Happy holidays

 Happy holidays, enjoy the simple things! May creativity and art bring you joy, hope and comfort.

xo- Christien

Finishing touch

 A while ago I made a  drawing in my Nature Journal of some pomegranates. Last week I made some finishing touches with watercolour paint and colour pencils.

In Italy I saw these juicy fruits on a tree. Lots of them on one tree. A real mediteranean feeling...

A vase full of bloom

 A new painting in my ETSY-shop: a vase full of violet lilacs. I showed some pictures of the making of this painting in an earlier blog.

SOLD!

Christmas ornaments

 Last week I made some Christmas ornaments which will be handed out to people in a nursery home. They were asking for handmade ones, in the hope they can give each resident one. I used some gold paint for extra bling.

Amazing tall trees

 On one of my walks I come across these large beech trees, they are just majestic and have intricate branch patterns. With my phone I took a picture for inspiration. 

For the first drawing I studied the lines of the trees and how they connect. For the second drawing I looked at colour, shade and tones. It is a good exercise for your drawing and watching skills... which I should do more often but somehow I get caught up in daily life...

On demand

I am in Christmas card mode, with some orders for custom-made cards.

So I am painting, cutting and folding... hoping that those who receive this card for Christmas will enjoy watching it. I love sending some beauty and light into the world through snail mail.

 If you are looking for Christmas cards, you can find some designs in my ETSY-shop, or contact me for a custom made order :).

The grape vine

 In the garden next to the studio is our grape vine. It has grown abundantly and produced nice small bundles of grapes. And now it is providing a golden shower of leaves. 

This was the view from inside the studio looking outside, it feels like the nostalgia of autumn.

And a picture from outside:

Inside the studio I was working with some watercolour, and made this small impression of a branch with autumn leaves:

Next moss painting will be...

This is the picture which I made to serve as reference for my next MOSS painting.

I found this particular spot on a windowsill of a church.

 I will use a small frame to look for a nice colour composition. First I have to buy new canvases, I have run out of them.

Mushroom season

During one of my walks I looked for different species of mushrooms, and found these lovely porcini's. And other ones, there are a lot at the moment if you know where to look. 

I made drawings of chanterelles mushrooms, they can be printed on fabric via MOTIFLOW. To make into pillows, bags or even curtains. Here is a piece of fabric I ordered with my own illustration on it.

Another one

 On another day I made this one, very different...

Free your mind

It is just so much fun...painting and making, feeling excited by some colours and then just play with your brushes on paper to see what happens.

And my experience is: the more you practice, the better you get in composition, techniques, drawing.

This is a painting which just was fun to make, then stand back and watch what you've made. This abstract painting is really intuitive, don't overthink it, just enjoy the process.

 

Beauty in the garden

One step outside my studio and I am in the vegetable garden, which has turned into a wild garden due to lack of time. But nature does not mind, it goes on and on, welcoming the insects and lots of butterflies.

I just enjoy it every time. 

The palette of Zorn

 A couple of years ago we made a journey through Sweden and in the small city of Mora we visited the Zorn Museum, see info here.

Anders Zorn was a painter in Sweden (1860-1920) and because he lived a long time around Mora, the Museum has a large collection of his paintings and other works.

Some of his paintings have a sort of balance and harmony in colour, someone called it: the Zorn palette. This means that he used 4 colours to make his palette: titanium white, yellow ocre, ivory black and vermilion (red).

I made a note of this and in my studio I played around with this to see the possibilities:

I think this is only the beginning, but I do recognize the sandy soft colours he used in his paintings.

The museum is worth a visit, I liked to stand up close to his paintings, seeing the technique and enjoying the paintings as a whole. Next to paintings he has made etches, and other small works. I hope to be back again.

When nature gives you buntings

 Sometimes you see something special, like for instance on this September morning. The rain brought a water pearl bunting on our blackberry bush.

I like these silent parties in nature...

Pigments of a mill

 There is a mill near the city of Amsterdam which still functions as a mill to make paint pigments. It is called Paintmill De Kat (the Cat), see more information here. They are able to duplicate the pigments which were used on paintings of the Dutch masters.

I visited the museum and bought two pigments and some handmade paper. I have never worked with pigments before and two colours is of course very limited but... I want to try. Luckily there are some instructions and recipes on their website.

Colouring

 A bunch of colourpencils, some designs on paper and just start colouring!

I love making things, and customizing your own decoration. So I designed a little project to make your own Christmas decoration by colouring. It is a small set of 6 circles which you have to colour yourself. I found it quite calming to do, and enjoyed picking and combining colours.

I have made three designs which I put in my Etsy-shop, I hope lots of people will enjoy this project:

Paper play

 Paper in all types, coloured, used, folded keeps inspiring me. I was in need of some mindless making without thinking of results. I started with tearing up some coloured paper, added some other colours until I had a nice combination and then started to glue them in a composition. With the radio playing in the background it was a good meditative thing to do. And I like the result anyway ;). I made some other colour combinations and I have an idea what to do with them.

Starting with bits and pieces:

This is an in between picture:

Summer colours

 Summer weather and bright colours, enjoying these beautiful views! I did not alter the picture and I feel so much energy coming of this picture, I hope you feel it too.

I used colour pencils to draw the combination of colours:

Dutch woodwork

In a museum I saw these beautiful clogs made with care, attention and creativity. This craft still exists and there are people and children who wear them, but they are a minority. It is mostly sneakers and boots nowadays here in the Netherlands.

These clogs are painted, chipped (woodcarving) or with a special design with heel for the special days:

Failed pictures

Even pictures which did not turn out the way you wanted, can be made into something.

These fennel pictures turned out spherical:

Summer vibes

Enjoying summer vibes in my studio and garden,

lush green, lots of yellow flowers and blue skies,

inspiration everywhere...

This vegetable garden turned into a sort of wild flower garden... because it grows faster than I can keep up. I decided to enjoy it, and make some patches which I can control for my vegetables.

The upside of this is that there are a lot of bees and insects, I have never seen so many different species. Learning about them on the go...

This bench is perfect for eating my lunch and feeling the warmth of the sun. Loving the simple life!

Open studio tomorrow and Saturday

Hello! Tomorrow and Saturday my studio is open for a visit, so please feel welcome to drop by.

I have decorated my studio with various paintings, small new designs and you are welcome to sit in our vegetable garden.

The studio is open 11-17 hours.

For more info please contact me.