

It was also a time in which i had to get a new passport for my kid. That happens once in five years time and i realized how fast time flies. They always say that, but seeing your children grow up makes you realize that so much more!

It is like making a painting. You start with an empty, blank canvas. You make sure you have a nice background - or just leave it like that - and you start painting. And as the painting evolves you can hardly remember the blank canvas. It just changes, alters so quickly!

And that's the same with kids or some regulations or seasons of a year.

I would advise to enjoy every moment of a period, a season or of making art. Because of several lockdowns i am now more aware of how fast time goes by. Nowadays everything goes fast and having internet and al posibilities to communicate quickly can also make a person forget to relax and take the time to enjoy a specific moment.

It can be so nice to just pause. Just for a minute. Remember moments of the time before and make the 'now' last a little longer. Make the most of the moment. Because soon it will just be a memory, a picture or a painting.

Busy Days, month Oktober '21

Fri, 12 Nov 2021 03:12:36 GMT

Working round the clock

Like ants...working Round the Clock:

Oktober was really a month of being busy.

The (rainy) summer had ended officially by September, but i was still hoping for some sun in Oktober.

It didn't came. Not the way i'd expected it to come, anyway.

Instead there came just more and more things that filled up my agenda completely! Leaving little time for wanting to enjoy the few beams of sun that appeared in that month.

So what do you do, when you are only running from one space 2 another?

I know, work must go on. However: humans do need a little rest, at times.

Well, here's my tip for you:

Plan moments of Relaxation, in your own agenda.

These 'appointments with yourself, should only be replaces with other things that don't have more than half an hour 'real work' in it.

For example: a business drink cán mean talking about work, but includes fun too!

And talking business over a lunch or dinner, might just make it a litle lighter.

With much more moments to enjoy music, environment and te contact with other people, there comes just so more time for yourself to enjoy little moments of rest.

But don't get too comfy and come to nothing:

After all: Work must go on!

The Journey towards New Beginnings

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 01:06:25 GMT

Journey to New Beginnings - September

Just a few days ago i handed over the key to my studio.

I thanked the agency who had helped me to found the studio, since it is hard for an artist to find a good working space at a resonable price, unless you rent through special art foundings or art agency's.

I had only worked there for about half a year as the contract i had was for half a year. And i had not expected to actually move out as soon as the original contract was over. We had ment to tacitly extend it, but it worked out differently.

As is life: you never actually know when things are about to shift, but some text i learned as a kid, still remain an awful lot of true nowadays: when there are 7 great years, always be aware of the 7 lean years.

Expect the unexpected, never get comfortable about the way things are. But learn to plan ahead.

Fortunately i did: i didn't expect to move that soon, but when the time came, i had some money stored away that could be used as a deposite for a new working space.

I didn't need it actually, as i was blessed to find new area in reasonable distance from my home at very reasonable pricing. (Although it was a bit more expensive than the space i rented before, i still counted my blessings!)

So: that is how it is, in business. Always be aware of an unexpected twist, so that you will not be fully blown away when things turn out differently than you had planed it to. Just try to save a little bit of money for any setback that may come your way. And than use it to get back in the saddle, when that time arrives. Never get comfortable! But always try to have a comfortable position, for a second option!

Reflections, month august

Sun, 29 Aug 2021 22:34:09 GMT

August '21, Review: Reaching Goals

How i came through the holidays:

Well, this wasn't the period that i had hope for it to be,

workwise and personaly.

The dark clouds that constantly teased me and all of Holland out of a great summer, also left their marks in my art.

I got little work done. Wrote just one piece. One! How different from many years ago, when i used to get up at night and write untill all the ideas in my head filled up the paper!

Apart from that:

The expo i was planning to do in oktober is still just a design.

So how do you change getting stuck in all the other things you do and not actually reaching your goals?

Well i have a few tips,

but the actually most important is: Plan. Just plan.

And adjust, fit it into your schedule again, if it has nog fitted in before. You won't come to anything or achieve anything, if you don't set goals for yourself. Don't give up.

As Nelson Mandela once said:

'Never give up!' (Or actually he said 'A winner is a dreamer who never gives up'. But he might as well said that. It's all the same:

Goal, winning. Plan your goals into your schedule.

You will recieve them.

Have a great September,

with many less cloudy weather!