Books I'm reading (1)

I like books. I like everything about them. I like to read them, flip through them, smell them and own them. So when I need some information about something I'm still more likely to look for the answer in a book rather than the internet.

When I re-started this blog I actually did both but I want to share the books I read.
First I started in 'Blog INC' by Joy Deangdeelert Cho (Chronicle Books). A very helpful book about how to start a blog and make it successful. What I really liked was the fact she interviewed lots of good bloggers and you get a nice view on how they started and what it took to be where they are now.
After that I read 'Blogging For Creatives' by Robin Houghton (HOW Books). The title appealed to me but it also had lots of new things to offer alongside 'Blog INC'.
'Blogging For Creatives' gives a bit more technical information. It compares different blogging platforms and it has nice colour pictures that give you inspiration and an idea about possibilities for your own blog. Both books have good tips about questions one might have like for instance: "how often should I post?"
So if you want to read more about how to blog I recommend both books.

Right now I'm reading 'How to be an Illustrator' by Darrel Rees (Laurence King). First edition was 6 years ago and this second edition is nicely updated. Both on information and beautiful colour illustrations. It's focused on the starting illustrator freshly out of (or still in) college but that's no problem. Lot's of interviews with both illustrators and others that are working in the industry. Helpful tips about making a portfolio, job-hunting, financial tips, promoting yourself etc.
The book is from the UK but includes information about the US and so on.

All books were purchased at ABC - The American Bookcenter (Amsterdam).

Dear diary (2)

On January 29^th I posted a blog about sketchbooks. Book By Its Cover has this wonderful page where you can have a look into artist’s sketchbooks. Very inspiring.
Nonetheless filling those sketchbooks myself keeps being a challenge. The blank page remains an obstacle. The content of the page still should be “perfect” or at least good enough for others to see. Why can’t I just let go of that? A sketchbook should be a little private place where an artist should feel total freedom to do whatever they feel like.
Why can’t I just splatter my ink all over the pages, scribble relentlessly on top of the mess? Why can’t I just experiment BIG?!
I can’t think of any other reason but fear. Fear of making ugly things, fear of losing control, fear of being found out?
How will I ever know what I’m capable of when I keep being scared? I won’t, it’s as simple as that and I had enough.

First step to overcome fear is to show you a page from my current sketchbook that I would never show without being embarrassed. It was done after a dream I had. I used ink, pencil and felt-tips. I was not happy with the result and I stopped working like this right when I started.

 
Melissa, start experimenting, start making a mess!!

The Romantic Soul of Willem Hofker?

Last Saturday I went to Teylers Museum in Haarlem to see the exhibition ‘The Romantic Soul, Paintings from Russia and the Netherlands’.
Teylers Museum on their exhibition:

“Towards the end of the 18^th century, Europe witnessed the advent of a new cultural movement, in reaction to the prevailing coolness of classicism: Romanticism. Gone was the supremacy of Reason. Romantic art gave precedence to emotions, intuition, spontaneity and imagination. With imminent shipwrecks, oaks split by the force of nature, awe-inspiring sunsets, or at times tranquil interiors and sensitive portraits, artists in all parts of Europe conveyed their emotional responses.”

It was very interesting to see the similarities and differences between Russian and Dutch art of that time.
You can visit the exhibition until May 25^th 2014.

I enjoyed myself at ‘The Romantic Soul’ but then I stumbled into the exhibition about Willem Hofker, which impressed me maybe even more.

Willem Hofker (1902-1981) made really beautiful, delicate drawings. Sometimes you can see the artists love for the subject and Hofker is a good example of that. Next to drawings Teylers Museum shows a small collection of etchings and lithographs. Most of Hofkers work show Balinese women/ dancers. Willem Hofker and his wife moved to Bali (Indonesia) in 1936. During the Japanese occupation in WW 2 they were both put in internment camps (separately). Still Willem Hofker managed to keep drawing and this gives us a very interesting view into camp life.
You can visit the exhibition until March 9^th 2014.



Willem Gerard Hofker
Ni Asoeg in Ardja, 1946
Aquatint Etching
27,5 x 25,5 cm