Whenever I get the dreaded message that someone’s site is hacked, I thank my security plugin. 🙂 Most hosts take care of security as well of course, but in the end, it’s our own responsibility to make sure their efforts have effect.
The number of WordPress plugins I use is not big, although I don’t meet the recommended maximum of 5. Most of these plugins are free versions, but the one I am paying for – and with love – is SolidWP (formerly iThemes).
Years ago I was watching the elections in the States and I noticed that red and blue had a symbolic value for the political parties.
So they have in the Netherlands, but the funny thing is it has an opposite meaning. The US Democrats are blue and the Conservatives red. The Dutch right wing is blue and the left one loves red.
As I am interested in every aspect of colour, I decided to look more closely into the symbolic values of red and blue in general, not just in politics.
Of course, we should take pictures of the highlights when we are visiting an unknown region or country. Yet, it is also fun to restrict yourself by taking pictures according to a theme.
It is important for a photographer, or any creative person in general, to always try to improve. However strange it may seem, limiting ourselves is a major contributor to betterment.
I do it often, assigning myself to photograph only round objects, or movement, just vertical lines, S-like shapes, contrasts in thick-thin or big-small, and so on. I can assure you, you will see different subjects to take pictures of.
My personal challenge of 2022/23 to make a collage (almost) daily sparks a lot of creativity and inspiration. The easiest way to work on a collage is at home where I have all my materials and tools, making it extra challenging when we go on a trip. How do I make a collage then?
Last year I solved that ‘problem’ by taking lots of pictures and either making a Canva collage or collecting small items and putting those together in an assemblage. The end result was a photo.
This time I planned to make collages in a creative travel journal, where I wanted to include more elements of a day.
In the last quarter of 1969, aged 16, I went to Art school to become a teacher in visual arts and crafts. At that time I did not read any national or international newspapers, my parents were subscribed to the local newspaper.
The turbulent 1968 and the artistic expressions of that time had passed me by completely unnoticed. The academy became a pressure cooker of historical insight and political awareness.
I was lucky that my art history and art appreciation teachers were very enthusiastic and were really good at transferring their enthusiasm to their students. Not just on visual artists in the 1960s of course, but on art history in general.
Most tourists visit Amsterdam or the Randstad region when they go to the Netherlands. There is nothing wrong with that because both the city and the area have a lot to show.
Personally, I don’t like crowds much myself, so when I still lived in the Netherlands I usually went to other parts of the country.
I have always found the Hoge Veluwe National Park and the Kröller-Müller Museum worth visiting. In every season, although we were longer inside the museum in the winter and spent more time outdoors in the summer.
Usually, we find inspiration to make art when we are not looking for it. We are in the shower or preparing dinner and ideas pop into our heads. We walk through nature or in a city and are inspired by what we see or experience.
Then we are so in the flow that we do not need extra inspiration. At other times we have to consciously search for it because we want to create but just don’t know how and what. We’re stuck.
To get the inspiration process going, I’ll give you 12 tips in this article.
Art sometimes has an elitist character. Artists are partly the cause of this – yes, guilty, me too at times *blushing* – by stating that the public does not understand our art and thus creating an unnecessary distance.
Self-proclaimed art lovers are partly the cause of this by being haughty and feeling they stand above the masses. While of course, everyone can enjoy art. And don’t worry: not all art needs to be understood or even liked.
In my (free) eBook “How to get the most out of a visit to the museum” I give tips to enjoy art, but museums usually require an entrance fee.
So how can you enjoy art for free?
Until 2016 I was a ceramicist. Nowadays I still consider myself an artist but I no longer have a kiln and work in other materials and other forms of art.
My ceramics was focused mainly on sculptural and abstract forms.
On previous occasions, I wrote about my photography. And made several How-To-articles about ceramics, but here I want to introduce you to my abstract ceramics*.
* Abstract means it’s not recognizable as a real or figurative subject