{happy father's day}

{memories of style: a javanese life}

Have I ever told you I used to be a little javanese girl? Well, I'm still a javanese girl, it's in the blood. But I've left my hometown since 1992 to study in the capital city of Jakarta, and found a life there (oh, I mean "here") and I'm glad that from time to time, my current job gives me a project that allows me to travel and spend some days in my hometown, Yogyakarta.


And there I was, in the midst of work, glad to be home. Just like in the old days. It is nowadays a challenge to maintain a javanese house. 'Expensive' is the most common excuse that many owners of javanese houses preferred to rebuilt their once traditional to a more 'modern', simplified, minimalist houses. Somehow my parents managed to keep the javanese decor intact. The main room still has the wooden divider, painted in the same kind of green as one used to paint the decorative details at the Royal Palace of Yogyakarta. Ceilings from woven bamboo. But since I've been in Sweden several times and brought back some souvenirs, the house's now got some Swedish influence :o) Can you see it? On the table are swedish christmast goats made of straw, and hanging on the door is a Dala horse welcome sign.


Life's still more or less the same in our house, which means as interesting as those times when I was a kid. For breakfast mom bought "pecel", a mix of steamed vegetables with spicy peanut sauce. Anticipating impromptu visits by our neighbours or friends or relatives, this time I was there an array of snacks were served for tea time: banana wrapped in sweet crepes, traditional pancakes, and rice crackers. The tea is also normally sweet. I had to remind mom that I would have tea without sugar. She used to protest my 'new habit', but now it's quite okay with her :o)


It made me happy to see that the table was dressed in batik table cloth, my mom's own creation.

That day we had a visit by a 'street singer'. Mom told me the boy had been a street singer since he was a kid. My late father, during his last years until he passed away in 2004, loved the boy's performance and was very fond of him. Since then, he became a regular visitor of our house.


In the evening my little sister and I took a becak (three wheeled pedicab) ride to a traditional snack shop and we passed by the streets in the area around the royal palace. I saw again the legendary banyan trees located on the palace's south square. Went in and out the palace's area through the once upon a time 'city gates'.



Back at home. I found it interesting to spot a Swedish vintage print in a javanese setting.


Or a blanket with Swedish Dala horse prints over a set of batik bedding. A mix of two traditions :o)


That was a day in my javanese life. Now it's time to say good night...

{memories of style: first day to school}

My mother was my first stylist...that's true :o) And my father was the dedicated photographer who didn't want to miss these 'historical moments', his 3,5 year old eldest daughter's first day to school. All dresses are my mom's owns.


school girl in the making




some finishing touches


ok, i'm ready!


"what will my future be...i wonder..."

{about amretasgraphics and me}

I'm moving as much as possible free contents from amretasgraphics.com to this blog, since I've got quite limited space in my server. I think it fits nicely though, and I apologize if these posts cut the flow of the blog :o)








What's actually happening at Amreta's Graphics? I can tell you, it's a constant trial-and-error! :0) But of course, it's pretty much self-taught, and exciting!

I work on my graphics and website from a corner room in our family home, armed with a laptop, an optical mouse, a play list of my favorite music, hot coffee or tea - whenever I have time amidst my fulltime job and violin practice, in the evening after work and on weekends.

To keep me inspired, having stacks of books and magazines, lovely papers, vintage fabrics, and other crafting stuff around me is indispensable...

Probably drawing graphics is a hobby that outdid my madness about violin and classical music - and later I developed an incredible fondness of folk music, prints and designs.

It all started in year 1999 when my dad bought for me a computer and I was tempted to create my own graphics - pretty awkward in the beginning and my first graphics were quite 'weird', so to say. But over time after surviving all the trial and error and tweaking - I got this addiction and it's amazing how it's going, up and running, and I enjoy the 'adventure' very much. It makes me happy!



