More inspiration

I think another reason that i am finding my groove back is due to the inspiration a walk through Williamsburg gave me. I admit, for a long time, i didn't really like the Brooklyn, Williamsburg vibe. "We are here and we are so creative" But the other day one sunny afternoon brightened my creative mood. I saw more streetart than i have in a long time and i ran into the best garagesale ever! I will show some of my thrifted finds next time, for now i leave you with some random inspiration i ran into.





I noticed that the overall feel of the streetart (graffiti and stickerart) in Williamsburg is less optimistic and happy. There is a more negative, angry feel coming from the streetart here than i felt back in Amsterdam. It was not something you particularly felt from the people on the street, just when you looked at the walls. Maybe i haven't searched enough, or maybe i should just go for another search-for-inspiration-walk soon.

Sidewalk Scaffolding

I was greeted by this gorgeous pattern on a piece of sidewalk scaffolding in the city the other day. Love it. It's part of an advertising campaign of St. Germain liqueurs.

I want to make a separate category on my blog to separate the posts with or about pretty patterns. But if i would call it 'patterns' i know there will be people looking for sewing patterns coming to the blog and being all disappointed... what to do? Maybe call it 'print patterns' or something?

It's so obvious i'm crazy for beautiful patterns. I can't deny it when i'm looking at the things i bought for the new apartment. Why buy plain if you can have a lovely design?
Yes, i will make pictures and show things off. The place is starting to look like a home. Feeling good.

Today's biorhythm

This is what my biorhythm told me about today:

Physical: Give yourself a rest. It may be useful to save some energy for the next few days.
Emotional: You're nervous or unsure, or feeling an inner emptiness - that's just the way it is for now.
Intellectual: You are irresolute and don't know where to start. Just start - Anywhere!

It might have a point there. ;)
But no need to worry 'bout me. I'm doing fine, but moving overseas is just a lot of work and emotions. That's a plain fact. Like the biorhythm said, just the way it is for now. I wonder what it will say on the day of the actual move.

Photos: Some of my Ewos sightings around Amsterdam. Famous for his one liner "So much anger built inside" i thought it would be fitting to post now. Not that i have that much anger built up inside. Really not. The simply drawn, out of one line Ewos figures just look like they fit the biorhythm description.
More Ewos pictures on Ekosystem.

Creatures on the walls

For a while now i was spotting these in the streets of Amsterdam. They kinda make me think of friendly aliens coming to visit us. hihi.
Then like last week there was an item on a children's network about graffiti and spraying the walls. In the night they went out with two graffiti artists. At one point during the interview it was asked what they were going to do next. "Make some little creatures" the guy with the spraycan said, turned around and started making (my) friendly aliens! Ha.

Bikes in bloom

Amsterdam is definitely a city of bikes. The 750,000 people who live in Amsterdam own around 600,000 bicycles. Add to that all the abandoned bikes across town and there are more bikes than people! Nearly half of all traffic movement in Amsterdam is by bike. Historically, Amsterdam was not built for cars, in the 17th century, the inner city was built for pedestrians only and the narrow streets and canals do not allow for a smooth flow of cars, let alone sufficient parking space. (a big problem nowadays!) The city is compact and the maximum distance in the city central is approx five kilometres.
So bike people love the city.
I am not a bike person.
One of the few around here. No, i do not ride a bike. No, i do not own a bike. Yes, i do really live in Amsterdam. hihi.
I do have a drivers license, but hey, with this little parking space i don't like to drive around in circles around my block for hours to find a spot to park. I'm more of a public transport girl and lucky for me, i love to walk around.
I don't do bikes.

While most of them are just boring steel things with wheels, some people brighten up their means of transport. During my walks i kept noticing them. When you see so many bikes parked in the streets, the ones decorated with lovely colorful flowers do stand out and make the streets look nicer.

The orange mouse brought back some childhood memories. Does anyone know its name? I remember it being a cartoon on German TV back in the days.
Edit: I was still wondering about the name of that mouse. Today my girl saw this picture and was like, "hey, that's Der Maus!" Go figure. The German mouse is called That Mouse in German.

Streetart photo collections

These happy smiling fishies are from Pez. How funny are they? Pez is an artist from Barcelona, Spain. Please do come over to Amsterdam again! If your interested, I've found a photo interview with Pez.

Too bad the weather is getting so cold (it's snowing!), meaning: i won't be making so many city walks in search for streetart.
In just a couple of long walks through the city I've made so many pictures of great works of outside art. It still amazes me how many people don't seem to notice it. Very soon after i started to really look, i recognized stickers, stencils, artists. That adds another layer to the search; looking for series of certain artists, stickers that i haven't seen before. Guess it's basically something new for me to collect. Streetart photos.
Once you see, you cannot not notice it anymore.

