This plexiglass was cut in such a fine way. Even standing right in front of it, I couldn’t tell if those were openings cut into the pastic or not (they were).

This piece was so fun! I had to go up a floor to get a good shot of it.

I am really into this piece for some reason. I love the realism and the quiet and freaky feeling about it. The contrast of the black boots and the pale wood is quite striking.

Some beautifully painted portraits.

Love the feet/shoe-like structures.

Spying on visitors…

A beer afterwards in the sunshine…

And a burger!!!

I went to Potsdamer Platz (in Berlin) on Saturday with my boyfriend to see the dominoes that had been sent around Germany and the world to be painted by school children and others. We got there just as the sun was setting but I still managed to snap a lot of pictures thanks to the lights installed everywhere. It was packed with people and bustling with food stands everywhere and even Glühwein! I know, already! We had to drink one since we were slowly getting cold because we forgot hats and gloves. It had been so nice earlier in the day!

I just finished watching the whole fall of the wall ceremony on TV and got to see the dominoes knocked down by Lech Walesa, which fell among the crowds gathered in the center of Berlin. It was a nice ceremony with a lot of emphasis on taking note of all the walls that still exist in the world.

The dominoes were painted with many different themes. I photographed the ones that were visually compelling and had a good concept. There were so many that I liked! I didn’t get to see them all though. I got quite cold before I got to the end of the domino line and turned back. I hope you enjoy what I managed to capture.

I have prepared a few changes to the class. I think the students are a lot fitter than I originally thought. So I’ve got to keep them interested! Teaching is so much fun! When I first stepped into the class last Tuesday I thought, oh man, this is going to be a long hour. But you get into it and it goes by so fast! I made a mixed CD for my class and I think I will feel more and more confident. Tomorrow I just need to get the heating right in the studio and I think I have it down pat!

One of the things I think I should really try and do is to make sure that the class knows they can ask me any questions afterward. When I first started taking Yoga I bombarded my teacher everyday after class with questions about the positions and what I am doing right/wrong. I get the feeling that people are mostly shy or are just not so curious, I don’t know. But I want to encourage them to get involved. It only improves your work.

I want to start tutoring some of my friends individually to work on my teaching skills and to be aware of what beginners are facing when they start Pilates. And then I think I will definitely be looking for a place to teach in English somewhere. Right now I am teaching 4 times a week, but it is temporary. When my teacher comes back, she gets all of her classes back, although there has been talk of me getting one of her classes if her schedule is too full. I think it is great to do it in both languages too. I don’t know what I was so afraid of with the whole German thing…it is no big deal to teach the class in German. But, as my boss once told me, we have different ways of speaking depending on the language we speak. It sounds odd, but so true. I think when I speak English I am more natural, relaxed and funny, but when I speak German I am a bit more serious because I am concentrating on the language.

The first artist that caught my eye was CIOU from France, I think (her website is biography-less). The pieces she exhibited were so finely painted, I had to view the paintings so close to see some of the finest lines. She paints fantastical female characters with a bit of a punk/death/dark side to them. The canvases were initially covered with collaged newspaper that was varnished with a brownish yellow color and then the characters were painted over that. There seemed to be so many layers and the detail was fascinating. Such gems! Check out some other work of hers (images from her website):

Good Wives + Warriors had another piece I liked. The artists behind the production are Becky Bolton and Louise Chappell. It looked like they had used a combination of pens, markers and ink to do their detailed black and white drawings. The piece exhibited was a microscopic view of a natural looking yet imaginary world similar to this one:

Some more pieces from their website that I like:

Mario Hugo had this beautiful piece in the show, a personal project from 2007:

The two realistic portraits were so delicately drawn and I love the funny abstract characters, especially the tree man. Hugo has such a fine sense of line. The materials used for this are graphite, acrylic and china ink on found paper. Some of his other work I got from his website is below.

Roman Bittner had a super cool piece in the show. There were about 6 panels of white illustration board that had been carved by a fine laser to create drawings that were like snippets out of a comic strip. It was quite beautiful to see something with that much detail all in white and you could easily read the dialog because of the shadows of the cuts. There is nothing to see on his website right now. It’s under construction.

Some paintings (digital paintings I think), which I really enjoyed were by Christian Montenegro, an artist from Argentina. I actually found the pieces that were in the show on this gallery’s  website where his work was exhibited before. The characters he developed in these pieces are so fun and I am a huge fan of his color palette. I love the texture, layers and feeling of transparency and the geometry of his style. These reminded me of Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s portraits of the seasons from 1573. Here is his website for more information.

Vertumnus, god of the seasons by Giuseppe Arcimboldo:

Some other pieces of Christian Montenegro’s that I enjoy:

Diego Lorenzini’s beautiful sketches made an appearance at the show, which I knew from the Johanssen Gallery in Berlin (I saw his show there a few months back). He draws with what I think is a simple ball point pen and sometimes a pencil and he creates with those materials work with such an incredible line quality. You really have to get close to the drawings to see how fine they are and how he is able to graduate the weight and darkness of the lines. It is breathtaking. Beautiful beautiful stuff. Here are some examples from the gallery’s website:

There were a few nice pieces from Olaf Hajek, a German illustrator. I like the style of his paintings. There is tons of texture and motifs in his work, muted yet vibrant colors, and his characters are drawn so delicately and in a charming style. I found the following images on his website.

