art & photography

a few days ago, a friend of mine invited me to a private view. delia keller, a photographer, was presenting a selection of her work with a friend, the painter jan klopfleisch. the opening was perfect - a balmy summer's night , mixing with friends and people never met before in an old industrial-building-turned-studio-space. laid-back and inspiring. i came home with my head spinning with ideas. do you know that feeling, when you've been to see art and wonder why you don't go all the time, when it makes you happy and pushes you to do new things?

take a look at delia's and jan's work here and here.

i loved the concentrated stillness and narrative mystery in delia's photographs and the mesmerizing graphic quality of jan's paintings. seemingly clear at first, yet very ambiguous when taking a closer look.

here's to art and photography and creating in whichever way.

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funny day

i've been feeling funny all day, maybe some summer bug. better tonight though.

see that light? it's shaped like a mirror or a frame and made from wax. an artwork at a café i like. i love looking at it.

sadness

i've just learned about the people killed in duisburg in a mass panic at the love parade. that is absolutely terrible. i'm feeling so shocked and sad for the families and friends of those who died.

there will be a bit of silence here. i will start posting again next week.

picnic

the other day, i went to one of berlin's open air cinemas, where we had a picnic before the film started. today it's much colder and rainy, so i'm glad we made the most of the recent heatwave. it's been one of the summer highlights so far. what are yours?

this weekend, i'll help a friend decorate her son's bedroom (already looking forward to the smell of fresh paint, plus i'm sure we'll make a cake to keep the spirits up, so it should be a good day all around), and i'll go to leipzig with a and m to see the neo rauch show. it's going to be a little eerie and surreal, i suspect, but i've never seen his work 'in the flesh' and am quite excited. well now, i'd better run! have a good weekend yourselves.

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me

on my street, there lives a little girl who wants to know all kinds of things about myself. when she stops by my window, with her red curls and pink bike, she starts firing her questions at me, and it takes her mum all kinds of convincing to eventually make her say good-bye and move on.

a selection of her latest string of questions:

why do you live downstairs when everybody lives upstairs?
why do you have a scarf on your table?
why do you have to work?
where is your man?

i'm looking forward to the next round.

this is a corner view, for more take a look at jane's spain daily.

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friday inspiration

1. Untitled, 2. # 5, 3. untitled, 4. .6004, 5. .0301, 6. after cleaning, 7. afternoon tea for lunch, 8. gabrielle ma belle, 9. Untitled

it's too hot really to write much. so i leave you with these favourites recently found on flickr - this time a somewhat pensive collection. i can't even say why. i'm finding these photos poetic and so strong.

as always with my "inspiration" posts, these are not my own photographs, but the work of amazing photographers sharing their vision on flickr. go and visit their photo streams by clicking on the respective caption underneath the mosaic.

have a wonderful weekend, full of sunshine and happiness.

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days and nights

summer days and nights are so deliciously long, don't you agree? they make me want to savour every single moment, to squeeze the last little drop of time out of these lush, hot and happy summer weeks.

the beauty of it is, that there seems to be enough time to pour a glass of wine, flick through nigel slater's latest book tender, look out of the window or sit outside and watch the world go by.

p.s.: thanks so much jo, for that cookbook, it's a treasure, i'm enjoying it so much!

p.p.s.: is everybody apart from myself on holiday? just wondering.

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focus

sometimes that's easy-peasy. but only sometimes. not just literally speaking - on my last roll of slide film, roughly half of the shots were unintentionally out of focus, you can figure me stomping my foot here. sometimes it may seem very obvious what to focus on. and still, this can be all wrong. it may be more rewarding, productive and wise to focus on the less obvious. on things that tend to be overlooked. things that didn't feature much for us up to now. fairly easy in photography: you just play around with the lens. less easy in life - i wish mental shifts were as lightly done as the turning of the focus ring.

yesterday, i visited abby's blog and her post really resonated with me. how i wish i would less often wait for doors to open, instead of just knocking. or checking if they might be open already, someone calling "come on in!" as soon as you start pushing the squeeking frame. maybe worth a try?

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seven things (volume II)

lovely mandy of 16 house very kindly passed a blog award to me, and tagged me to tell you seven things about myself. thank you mandy for including me, it's an honour.

well now, hope you're not too bored to read this, given that i already revealed seven things about myself back in february.

1. i'm the eldest child to my parents, who had been told they might not be able to have children. longed for and loved from day one. i think a start into life like that is a precious gift and certainly has defined me.

2. i'm very close to working out the perfect recipe for summer antipasti, thanks to nigel slater. going through a lot of courgettes... (by the way, i loved all your carrot recipe suggestions the other day and have started trying them out!)

3. i have a crush on vinho verde.

4. i love cul-de-sacs.

5. i'm dreaming of a serious movie library.

6. i love city summers. even though it's hot, hot, hot in berlin. 38°C degrees today. my neighbours spent the late afternoon hours splashing themselves with water from buckets and watering cans, wearing shorts, bikinis or nothing but a dayglow orange swim vest (that would be the under fiver-year-olds, in case you wonder).

7. i was invited to a bengali wedding yesterday - like all female guests, i got a bindi. everybody was showered with rose petals, witnessed the traditional wedding ceremony and was served lovely food. and i saw my uncle dance to bollywood beats.

if you like, do play along. and don't forget to let us know in the comments where we can find your seven things!

have a lovely summer's night.

p.s.: i thought i had an inkling what you like around here. but you never cease to surprise me. you know, i wasn't sure at all about the photos in my last post. and then i got all your lovely comments. thank you so much!

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saturday

a perfect saturday is (mix and match)

waking up early or late - no matter
having zero plans
sharing a giggle over breakfast
teasing the boyfriend
chatting to the farmers on the market
flicking through magazines
playing minigolf with friends
listening to the birds
toasting early evening with a glass of wine
watching bullit
nearly falling asleep on the sofa

this is a corner view. hop on over to jane's to catch more of them.

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eat your greens

do carrots really count as greens? not sure about that one - or do they?

anyway, i have been hesitating about this post. after all, there are countless wonderful blogs and resources about food out there, and i'm not intending to even try. so this is not an attempt at food blogging. more like a shortage of new photos (a new roll going to the lab today), and the idea to share one of my favourite summer snacks with you. it's not even a proper recipe. more likely what you all do when making a carrot salad. so do forgive me.

clean or peel a handful of new carrots and grate them (i like them coarsely grated)
add the juice of 1/2 to 1 whole lemon - entirely up to your taste
add salt, freshly ground pepper, some honey and some olive oil
mix and let rest for a short while
taste and add seasoning, lemon juice or oil if needed
serve with pumpkin and sunflower seeds and pine nuts

i had mine for lunch with some fresh pain of lait and apricots for afters.

p.s.: apart from the usual suspects, currently my favourite food reads are nikole's new saturday sandwich series, the gourmet traveller website and, offline, nigel slater's tender, a gift from a friend - and what a perfect book!

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friday inspiration

1. Untitled, 2. déjeuner sur l'herbe, 3. ., 4. ., 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled, 7. No Words: Oregon Mix, 8. Untitled, 9. barreras de luz

take a look at these shots by some of my favourite flickr photographers - go and have a look at their streams as well by clicking on the caption underneath the mosaic. this time, my faves are more diverse, but that's just the way it is - just what speaks to me at the moment.

i'm away this weekend, finally some time again with k. very happy about that.

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