cigale collection

The cigale collection with flowers from the backyard.

dahlias

The dahlia comes originally from Mexico and is named after Swedish botanist Andreas Dahl. It is the national flower of Mexico and was originally used by the Aztecs as a food plant.

Once the dahlias were spread around the world, they became much loved for their beautiful vivid flowers, but I still use the petals to cheer up the salad.

eggplants art & more

Sunday - 11th of August

We went to the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam to see the current exhibitions;

Rothko & I. Very often there are crowds for his paintings in museums. What is it like to be on your own in a private room for 5 minutes with a masterpiece? You can experience that for yourself at the Rothko & I exhibition. You can see one of his masterpieces, the painting Gray, Orange on Maroon, No. 8 from 1960, on your own. Nothing or nobody stands in the way of the intimate moment with the painting. It's Rothko & me.

Masterful Women. Only 13% of the art in Dutch museums is made by women. The Masterful Women exhibition is changing that. 100% are women there.

The Plastic Bag. From the end of the sixties, artist Bob Lens embraced the new material as an alternative to canvas. Lens saw the other side of the material, the environmental problems, the plastic soup in the oceans etc. He experienced the beginning and more or less the end of the plastic bag. Looking back, you can see how the material fit into the period of the sixties and seventies.

Erik Mattijssen. Colorful and inspiring paintings of everyday objects. Pacifico - 2009, with eggplants in food cans, is my favorite masterpiece of the day.

Plant holiday. During your vacation you can bring your houseplants to the museum. They will look after your green babies and surround them with love, so they are having a good time too.

Thereafter we went to Lloydkwartier in Rotterdam. A relatively new neighborhood that is being built in the old port area of the Delfshaven district in Rotterdam. We started with coffee at Hotel Stroom.

We discovered our future loft with green balcony, during a tour in the neighborhood ;-) The St. Job loft apartments are so cool! Our preference is a loft in one of the lower floors with huge balcony and industrial sliding doors. Haha...
The former warehouse is an important national monument, because the function of loading and unloading has resulted in a unique expressive facade of concrete loading decks. They are transformed into balconies with a view of the waterfront.

While we were daydreaming about the lofts, we had lunch on the terrace at Rauwdouwer.

disco ball magic hour

Disco ball magic hour in my studio.

straw field

August.
Summer evening.
Straw field.
Instant summer vibe.

I always get this ultimate summer feeling between the straw rolls during the summer holidays abroad.

Yet the same vibe only a few minutes from home, even with square straw blocks, this evening...

wednesday workspace

Wednesday morning in my workspace.

Make-over of a caftan I bought last year in Haarlem, which still had to undergo an adjustment.

(and another pile with all sorts of things that had to be patched...)

I am still very happy with my atelier, everything has a spot and there's enough space and light to do anything creative. It is even more practical than I imagined and frankly feeds my inspiration to work between all my stuff and houseplants. (and Spotify)

After sewing in my studio, I had a coffee & moroccan almond-pistachio cookie in the front yard.

An additional advantage of sewing in the studio, I can close the studio door and leave the mess behind.

weekend in dordrecht

August in Augustus.
The annual weekend break 'at work'.

Sunday afternoon we checked in at the water tower hotel.

We walked to the historical city center to visit the exhibition of Lammie's best pieces at galerie by Branderhorst. A display with house, garden and kitchen stuff, but then extraordinary... A must for those who have the opportunity to visit this 'concept store' in the coming weeks.

We found a cigale wall vase and now have a collection of four.

At night we had dinner in the restaurant at Villa Augustus and after 12 years it's still a treat to spend the night in a room with a view.

Although it may not seem entirely objective, I swear Villa Augustus is the nicest and most delightful hotel in the Netherlands.