What hardly can be overlooked are the large MIR stencils in the city. MIR is an artist from Norway. Thank you for visiting and sharing your art! The stencils with the man holding a heart in the air and the blowhorn is called "Love Protest" the others, with the fire suitcase is titled "Moment of Sanity".

Long after the elections were held i found the posters on which the Love Protest image was used. They're from the LRVP Love Respect and Freedom Party. (I had never heard from before)

Finding this guy always makes me smile. Hi there, egghead. Good to see you around! Except that this creature is called egghead, i haven't found out any more. I do enjoy finding him in the streets!

Sticky mail

Got some sticky mail!

I'd sent some Ismoyo stickers that i still had, to Stickertraders a couple of weeks ago and almost forgot about it. But then this envelop arrived with a cute meowing cat drawn on it and i remembered!
I wasn't expecting to get so many stickers in return, but I'm loving them. After going through all of them and being all excited, this feeling of doubt came over me. What to do with these stickers? I think the original artist would like me to put them up in Amsterdam. Get them seen out there. But some i love so much i would like to keep them. Put them in my sticker book. Could i? Or is that being selfish? I'm not sure what others do. If i show the stickers on my blog and give credit, is that getting the art out there? Maybe i should just send an email to Stickertraders with my dilemma... i want to send them a thank you note anyway.

Dollhouse Windows

I'm walking through the city thinking about the art of dollhouses when i turn onto one of the Amsterdam canals and discover this house on a corner of which the front and the side windows were covered by these stacked dollhouse rooms.
I didn't have a lot of time to make pictures of all the rooms, but i managed to take a few. I remember approx where it was so on my next city walk i will revisit!

Edit: I must say until now i haven't refound the location of these windows. I will have another walk/search soon. Did learn a new word today: Diorama. That's it. That's what these little houses are called! Diorama's.

Sights of the streets

This last Sunday i woke up early. When i looked outside the weather wasn't half bad so i decided to take this opportunity to enjoy my city when i most love it; early mornings. Funny enough, I'm not a morning person myself so i don't get to enjoy these moments too often. But this weekend i did. This city is large enough to be a big city with it's different area's and vibes, but then again it's small enough that you can cover a lot of ground walking around for an hour or two. Or three. And i took my time. It was lovely. The city was lovely.
Of course i spotted some great free art during my walk around town.

I'm getting addicted to making streetart pictures. Can't walk the streets normal anymore. Got to stop everywhere to take pictures. People look at me funny when i take a picture of a lamppost. Or a mailbox, plywood scaffolding or drain pipes. Boring city street furniture that has been decorated with art!

I have been making notes on different artists and locations and my thoughts on streetart. Will write more on this topic tomorrow or so. Got a lot of great pics to share too!

Hello alien

I was making pictures of stickerart in the city yesterday and look whom i found!
Moby's hello alien!

I made a felt version of the moby alien not too long ago, it's based on one of the friendly aliens who came to earth in Moby's video In this world.


Some other creatures i met during my walk.

Something non cute, crafty or otherwise creative: I'm still experiencing blogger beta problems. I'm trying to keep it to a minimum, but strange things are happening with the feed to bloglines, posting comments to my blog and publishing them and i can't preview my posts anymore before i publish them. Just a bare html editor to work with, so i hope this post comes out looking normal.

Mailbox romance

Stickered mailbox on the Rokin in Amsterdam.

I like the mailbox not only because it's covered with urban art, but also since it's still the old red edition. Our national mail company just recently changed names and color and now all mailboxes are being converted from red into orange. I should go back there and make pictures of the sides too. Before they replace it and it's gone forever.

Outside art

I have a thing for street art. A sort of fascination for graffiti. Not so much the little tags on the walls, but the larger pieces always get my attention. It was when i was a young(er) girl and my big brother had a book full of graffiti pictures that i learned about the oldschool graff artists.
Amsterdam has a long history with graffiti and i love the great collage of images on the walls. But how is it, that so many people just pass them by? They so much go unnoticed. How come nobody takes the time to look at them, let alone acknowledge them, think about them, or maybe only see them?
Nowadays you see a lot of sticker and stencil art on the walls. I wish i knew more about the culture, I'm clueless about who the people behind the images are. But at least i do see them. I stop to look at them. And decided to take pictures and share the free outside art with my visitors.

**Edit: That's the great thing about posting on my blog, visitor response! I say i don't know and want to learn, and voila, there's an answer. The illustration on the top left is by Bob Gibson of the London Police collective. He is currently residing in Amsterdam and treating our streets to some of his art.