partnership

Last week a new animal joined our menagerie of fuzzie-family on the farm: a horse. I was as surprised as you to hear about it as it all happened very fast. In any case: here Silky arrived and my what a power house she is! A wise and beautifully proud thoroughbred, she got the gist of me quickly and is very kind to me. She absolutely adores my husband.

If you have never been around horses: they are literally a different breed. For starters they are herd animals and very very observant of humans. Uncanningly so. To say that I would be in future teaching the horse anything is a misguided statement: I will do no such thing. The horse teaches the horse, and the horse teaches me. "Soft handling makes for soft horses". (It doesn't mean I can go and act like a pussy, it means I have to lead by example. How I treat her is how she will treat me.)

How can you follow and trust another being if you don't "get" what they're like? There's nothing like getting focused and clearer about yourself then working with animals and in my case, with a horse. They will tell you. They will mirror your gnawing doubts or your silly behaviour and especially your ignorance. They will take charge when you don't simply because they test you and when you doubt yourself they will know and run with their fancies. They can be cheeky buggers when given the opportunity. It really depends on how steadfast you are to what degree the horse trusts you and will follow you.

Rest assured I will not go into girly fluffy Odes to the Horses, that was not my intention. I'm fascinated by the horse, that she after 16 years is still happy and full of energy despite being taken off a meat truck and having been moved from place to place as a rescue horse. Thoroughbreds are race horses and that's generally what they do. Silky has numbers tattooed on her but I haven't delved into her history as yet. I wish to get to know her as she is now, her past is not relevant as such.

Did you know that horses mostly learn by release of pressure? They don't learn from pain, that's when they just shut it out and ignore it. They respond mostly to subtle changes and naturally respond big time to big changes in their environment. I find this fascinating. It means when interacting with them, that it's vital to "think like a horse" which goes through anticipating, sensing and behaving like a herd animal, and to be more precise: a prey animal, as we humans are the incessant predator types. So I have to be aware of how my behaviour affects the horse and how she will feel about it. All the time. It's quite different then say cattle, horses are more articulate in their responding to us.

I'm deliberately taking my time with Silky. She is still getting used to our place, the noises (doesn't seem to fond of tractors) and gets a bit possesive if Rosie the jersey cow gets more attention then she does. Also what's interesting is who is the "top-mare" (me in this case) and how we stand in each others personal space.

Animals are very much like humans. They have desires, they want to have a clean warm bed, good food and assurance there will be love and cuddles in a place of safety. To me it's important we develop our trust rapport and that she gets used to us doing things together like walking, grooming, foot work, putting things on her back, before I even put a saddle near her. I also have bought a saddle measure device to make sure a saddle is right for her and that back problems won't be an issue. Horse problems often get blamed on the horse whereas they can be as simple of using the wrong gear that hurts them, or having been let down the bad habits path by people who didn't realize what they were teaching.

Partnership, not so much leadership, requires patience and understanding. It also I find is a matter of mostly self responsibility. As a Danish horse whisperer puts it: the horse will want to follow you if you not only do things right but "be" right. It's a co-creation dance. Be aware, and appreciative, and many things will naturally develop, and all will flow from there. So I've started from the assumption and resolve that I feel right within myself, and trust myself, so that she can trust me and that way we can rely on each other in this parnership. Mainly we want to have tons of fun! I know she wants to trot and run too, but all in good time. In building friendship with a horse, going slow makes sure things go smoothly and ultimately: better.

flow

sometimes I do not know what I will write

and I needn't worry

as words flow from me

like water from a stream

turning off my head

is opening up my heart

and right now it's filled with so much

compassion that I cry.

I sob because the ones we love leave us

be it only from the physical plane

as love is eternal and so are all beings

whether they are bugs, beast or humans.

So for the tears and the sorrow

It's mostly because I feel so much love

that I don't know what to do with:

so much energy wells up in me

Blessed are we who dare to love

Who dare to cry with the acceptance of that light

It takes courage to shine, to be who we are

Loving ourselves is something we tend to forget

Being able to receive the love

from others is opening that door for ourselves,

allowing the possibility of pain in as well as the love,

as really it's the endless joy we know it all really to be.

unity

Unification

is the start of embrace

the sharing of heart

the opening up of us, the seeing of all.

The battle has died

before they thought it begun

Because many made the changing decision

to live differently, as they feel differently now.

Our children

are born with more attributes

talents so bright, both in light as in being.

We will see those big changes as intent moves them.

We are not alone.

We are all indeed the same and also belong with others.

Unify our best intentions and our biggest dreams

and lo and behold! The new earth is showing itself already.

