what to do with the blog?

Leave a Comment

Since 2007 I've been a blogger. First a more 'sketchbook focussed blog', later a blog about my work as an illustrator, arts teacher, diy-er and personal life: this blog.
Lately I've come to a point where I feel a bit uninspired blog wise... and I wonder, should I stop blogging and just focus on my instagram account and facebook page?
Somehow, posting on 3 different media, working as a teacher and doing commisioned illustration work (+ being a mother of two young children) has become a bit too much...

I still feel uncertain about wether to blog or not to blog (hehe) and am not ready to absolutely quit this humble space online. Therefor I will take a break, as a little test to see if I can do without blogging.

In the mean time, I do hope to see you on instagram (@kimslittlemonsters)or facebook

workshop short story illustration

Leave a Comment

Curious about your drawing talents? Always wanted to illustrate a story? Just want to learn illustration skills? Then I've got some news for you: I'll be teaching a one-day-workshop in november about how to illustrate your own short story!

We'll depict the theme 'an ordinary day' in a little folding book, using ink and collage. You'll learn about composition, creating depth and movement in an illustration and we will also focus on how to tell a (visual) story in an clear and - very important - enthralling way.
At the end of the day you have made your own little booklet!

The workshop is suitable for both beginners as more experienced students and will be teached at Cultuurhuis Wherelant in Purmerend (about 15 km from Amsterdam) on sunday november 12th.

You can find more information or subscribe at the Wherelant website.
Or come to the open house at september 10th from 13.00 till 16.00!

------------->

In één dag je eigen boekje maken en illustreren
Het thema is ‘een gewone dag’, waarbij je een gebeurtenis uit je eigen dagelijkse leven gaat illustreren. Aan bod komen dingen als: hoe deel je een beeld in (compositie), hoe creëer je diepte en beweging, hoe vertel je je verhaal duidelijk en boeiend en hoe maak je een boekje spannend en afwisselend om naar te kijken.
We maken een beeldverhaal d.m.v. een combinatie van collage en tekenen in een harmonica-boekje. We gebruiken oost-indische inkt en ecoline (zwart/wit met 1 steunkleur).
De workshop is geschikt voor zowel beginners als meer gevorderde tekenaars.

Voor meer informatie  of om je in te schrijven ga je naar de Wherelant website
Of kom naar de open dag op 10 september van 13.00 - 16.00!

The Wedding

1 comment
From top to bottom: photo 1, 3 and 4 by Bob Leistra - photo 2 by Rob Welling

Hello Hello, here I am writing to you as Mrs instead of Miss ;-). Friday the 25th of august Me and M got married!
It was a wonderful day, the weather was just perfect, sunny but not too warm. We aimed for a relaxed day with good food and I think we nailed it with the help of a few very dedicated professionals:

Imke Verhoef decorated the venue in the colors of our wedding invitation. She also made my bridal bouquet. I gave a some (very vage) instructions before which she translated magically into precisely what I hoped for.

We did not want a traditional wedding cake so we asked De Rivierkeuken to make us a cake buffet with a variation of cakes, pies and sweet bites. Because I don't eat sugar and we also had a (little) guest with a allergy for milk and nuts, Astrid from the Rivierkeuken made us a few cakes without. We got so many enthousiastic responses from our guests that the food was yummy (We're still enjoying some left over pieces, that are in our fridge).

For our (day) venue we choose Het Weeshuis. A beautiful old dutch building with coutyard garden, which was perfect for our small ceremony. The people at Het weeshuis made sure the day went smoothly and were very sweet. (And, something I had not thought of in advance but my dress color - blush pink- matched so well with the interious color - greenish blue - of the venue!).

Our photographer was the talented and ubercool Bob Leistra, a photographer / DJ who's a friend's daughters' boyfriend... do you still follow? ;-). I'm so pleased with the photo's he made (and, also important, he's such a sweetheart).

At night we had dinner at De Kruidfabriek. They have a small glass house which was reserved for our small party. Very Very tasteful dishes, wine and dessert (again, no sugar but very creative and gooood!).

My sister also worked her ass off as our 'best woman', and our parents and maid of honour all made our day with presentations, speeches and funny stuff.

After this joyful day me and M went to Arnhem for a mini-honeymoon at the Hotel Modez. There was a bit of a misunderstanding with the reservation but they made it up the next day with a champagne breakfast.

What I enjoyed most was that everyone was so happy, warm and thoughtful to us, on this important day. So, what more can I say.... it was P E R F E C T!


wedding

Leave a Comment

It's almost there... my wedding! On friday is the big day and we are busy busy busy with the last preps. I made my husband-to-be a bow tie (the toddler has a mini-version), ordered beautiful paper flowers to be mixed into my bridal bouquet and hair. The kids have cute outfits, our location stylist has made the prettiest decorations and... The Dress is in the house. We're almost ready!
See you next time as a married woman ;-)


Mini Drawing Spark #4

Leave a Comment

Here we are again, it's Mini Drawing Spark #4!

This one is inspired by my favorite daily lunch, salades ;-). We're drawing veggie and fruit!
Wait, not only drawing, we're also taking a little side step to collage.

Go to your fridge for vegetable examples (or fruit of course). Empty fridge? No worries, just look for veggie pics on the web. Look closely at the shapes of your finds.
Cut those shapes out of (colored) paper and glue onto a sheet of heavy paper (I prefer 160 - 200 grams Academic drawing paper). You can make a still life, let the shapes overlap, choose whatever composition you like.

Now draw the vegetables / fruits onto the shapes using a fineliner or ink. It's totally okay if they do not match the paper shapes perfectly. I drew my kiwi and fennel a bit off on purpose, makes it look more dynamic and fun.

