tinywoolf: 2017

once more. with feeling

the habit of writing thus for my own eye only is good practice. it loosens the ligaments.
never mind the misses and the stumbles. - virginia woolf

it's unmistakably that time of the year when resolutions are being made, and i am no exception to that regimen. i stand staring at my diaries store cupboard. here we find ourselves. once more.

an intimate diary is interesting especially when it records the awakening of ideas; - andré gide

in my quest to free up studio space, i want to rid myself of the past. one hunded and thirty notebooks, of which eighty+ are handwritten diaries. how to go about ripping them?

the good writer seems to be writing about himself, but has his eye always on that thread of the universe
which runs through himself and all things. - ralph waldo emerson

a garden firepit will create more CO2 than i care for in already polluted air. papershred the volumes might kill a shredder or two (or more). scanning pages first is a no go. i've stranded repeatedly at volume 1.

i am taking up my journal again after a long break. i think it may be a way of calming this nervous excitement
that has been worrying me for so long. - eugène delacroix

so i'm still standing, growing an extra foot, and thinking, i need to do something, and it needs to be funny. it needs to involve fun. and what it also needs is air. air to breathe, and stuff to share.

even one task fulfilled at regular intervals in a man’s life can bring order into his life as a whole;
everything else hinges upon it. - eugène delacroix

yes. involve you, dear reader, in some way, by sharing with you a biography of sorts. that would be my contribution to this end-of-another-year's resolutions. {and it'll keep me going a few years, undoubtedly.}

♥ have a beautiful new, first week of a pristine new year. ♥

and so the journey begins

i remember a path in the village i grew up in. in any season, the lane lead me to fantasy, to day dreaming and to inner peace, by the time i walked back home. over youth, i made that path mine.

the walkway lay very uneven, since tractors used it, as did dog lovers, mountain bikers and attentive walkers. but somehow i hardly ever crossed anyone when i walked it, each of us chosing our moments well.

where i live now, there's paths like that. some are familar and well trodden, others i can't find back for the life of me. seasons colour in landscapes beyond recognition sometimes. but i kind of love that aspect.

paths, of course, stand witness to different meanings. it's good to find yourself on a straight path, although curly wurly ones offer fantastic scenery. it's good to stay on a path, but often alluring beauty lies on side trails.

i like dirty paths too, and soft mushy earth your boots sink into, given you are wearing the proper gear to get sucked in by brown muck. it's all so alive this freshness, especially in winter. winter makes me feel humble.

and humble leads me to tradition, don't ask me how. don't ask me why. i pull from my library sarah ban breathnach's TRADITIONS and hope to find solace on these dark winter days. merry christmas. ♥

{all images from recent walk in idegem, geraardsbergen}

i am sailing

from Celine's website: "I am an artist. I color my views in red, yellow and blue. Wish me wel with my fantasy."

i've been sailing. or perhaps i should say bobbing around. i've also traveled some. and i have nursed the 'perfect' cold. it's grey days outside, the snow has disappeared. today the rains seem to have stopped.

dordrecht, wijnstraat

i managed to travel up to Dordrecht, to meet up with Celine and at last witness one of her gigantic drawings in real life (above). we had coffee and cake at Villa Augustus, and managed walking in dry air.

dordrecht, historic part of town

i've traveled cos my head needed nursing too. i needed to be somewhere else, talk to others, to strangers even if such would be the case. trains in holland are just as bad as trains in belgium. mhmmm.

dordrecht, xmas time in shop windows

all this to say indeed, i am sailing. how cool is that song and video and how young was i? and how about you's? the xmas tree isn't up yet, bummer. maybe sunday. maybe i'll show it too. stay warm, stay safe. x

fuzzy photo on a rainy day, villa augustus, to be revisited, @ladies....

i wish i could give you more of dordrecht to view... will not happen. the weather was unfair and i need to come back to snap better images. spring in dordrecht... sounds good. now for the company ☺.

have a beautiful week ahead ♥

old bones

we're the old bones, i sometimes feel. because, who's still blogging? thought so. IG stories are rising and that means that so much talk is being poured into ever shorter messaging. which is fine, but short.

i've come to name my posts here newsletters. i have no idea who are reading these. i don't keep stats, didn't ever. but who is still summoning up the courage to read? because that's what it is about.

one needs time, one needs space, and preferably not a hand sized reader that doesn't allow room for comfort. and one needs an open mind, a will to navigate, to stand still, to observe. are you still reading any?

there's few blogs i follow and i read in depth. my mode of reading up has changed considerably too. and i miss those olden times, those windows into other people's homes, miles and miles away from my own.

the words we spoke, the phrases we exchanged. we've all seen them being reduced to stickers, gifs and emojis. i dare almost say, what a waste of language. but then evolution is perhaps this?... daring to change....

i've added images from WATOU SUMMER EXHIBITION, and am too lazy at this point to look up who is who. sorry, artists. will do at some point.

♥ have an excellent week ahead everyone. ♥

two tone everyday

today brussels' instruments museum, in the eighties a place to squat....

a little while ago ariane sent me a meme that made my heart jump. the next moment i held my breath. i haven't done b&w photography pretty much since my photography years. gasp, gasp. should i?

brussels' cinema, old times' selfie, eighties

i'd a few ideas, but nothing really came to any fruition. i re-started morning running, in an attempt at lateral thinking. but oh. my weak knee gave way again. i've had an injury for a while.

kerrville, us. greyhound busstop undoubtedly, nineties

having it play up now is a bummer though. should i go on long walks instead, the ones of old, while (hopefully) healing the knee. should i just explore and perhaps take my reflex camera?

geraardsbergen, idegem

i took my courage and asked ansel adams to join me on my train of thoughts. correction - i asked mister ansel gently to join me to talk, you know, not even dreaming of coming close to his mastership.

geraardsbergen, idegem

i've started walking. today fat raindrops joined us. but OVERjoyed! i'll be IG-posting seven b&w images over a week that starts today saturday, following ariane's gentle prod, displaying a version of everyday.

enjoy the week ahead. i will. ♥

autumn gauge

yesterday's curb love-in-the-mist, fibre tip experiment

i wrote a different blog post earlier today. one that i didn't publish, because it was a fraude. i was lying to myself. i was blaming the weather, the people, circumstances and the god gamned earth for everything.

academy, upstairs corridors

of course something, like alot, like ALL of it wasn't right. i've simply not been practicing what i usually preach. i believe in daily creative practice and i've been doing almost zilch since... oh well, can i even remember?

fibre tip experiments today

i can safely say i'm missing my daily project, as in daily practice. i do. i am. totally missing it. but not wanting to do another. yet, needing some kind of daily thing. being undecisive about it hasn't helped.

saturday classes. so totally not our group's efforts. still. pretty pretty

so i doodled yesterday's love-in-the-mist flowery thing (see top), after the blog post i didn't publish. and then i drew a corner of the living room. well. drew is a big word. i fibre tip sketched it. and then labeled it. kind of.

academy upstairs hall way

and it was while watching a few weeks old apprentice episod that it dawned upon me that i should just daily post a drawing. period. but be sure to post it, because the push of publishing is the practice i need.

well, talking 'bout coming full circle. have a beautiful week ahead. ♥

there's that one

lille, centre ville

this is the one where a feeling of want grips you, where you feel you need to go out on a limb or else. and just be. in the moment. preferably not home.

lille, rue gosselet

so then this is that one, where you embark on a short train ride from home, into the north of france, on a nord pas de calais train. doesn't it sound awesome? i know.

lille, porte de paris

taking the weather with you, you're also subject to the flow as is, in this particular case blowing autumnal leaves in your face and around your ears, occasional hail, torrential rain showers and crazy wind. yup.

lille, musée des beaux-arts

so then this also the one about the city museum where you leave your luggage, grab a coffee, shop the museum shop until it's time to check in. obviously after you've been showered down a third time.

all the way

and it's also the one in which you hear the night rain pour down, and next the early morning rain. and you'd like to push that morning forward, into... into what exactly?

lille, porte de roubaix

and at last it's the one where you brave the rain showers, large puddles and treacherously slippery leaves and a railway station lockdown (lucky you're inside) to suspicious behaviour.

lille, les merveilleux de chez fred

yes. totally that one. it was all entertaining though. in hindsight, i'm back home, curling up underneath the duvet and eyeing a coffee merveilleux from chez fred. all worth it, really.

♥ everyone, i missed the weekend here. have a lovely week. stay dry. ☻

words and drawing {attention}

a half full jar of poppy seeds, such as i have in my kitchen

recently i have done research on what keeping a diary may or may not stand for. i am glad to discover a diary needs not necessarily be kept forever. in fact this brainpickings article throws an interesting light :

"...but for the most part, i rarely look at the journals i have kept for the greater part of a lifetime. the act of writing is itself enough; it serves to clarify my thoughts and feelings. the act of writing is an integral part of my mental life; ideas emerge, are shaped, in the act of writing." - oliver sacks

lemons repeat

that is a novel feeling i like. it reminds me of julia cameron's darn morning pages in the creative process : get rid of the inner critic's mumbo jumbo, and settle down to the core creative business ahead.

the side cupboard i happily set up last wednesday

in reviewing the uncertain task of synthesizing diaries, i quite like this : drawing scenes from each diary, highlighting crucial happenings, and in so doing, documenting my personality through generalisation.

oh my! rapeseed everywhere in the fields i passed on the train. yes, i know. they only have 4 petals. ☻

this practice could contribute to my drawing skills and broaden the path of illustrating i find myself on. my stuff would remain personal enough, yet public, an equity i've grown quite fond of.

and a temporary try-out in PS. my past week. on your left, a spinach wrap, looking like a bold fist.☻

as a warm up i've been sketching last week's highlights and i've brought them together in a composition of sorts. composition is not my forte, that's why i'd like to impose on myself. let's see where this leads me.

♥ enjoy you weekend the way i do and have a lovely week ahead ♥