vrijdag 29 april 2011

Princess leaving watchtower


The Princess in her watchtower,
overview - the hallway
Black marble reflecting her sunny thoughts
while the kids are being rushed to school.

Now she's leaving
to become a wife
And the whole world is watching
towering to get a glimpse
while the kids are being rushed to school.


Image: Joost Sicking, Ivoren toren, oil on canvas, 1969, 135x70cm

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dinsdag 12 april 2011

Sagittarius on top - day 4




Dogshelter called Addis' Palace: a transparent door, tile roof and Sagittarius on top. Entirely build of used materials spread around the garden. The bone hanging alongside to tip the mailman on who is guarding.

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We bought seven slaths, but that is not cheating we tell eachother - day 3




Third day of building. Feeling itchy for not writing all this time. Shaping a doghouse, à la, but being busy with it a whole week? Fun is a sustainable lifestyle, I blogged the day before. The most fun to me, is building stories containing words and sentences, shaping images that can't be drawn.
'Finish what you started' the little voice inside my head whispers. My construction mate is already hammering along. The sun is shining. Let's hit it.
The shelves - old cupboard - for the roof are heavy and hard to saw. We need extra wood to lift the floor a bit, so the dogs will not lie on the cold damp ground. The cupboard wood is not sufficient to cover floor as well as roof. It looks like we do have to buy extra materials. Feels like defeat. Heads down we walk into a building shop. 'You can use this board for the roof', the lady explains. I show her some photo's of Addis' palace. 'Oh, I wish I had time to do something like that,' she exclaims. 'I love hammering! Wouldn't it be nice to put tiles on the roof?' 'We have tiles, a whole damn pile of them. We just don't know how to use them.' 'It is easy,' she starts to teach. A few minutes later we leave the shop, very happy, we did not buy the wood. Admittedly, we bought seven slats of € 1,29 each. But that is not cheating, we tell eachother. The cupboard becomes a floor and the roof is turning into a real nice real houselike canopy covering the dogshelter.
The dogs give it a try. Addis looks puzzled and hesitates to enter, the other two snoop around looking for something to eat or chew on. Maybe tomorrow they can move in. Evening falls. The sky darkens with clouds. Looks like the sunny weather is over. The wind howls, it starts to hail. The improvised doghouse is tested for the first time.

maandag 11 april 2011

A bamboozled patchwork dwelling - day 2



We have been hammering and pulling nails out of broken down picknick tables for two days now. Our hands are sore, turned black like the smoking chimney of an Industrial Age factory. It is quite a puzzle, to build a doghouse with scratches and pieces.
'Mabye this fits? No? Okay here is some other wood.' 'Ja! if we add ...' 'We need more nails.'

Addis' palace needs to be dry, safe and warm. We break our backs and crunch our brains on the construction. We fortify the walls with large trunks of leftover chestnut wood.

In the front there will be transparant plastic, so daylight can enter, when we need to clean the doghouse. The parts of the old cupboard we want to use for the roof are heavy and... not enough. Some additional shelves are sought for in the garden.

Is building with used materials really that sustainable?
Well, it takes time, a lot of time - at least with the materials we have - You have to like a bamboozled patchwork dwelling for result.
The sun is shining, the garden and the attic tidy up while hammering. And the dog will have its' personalised house, one no other dog in the world has.
It is fun. And fun, I am sure, is one of the most sustainable lifestyles

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zondag 10 april 2011

Addis' palace: Used materials Doghouse - day 1

The challenge: building a doghouse with what is around.
Chopped trees from last summer, broken down tables, wandering pieces of wood, leftover stones, whatever comes to the mind to build Addis'palace. A warm, dry place to spend the night underneath a blanket of stars and clouds. We are halfway. Can she sleep in it tonight?