Best wishes

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and lots of creativity and colour for the New Year!

Portrait of a man

 Here is another exercise-page from my sketchbook. I used the same technique, choosing some colours and then just go with it. I like the unexpected outcome. It is nice to spend the dark days of December trying out different techniques. 

This Wednesday my studio is open for the last time this year. After that it will be used for some Christmas dinners and I have plans to do a thorough clean after that to start fresh in the New Year.

Three colour pencils

I took some time to draw with Sandi Hester on Youtube. She advised to choose three colours to use for a drawing. I chose a blue, an ocre and an orange from the brand Bruynzeel. 

Experiment a bit with mixing them, and then use a portrait as an example and just go with it. It was really fun to do! At the end she mixes them with water but I decided to leave it this way, and next time make one with water. Here are some pictures of the process:

Prepare for some colour

 On my desk last week was some paper and acrylics, and I just wanted to have some fun with abstract work and mark making. Just intuitive painting, turning the paper, adding paint, scratching etc. And for now this is the result:

And another one:

Every day inspiration

 Koosje Koene said: draw what is in front of you, so I did. I used a permanent marker for the bold lines and watercolour to paint, and so my everyday life became a page in my sketchbook.

It has been a bit busy so I find it hard to take time to draw. But it is so good to train your skills and creativity... next to going out and seeking some relaxation in nature.

Autumn colours

This week I will be looking at Autumn colours with a group, to be inspired to draw some leaves, or to make an abstract impression with paint.

Lots of leaves around!

 

Open studio

 This weekend my studio is open on Saturday November 12th, 11-16 hours. It is the national open studio day in our country and I'd like to welcome you to drop by and see the workspace of an artist. I hope it will inspire you! It will already have lots of Christmas cards, small giftpacks, vintage craft books and of course artworks. Please contact me for visiting details.

Out...

I am out and about for some beautiful colour inspiration and some much needed exercise. This beauty is at our kitchen window...

 

Moody...

After this warm and bright Summer I had to adjust to Autumn... especially when we went to a moody Scotland, with rainy showers and endless grey in the sky.

But still beautiful, especially when you go out and hike, and see these palettes of colours, and this rolling landscape.

Of course a warm cottage to come home to did help :).

I am taking these colours with me in the process of creating.

 

 I think I'll try to paint this last picture, with a lot of greens I now realize...

Jingle, jingle...

 In the studio I am working on some ideas for Christmas, and I just wanted to make something different, a bit funky... So I combined some beautiful copper paper I saved with a blue card and painted paper. It is just a bit of happiness, so I put these four in my ETSY-shop (which will reopen October 15th).

Out for some inspiration

On a walk in the forest these ferns in different layers and colours caught my eye. Much too difficult for me to paint, where do you start...? But inspiring anyway.

 

Window view - drawing the scene

Drawing is fun, and always challenging. This was a window view from Youtube, in a tutorial by Koosje Koene. I drew along (she is fast :)). The fun thing is: I would never pick this scene myself, but it is all about drawing, shapes etc. and you learn each time. And now it is a drawing in my sketchbook.

 

About 30 animal drawings

 I have been working on a nice assignment to draw about 30 animals in watercolour. I made a few examples first to see which style would fit best. And when this was agreed upon I started drawing. I used books and photos as reference for colour and shape. First a drawing in pencil, then watercolour and then pen. A nice challenge! Here you see one of the animals, and also the paper on which I tested and looked for the right colour.

Portrait of Barbara

 Another page from my sketchbook: the left is a start for some abstract graphic pen drawing, and the right is a portrait of Barbara Pravi using a Derwent pastel pencil in Prussian Blue. I was listening to her songs and decided to make a quick drawing, she is quite photogenic.

Layering

 This one is from my sketchbook, painting on a very small size with limited colours. I diluted my acrylic paint so I could paint different layers which gives it a bit of a transparant look. I added some detail with coloured pencil. A good exercise!

It is that time

It is that time of year again... to go out and see the heather in bloom! It is spectacular and abundant. Due to drought some of the trees already shed their leaves, so autumn is coming too. 

Inspiring museum

The Museum of Textile in Tilburg is always a nice place for inspiration. A part is an exhibition of the collection of blanket making, a part is a Lab and another part is a thematic exhibition. At this moment there is an exhibition on natural colouring. The industrial setting combined with a lot of creativity is inspiring. More information, see here. 

 

Leaf shapes

 Printing shapes of plants: I was looking around for some nice shapes to do some plant printing and I found this one, I do not know the name, I have not seen it before.

Dipping the shape into some paint and then see what happens:

Paper collage

Some earthy tones inspired me for a small creative project. First I tore up some paper pieces and arranged them layer by layer, just playing around, adding more dark or bright tones. I started off with a square but ended up with a circle. I then glued them as a composition.

I also used some of the colors as a reference for combinations. Another fun afternoon in the studio!

 

Golden sun

This week I waited for some amazing sunsets, yes waited because it was slow going. But pretty spectacular with a golden lining...

Some golden and yellow painted paper inspired me to make a sun for you. There is something about paper, colour and shapes that makes me happy, maybe because it is so unpredictable:

 

Natural plant colours

 

These are all jars of plant material with water, to let the sun and warmth extract the colours. I took this photo on FLORIADE Expo, where there was a pavillion built like this. It is called Shade by Nature and is a project by the Almeerse Wolunie, a society of wool-lovers. 

I liked the design, the colours, the process and the idea of finding natural colour. Inspirational...

Plant roof

 This Tiny House was designed for the horticultural magazine Groei en Bloei, made of wood and the roofs were covered by plants. I loved this colour combination, it was all happy, fresh and bright. It can be seen at FLORIADE Expo in the Netherlands until October.

I tried to capture the colour combination with some pencils:

Sketchbook page

 Still sketching... these drawings are made from TV images as you can see by the format and composition. They learn me to sketch quickly and they give ideas. Love doing this.