Silver thistle beauty

Meet this Silver thistle, spiky and prickly, and beautiful:

And up close, filled with its own stars:

Connection between nature and architecture

In Switzerland we were hiking, looking whether we could see some mushrooms.

And there were only these puffballs, old and weary.... 

but while making a macro picture we saw its beautiful pattern:

Later on, while reading a magazine, I saw this picture of the Kolumba Museum, 

an art museum in Cologne, Germany.

The structure of the wall immediately reminded me of the pattern from the mushroom. 

It could have been a good inspiration, colourwise and patternwise.

Winter picture - cold colours

Winter in Switzerland: snow has fallen during the night and a cold morning shows this white forest,

I think it is magical.

Drawing at the Rijksmuseum

Finally, I made some time to visit Amsterdam, and more precise the Rijksmuseum.

They provide sketchbooks and pencils to get you into drawing several objects,

instead of taking pictures with your phone.

Ha, that's just something for me!
I like the architecture and the fascinating painting work of these old buildings!

art lab in the museum with a wall of drawings

I like to look up... especially in churches or old buildings,

and this ceiling is a beauty.

I think it is the lines and curves and the patterns all combined into one!

Of course the paintings in the Museum are also interesting to look at, many Breitners, Rembrandt of course, and some of the Cobra group.

Christmas presents

Lots of items in my Etsy-shop to give for Christmas, or for the New Year:

Christmas inspiration in the studio

Christmas is coming and I made some new cards:

And if you'd like to make your own festive Christmas tags for decoration I also made a design for them,

see my Etsy-shop for further information.

New work - painting on Friday

Being busy with all sorts of things makes it difficult for me to find time to paint.

I committed myself therefore to spend Friday morning in the studio to paint,

and to just paint what comes to mind,

and it's been good.

I worked on this winter-scene, sledging in winter, I love it and with a view on the Alps, 

it is a great and fun activity. You can find this painting in my Etsy-shop here.

Somehow I also made some portraits, for example this one:

And still working on this one: