Taking pictures is narrowing your view in a good sense. Looking through the square hole makes you focus on the composition, colour and details of what you see. It’s all about making choices.
When I was 12 years old I got a camera from my granddad. It was an Agfa, that I know for sure. But I am not sure anymore whether it was a Click or a Clack.
All these years I was convinced it was a Clack-II, but googling pictures of it made me wonder. The image in my memory resembles more of the Click-II.
Years ago my husband and I were finally able to take a day off (we had the worst bosses ever – we were both solo entrepreneurs) and decided we wanted to have a combination of culture, nature, exercise and fun. Preferably all in one place.
We could have gone to Insel Hombroich just across the border of Germany, but another great place where you can have it all is National Park Hoge Veluwe. It’s located in the east of the Netherlands and even on that winter’s day it was beautiful.
Cars are allowed in the park but are strongly discouraged by an additional charge on the entrance fee. If you have no difficulty moving, it is better to park the car at one of the entrances and continue on foot or by bicycle. This way you save nature and you see more details of the park.
When Tom and I still lived in the Netherlands we often visited Belgium. When we were young we were attracted by the cafes and the amazing variety of Belgian beers as much as by the rich history.
Later we mainly visited museums like the Art Museums of Brussels and Antwerp or the Designmuseum in Gent (unfortunately closed until 2026).
As we live in Spain now, we can’t go that often and have to plan a visit to see art in Belgium, yet 2024 will be a time to go. The main reason is the Triennale Beaufort but our visit will also include the Verbeke Foundation and probably Bruges.
When Tom and I are visiting the Netherlands, we always frequent different museums. The Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven is regularly on our list.
The museum houses modern art in the form of paintings, drawings, sculpture and video art. The building is fantastic on the inside. There are quite a few different exhibitions, both short-term and long-term, so there is always something that really appeals to us.
I have an important criticism that I will address in this article, but it has little impact on my feelings. It is a fantastic museum that is well worth a visit.
In 2023 sculptor Juan Muñoz would have turned 70. He died way too young, obviously, at the age of 48. Yet he leaves behind an impressive number of sculptures and drawings with enormous expressive power.
It is not entirely coincidental that Tom and I have seen much of his work in Spain. We are both fans!
To commemorate him, there were exhibitions of his work in various places in Spain in 2022/2023. Although the best-known of his works were on display in several of them, the exhibitions were very diverse, each with a different emphasis on a particular period.
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.
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.