I am participating in The Sketchbook Project, seizing the opportunity to concentrate more on figurative work (which is hard, because I easily get bored if it is not abstract), and on painting with water colors.

I decided to illustrate one of my own poems for the theme "The Greatest Story Ever Told".

Water colors prove to be more fun than I thought. Got some snappy ideas for when this sketchbook is finished.

Top3 got some nice Warhammer miniatures for his birthday AND this week is a school holiday. Thus, this has been his morning ritual almost every day.

Today, we went to the Museum of Man, Nature and Science at the University of Groningen. They have an interesting exhibition focusing on the study of the human body through time.

Top3 was very keen to explore, but Top4 was mostly scared. The wax models, old glass bottles with obscure preservations and cross-cuts of all types of body parts were too much for her. And then I remembered.

When I was about her age, my family and I lived in Denmark. One day, we visited the Silkeborg Museum, where we naturally stumbled upon the famous bog bodies of the Tollund Man and Elling Woman. Their anguish got to me right away. I remember screaming and running back to the car.

Top4 didn't run away. She closed her eyes, sat in a corner and in the end perked up a bit when we examined brightly colored beetles under a microscope.

But all day I kept thinking about the shift in my own reaction. Back then, the leathery bodies of the bog victims made me sick. Dead or mutilated things grossed me out. Only recently, I've begun to marvel at the texture of human tissue preserved in alcohol and admire the craftsmanship of horrid plastic models.

Somehow, I've learned to appreciate beauty in all of that, which to me is a thought worth pondering.

Top1 made this Roman fibula, just over 1 inch in diameter!

The birthday present Top4 created for Top3.

...For Many More Years to Come! (Top3 weeks after his birth, and just after he turned 8)

PS About the "holiday photos": On a sunny weekend day, we took ourselves to a nearby lake with the intent to walk along its shores. As it turned out, the shores were taken over by second-homes and not accessible for mere first-home owners like us Flowtops. Then we stumbled upon a dull park, which happened to incorporate a rather exciting construction site! As holiday mostly is a state of mind where you find yourself enjoying all there is to see around you without a care in the world, we spent a few hours happily inventing our own little holiday in the sun. A bit of photo editing did the rest.


Perhaps next year, we'll do the regular stuff again (camping in Belgium, Germany or France).

Our cabin overlooking the river.


The river weir.


The river island, seen from the very top of the mountain we climbed.


A beautifully carved bench


Ancient sculpture. Celtic perhaps?


Tide-land, also seen from the top of the mountain we climbed.


The mountain was riddled with fossils like these.


A quaint little chapel. Mass had already ended when we arrived.

And, to top it all off, a short video of Top3 and Top4 wandering about:



Can you guess where we went?

Top1 is a keen scale modeller. Top3 is very much into playing Warhammer, a table top battle game where each party has their own miniature army, preferably hand painted and adorned with all kinds of fantasy stuff, including buildings, weaponry, vehicles. Since Top3s birthday is coming up, Top1 decided to create a Com Link for their Imperial City, and a few bases for the little army of Ork Stormboys he has painted for Top3.

(Please note that I had to ask what these gizmos where called, because really, I do not have a clue. It's real boys stuff, I reckon...)

Top3 does paint models himself. However, as he is a boy, his attention MUST be divided between Warhammer (#1 priority), Gogos Crazy Bones (also #1 priority), Lego (whatdoyouknow, #1 priority), Action Man (definitely #1) and heaps of comic books (well, yes, #1). So, Top1 helps him from time to time.


Here is a list of materials recycled for this Com Link: A cardboard box, a vegetable tin, wire netting, packaging straps, a plastic dessert tray (tiramisu, mjam!), plasterboard plugs, printer components, a drinking straw, one half of a ping pong ball (the radar itself), the reel of an ancient walkman, plug and wire of a PC power supply, black spray paint.