Enjoy!

Kunst Klub [Art Club]

Leave a Comment

I think I can say that the Kunst Klub [Art Club] I organised in our little village was a succes! You never know how many kids will join but all days had enough subscriptions, wednesday was even fully booked. All kids were between 4 and 7 so it was - age wise - a good group as well. I got enthousiastic feedback from both parents and kids, which of course is the most important of all!
Overall a great start with this first Kunst Klub.

So what did we do?
On monday we made our own flags/ wall decoration using fruit and veg stamps. The kids sewed, stamped, painted the flags and crafted tassels.


Wednesday was ice cream day. First drawing your fave ice cream, then making a big version out of paper and cardboard.


On friday the theme was 'wood'. The little artists made boats out of scrap wood. I also made them little ship journals which they filled with drawings of creatures and sights seen on their imaginative sea journey.


Because each lesson took 2.5 hours I also prepaired some side activities outdoors like: blowing super bubbles (I eventually used this recipe) and making a sidewalk chalk painting (recipe for the paint here, I used the much more food coloring though, about the double amount).


My personal favorites were making the boats and the big bubbles, so much fun! I'm now aiming for a weekly Kunst Klub and maybe a summer version again next year... I'll keep you posted!












In The Moment Mag - comfort box DIY

Leave a Comment

For the very first time in my life I can say I am on the cover of a magazine! Okay, It's not my face, it's my work and it's tiny, but still, I am on a cover, hooray!

So on what cover? It's a new magazine from the UK called IN THE MOMENT - mindful ways to live your life well. And, very cool, it's the very first issue that I'm featured in!

They asked me to design three Instant Comfort Pocket Boxes for their readers to DIY.
I made three cut sheets, one for each box design, pictures for each DIY step and the tutorial. The lovely (truely, they are very sweet) people at In The Moment Mag made this into a 10 pages feature, including an interview in the end. Huzzah!

I already saw a lot of finished - in the moment mag - boxes on instagram, so great to see people enjoy making them (and they all looked very well made, couldn't have done it better myself)! Have you made one too?

Get your In The Moment copy here.


Testing art lesson material

2 comments

When I'm teaching art to kids -in this case at De Kunst Klub [The Art Club]- , and I'm using new material or method, I'd like to test it in advance. My 3.5 year old is always very willing to help me out with this. Even though he's a bit younger than my regular art class kids, he's a very skilled crafter (ok, I know, I'm his mom, but he really is) so if he can do it, I know the older kids can too.

This week we tested lots of things:
1. Super Bubbles
I found out that my bubble wants needed some improvement and I needed to try another bubble recipe...

2. Sidewalk chalk paint
This was an intant hit. I used this recipe (but added a bit more color), it dried up beautiful. And, also important (I almost can't imagine but I did found out that some people feel a sidewalk piece of art is 'a mess that should be cleaned'), it was washed away easily.

3. Scrap wood boats
I'm planning to work with wood with 4-7 year olds so I figured testing some skills would be wise. With my toddler I found out that using a hammer is still a bit too much to ask (even when holding the nail with a clothespin) but using wood glue is a good alternative. I loved seeing how his imagination took him to make two amazing boats that are both very different (a sail boat and a cargo ship according to the toddler, I can only agree).
I decided during the testing process on letting the kids use crayons and markers to decorate their boats, this will add a little bit extra to the creations.

Looking forward to start the art classes at the  Kunst Klub in Ilpendam next week!
Would you (your kid) like to join this art feast? There are a few spots left on monday and friday. Please contact me through email to subscribe---> see the about section).

Work in proces - sketches

Leave a Comment


These sketches (okay, it's not literaly a sketch, I'm just not that 'pencil-sketch-person', fine liner and paper are my way ;-)), I've been working on -among others- the past two weeks, for an illustration for a dutch development aid organization.

Key was to show a cultural diverse neighborhood and collaboration. I've cut silhouettes from black paper to make people and drew houses using a fine liner (I prefer steadler pigment liners or lumocolor). These were scanned into the computer and made into a colourful spread illustration, but more about the finished product in a later post.

I like working this way, with different materials and techniques. Normally I would draw almost every element but lately I'm focussing more on paper shapes and elements. (also see this post on paper cut illustration). It forces me (in a good way) to think differently, more in 'shapes' than in 'lines'. Especially with figures, I prefer keeping it a bit 'abstract'. This makes it easier (for me that is) to create a specific posture or character without having to draw it over and over again because one small piece (fingers/ the way a dress is draped/ face) didn't turn out the way you wished.



Kids art class

Leave a Comment


After years of teaching mostly adults, I recently started to teach kids more again. I forgot how much I enjoy this! Although it's a bit more juggle than an class of grown ups, it's also so rewarding and inspiring. Especially to see the shy or frustrated kid bloom during the course.

The boy that seemed a bit rude and unmanagable in the beginning, turned into a hard worker with some encouragement and compliments. The girl that mostly yelled through the classroom that her work was ugly, slowly became more confident and focussed. But the best of all is that when I come into the classroom they all scream: yeah, Miss Kim is here again!


Although a group of 20 ten-year-olds are quite a bunch to handle, they also give me so much energy back (not to mention the great artwork they made, I just love their drawing style!), I always go home with a smile.
Such a shame next week is already the last lesson of this school year. Luckily I can look foreward to the summer Kunst Klub [Art Club] I'm organising in my own village :-).

Above a selection of the artwork they made during this weeks lesson (some during the process, some finished). I put up a few still lifes with veggies, fruit and flowers, which they drew using pastel crayon on black paper. At the end, we ate the fruit and veggies, which was a hit!
all content on this blog © Kim Welling unless stated otherwise. Powered by Blogger.