Monday, July 20, 2009

Winged messengers



Are you getting in the mood for a vacation? I thought this little girl might help, but she is hard to photograph,



or maybe I should take away a little glass to get a clearer view, or maybe I just need a good photographer? Someone like Susanna Gorden!

Do you know Susanna? I think you have met her; here, here or
in this issue of

there is an article about her art.

I met her for the first time through Constance's blog 'Rochambeau'. Constance is a very talented lady herself, but she doesn't hesitate to highlight other talented people on her blog. I love her and I love her blog. Today happens to be her birthday. Here is to you Constance! Have a great party down in ol' New Orleans! Dance them off their socks over there!

Back to Susanna Gordon: Besides being a very talented photographer Susanna has all kind of drawing and painting projects. One of them is 'winged messengers'. The first time I heard of that was in this post, at Rochambeau's.



Susanna draws and paints envelopes with wings, and she puts a message on the envelope. Such a message could be:

'Share your dreams with someone'
'You are beautiful'
'You are a work of art'
'Your opinion matters'

And so on, all very strong and positive messages.

The envelopes are left behind in several places. First Susanna did that herself, but soon she was asked to send her envelopes to other people who left them all over the world.

To make a long story short: I contacted Susanna and she sent me two winged messengers as well. One with this message: 'Share your dreams with someone'. The other was left blank, and that one got my message: 'You really are a friend'.
I made some photos in my home town Dordrecht, but in the end I left them in Rotterdam.
As it is vacation time now and I didn't share this with you before, I thought it might be a good idea to do some sight seeing now.

Let's go:


One of the shoe shops in Dordrecht. Dordrecht has been a poor town since the decline of the 18th century. So people tend to keep what they have for a long time, they don't modernize. Hence you can see this kind of a shop window, that seems to be out of the 60ties, just in line with modern shops.



Bike with wings...



16th century wall around the famous Dordrecht church.



Someone's car.



Cosy party, they might share their dreams about drinking acorn coffee, what do you think?



The historic harbour of Dordrecht.



View of the famous tower of the largest church of Dordrecht.

Now we'll go to Rotterdam: the city where I was born:

In the 2nd World War the historic centre of Rotterdam was bombed away. Now the centre of Rotterdam has a lot of world famous modern architecture, like these dice houses:



Yes, you can see two winged messengers on the left, on a brown panel. People live in these houses and one is open as a little museum for public. (Fun!)



There is a historic harbour in Rotterdam too and like in Dordrecht only antique vessels are allowed to sail here.



Mural painting in the historic port.



These people didn't mind that I glued (I used bubble gum) the messages on their car while they were waiting for the traffic light. Okay it's for Art's sake folks!



And this is the place where I finally left the winged messengers.
Here in front of the Willem de Kooning Academy, the art academy of Rotterdam. This cardboard house might be a project for the homeless, made by someone of the academy, I don't know. I thought it was appropriate to leave the winged messengers on this little house as decoration.

Thanks Susanna for letting me take part in your project. It was so much fun to do this and my assistents, my hubby (in Dordrecht) and my daughter (in Rotterdam) were very pleased to help too.

Would you like to know more about this project? Just check Susanna's blog about the winged messengers and have fun!

Just a last note: Thanks for all your comments and tips about the fork part; I never felt anything edgy of that fork again, and no I didn't check.

I'll be traveling through blogland, and have a post about once a week in vacation time.
Thanks for visiting me, have a great time where ever you are and what ever you are doing, hugs LiLi M.

Sorry geen nederlandse vertaling, omdat ik in de veronderstelling ben dat iedereen die daar behoefte aan heeft met vakantie is. Laat me weten als je toch zo'n vertaling op prijs stelt, dan schrijf ik er alsnog eentje bij. Bedankt voor je bezoek xoxo LiLi M.

34 comments:

Pink Princess said...

Nee hoor meis, Engels leest prima, lol.
maar ben je dr echt geweest of is het ge fotoshopped??
In elk geval, mooi gedaan!!

Stacey said...

Hope your vacation is absolutely wonderful and relaxing:)

Janine said...

meid ik lig dubbel van het lachen, ik zie jou overla met die vleugeltjes rondrenne en opplkakken, fotokes maken en hup naar het volgende idee, oompje angtje vraagt, zo mevrouwtje wat zijn we aan het doen, lili zegt niks meer agent, ik zie ze alleen vliegen, hahahahahah, maare, een enig idee, dus laat die gekke madame in de flasche maar lachen, jij hebt het toch maar weer gefikst om een prachtig blog te maken, cu, liefs van mie, jeany

Victoria - Florence and Mary said...

What a great idea!

Enjoy your vacation,

Victoria xxx

Lori said...

your winged messengers reminds me of the "project beautiful" post that i read about at Mel's...did you happen to see that when you went over to visit {yes, i saw that you were there and i thank you so much, you are a sweet friend LiLi}...it looks so pretty where you are...i love the shoe shop, it is so nostalgic...i wonder who has found your messages...

Heidi said...

Hé L, dat was me een leuk rondje Dordt en rotjeknor.
Ik zie het al helemaal voor me hoe je daar die vleugels aan het plakken bent! hahaha
Maar ik heb weer genoten!

Groetjes H

barbara said...

I love the sand castle in the jar. I'm assuming you made it. I love making sand castles but never thought about doing it somewhere other than the beach!

Andrea said...

Those wings are so cute! can't wait till you get your package this week! xo andrea

Sömsmånen said...

This is incredibly inspirational, thank you so much. And thanks for your kind words over at my place.
Do you know, I've actually been inside one of those cubic houses in Rotterdam! I found them odd,futuristic and mind-disturbing - which we also need from time to time, don't we? Good night!

kana said...

