happy new year

I wish you all a very happy and wonderful new year! Thank you for all of your nice and supportive comments - they did me more good than you can imagine!

New Year´s Eve trash mix

Back to work - Christmas is over. On our urban beach there are a lot of parties during the year but the most beautiful is on New Year´s Eve. Hundreds or thousands of people bringing their fireworks to the beach. It is a fantastic show. But the next morning is a trash desaster. The red caps you will find for years in different bleached orange tones along the shore.

merry christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you.

simple

The last variation. It is so simple and straight. Works for easter decoration too. I didn´t know where to put some beautiful driftwood pieces. The bundle looked interesting, there was the vase and ...

clean white(blue) beach

I love the blue hour. - No beach cleanup at the moment. My studio is full of trash, no visitors, perfect for making new collages. And of course celebrate a little xmas mood.

variations in red

I couldn´t resist to buy the red ones. It looks more like christmas and less maritime.

I am not happy with my new camera - it was a cheap one and maybe I am too stupid or just impatient.

maritime xmas deco

Today we have heavy snowfall and strong winds across the baltic sea. Chaotic, but I like it.

I played a little bit with shell garlands. Also for the chandeliers. They are beautiful. Simple and maritime. But a lot of work. They are small and fragile. The blue bulbs(?) are from IKEA. And - of course - made from glass - but I fear they made the long way from China across the oceans to Europe. Shame on me to buy it. Usually I try to avoid it.

first snow and candlelight

We have the first snow - in time at the beginning of the xmas season. Beautiful - I love it. And this is my contribution for the candlelight thing. Thanks to IKEA.

nice/ france

Last spring my sister´s family did some wonderful beach combing for me - and that´s the result. 3 more are to follow.

message in a bottle 2

Yesterday has been a "boring" day on the beach - nothing interesting to find - except!!: a message in a (PLASTIC) bottle from a little girl. She seems to be on vaccation in a tourist resort about 100 km away - but only 6 days ago she send it on tour. I think it is very fast.

The weather was sunny and some wind from north-west. I have to be careful not to enjoy the pure beach without finding anything - not even plastic debris.

10/10/10

This has been my mini-event on the beach for the "global work party". The weather was great. But some other people made a big private party on "my" beach, so the trash to collect was limited. I didn´t want to be a killjoy.

350

The next beach cleanup event: 10.10.10. Yesterday I´ve got an email from tcktcktck and I decided to participate last minute. Worldwide action day for a climate change. Simply doing my little part.

www.350.org

25. international coastal cleanup day 2010

ICC - on saturday I went to one of the few beaches around here that is not cleanedup by the municipality daily. 70% is candy and chips, picnic and barbecue. Plastic bottles, tetra pacs, coffee to go. Only a few things were interesting for me to work with. But the next storm is already in action and will provide new flotsam and jetsam.

clean up the world weekend 2010

This is my collection from the "clean up the world weekend 2010". It took me 20 minutes to collect a shopping bag full of trash from under the sand on a beach that is cleaned up daily during the summer season - a tractor ploughs the plastic in to the sand. Everything looks nice on the surface. I think it is global trash and anybody on any beach in the world can do exactly the same picture.

glacier glass

I love the glacier colours of this glass pieces. It is from the beach, but not yet sea glass. I tested several sorts of glue . Now I found one - transparent and elastic for glass+plywood.

jenn

Hi Jenn - I copied your style just for fun only once. It was so tempting to try by myself. But as you can see I am not good with the fototechnics.

Thank you for beeing my first follower! My friends and family are too lazy to join in.

http://www.quercusdesign.blogspot.com/

drift wood pieces

I went to the steep coast this morning. To collect only small driftwood pieces for the beach kitsch series. But I could not resist picking up the colours.

clean up the world weekend

I have just been registering for "clean up the world weekend" on Sept.17-19, 2010. Don´t know yet where and who is going to participate. But I needed to make a start. This morning I went swimming on a clean and empty beach - the season is ending - and it was so wonderful except for a lot of garbage in the dunes.

So if anybody wants to join - welcome!

http://cleanuptheworld.org/

beach kitsch

I call it beach kitsch - it is unfair I know. I like them - but I do love my plastic litter works. These are relativly simple to produce and it brings a little money, because thats what tourists want to see. Beach romanticism. It is so understandable.

pre-plastic garbage place

At the moment my studio is opened for the tourists. I am not able to work because every fifteen minutes someone comes for a visit - which is in fact wonderful. Because of the cruiseliners it is a mixture of different nationalities. Really nice! Last week dutch and american, yesterday french, today spanish.

old rubbish place

june 19, 2010 kühlungsborn
glass+china+metal=old rubbish place on the beach. the signatures on the glass and china are a trip through german history - from monarchy to socialism

sketches

June 2, 2010 Zauberwald

May 26, 2010 - Hohe Düne

May 6, 2010 - Stolteraa

dangerous finding 2

At the moment everybody here is afraid searching for amber. There are phosphorus findings in the flotsam and they look very much the same. The remains (and reminders) of german bloody history.

European Maritime Day

Tomorrow is European Maritime Day in Gijon, Spain. One topic will be macro waste - marine debris. Surfrider Foundation Europe will hand over a petition "NOT ON OUR BEACHES" , 50,000 signatures strong, demanding that waste is finally considered a pollution like other forms of pollution (and not just a visual nuisance). In march 2010 Surfrider Europe organised the 15th "Initiatives Oceanes" - a europe wide beach-cleanup - with 40,000 participants on 800 beaches.

statement

I would like to focus on the plastic problem all around us. Every time I walk on the beach I am at the same time fascinated and frightened about this side by side of nature and plastic. How the sea works on the debris and sometimes you don´t know what is what. The variety of beached items is immense and makes you wonder about their journey and the story behind.
My collages are about environmental awareness. It is so normal for us to be surrounded by plastic. I would like to sharpen the eye for this human footprints on the beach, in the ocean. Doing it with art is a nice way of learning.
For me it is very satisfying to combine the daily walk on the beach with a little cleanup and to recycle the plastic litter into art.

dangerous finding

Yesterday I found an insulin pen from Danmark in the flotsam. Dangerous for the diabetic who lost it and for the feet to walk on the beach.

message in a bottle

Today I found a message in a bottle!! Not from Kevin Costner - but from a place some 15km to the east. A "Happy New Year 2010" was inside.

cold weather

I have been to the beach today - in winter clothes!! I found a rusty bicyclefork, half a saddle + a cat`s-eye. Colourful plastics. Green plastic soldier - fortunately with a broken gun and unfortunately with no feet.

welcome

A very warm welcome to a walk on the beach of a different kind. My apology for a bad english. Hope you enjoy the tour.