a bus in a early snow storm

This makes me feel comfortable. I grew up in the south near the mountains and I will always remember the snow, the big snow, wall high, the odeur and the sound and i am always longing for a snowstorm even in a golden autumn.
found in the mail today, an invitation for J's exhibition.

domestic pleasures

all together: preparing the welcoming of our very long missed friends E and S back for a visit from southafrica , good autumn food with more friends, roasted pork with apples, sage, parsnips, red onions, pimento, pumpkin and potatoes with rosemary.

a very sunny autumn morning, reading the 1971 version of the best german-english-french dictionary by richard scarry, a book me and my sisters owned too as children, this version rediscovered at a fleemarket by my sister J.

riding the bicycle with Lou on our way home on a completely trafficfree 17. Juni, a marginal street between Siegessäule and Brandenburgertor in the early evening, still closed for cars after the big marathon today.
Discovering the surprising beauty of our city made both of us really excited and happy.

palace

a chain reaction, hanna was inspired by mieke willems and i was inspired by hannas choice of record covers
and a friend of L was inspired by the cover of this palace music/ will oldham record "viva last blues" and made the picture above for him, long time ago.
the record always sits in our bookshelve in the same room with the painting.

ruth laskey

so beautiful! via realnormal

happy-sad

hairdresser, a game she always loves to play with L.



saturday and sunday with lou, her friend N and my friend C at the lake, crisp autumn weather, a lot of good food cooked by my friend C like pizzocheri, being outside, relaxing, playing with the kids, nearly perfect days apart from some fights with my daughter several times, a price i have to pay for still being away to much at that time of her life when a lot changed for her with school. but she told L that we had a wonderful weekend and got along very well, what a relief and knowing that there will be enough "together" time soon makes it easier too.
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rafts for some small creatures and we found a late ladybird, the children told me it is called ladybug...?

tuesday, thursday, wednesday

quitting work for two hours to spend them with lou on thursday afternoon, enjoying the autumn sky in the middle of the town at potsdamer platz


spotting a boy with a bow around his head on wednesday in berlin

travelling for a big fitting on tuesday, working in a fake indian hotel in the middle of an industrial area near düsseldorf and at the airport

colors on monday

today work was easy and colorful


BLAU, a friend of mine opened her second shop, i love the macrame thing they did and the curtain. very well done N&C&S&U

another new shop opened, wolfen, one of my all time favorites in berlin, i really like her and her design, fashionfree clothes i always want to wear and work with. her new website will be online soon.

another friendly shop with a wonderful installation of this dresses you can purchase in about a million colors, made by the owners brother

color coordination in my friend Ns first shop

apples on sunday

i have always been and ever will be in love with her apple cheeks
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apple pie we made together

age does'nt matter

the lady who did this, is now 98, i am just very much impressed about her work and background, wish i had the chance to meet and talk to her: Janette Laverrière.

strange ways of transportation

this week we saw this, a girl pushing a pram for dolls, riding a skateboard
a man and his son on a scooter, being drawn by their dogs, oh yes, actually it was two of them, i forgot the second one, it is perhaps drawing animals is even worse to me than people in profile, so this was a real drawing challenge but the lack of camera forced me to do it and i take it as a reminder to do one drawing a day to get more routine
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this evening i met lou and two friends of her and the father of one of them in a restaurant after they have been to the tierpark, the girls were lying on the bench, cuddling and stroking each other like little kittens, completely tired after their first days at school, but they are really happy and confident with their new adventure. i did not dare to draw that, perhaps later.

strange plants and a regular workingday

our kitchentable this morning

then
8 15 accompany lou at school, her second day (!) and she loves it, missing the right subwaystation while talking, we have fun to take the way back.
8 45, back home picking up things for work, chatting with L.
9 15, schlepping about 20 bags into the studio, parking, several phonecalls
10, my coworker B arrives for project A, trying to sort out, making a schedule for the day
10 30 my dear intern N. arrives, has to be told what to do, meanwhile my friend C arrives for picking up some costumes for her project. We discuss if she can take some leftovers from my last project because she works with the same director, we decide for a go because they haven't been used!
11 my assistant J for project B arrives, we start shooting tomorrow, sorting out everything then answering questions from everybody, phonecalls, discussing costumes, fabrics, aging new shoes, washing, printing question marks, enjoying the "girl" activities inbetween hundreds of clothes, fabrics and receits.