Understanding dawns along with a newfound desire.

Unity.

And through that the expression of love.

Photo by Janice Ward -copyrighted and reprinted here with permission.

ego

What does ego do? What does ego mean? For a lot of people it's tide in with self absorbing, navel gazing and creepy things like meglomaniaccing or phsycho-weirdo activities. Is that really it? Mais non.

Why do we have one? Do we still need it? What about ditching it? Releasing that fluffy ego in favor of sharing our dear hearts with the world. Sorta hippie but also very joi de vivre who cares let's go sort of sentiment. Bring out the wines and have another round of merriness. It's so interesting that people love mostly their own names, their own interests and stories, whilst at the same time expressing that many things are not working so well for us nationally or globally (economics, environment, politics to name a few).

Eckart Tolle is a big fan of releasing one's ego (no I haven't read any of his books yet but I'm sure I will soon, after I finish my "Kryon" series. I quite like him on Youtube. Interesting soft spoken man.) In any case: can we go without our ego at all? Good question. I mean why do we have that thing anyway? What use does it possibly have?

Apparently, as my friend Gabriel has told me, our ego is: "of much use to humans to anchor themselves in their current reality, and to differentiate themselves from others, in order to learn and expand in their individual (expression of) knowing and learning." Groovy. In essence: our ego is a chip built into the hardware, like a code saying: this is Fred number 9643196. The software is made up of programs we choose to follow and we can always delete some and install new ones. Fascinating. So would it be advisable to ditch that ego?

As Gabe says: "it's not that you have to do anything you don't want to. As humanity is moving in to the realm of expressing themselves differently as a whole, communication changes as the increase of a broader perception comes into play. Ego as the expression of individuality becomes like a mainstream colour or strawberries. Those who loves trawberries become connected and share that feeling they have in common of being drawn to strawberries. From there on, groups will form and thoughts and feelings will be shared, much like an online forum. Ego as such becomes less and less of a neccessity as you increasingly find that it is more interesting to share, rather then to keep stuff to yourself. (That's also why secrets will be a thing of the past in the future he says.)

Hence the ego that once was just one man or woman becomes a field of many, whether these are connected because of their interest in strawberries or because they are more in tune to say making indie-folk music. (Refer to Stephen Hawkins to explain the quantum field in detail.) So that ego which ties you and binds you to your duality of being, as humans are wired to be at present, slowly this ego-state will morph into something else again. It's not so much Ego-less as it is Evolution. It's a natural process and can be a pleasant one, depending on how you look at it and how strongly you feel about your individuality."

Some ego stuff huh. If you're not careful you can trip over your self importance. I don't consider myself to be any more special then anyone else, just different. I'm a unique expression. Everyone else is their unique expression. This to me is a very cool thing! And I sure do like strawberries.

beautiful bovine

Rosie

Lovely is the bovine

Who's shiny fur reflects the beautiful zesty spirit within.

Large eyes

and a big nose

Perky udder swaying in the breeze

before she climbs on new-bull-friend Arthur.

Rosie

welcome to our family

who are as full of character as you are.

And when you're done with Arthur

(who lives at the neighbours place)

we'll take you home

read you bed time stories

give you the moozley take-away food you seem to love

and tuck you in safely at night.

We love you Rosie

no trip to the meat works for you.

Instead a life of frivolity awaits!

A sweet milking Mooooooooooo is a

Beautiful Bovine.

designing

Why do we do what we do?
This is the bio I sent to Hemptech: the company who releases beautiful eco textiles in Australasia.

(My Cows and Couches design and the Footprints collection. Below with a Mooodlies cushion.)

"As a designer I work on many different creative projects: interior, furniture, product, and textile design. I work primarily as an interior designer. My passion however is: goats. I'm an absolute animal nut and yes I do talk to them too. On our 64 acre llifestyle block in the south of Otago we run highland cattle, saanen goats, turkeys, chooks and pigs. Inspiration abounds as nature is very much expressing itself on our property. New Zealand scenery is so powerful and beautiful. My heart is always outside running alongside the animals in gumboots, clad in overalls, having my hair in ponytails.


My designs reflect this happy attitude and I do adore the whimsy and playing. My desire to design for eco textiles stems from that inner sense of letting my love of living in New Zealand out. As a Dutch immigrant I am fully aware that this slice of paradise is not (easily) accesible to everyone on our planet. We do live in a wondrous place down under. So what could possibly be lovelier then sharing that magic energy at home with others?"
Why do you do what you do?

 

Photos: copyright: Mirjam Spronk and Hemptech ltd

state what you want

I've been hearing over and over, both online and off, that the Occupy peeps "don't know what they are about", that "there is no clear message" that they are "a bunch of hippies".

