The Painting is….?

At a kindergarden in Khartoum, Sudan!

                    Last update 29 april 2009

If you click here you can see me in RTV Noord’s televisionprogramm, Wadapatja. How was the start of the journey? You will see it here.

Pictures of the painting

Click on the pictures to see a larger size.               

  The start of the journey. Me in Groningen  21-06-2005

First destination of the journey. Groningen June 2006

Groningen, 2006

Look here for the pictures of Khartoum, Sudan!

If you want, you can send a picture from you and the painting to michiel_thijssing(at)hotmail.com and I will take care that you can see it on this website!

Khartoum, Sudan. February 2007

Welcome my friend, what do you do when you have me?

           80X100 cm – acrylic on canvas – Let’s make the world better with more color and love

 
  Terms of agreement:

1. You can keep me for a maximum of one month.
2. After this period you have to give me away to someone who’s special to you.
3. Tell by way of this site (click on message) to who you have given me and the reason why. You can mail me at michiel_thijssing(at)hotmail.com  if you have problems with leaving your message on this website.

Chapters of this website

Do you want to know more about my story. If you are interested you can read it further down this page:

1. Last update of the journey.

2. The painting  in the media.

3. Start of the journey.

4. The story behind this project.

Click on What a wonderful world to listen Louis Armstrongs amazing song how the world shoud be. Beautiful background music.

Your opininion

If you want you can write your opinion about this project. For a message, please click on reageer (go to the bottom of that pageto say what you think about this project). Does it make the world betteror not? Can you give me advices to aprove this website? Everything youwant, you can write it here and will be appreciated.

After a journey of almost 4 years, the painting is still making new friends. That makes me very hapy. After all thatxc2xb4s what it is all about, to make the world better with more color and love. Here you can read what the last "owner" has to say about this journey.

Last update april 29th 2009

Journey report

Do you want to read more about the journeyof this painting? Click on journey report and on this page you will read more about the journey of this painting so far. You will read about the experiences from, Lucas and his kids , Astrid, Het Hoendiephuis, de suikerunie, Anna van der Laan, Miranda Madani, her sister in Antwerp. At this stage the painting is at a primary school in Khartoum which is in Sudan. Because the start of this journey was in Holland, there are a lot of messages in Dutch.

Painting in the media

The local media in Groningen has paid quite some attention to the start of this project. Tuesday the 21st of June 2005 for example, when there was an radio interview with OOG .  I explained in Paul Schwarte’s program Dagdoorbraak the idea behind the project and how this idea was borned.  The whole interview was about 10 minutes. March the 6th 2007 I was in the same program. This time the host was Gerbert Kuil and also this time the interview was about 10 minutes.

On the 22nd of July 2005 there was a documantary on TV, also on OOG . It was a beautiful documantary of 10 minutes, with the first "owners" of the painting on it.  It was so nice to see how much these people appreciated my project. That’s my main goal and for that reason I could say that this project was a big succes. 14 March 2007 you could see me on RTV Noord . The program Wadapatja showed the journey to the library 21 months later. If you click on Wadapatja, you’ll see the item.

Finaly there is also local journal De Groninger Stadskrant. A lot of people in Groningen get this journal for free. They follow the painting during its journey as good as they can. By this way the people in Groningen got a very up to date coverage of this project.
The internetsite Blik op nieuws paid attention to this project on the 4th of March 2007. Here you can also see a beautiful picture of the painting in Sudan. Het Friesch Dagblad had a little coverage about this project March the 5th 2007 at her frontpage.

Thanks to all this attention in the media a lot of people can enjoy the journey of this project. I say thank you to everybody who made this possible.

The start of the journey

The journey, from the painting "Letxc2xb4s make the world better with more color and love," was on June the 21st 2005. The journey begun in the central hall of the library of Groningen. From 1:45 pm anybody could take this painting to his or her home for free. In return the "owner" of the painting has to pass this painting on within a month to someone special. For example your sister because she became mother for the first time or to your best friend because he is very ill. On a small scale this painting has to bring more color and love to the people so that this world will become a little bit better after all the sad news. On the 22nd of June 2005 Astrid de Jong gave the painting to Lucas and was the start of this painting a fact.
So far the journey is very succesful.The painting has made a lot of people in Groningen, Holland, very happy. It even has been a little while in Antwerp. Right now, the painting is in Khartoum, Sudan. It is unbelievable that the journey has brought the painting that far. I wonder what kind of adventures the journey will bring more.

I wish this painting a pleasant journey and i hope you will make a lot of people very happy!

Let’s make the world better with more color and love The painting – 80 x 100 cm acrylic on canvas

Introduction

The Beslan school hostage crisis (also referred to by the media as the Beslan school siege) began when armed terrorists took hundreds of school children and adults hostage on September 1, 2004, at School Number One in the Russian town of Beslan in North Ossetia. On September 3, 2004, the third day of the standoff, shooting broke out between the hostage-takers and Russian security forces. According to official data, 344 civilians were killed, 186 of them children, and hundreds more wounded. The terrorist attacks were the responsibility of Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev and his principal Ingushetia-based deputy Magomet Yevloyev.

                       Click here for a in memoriam of this horrible tragedy

After this horrible story and also the news about the starvation, massacres and rapings in Darfur, Sudan and the sad news from Iraq, I felt myself powerless against all this sad news.  But what can I do? How can the world community stop these horrible events especialy when young children are involved? I wanted to do something against all this sad news. But I was wandering what I could do, how can you change this world we are living in. I mean for example I am not Bush, Blair or Putin who realy can change the world. So can I do nothing, do I have to watch while these terrible things are happening in the world I love?

        Click here for why we have to act now to stop this tragedy.

The idea

The idea was born to make a positive painting about color and love. It was a reaction against all the sad news. The world is beautiful, very beautiful, but in my opinion  the worlleaders like Bush, Blair or Putin are making the world grey. Love seems to be a word which not seems to be in there vocabulary.
During the making of this painting, I had the idea that this painting had to travel, The message: "Letxc2xb4s make the world better with more color and love, " must be send to the world via this painting. The main goal of this project is that everybody can make a change, starting by yourself.

The idea for a painting was born

The idea

I want to reach people with this project with the main goal to become concious of the fact that if you give love to your fellow-man you will see that you will get it back. Of course I hope to reach that to as many people as I can. You will see that when you have got this colorful painting and pass it on to someone who is special for you, the world wexc2xb4re living in will become more beautiful then that it is wright now. Who doesnxc2xb4t want that!

Word of thanks

Without the help of my friends and girlfriend, I never could have made this beautiful project. For that reason I want to thank them. Thanks: Francisca, Serge, Martijn, Evelien and last but not least, Dorien, my girlfriend!

                                  Everybody is equal!