Free Friday

 
   Just a quick free friday post in between the last minute preparations for the
   Etsy Showroom tomorrow.

   I decided (and Seb agreed) to offer a free set of three postcards to the first three
   clients at my Etsy Showroom booth tomorrow.
   What do you have to do? Well it's simple:

   1. buy something at my booth (price doesn't matter)
   2. mention this blogpost

   That's all! Hope to see you all tomorrow (I'd love to see you in 'real life')!

   PS. Me and partner-in-illustration-crime Ellen Vesters went to Breda today to visite
         a very cute shop for some inspiration and advice... more about that next week!

Etsy Showroom II

   Working on the banner for my 'live' shop at the Etsy Showroom this weekend...
   The Telegraaf (a dutch newspaper) did an nice article on this upcomming market,
   you can read it here.

Etsy Showroom

   In between commissions I'm preparing for this weekend's Dutch Etsy Showroom at
   In De Ruimte (Utrecht). I'm one of the 30 participants and boy is it gonna be nice!
   So many talented Etsy shop owners and creative people together!

   Here a few shops I can't wait to see 'live'. And for those who're not able to visite
   the showroom, just click the links to view (and buy in) the online shops!
 
   + first photo clockwise from top left:
      Petit Shop
      Squirrellicious
      Bint
      Twinklebird
 
   + second photo clockwise from top left:
      Broesj
      SecondHandSandy
      Puur Anders
      Tricar uvas
     

Faces

 
   Inspired by this book, I'm making faces. One of them might be used for a flyer I'm
   working on for the Utrechts Centrum voor de Kunsten. Which one do you like best?

Animals

   My friday (illustration and digital design) students are making animal post cards!

Free Friday

 
   After starting Bikram yoga with the image in my head of sweating out everything
   bothering me and getting very flexible (like finally being able to reach the ground
   with my fingers when bending foreward and being able to touch my knees with
   my nose)... I stopped pretty quickly cause my body felt like totally messed up!
   I felt like every nerve in my system was trapped.
   
   Because I still didn't want to give up on yoga in general, I've joined some 'normal'
   yoga at Studio Vandaan in Utrecht with friend E. How lovely! My new teacher
   (Danielle) is very kind, down to earth and explanes every pose so well that I totally
   understand what I'm doing and can finally feel relaxed and free while doing my
   moves. I even welcome the downward dog with enthousiasm!

   Today was especially luxurious cause we had the whole yoga session for
   ourselves, total freedom when stretching your arms to all sides, hurray!

   (illustration by Gemma Correll)

Dancing in the rain

   My wednesday-students made illustration 'Eric Carle' style, to a poem about enjoying
   the rain.

Paint with Sue

   This title sounds like a Bob Ross episode but is nothing like that (promise).
   My lovely friend Sue Doeksen came over for dinner, painting and advice. (I don't
   know why she needs mine cause she's a very talented illustrator and teacher who's
   doing very well is both professions on her own but it's nice to exchanges some
   experiences.) Anyway, after dinner she had some painting and sketching to do and
   I happily joined in. Where Sue's work is about big shapes, mine is more pattern
   and fine drawings. We painted with black ink which is my all time favorite
   material that I keep going back to. Sue also brought the 'beautiful monster book'
   with printed paper cuttings by Jad Fair, very inspiring!

New DIY kit!

 
   As of today, you can find a brand new DIY kit in the Etsy shop! It contains material and
   tutorials for two boxes: 'love will come your way' (with a little mole holding a big
   heart) and 'everything will be ok' (with two houses on a hill).
   Of course this one is, as his brothers, printed on and made of FSC paper and comes in a
   biodegradable plastic package, let's all hug the environment!

Spoor

 
   Finished the illustration for Spoor (the dutch railway magazine) last week, it was
   so much fun to do! You can view the whole picture here.

Free Friday

 
   Remember the garden I told about in my first Free Friday post?  We started to clean
   it out, cut branches, prune the ivy and build a compost bin with the leftover flexible
   branches (free material!). This is what it looks like now.
   I started sowing some little seeds (tomato, artichoke, beans, and more) which will be
   planted when the garden soil is ready. There's still lots to do, weeding, adding
   compost to the soil and making a planting plan and schedule.