Here in Dunedin New Zealand there seem to be more Dunedinites in favor of removing the tents of the Octagon because it's "unsightly" and doesn't allow the public to mozy over the grass at lunchtime. One protester was headbashed on national TV by an aggressive IT-entrepreneur and the council had trouble dealing with the Occupying situation in a switched on manner from day 1. Now there are about 15 tents remaining on the public lawn, representing a hardcore group and according to the council: allowed to display a symbolic representation of their right to protest as a larger group. (The police surprisingly decided not to honour the council's warrant to have the protesters removed as they wisely stated removing them by force was not the best course of action considering freedom of speech and so forth. Naturally the council was furious the police didn't back them up.)

So yes what do these mostly young people care about? Why are they up in peaceful arms? "Can't they just go and get a job" as they hear shouted to them from car windows?

According to the now released Declaration of the Occupation of New York City, their sentiments certainly incorporate the following:



As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.


They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*

To the people of the world,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.


To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.


Join us and make your voices heard!
*These grievances are not all-inclusive.
source: Daily Kos

This statement if far from chaotic rambling and a very far cry from stoned out hippie dom. The people know what they want: no more bullshit and an actual democratic system which is fair and true to sustaining people and planet in a cohesive sustainable and long term viable way. It sounds perfectly clear to me. The status quo just has problems hearing it. An existing system must crumble first by losing support before it can be replaced by another which is desired by many. The sheeple may have to let go of watching television in order to comprehend this turn of events.

The way I see it: some may not like it, yet a tidal wave coming can't be sidestepped. It's just physics really. State what you want and try to understand the different elements at play.

self responsibility

I am SO rejoicing in what is happening in friends and family's lives at the moment. One friend has started a new career and is bound to be absolutely awesome at it, another friend has decided that doing what she loves is more important then her career: she is going on a world trip -cycling accross many continents for a year, another friend is contemplating divorce and following his inner radar, he has been putting this decision off for a few years but is now ready for it and me: well I again made peace with what is, celebrate my wonderful life and have gone on exploration and doing training. I keep hearing that it's a time that is very busy, often times stressful or plain derailing for many people. The good news is that many seem to wake up to the fact that many things have happened because of the choices they have made themselves.

As one friend said to me today: it's about self responsibility.

We can decide to blame governments for the economy being crap, or our spouse being afwul, or our work being sh*t, but at the end of the day we usually find out that hey we did choose to study or not, have a study debt or not, support the government we have or not, have the partner we wanted or not, are alone or not, know what we want or not right now, follow our gut feelings or not, live wisely or not, have money or not, choose to be happy despite anything... or not. Either way it doesn't matter in the big scope of things all these details: it matters to us only what we feel we want to do right? Whether we feel we matter, whether our connection to the larger part of who we are (some call this God) means anything, whether we wil be happy with what we are doing now and on and on. My we get busy thinking about stuff don't we?

Ultimately: this is our life. We do the best we can in deciding how to choose and navigate our way through it. But to blame anyone outside of us for anything that doesn't work the way we want it to, is outdated. It also very conditional. In case you have forgotten as well from time to time: love is unconditional. Yes that applies to yourself too. Stop beating yourself up already. So you are searching. Groovy! Shake it baby.

This is your life remember? Do you want change? Work it dude! You are the only one who can effectively bring about the change you want to see. You ARE the change you want to see. Stop whining to other people how it should be for you instead of how it is, just go work on how it will become already!

Lots of love.

favorite summer day

After a summer day

with smiles and snoozes

Light rain sets in

barely audible on the roof

Later we're outside once more
and whilst turning a corner

the scent of fresh grass

suddenly hugs me like a soft blanket

The hens run around in the field

Calling to me for their supper

The cattle still lazily lying further away

and the sun is showing itself again

In the good life

where the grass smells better still

I only have to remember days like this

to be forever happy.

lasting fancy

I have a chair fetish. Not shoes, not handbags, no, chairs. I just love them. So what could be better then a big lush outside chair that is like a treehouse? Exactly!

10 trees growing into a life structure to support people having a snooze, or to read a book in dappled sunlight.

from Design Folio mag: "Stockholm-based studio Visiondivision asked students at Politecnico di Milano to consider the impact of a fast-paced lifestyle and asked them how to create environments in which nature can be used to create a sense of retreat on campus. The result? Ten Japanese cherry trees that are encouraged to grow in certain ways making room for a two-story retreat that students can sit up high in."

The result was drafting plans and planting the young trees plus structures to support the growth over time.

