This might be a bit too much for a normally relatively decent blog…

If´s theme this week is immovable. I found a quote I liked “Build your house on immovable rock” which sounds very sensible. but then I found this chap, and he looked so sad, I just had give him a reason for his sorrows…

(Ups, I never publish a picture I´m commissioned to do before I deliver it to the customer. But today I´m making an exception it seems. The text is added and is not on the original. Neither is the shadow behind it, that´s just added to make it easier to read. The picture will be a lot bigger than this, and there are a lot of details you unfortunately  can´t see.)

The original photo is from the company who´s commissioned the picture, and it´s from their engineering department, from about a hundred years ago. Even today, my bet is, you would never find a group of six engineers all dressed in different, brightly  colored suits, so the temptation was just too big to slip by.

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.

William Shakespeare

It started with the great wall of China, keeping the Mongolian warriors away. We´ve all heard of the Berlin wall that separated East and West-Berlin, and at the same time separated families for decades. Last October was the 20th anniversary for bringing that wall down. You still have other walls standing strong though: the one between Israel and Gaza, and the one between The Us and Mexico.

I am sure there are pros and cons, but it is rather sad that some nations find it necessary to close their borders so drastically.

This is a paper/paint-collage from my journal.

It is, however a subject that occupies my mind: the limitations, visible and/or unspoken, that apply for women, due to the expectations of the roles they are given. It confuses me and frustrates me, that we still in 2010 have these limitations. It even seems like we are moving backwards in both directions: More and more people are conservative, hiding their women in caging cloth. And on the other side of the pendulum, women wear as little as possible, trying to fulfill a hyper-sexualized and vulgar fashion.

Both sides, though completely opposites, have one thing in common: they define women as sexual objects first, and maybe as a human being second. It provokes me deeply, and I can´t understand how women (and men) are willing to accept this. It´s so shallow. Beauty first, brains not really needed. As long as you look like a cheap hooker, all is well.

Or on the other side: Women being covered up and hidden, in order not to arouse men. As if they can´t help themselves. If I were a man, I´d be deeply insulted by this view.

What do you think?

From the time we´re born until we die, we´re kept busy with artificial stuff that isn´t important.

-Tom Ford-

Two For The Price Of One lyrics

He had what you might call a trivial occupation
He cleaned the platforms of the local railway station
With no romance in his life
Sometimes he wished he had a wife
He read the matrimonial advertising pages
The cries for help from different people, different ages
But they had nothing to say
At least not until the day
When something special he read
This is what it said:

If you dream of the girl for you
Then call us and get two for the price of one
We're the answer if you feel blue
So call us and get two for the price of one

He called the number and a voice said, "Alice Whiting"
The voice was husky and it sounded quite exciting
He was amazed at his luck
The purest streak of gold he'd struck
He said, "I read your ad, it sounded rather thrilling
I think a meeting could be mutually fulfilling
Why don't we meet for a chat
The three of us in my flat
I can't forget what I read"

She said, "I'm sure we must be perfect for each other
And if you doubt it you'll be certain when you meet my mother"

One of ABBAs lesser known songs, "Two for the price for one", but with very merry lyrics that fit right on the spot for this week´s Illustration Friday theme.

I must have a drink of breakfast.

W.C.Fields

A bachelor´s life is a fine breakfast, a flat lunch and a miserable dinner.

Francis Bacon

A photo of me when I was young and innocent. I also added some pictures of my niece and nephew, who had a blast with my camera taking pictures of each other. I still remember myself at their age, and recognize some of their wishes and dreams. My wish at 5, was to becoming a princess, or at least to wear pink dresses.

The more important wish is to become happy. Which is the base for all other wishes. You can become a film-star or a fire-man or a princess or a teacher, but the ultimate wish is that whatever you “become”, it will make you happy. And that is what I would have written in my diary when I was five, if I´d had one.