   Unfortunately not all of this can be for free, so I'm trading plants and seeds with
   friends. We also planed a trip to a second hand garden equipment centre here in
   Utrecht, for some sturdy hacks and scoops.

   Before I started this whole project I was (and still am) a big fan of 'wild food'. What
   I mean is food you can find in nature and even in the city, for free! A good website
   to start with (for the duchies, sorry) is Pluk de Stad. They provide a map for the city
   you live in (although Utrecht is the best presented) with where to find what. We
   picked for example: walnuts, apples and elderberries. This was is autumn but they
   have a map for every season. The good thing was that all of this was found in and
   around my neighbourhood, and it tasted gooooood!

5 Questions to... Malin Koort

 
   If you though I was the only illustrator making miscellaneous things out of matchboxes,
   think again. I discovered Malin Koort's matchbox olympics and was mesmerized by her
   tiny detailed craftsmanship (and photography skills)! She also makes other wonderful
   illustrations which all together makes her this months 5-questions-interview chosen
   one.

1. Can you tell a little bit about who you are and what you do?                               My name is Malin and I recently graduated from Konstfack (University College of Arts,  Crafts and Design) in Stockholm where I’ve been studying graphic design & illustration the last three years. Now I’m working as an illustrator and artist here in Stockholm. I’ve been doing different kinds of work, book covers, editorial illustration, furniture patterns, stamps, posters and a lot of personal projects. When I’m not in a drawing-mood I build characters out of paper. I’ve just started a project building olympic games and stadiums in matchboxes and photographing them with a macro lens. I think of it as a new way of drawing for me. I usually listen to music all day long, drink a lot of coffee and surround myself with ideas on post-it’s and all kinds of material. I collect miniatures and plants.                                                                                                                                      
2. What or who inspires you?                                                                                 I’m very inspired by things and situations that are happy and sad at the same time (like.. graduations, or someones trip of a lifetime, child-stars, sundays, aging, nostalgia..) odd characters, people eating out alone, food, cookies, music and movies. I get a lot of inspiration from my childhood and the books I read as a kid (both story-books and picture-books). A couple of authors that have been especially important to me are Astrid Lindgen, Eva Bexell, Barbro Lindgren, Roald Dahl, Åke Holmberg and Lennart Hellsing. When I first went to art school and really started drawing I was living with my friend Pone who is a huge fan of Botero. For a long time I was very inspired by the posters in her room and I think it still shows a bit in some of my characters.                                                                                                  
3. What does your work proces look like, any specific techniques or combinations of techniques you prefer?                                                                                   Right now I’m very in to building with paper, but I’ve had a couple of favorite techniques, first mostly ink-pen, then for a couple of years I only did pencil-drawings, after that I was kind of tired of drawing with a pen and I started doing digital collages, scanning color dabs and cutting out shapes with the mouse using the pointy lasso in photoshop. Regardless of the technique I love doing a lot of detail, like making patterns on clothes or drawing leaves and grass. I think the most exiting time is when you're just starting out with a technique because you’re constantly surprising yourself. I don’t sketch (for me that would be kind of like reading the last page of the book), I usually start by writing a lot, making mind-maps and writing down any idea that comes in to my head, then I go and buy some new material, even if I already have what I need, but just to get that “fresh”-feeling. Then I’ll just start and when I get stuck I go on walks, watch 80’s movies, water my plants and talk on the phone with my sister.                                                                                        
4. How do you promote your work and do you have a 'best tip'?                       Actually I’m trying to get better at this myself. I guess my best tip is to start blogging, it’s a great way to spread your work and connect with other artists. It’s also like keeping a diary of your work and the blogging in itself can inspire new projects. Otherwise I think the best thing to do is just to work hard and be personal in your work, and not worry to much about being trendy or about what others will think of it (even though it is hard sometimes).                                                                        
5. What would be your dream assignment?                                                           Ever since I was little I’ve dreamt of doing the illustration on the back of the milk-carton (the swedish milk-cartons always have an illustration on the backside illustrating a recipe or a story). Another dream assignment is to illustrate a childerns book. Also I would love to get to work with ceramics. But really I’m still very happy to get every assignment that comes my way and to solve very different and new problems each time!