Lili,
Have a great vacation. Looks like you had some fun with the winged messages! Your little sand vacation girl is cute!

Miss Marple said...

Ik lig dubbel! En heb er nog fotos van Rotjeknorrrrr bij! Voordat mijn stage mij naar Maastricht en Duitsland bracht was ik ervan overtuigd in Rotterdam te gaan wonen, nu moet ik er toch echt niet meer aan denken!

Ik ga Susanna gauw eens bezoeken, want zo'n aktie lijkt me hier ook erg leuk!

LG - Irma

Anonymous said...

Have a lovely vacation ! I love your little beach ! Very cute and creative ! xo

LW said...

I love the wing message idea,
you are so lucky to have taken part in this
wonderful project…

Love all of the pictures but best of all is the bubble gum glue idea..
Very clever!


Enjoy the vacation time…

Louise

Decor To Adore said...

What a clever way to include your wings in each photo. I adore it!

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

Oh dearest Lili!
Wings carry a magical and unreacheable, unattainable yet intriguing sense with them! That makes their allure all the more enchanting. Thank you for taking me on a flight away from my thesis writing! I NEED IT! Anita

Country Cottage Chic said...

What a wonderful idea Lili! I enjoyed your photos and your tour. I hope the people who found the envelopes enjoyed them.

Jayne

oma leentje said...

HA ha geweldig zie je al vliegen met die vleugels . Maar is een topidee. NA een paar weken Amerika is mijn engels er op vooruit gegaan.(maar nog steeds een ramp) Maar ik ben niet op vakantie dus je begrijpt....... Over picasa daar zitten zoveel nieuwe meiden. Die hebben vast nog nooit van je gehoort. Ha ha Dus is niet zo dat ze niet willen maar weten niet wie jij bent.Jammer dat je niets meer doet op picasa. Ik heb altijd dubbel gelegen om jou opmerkingen.Ben nog maar amper begonnen met blog. Zoek het allemaal zelf een beetje uit. Voor een oma zoals ik valt dat niet mee.(hi hi) Gaan jullie nog weg?????? Wij alleen met bootje . Reis hebben we helaas al gehad. Volgend jaar weer.

Catharina Maria said...

Een geweldig leuke foto serie zo met de gevleugelde boodschappen .
Groetjes Rini

natalea said...

I just love all these affirmative notes being left everywhere! I just read about something similar the other day- so cool!
Happy Vacation time LiLi
xo natalea

vosgesparis said...

kijk dit vond ik nou en leuk project, niet dat ik mijzelf door de stad zie sjokken met en paar vleugels, dat laten we lekker aan jhou over, past ook meer bij jou dan bij mij dit soort acties.

Ik moest wel lachen om je tekst bij Leni, dus jij denkt dat je geexcommuniceerd bent door de picasa dames.. nou ik heb t tegendeel bewezen geloof ik..

corry said...

lili, een heel fijne vakantie, geniet ervan! Je rondleiding Is erg leuk gedaan, bedankt.

susanna said...

Hey, look at this! What a nice surprise!!! Thank you! Well, you know that I was thrilled with all of your photographs of the winged messengers. Your photographs are beyond terrific. My favourite one is of the shoe store. How I wish I could get you to take me there... Thank you for being a part of my project!

Recycled Rita said...

What a fun adventure...and how special those people will feel when they find the winged messangers...Happy Holiday...do something fun for me!
hugs! karen....

Twa said...

Wat weer een leuke rondleiding heb je ons gegeven. En wat een leuk idee die gevleugelde berichtjes. Leuk initiatief. Je hebt er een mooi plaatsje voor gevonden.

Pocket Full of Prettys said...

I happened upon your blog, love the winged message idea. And loved all the great photos, so beautiful. Renea

Jeanette Nord said...

Dearest Lili!
I think the envelope fit you like a glove: YOU ARE A FRIEND and you share you`re dreams with us all.....and you`re outings. As always when I read your blog I wish that you too lived on the other side of the park and not so far away! Now I must go take a peak at Susannas blog!

Take care my friend - hope to see you IRL one day!

Jeanette

Betty said...

What a wonderful project! I'm so glad you took us along while you found the perfect spot to leave the messages! I'm off to visit Susanna's blog now.

Unknown said...

Dordrecht looks amazing LiLi. I hope you have an amazing vacation. That car is awesome, and that building. Dordrecht is certainly filled with interesting details.

Have a wonderful vacation.

Karen

Unknown said...

LiLi,
I just stopped back to say that I went to Susanna's and then to another blog who also spread the wings of hope. What a wonderful project, thank you for telling us about it.

Karen

Stephenie said...

Your little winged messenger is just the cutest darn thing..I need a vacation soon...I'm going to Florida in October and just can't wait...Your post was so pretty..Loved all the pretty pictures...Hope all is well..
Stephenie

Brigitta said...

Wat een leuk project, ik ga zeker even op haar blog kijken. En wat een creativiteit in een glazen schaal!!! Je moet het maar bedenken ;-)
Groetjes
Brigitta

María Elena said...

Hi Lili, wonderful and funny!
Hugs.

rochambeau said...

Thank you, thank you for your kind birthday wish LiLi!!! You are a bonbon!

AND Winged messenger photos!! A few I have not seen before! Especially like the one on the car AND the gnome one! Very clever you are.
And
You are a kind friend.
Merci again!
xox
Constance


Constance

rochambeau said...

Dear LiLi,
Thank you for telling me about your grandparents. You are lucky to have had great influences in your life.
When is your Birthday?
Happy day to you~
xox
Constance