{In memoriam. Fadjar Sidik, 8 February 1930 - 18 January 2004}


Probably it all fell naturally on me as I started my adventure in this world by being born to an artist couple. I grew up watching dad putting his creative energy into canvases and mom into fabrics. Our house was full of dad's paintings, the smell of oil paints, and mom's collection of patterns and batik. Being an artist's daughter also meant I was encouraged to dream, and from early in life I made friends with Bach, Mozart and Beethoven :-) It meant I first became an art student at age 3 when I had to sit in dad's class whenever my parents couldn't find someone to babysit me. And traveling with dad meant visiting local artists and discovering the art of life in the new places.

[.an.a.addiction.]

I bumped into Alyson and Marta’s lists, got inspired and shortly after I was tempted to make my own list. I posed my own questions and I was quite surprised myself that the words I listed pretty much talked about me...wow.wow. :-) .a.a.a. I renamed the list .about.amreta.:.an.a.addiction.
You can try it yourself. It's fun.

my name: amreta
born in: april
star sign: aries
four words: art, alfresco, adventure, authentic
current occupation: assistant, artist
aspirations: archaeologist, anthropologist, architect, astronomer, author
if I could be anyone: Athena, the greek goddess
if I could have a collection of anything: ancient maps
cities: Alexandria, Athens
favourite vacation was in: Alsace
favourite sight: archipelago
favourite author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
favourite book: Antonietta, A Beautiful Mind, Asterix-and-Obélix
something on my desk: art-pen
something in my room: armchair
something I shout: aye!
gemstones: aquamarine, amethyst, agate
fruits: apple, apricot, avocado
flowers: anemone, aster
veggie: arugula, asparagus, aubergine
actor / celebrity: Angelina Jolie
qualities: authentic, attitude, articulate, adventurous, attentive, amusing
tv shows: apprentice (the), amazing race
movie: amélie, a beautiful mind
legend: Alexander the great
favorite shop: amazon.com
favorite violinist: anne sophie mutter
favorite designer: anna sui
inspiring woman: anita roddick, founder of the body shop
verbs for living: admire, aspire, ask, act, adjust, achieve, advance, appreciate
I’m grateful to be: alive! :-)

Happy Thursday!

[.homework:.tagged.!.]

Oh là! I forgot to post my ”homework!” I got tagged by Sia last week! Yyaay!! It took me a week to finally have it up here! Better late than never, my friends...here it comes:

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Tagged rules

• Start with 7 random facts/habits about yourself

• People who are tagged have to write their 7 things on their blog

• Then choose another 7 people to get tagged and list their names

• Don't forget to leave them a comment to tell them they have been tagged and to read your blog


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7 things about me

1/
I used to hate my name; ”Amreta” is very uncommon name in Indonesia and, if you speak our language, it sounds older than old…’ancient’, that is! And other kids often made fun of it. Until, one day a friend who was studying sanskrit and hindu mythology, recognized that amreta is a variation of amrta, the ’water of life’ (mom also told me that meaning of my name), the drink that gives the gods immortality. I started my research on the internet and found stories about amreta / amrta and loved particularly this story which is related to how Garuda became the vehicle of Vishnu. Well, since then, I like my name! :-)

2/
My little sisters called me ”omeletta” – which is a much-easier-to-prounounce version of Amreta ;-)

3/
My favorite pair of shoes is my knee-length boots, and I love wearing long coats [ I wish there were such things as autumn and spring in Jakarta…;-) ]

4/
I've been wearing glasses since 1995, and just never manage wearing contact lenses.

5/
A home sweet home for me smells fresh brewed coffee and cinnamon over apple pie, and has on the table a bunch of pale-colored flowers with extravagant petals such as peonies or big roses. And the furniture are natural or painted, not vernished!

6/
I’m so curious how come that the Swedish folk song ”små grödorna” [little frogs] is so similar to Javanese folk song ”kodok ngorek” [croaking frogs]. Both songs have the same melody and talk about frogs. I never stop doing my research about it but still no clue until now :-(

7/
During my university years, I was so intensely into practicing and performing with the university’s symphony orchestra, that my classmates in French studies often joked that I was actually ’majoring in orchestra’

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And here I'm tagging (back) Sia, Lola, Meg, Jessica, Maggan, Imelda, Anna, Caroline