[Error: unknown template 'qotd']No. I'm not an artist, I'm a craftsperson.
Artists express themselves in their work. I don't. Even though I use paint, which makes most people think of art and artists, I don't use it (mainly) to express myself; I merely strive to create a fine looking decoration or advertisement. If I've done a good job, then my work is artful. But that doesn't make it art.

...inspired by texaswren's posting.

As some of you know, stoneshop isn't exactly built like a ballet dancer. He's not only tall, but he's quite chubby, too. He's working on losing some weight, but for now he has a belly that's hard to miss. (Even though you could say that I miss it when he's not around!)
I figured, since you can't exactly hide that fact, why not celebrate it?
Here are two T-shirt ideas for men of the 'big teddy bear' variety. Care to comment?

Today is market day, so Stoneshop and I went into town (by bicycle, as usual) to get some nice fresh veggies.

I just love markets. The fresh fruits and vegetables look so damn tasty, the way they're laid out, forming a colourful painting. And they smell so good! I think people who eat too much junk food and produced foods should be encouraged to shop at local markets, the smells and sight of all that tasty goodness would seduce anyone.
Well, maybe not.
But it certainly works for me. I always end up buying more than we need. Especially fruits.
Not that some extra fresh fruit ever hurt anyone... except maybe if you were hit over the head with one of the pineapples I bought.
What can I say, they were two for a euro.
By the time we left the market our bikes were well loaded. It's a good thing we have bags on them.
We rewarded ourselves by getting Vietnamese spring rolls at the Vietnamese spring roll stand. With hot sauce. Lovely.

I couldn't simply start eating all of the lovely stuff we bought without taking a picture first. I even went so far as to arrange it on an old curtain and make a proper still life. As always, click for a bigger version. Eet smakelijk!



I remember going to markets in Africa, and seeing how people had the habit of stacking things like tomatoes and bell peppers into neat little pyramid-shaped heaps. You were supposed to pick a heap that you liked, and buy all of it. Often, if you'd buy a certain amount or if the stall holder felt like it, you'd get a little extra as a bonus: a pepper, a handful of peanuts or a tomato.
Even the potatoes they sold there were stacked, which made them look very neat. They were all the same size, too. I wonder what they did with different-sized potatoes?
From all the time people spent on making their merchandise look nice, it was clear to see that time and manpower are readily available in Africa, and therefore cheap. You could even buy your garlic peeled, if you wanted.
I have some African market pictures. I might post them here, too.

(Originally posted on MySpace)
Look what I got.

(Originally posted on MySpace)
Then you'll apreciate the special trick packaging I just made for a Saint Nicholas gift. It looks like a Great Tit. The present hidden in its belly consists of fat balls to be used as bird food during winter. So please look at my lovely tit:





I'll tell you a bit more about Dutch Saint Nicholas traditions some other time, if I can be bothered. For now, try this site.

(Originally posted on MySpace)
This is a Very Good kind of day. My big project, that I've been working on since April, is finished!
As you may remember, it consists of four murals in Amsterdam.
For now, I'll just post a pic of the last one, that was finished just yesterday, and then I'm off to celebrate  :-D


You can probably understand why I'm proud of this!

(Originally posted on My Space)
You won't see me blogging much during the next few weeks or even months (not that anyone's looking). I've started working on my biggest project yet: the four big murals in Amsterdam I mentioned earlier (not that anyone listened).
It's going well and I'm enjoying it, too. There's some commuting involved, but only every other day because I'm borrowing an apartment right in the center of Amsterdam. (How cool is that? Well, pretty damned cool if you ask me.)
Here's a pic, and if you'd like to see more, see my homepage (yes, it's in Dutch) or see a whole lotta pics on Photobucket.

(Originally posted on MySpace)
Spring is definitely here! Not only is today the seventeenth anniversary of my company (as you should know by now, I'm a self-employed sign writer / decorator), but my business is springing right back into bloom.
I just got an official 'go ahead' on the biggest job I've (n)ever done. It's a series of four (count them: F-O-U-R) large murals about nautical history. The biggest one will be over twelve metres high!
So it's back in business, and back on the boom lift for me!
Here's a pic of me on top of the world, four years ago:

(Originally posted on MySpace)
Today I was informed that a certain assignment I was going to do next week was postponed.
The guy who was supposed to make the wall nice and even before I would be able to paint a marble effect on it, has a badly infected joint and can't work, so I can't either. There goes my income for December!

So I decided to try something I haven't done in years: go out and find some shop and café owners willing to have a temporary decoration painted on their windows for Christmas. Sint Nicolas would be nice too, but it's a bit late for that now.
I found the designs of frolicing Christmas trees I made at least five years ago, and even the HTML to advertise my temporary activities on my business' website. So now that the page is back up, the next step is to dress in nice white-with-paint stains and hit the street. I'll take prints of the designs (or if I can find them I might even laminate the original drawings and take those), some flyers to leave if I can't talk to the person in charge, and business cards.

I haven't done this in years, but it's probably a good idea. I might even come home with some new assignments for 'real' work. Wish me luck.

See it here.