   Thanks so much Malin, for your time! 

   If you're curious about Malin and her wonderful work, visite her blog or website.

And the winner is...

   Please mail me your address so I can send you the Peace Bag beg! 

Alexander Calder

 
   Yesterday, I went to the Gemeente Museum in The Hague to visite the Alexander Calder
   Exhibition. What a genius, this man! I knew his sculptures (although the word sculpture
   seems a bit to solid and heavy for his light colored mobiles and pieces) but didn't know
   he also made a whole circus with his wire figures. It's so charming and touching! (You
   can watch a video about it here.)

   I walked through the whole exhibition with a smile on my face, looking up at those
   mesmerizing mobiles, which hung all over the exhibit rooms. Big applause to the
   curator for creating such a perfect environment for Calder's work to flourish (although
   it would probably even look magic in a shipping container).

   Sieb Posthuma, a dutch illustrator who's work I've been admiring for some time now
   (actually it was love at first sight when I saw his decor design for the Coppelia Ballet,
   it was like the dancers danced in a huge Posthuma illustration. I could do a week of
   blogposts about this!), made a beautiful children's book about Calder and his wire
   figures, to accompany the exhibition. I love how he made Calder's work proces fun
   and understandable for children. Art is such an important thing in a kid's (and adult's)
   life!
 
   My fellow blogger Prentje also wrote a great blogpost (in dutch) about this and how
   her son made his own wire figures.

   I've decided to extend the Free Friday give away to wednesday, so comment here if 
   you'd like to win the Peace Bag beg!

Free Friday

 
   I've made a new item for the webshop: The Peace Bag (or beg)!  If you need to say
   sorry or make peace with someone, this is your thing. A printed bag that contains a
   little white dove charm. It comes with a note for your written apologies.
   Making peace was never this charming!

   And because it's Free Friday I'll give one away! Tell me why you need it and I'll pick the
   best story on monday the 12th.

   Ps. Great thanks to friend K who inspired me to make this!

Indoors

 
   I have some deadlines to meet and therefore spending to much time indoors,
   behind my computer. An indoor view...

   The key novel was a gift from a friend who bought it on a trip to Germany.
   The garland was made by Sue Doeksen who send it to me on my birthday.
   I like the colors and decided to leave it hanging (even though my birthday
   was two months ago).

Working on...

 
   I'm working on an illustration for Spoor,  the dutch railway ('spoor' means 'railroad' or
   'track') company magazine. A few sketches...

Veggies

  

   When I was in art school (illustration) I designed a project about healthy food for
   kindergarten-kids with cuddly veggies. I regret a bit that I didn't make more effort
   to bring it on the market back then cause now, cuddly veggies are everywhere!

   One of my friends didn't forget though and she brought me a cute book called
   Helden in de groententuin (Heroes in the vegetable garden) and wooden veggies
   (which would do great with a magnetic strip on the fridge I imagine).

Emma

   A post on Sunday, what I normally don't do but this is a special occasion... I became
   an aunt! My sister and her husband are since yesterday evening the proud parents of a
   very beautiful girl named Emma. This little girl is already as stubborn as her aunt
   cause she had to come to the world by caesarean section (she was laying with her
   bum down, just like me). Both mother and daughter are doing very well.

   Of course the birth announcement card has been ready for weeks on my computer and
   I'm happy I can show it to you finally (instead of a baby picture,  I don't want to post
   someone else's newborn on the world wide web).

   I also made a cake but because I had to rush to the hospital, it didn't make it in original
   shape... (it was all shaken up by bike and train ride).

Free Friday

 
   Did you know that Pikaland offers a new desktop wallpaper every month? And of
   course I wouldn't mention this on free friday if it wasn't... for free! You can download
   the march version here. It's made by the wonderful Judy Kaufmann, who also has a
   very nice blog!

Virginia Wolf

 
   There're many wonderful children's books out there but this one is a true treasure.
   It's about depression, which seems like a daring topic for a kids book but in fact it's
   so well written (by Kyo Maclear) and illustrated, you'll find it hard te resist. This is
   the wonderful promotion video, made for the book and here you can find a
   full review. For the illustrator's (Isabelle Arsenault) blog, see here.

   (Photos come from Isabelle Arsenaults blog)