I remember an assignment we got at artschool: Something is happening in the landscape.

I believe I made a little etching of two legs sticking out of the long grass, rather silly.

In Richard Cartwright's landscapes something is always happening.

At first glance Cartwright (1951) paints pared back, dreamy landscapes, but soon you notice small figures or objects in them.

But not at all silly, in fact, I love these paintings.

Kathleen Hale (1898-2000), creator of Orlando, the marmalade cat lived to be a staggering 101!

She made 16 books about the red cat, the first one in 1938.

I love the way her drawings are soft but chrystal clear,

And I admire the rich colours, while everything is printed in just four.

And finally I like the way Orlando is still a real cat in every drawing, despite the human costumes and activities.

Giacomo Manzù (1908-1991) was an Italian sculptor.

The first work by Manzù that I saw was one of his Cardinal statues. He made several of them. They are almost funny in their pared back form.

His David however is impressive. It shows David selecting the stone to kill Goliath with. You see him estimating how to throw it.

In Holland you can see a work by Manzù in Rotterdam, in the Laurens church.

Ruskin Spear (1911-1990) was a British painter.

Due to childhood polio, he was in a wheelchair. This effected his choice of subject.

Most of his work is about family life and the people in his nabourhood.

I love the slightly anecdotic quality of his work: the set table, the people in the pub, the cat.

And I like the unaccustomed, posed look of his portraits.

Magí Puig (1966) is a Spanish, or Catalan painter. 

You could say his style is realism, but by leaving out the background, or sometimes painting it an even colour, people and objects become weird freestanding forms.

Puig also paints landscapes and cityscapes, but here I have concentrated on his beach scenes.

It is interesting that a subject you associate with holiday snaps, can be transformed into these beautiful images.

Maybe I have run out of artists I know anything about, for today I ask your attention for the Japanese Manga illustrator Taiyo Matsumoto (1967).

I associate Manga, no doubt wrongly, with characters with big wet eyes and open mouths, so these drawings are a revelation.

They remind me of earlier work by one of my favourite Dutch illustrators Thé Tjong Khing.

The film 'De club van lelijke kinderen' or 'The ugly children's club' has turned out great!

Koos wrote the book that formed the base about 30 years ago, but the subject (exclusion) is still very much valid, and Umami film productions has placed it firmly in the NOW, thrilling and funny, and most of all with very good actors.

I sincerely hope it will be shown outside Holland.

Suddenly it is upon me again: that time of year when we look at the world mostly from our windows.

To get us into the mood, I show some works by the Dutch painter Jan van der Kooi (1957)

He paints landscapes, portraits and still life paintings, but my attention was drawn to the eye-catching amount of windows, and the light that comes in through them.