There was a book of Martin O’Neill’s work in the show. This was the first time I had ever heard about this collage artists and his work is fascinating to me. Being a crazy collage lover, I was just drooling over his pieces. He apparently has a massive collection of material for his collages that (maybe) all began when we was studying in Germany. Read this:

This sounds like heaven!!! Man I would love to come across something like that. I wonder how he’s gotten around copyrights. Obviously, when you find old photos, there isn’t any question, but images from ads, books or magazines…I wonder about all that. Check out his website for more info and images. Oh I love this stuff!

Well these were all the warm fuzzy feelings and names I brought home with me yesterday. I hope you all have enjoyed my finds! I am most definitely inspired:)

]]> http://blog.annvandelft.com/life-in-berlin/illustrative-berlin/feed/ 0 http://blog.annvandelft.com/traveling/usa-trip-2/ http://blog.annvandelft.com/traveling/usa-trip-2/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:54:39 +0000 ann http://blog.annvandelft.com/?p=219 Well I am back after a long 3 weeks. I was back home in Philadelphia visiting my family with my boyfriend. We had such a great time! We were busy everyday with a new adventure. We went hiking and canoeing, visited Longwood gardens and my mom’s place on the Chester River (near the Chesapeake Bay), stayed at my sister’s place in Philadelphia and went shopping, spent a day in New York City and took a little trip to Coney Island, and went to a wedding!

Well I just wanted to share some photos really. First off, my outfit for the wedding and the earrings I designed for my dress! My sister and I:

Here are the dynamic and geometric earrings I designed to go with the colors, V-cut and angles of my dress.

Some nice pictures I took on the flight over. The sky was so beautiful and the clouds were casting such crisp shadows on the ocean below.

Here are some fun things I saw in a few store fronts in Philadelphia.

While we were in Philadelphia, my sister took us to this really fancy Yoga/workout clothing store. My plan is to be able to shop there for my stuff in 5 years! It was such nice clothing, the prices were high, but for someone who loves workout clothes as much as I, it could be worth it…one day!

The following are some photos of some of the great food we ate during our stay. We ate well, to say the least!

We had a hot dog here at Coney Island:

Lamb we made for a dinner party at my mom’s:

We went canoeing with my Dad and his girlfriend and we spotted a bald eagle up in the tree tops. I tried to creep closer on the shore to get a better photo, but I spooked him and we got to watch him take off and fly across the lake.

In New York City my boyfriend and I stopped by Times Square before we headed home and enjoyed the lights and the glitter for a half an hour or so. I like these pics:

At Longwood gardens there were these beautiful giant lily pads and pumpkins!

I love this pic…it was my sister’s idea:

This is from a year ago, but it puts me in the mood for Fall and I still love love love that hat!

Good bye to summer! I so love these one piece outfits. One day I’ll get one…

Some more looks from the summer that is coming sadly to an end. I love the combination of hot pink and turquoise! It makes me so happy.

Some more current looks. Plaid is big and I love those scarves with lots of fringe.

Big necklaces…totally sexy and visually powerful! Too bad they can be a pain to wear cause of their weight. Oh the sacrifices for fashion…

These pendants are enticing and I love their graphic style.

These necklaces are really inspiring to me. I love their geometry and the statement they make!

More statement jewelry. I also love this topless model with just a crazy big necklace on. It’s all about the jewelry and nothing else! I once saw an ad for a bag with a topless model standing next to it, and that made no sense to me, but here I think it’s clever.

Some of my inspiration with sketches. I am designing some big necklaces right now for my Etsy shop. Can’t wait to see the reaction!

Just a fun pairing of images…

That’s all folks!

]]> http://blog.annvandelft.com/fashion/sketchbook-snippets/feed/ 0 http://blog.annvandelft.com/life-in-berlin/for-an-october-wedding/ http://blog.annvandelft.com/life-in-berlin/for-an-october-wedding/#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:25:59 +0000 ann http://blog.annvandelft.com/?p=191 A couple weeks ago I went shopping for the first time in 7 months. I had to buy a dress for a wedding I am going to in 2 weeks. I only have summer dresses so buying something more appropriate was definitely in order. Of course, my first stop was H&M because of my budget. And lucky me, I found something! But the best part is I found something to wear with the purple heels that I have. Purple! Yes purple is still in…lucky me again. The dress is really cute. It’s very retro, 70’s, with an umpire waist and a wide ribbon that ties in back, a V-cut neckline (I have to wear a tank top under it for sure) and wide sleeves. The neckline, sleeve ends and ribbon are satin. It is very minimal yet dressy enough for the occasion. And it matches my shoes. And it was only 20 Euros:) Now I just need some jewelry. I will design a set of necklace, earrings and bracelet I think. I already have an idea already. I’ll post pics of my ensemble after the wedding! Can’t wait:)

Pass this on to your gal pals!