From VisionDivision: "Together with the students we worked out a maintenance plan and instructions to future gardeners that is simple enough to actually work.

On the structure, we instructed that a pattern of wood will be grafted in, leaving two spaces between the trees as entries/exits and the rest is closed in ornamental patterns with branches.


On the upper level which is reached by the two staircases with exquisite handrails, is different fruit trees grafted into the cherry trees so the visitor can have a variety of fruits while relaxing in the canopy. Branches are also grafted in for security reasons between the tree trunks.


In about 80 years from now the Politecnico di Milano campus will have a fully grown building and the students will hopefully have proud grandchildren that can tell the story of the project for their friends and family."

How fabulous is that? 

fun

Having fun is an essential activity. Without it we get lost, sad, need prescription drugs or worse. Just to enjoy another's company, or mosey about with a pet in nature can cure us from worry and other ailments like anger and frustration. Life my friends can be wonderful indeed. (Photo above is taken by me of my husband Nico enjoying a wonderful silly moment at the beach.)

In any case: I have taken to crayons, paint and ink again lately, we are very old friends and are getting re-aquainted. We started off with some goatie drawing to ease into it. These are Molly and her daughter Pompidou who was born less then 4 weeks ago.

Amazing what an old stash of art tools can provide!

And how about what else you can do with them? Artist Diem Chau makes the most intricate fun our of crayons. Literally.

Diem was born in 1979 in Vietnam and moved to the USA. You can read more about her groovy bio on her website here. Aside being well known for her crayon work she also does wonderful other 3dimensional work:

Intricate work isn't it... she loves making stories visual

Have more fun reading her blog! What is life without a bit of whimsy.

goatie nuggets

the power of money?

As I read earlier today here: "Money can buy anything except meaning." And as Occupy Wallstreet has gone global (yup there are Occupy's growing wide and far like mushrooms) I'd say many people seek to redefine "meaning" in the broadest sense. What is it all about. Really about.

[Official Statement from Occupy Wall Street - this statement was voted on and approved by the general assembly of protesters at Liberty Square: Declaration of the Occupation of New York City]

"As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive."

let's chat

If you discovered you actually had the ability to actively shape your world as you experience it, would you?

Neale Donald Walsch is launching a new book: A storm before the calm. With interest I read his intro. He is literally shaping the book as a conversation, implementing opinions from memory and also from his readers who care to provide their viewpoint on topics from marriage to nature, to economy systems, to health care, to our global future as we see it today in a separate book. And marketing jazz aside: I understand where he is coming from. Increasingly I, and others, find it harder and harder to keep up with the world of duality. It is tiresome because it doesn't correspond with our new desires. Why would you care about customer's demands if your friend has cancer or another friend has been trouble finding work for a year? Have you had enough too of paying mortgages? We know something is seriously off key with the status quo and it's bugging most of us tremendously. So what is it?

Instead of hankering down and building a bunker to weather 2012, Walsch is doing a great job of being the devil's advocate by stating that all of us shape this world as it currently is, and obviously have the ability to 're-shape' it now we have stopped liking what we created. he doesn't mean changing it with our physical force, but by changing the attitudes of our mind, which influences and brings about the physical state also (read up on quantum mechanics and modern physics if you think this is baloney.) 

I long enjoyed ideas from this nature, that we as supposedly nimble homo sapiens are uneducated in what we are exactly capable of. I was given information by others (friends, peers, strangers) as well as being taught by the larger part of who I am to aid me in changing my previous more limited viewpoints. It's a continuing expansion. The power we will discover apparently is our innate ability to 'educate ourselves' in the most profound sense, and because of those increasing downloads, the extra knowing and feeling (I call it the best re-boot since the invention of sliced bread) it will bring about great changes in us and for us. It's a no-brainer that more and radical changes are imminent, not because we are hippies, misguided politicians or ignorant doodlers, but because the writing on the wall is getting so incredibly large we can't shut the curtain on it anymore. It is becoming self evident. You can't ignore what is staring you in the face while it's chewing and burping loudly. I find this encouraging. To summarize: staying on the snooze button will get us nowhere, re establishing what all of us wish to develop into is far more sensible even when looked upon from many different and colorful point of views. So kudos to Walsch for sticking his neck out and starting his conversation. By all means make up your own mind. I happily dare you.