Then there is the small army of Stormboys:


The whole army on its base


Base detail


The Orks are about one inch tall. Top1 constructed the bases himself, using scrap metal from the workshop, cement paint, cat litter, electronic parts, a printed circuit board from a CD-ROM player, the wheel of a cigarette lighter, a drinking straw, and a gear wheel from an old printer. Everything is spray painted and then highlighted with various techniques. The base diameter is about one inch as well.

As CV this week will be about holiday photos, I thought it would be nice to give you all a little sneak preview...

That might just be Top1s motto in life - there are stacks of boxes like these in the workshop...

PS Performance went well. I had a lovely evening. It surprised me that there are so many poetry lovers out there.

Green is my middle name. I could go on and on about the colour green, but I won't.

Instead, I present to you my solar lighted garden gnome. Double-green, right? As it turns out, he is rather a softy. I mean, come on, to let a plant-sucking snail inhabit your eye socket?


Then again, I guess I am a softy myself. I cannot bring myself to empty the compost bin. The slugs are having such a good time in there, with the remnants of kale, cabbage and cauliflower...

PS Performing at poetry festival Onbederf'lijk Vers in Nijmegen tonight - in a green outfit!

I think Top1 created the drawbridge.

I think Action Man is very fortunate with such a mixed circle of friends. The Gogos always welcome him for a cuppa tea, Barbie adores him, and now JarJar has joined him for more fun adventures!

Top4 and I have been working on a birthday present for Top3.... It has something to do with his Gogo City, but we're not telling... not yet!

... is a big hug!

Top3 is all GoGos Crazy Bones now. This one is hand-painted, which is where his Warhammer miniature painting skills come in handy.

He really cares for the little buggers. Next Saturday, he will be gone for the day to visit an Action Man Show, and he is already informing me of their living arrangements, their drinking habits, etcetera. I think I might end up with a huge to-do list for the day...

I got this hand puppet from Saint Nicholas when I was a child, so he is thirty-odd years old!

Even though his tongue is gone (I might have cut it off in one of my darker moods ;-)), his left eye is torn and his left ear was lost in play with Top3 and Top4, I love him dearly.

He sang for me when I couldn't.
He cheered me up when I cried.
He made fun of me when I needed it.
He was - and still is - my hero.

This is a Warhammer chaplain - handpainted by Top1. Actual size just over 1 inch!

Yesterday, on the spur of the moment, Top1 and I visited the "For the Sake of the Song" festival Jan Bos of Eemsdelta Bookings kindly organized in Delfzijl. As most Dutch know, our region cannot deliver strong economical growth and is plagued by serious population decreases. That, combined with the sunny weather, must be why top notch performers such as Canadian singer-songwriter Joanna Chapman-Smith with Rosa Smedley on double bass, Kirsty McGee and Mat Martin who are at the front of the Manchester-based Hobopop Collective and Nathan and Becky Bliss (the American duo Barnaby Bright) drew in an audience of just fifteen people.

Fifteen mesmerized people I might add. Each and every one of us loved loved LOVED their performances. And although I know the musicians enjoyed their gig, I felt embarrassed, to say the least.

So, in an effort to spread the word, I added links to all artists referred to in this here blog. If you live in the Groningen area, please do try and make it to the shows Jan Bos organizes in the Eemshotel in Delfzijl.

The fees are not high, but the stakes are: I fear he will be forced to quit when the audience keeps on dwindling.

Next gigs for the singer-songwriters are in Amsterdam and then Bergen op Zoom for the lovely Joanna Chapman-Smith, Brussels and then Arnhem and Leeuwarden for the talented Kirsty McGee and her Mat, and Edam, Haarlem and Spijkerboor for the blissful Barnaby Bright.

If you live near those cities, please do try and visit. You will not be sorry! I bought CDs from each group to listen to in my studio. In my inner journey I will be accompanying them on their worldly travelling.

And if they ever read this: Thank you all for a lovely afternoon. Yes, I was happy. Very happy. Sharing energy like that is the best we have to offer in challenging times.

OK, just one picture then - to show you that I mainly look on the bright side of life:

Cause bad-ass smoking robots - creepy!