12" director from project B calls after checking the rehearsal rushes, telling me which costumes and what color we can use for the blouse that will be made until tonight . I send J to buy the fabric and bring it to the seamstress.
12 30 the production from project A calls that the long planned fitting with the female lead on friday is cancelled. we have no other cast to dress and all the costumes should be sent to southafrica in the first week of october. I decide to fight for it. Another couple of phonecalls
13 me and B leave the studio to collect more costumes and return others we don't need anymore from project B, C and D.
14 director from project B calls that she and the cameraoperater just found out that the fabric they chose this morning might be to light, they want it much darker and the yellow of the t-shirts i dyed yesterday is not bright enough and that it might look better if it will be a vest instaed. I call J to tell her that she has to cross the city again to get the other fabric and bring it back to the seamstress, her, I have to tell that she has to wait again until the new fabric will arrive. prewashing impossible now. then i call N that she has to get new shirts and color and dye and print them again.
1430 lunchbreak with B. this time delicious food vegetables and fish. then driving from east to west and vice versa, shopping, collecting, meeting horrible people in shops and some very nice and friendly ones in one of my favorite shops where i am always warmly welcomed in whatever state i am in. the next shop tells me that i have to pay the full price because they decided inbetween that the rental fee we settled was'nt appropriate. then standing in front of 2 closed doors, one shop had a handwritten sign, closing earlier today where i had to return already delayed things...after several phonecalls to check with the small preshooting for project B we give up at 7 30 after being told that the fitting for project A is finally cancelled.
I meet shortly with N in the studio, pack the rest for tomorrow and am back home at 8. talking and hugging with lou and bring her to bed at 9.

and now i tell you a secret, I am applying for other jobs on a more regular base and it would make me very happy to quit this crazy routine, i guess it will take some time to find the right thing but i am very much looking forward to a big change.

Schultüte

This picture is so german, everybody has it here, whatever age, whatever social background. the dressed up and proud but not in the mood of being photographed firstgrader, caught before or after the official school celebration with a big "schultüte", filled with sweets and little presents.
to see my daughter like that makes me happy and sad, it is like a part of her life has already become history with that picture. I imagine her looking at it in 20 years or more, reanimating a happy but blurry memory but tonight she was so sad that this day had to had an end. she called it the most beautiful and the happiest day of her life, she was already missing the irrecoverable mood and encounters of today.
we tried to comfort her with the promise that other even more exciting happenings will occur in her future life but she really truely understood that this was unique and gone. one of her first understandings of limitedness.
...but then she found a solution, looking very much forward to meeting her teacher she was very impressed about, again on monday and finally start with school. i am sure she will dive into that new experience with all her usual curiousness, energy and joy.



L and mine first and crafting collaboration, being a couple since 13 years now, made us happy too.


Looking at the pictures i have chosen to post i realized that they give a wrong impression, we spent the hole day amongst many caring people, family and friends and even strangers giving her the biggest smiles and best wishes for her life.

more work and a dream

glimpses of fittings of my overpacked working week, one of several to be followed. it worked out well but it was totally crazy to do three different jobs, multitasking is not my preference at all, but every night I am kind of surprised and proud to have made the day, but angry with myself as well to have put myself into that situation again......I write it down here, I will not ever do it again, this old mistake of mine, accepting projects that might interfere and then finding myself again in the well known situation of not getting one minute free.
But at least it was good work on all projects.

I like the strange/beautiful look of the little girl in the nightdress, she will fit perfectly into the slow and reduced elegance of the films my friend A makes.

...and sometimes coincidence leads to the best ideas like with the girl in the yellow t-shirt above. we bought it just because my assistants friend is from itzehoe, a small town in germany and then the actressgirl had a poem written on her arm by a friend and the typography on the t-shirt became interesting not irritating and we then decided to make a similar t-shirt with just that question mark on it and use the handwritten letters on her arm for the film.

...and this weekend is devoted to celebrate my little-big daughters school entry and I am very excited about the idea of two days off.



I would like to have one of that pictures of Lucas Ospina I saw tonight at our friend T's gallery opening, she couldn't tell me the price already so I am still dreaming about owning one of them...

summer again

an unexpected warm and wonderful summer weekend with a painful ending, another left foot toe accident that caused a four hour stay at the hospital, mainly waiting, with a happy but tired child. Yes, she likes hospitals and told me that she would have loved to stay even longer, being very much interested in all the stories behind the other children's accidents...