I guess what I'm suggesting is to go on a self discovery tour (not the navel staring I mean the going out there and exploring your ideas both old and new). And do it fast. Use whatever bandwagon you need and any transport required, any library or e-book. Find the information you need and somehow gravitate toward and by all means: think for yourself. It is your choice after all. And instead of going for the-sooo-bloody-old rant of "get realistic" and knuckle down in this challenging climate I think it is more helpful to do something bigger then we are individually, and become part of that change we want to see (great blog-post here by Surili about when we get disillusioned or discouraged). What matters is what we do here, what we will be able to do in 20 years time still and to clean up the crap we've been leaving around as it is affecting our own health now too.

Opposed of playing nice and tidying my pigtails I rather express that which rings true to me. If this makes no sense to some, fine. If I am an oddball, fine. If I am unsuccessful, fine. I don't care about those things anymore anyway. I do however to my great astonishment, care deeply about humanity, and where the heck we're going. I prefer it to be awesome, inspiring and beneficial to both rock, plant, animal and humans and all particles in between. And I'm also quite willing, as is my husband, when times "toughen up" further to share our place with those we know to be in need. Increasingly I find this to be more important, to help look after others, to help them, to encourage them, opposed to what happens on a daily basis with me personally or what will "really" happen in 2012 when the Maya calender is due for a new chapter. 

I'm thinking bigger picture and multi-dimensional, are you?

design for a change

Changes on a global level have kept me occupied lately. To showcase New Zealand design today seems a contrast, yet I find Shane's work both crossing the boundaries of Art and his personal heritage interesting: Shane has Danish, Chinese and Maori ancestors. Isn't it wondrous how we human beings travel the globe and embrace other cultures?


I have been a fan of Shane Hansen's work ever since I came across it several years ago visiting the Gallery The Poi Room in Auckland. I have to find the NZ wood pigeon below as it really speaks to me.

Te Karanga Pitoitoi

Korihi ake nga manu

Takiri mai te ata

Ka ao, ka oa, ka awatea!

Tihei mauri ora

 

The birds call

The day begins

And I am alive


A bit of background on how Shane works: "Shane Hansen likes a strong, clean line. He has drawn constantly for as long as he can remember, but has never indulged in intricate doodles dredged up from the dark recesses of the mind. Instead, his creations spring from a world of bold colours and optimistic clarity, a pop-art invitation to a feel-good New-Zealand celebration." (source Shane's website: here)

"Shane studied art at high school but began his professional life as a fashion designer. He commandeered the sewing machine on which his mother had worked from home churning out nylon jackets and created the label Vampire. (..) He then trained as a graphic designer, eventually combining these two disciplines at Fly, where he was co-founder and creative director, carving out a niche creating innovative marketing and design strategies for corporate clients and retail stores." (source here - Gallery De Novo)

The scrummy bovine series is both hilarious as it is captivating. Shane used to make quite a bit commercial work whereas nowadays he works from home and focuses on his Art.

The bike must be son Nikau's one I imagine!

"The environment Shane grew up in was rich in culture. The walls of the Hansen family home in Manurewa were covered in paintings by Shane's grandfather and great-grandfather, both of Danish origins and both amateur water-colourists. Shane's grandfather took his descendants on painting expeditions that actively encouraged deeper contemplation and appreciation of the landscapes and objects around them.

His mother's side of the family is a mixture of Chinese and Maori influences. His grandfather emigrated to New Zealand from China's Guangdong province and established a market garden in Pukekohe before starting what became a family of 14 children with Shane's grandmother, a woman of Tainui descent. Creativity seems to run deep on both sides of the family" (source: Shane's website)

Shane work is definitely colorful and has a clear identity. It is expressive and focused. Its boldness and presence for me are very much linked to the relative young country that is New Zealand, the ruggedness of the mountains, the clarity of its waters and the brave attitude of its people.

An in depth interview with Shane can be read on a different blog: here.

Occupy Wall street NY

why we matter

We can choose to be un-involved

to stay quiet to not say a peep, not let out a whimper

Because we choose to or because we fear to

How about expressing that which is in your hearts?

How about supporting your voice?

It is perfectly fine to make some noise

if you wish to. If this makes you feel better.

The time is now to make that stand

Not in your back garden or on the front lawn

but a-midst others in society

to find those that feel like you do

who beat the same drum of the heart

Raise that flag! Be brave and sober

Think clear and with purpose

Because that's why you are here now

To discover where you stand

what you think

and ultimately: who you are

What is your purpose here?

Are you going to stand idly by?

or are you going to look after your fellow man?

We do not live to be quiet

we do not live to be complacent

We live to discover who we are

we live to discover how big 

our hearts truly are.

We can express that which is the other

and tell the story

and increase the field of knowing

and the field of belonging

so we can come home

and be home

at last.

Photo by The Guardian, covering the "Occupy Wall Street" story in New York - 19 September 2011: link here.