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!

Mini Drawing Spark #3

Leave a Comment

Time again for a Mini Drawing Spark... #3! 

In this mini I dare you to play with black ink, make spots, dots and ink-accidents. You can do this by pouring some ink on a piece of (heavy) white papier and blow softly till the ink starts running. Or, wet the paper first with a large brush and water, then drip the ink onto the paper and it will spread.
Play, have fun, make a mess! Let it all dry.


If you have a few small and larger ink spots, take a closer look. What do they remind you of, what do they look like? Is it an elefant with wings? Or a rabbit with two heads? Let your imagination run free.

Now take a fountain pen or bamboo pen, some white paint or white pen. Add eyes, extra legs, paws, and so on, to make your ink spot into an animal or other creature.

Enjoy!

Kinder Kunst Klub Ilpendam

Leave a Comment

This post is in Dutch because the event it's about is local (sorry world!).

Na jaren in Utrecht te hebben gewoond staat mijn huis alweer 4 jaar in Ilpendam, een piepklein dorpje net boven Amsterdam. In Utrecht gaf ik natuurlijk illustratie les aan volwassenen maar heb ik meer dan 10 jaar ook les gegeven aan kinderen.

Nou leek het mij een fijn plan om ook eens in ons pittoreske dorp een zomerse week met drie middagen kunst en knutselen voor kinderen van 4 t/m 12 jaar te organiseren.

De Kunst Klub vindt plaats op 31 juli, 2 en 4 augustus 2017. Elke middag heeft een eigen thema en een eigen materiaal/techniek waarmee we werken. Je kan kiezen om 1 middag mee te doen maar allemaal mag ook.
Enne, natuurlijk hoef je niet uit Ilpendam te komen om mee te mogen doen, iedereen is welkom!

Dit is het programma:

fris & fruitig stempelfeest 
maandag 31 juli 14.00-16.30 uur
Stempelen met gekke materialen en we maken iets dat wappert...

knip plak papier hier
woensdag 2 augustus 14.00-16.30 uur
Knip plak en versier jij een levensgroot....?
(hint: het is koud en smaakt lekker) 

hi ha hout
vrijdag 4 augustus 14.00-16.30 uur
We gaan bouwen met hout en restmateriaal en het heeft iets met water te maken... 

  
Wat kost dat?
Een losse les €17,50
3 lessen         €48,-
Dit is inclusief materiaal en een hapje en drankje
locatie: Het Dorpshuis in Ilpendam

Wil je meedoen?
Mail je naam, leeftijd en telefoonnummer naar: kim apenstaartje kimwelling punt com










DIY design vase

Leave a Comment

Browsing through photos of my work from the past 10 years I found a little project I totally forgot about! A few years back I had a quarterly DIY item in Genoeg, a dutch magazine about living with minimal needs and made -among others- this funky vase!

And because one can never have enough vases, plants and flowers, here's the DIY design vase tutorial:

Material
+ old newspapers and toiletpaper
+ empty and clean plastic bottles in different sizes
+ chicken wire (but you can also use a handle from another bottle)
+ wallpaper glue
+ acrylic or wall paint
 (I used black and white but feel free to go nuts with colors)
+ strong tape
+ scissors, cutting knife 

how to

 
1.
Start with a large bottle, and cut elements from the other bottles to put onto the larger one. Cut holes the sizes of the extra elements. Make sure you place everything in a way that the vase can still hold water. Stick everything firmly onto the base vase with tape.


2.
Cover your vase design with about three layers of newspaper strips and end with a few layers of toilet paper (all layers and strips covered in wall paper glue) to make the surface smoother. Let it dry (this can take a few days).

3.
When your paper mache layers are dry, paint your vase. I choose simple stripes so it doesn't compete with the pretty flowers.




Father's day DIY for kids

Leave a Comment

What better gift to give on father's day than a personally made peice of art? Kids art!

With my 3 year old I made a No. 1 Best Daddy Award for father's day (in the Netherlands it's father's day upcoming sunday the 18th). And, in case you are desperately seaching for 'what-to-give-this-year', I'll share the DIY steps with you.

Needed material
+ 1 wooden block
+ shells
+ left over material to make the daddy figure
   (we used a wine bottle cork, a small ball made of newspaper and tape
     and two small wooden bars, eye stickers, buttons and a peices of string)
+ fineliner
+ paint (preferably acrylic or wall paint)
+ small white paper card that'll fit onto the front of the wooden block
+ strong glue (or glue gun)

How it's done
1.
Decorate the wooden block on 3 (long) sides with the shells (glue them onto the wood).

2.
Glue the cork and ball together and add the wooden bars (or anything else you choose) as arms.
Let the glue dry.

3. Paint the figure and glue the eyes, mouth, nose, hair, etc. onto the figure. Then glue the figure onto (short side of) the wooden block.

4. Write 'No. 1 Best Daddy Award' adn the name(s) of your kid(s) onto the blanc card and glue it to th efront of the wooden block.

5. Done! Go give this piece of art to the lucky man!

paper illustration

Leave a Comment
illustration detail 
 
 illustration detail 

 
 elements cut out of paper and scanned
 
Lately I'm drawn more and more towards cutting and assembling paper in my illustration work. Normally when making an illustration I would first draw every element by hand using fineliner or pencil and then put everything together on the computer. But since I started with the little portraits project - and got myself some pretty paper from my favorite shop Vlieger in Amsterda- paper is speaking to me ;-).

For a new commission for Maters Hermsen (a dutch company that publishes in-corporate magazine for a diverse range of clients) I made illustrations with only paper and computer. I started by cutting diverse elements that fit the theme (more about it later, it's not published yet so I cannot reveal all), scanned those and put everything togheter on the computer. As finishing touch I added a few pencil lines and structures.
I'm illustrating for 10 years now (oh my, it's an anniversary!) and over the years my style has evolved. Meanwhile, I can still make new things and surprise myself, hurray to that!



Mini Drawing Spark #2

2 comments

For Mini Drawing Spark #2 I'd like to ask you to zoom in on the beautiful world of insects. Now that summer is getting closer, it's the perfect time for taking a closer look at these pretty tiny creatures!

Look for beetles, flying creatures and other insects in your garden, park or even balcony. Take pictures or find photos of exotic insects online.
Ink and a fountain pen are great for little detailed drawings (if you don't have these, pencil or fineliner works too - as you can see in my example above- but ink is my favorite as it gives such pretty 'handmade' lines).
Pay extra attention to paws, eyes, wings and such, each insect has it's own perfect design.

Have fun!


little character magnets

Leave a Comment


One of my fave things to draw are faces. I love making little people and characters. A few years ago I sold little brooch pins in my shop that all had a different personality. I made those from left over pieces of wood, and every single piece was unique.

I still had some small porcelain slices hanging around from another brooches project in the past. With these I started making new faces and characters, each -again- unique, handpainted and with his or her personal outfit made out of paper. I attached little magnets to the back to make them suiteable for sticking some messages on the fridge ;-).

So far, I've made 6 of them. I'm not yet sure if I will put them in the shop or keep them myself, as they started as just a personal project. What do you think, should I sell them?
all content on this blog © Kim Welling unless stated otherwise. Powered by Blogger.