ARTWEST Amsterdam

The last couple of weeks I’ve been working hard to finish up for my upcoming open studio weekend which will be on November 21^st and 22^nd. Together with my artist colleagues Jan Baas, Ina Brekelmans, Edwin Emmens and Ellen Huijsmans (Grafisch Collectief Thoets) I’m participating in a new art event in Amsterdam, ARTWEST Amsterdam.

We’re hoping for a good turn-out and good weather. If you’re in the neighbourhood come and visit!!

Nassaukade 321, Amsterdam. On both Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 till 18:00.

Experiment (3)

Just realized I didn’t tell you about experiment # 3: claybord by Ampersand. I had big hopes for this one because on the leaflet that comes with the claybord it says: ‘absorbent (…), perfect for inks, gouache, egg tempera, pencil (…)’ so I thought it would be perfect for my ink and pencil combination.

When I got it out of the wrapping the surface felt smooth. I wondered how this was going to absorb and hold watery materials. Well, it didn’t.

To save the mess I tried to sand the surface and that helped a little but didn’t give the results that I was hoping for. So as for Ampersand surfaces I’ll stick to the aquabord.

For the drawing below I used Derwent Inktensepencils, Lukas Illucolor Pigmented ink and it is done on Ampersand aquabord.

Bauhaus commission

Right after I said ‘yes’ to the commission of the adoption announcement I got a call from a friend of mine. He asked how I felt about putting together a painting in a Bauhaus kinda abstract way.

First I asked when it was supposed to be finished. Luckily I would have plenty of time first to finish the adoption announcement and then start on the painting.

I told him I didn’t do any regular (acrylics or oil) painting in 14 years but hey, it’s like riding a bike, right? And did you notice I never do abstract art? Ahem…

It ended up being a fun commission, solving all kinds of problems.

The painting needed to be 60 x 60 cm, depicting a red square, a blue circle and a yellow triangle. Very Bauhaus. Also there needed to be structure in the painting, preferably the same structures as the sculpture my painting should be based on. I think it turned out pretty well.

Experiment (2)

Last week I’ve been experimenting more on Ampersand bord. This time on aquabord.

It’s a panel coated with a special clay mix that sort of absorbs water like a fine paper. The reason why I wanted to try it out was the claim that watercolours can be displayed without a glass frame.

Now I’ve tried pastelbord and aquabord. Next is claybord and I will let you know which I like best :)

The drawings I did were done in Lukas Illu-Color pigmented inks and Derwent Inktense pencils.

Experiment (1)

Here’s a experiment I’m doing, working on pastelbord by Ampersand the first time :)

Secrets revealed

Finally I can show you what I’ve been up to a few weeks ago! I’ve been working on an adoption announcement for a Dutch family that adopted a boy from Kenya.

They asked for a realistic (pencil) drawing, combining both Kenyan and Dutch elements.

On the front you can see a big ‘M’ because the boy’s name starts with ‘M’. A loving lioness with cub and on top of the lioness the family dog. Next to the lioness and cub two stuffed animals, a zebra that the boy owns and to add something typical Dutch: Miffy (Nijntje)! In the back baobab trees, very common in Kenya. Up in the sky the star constellation Capricornus, the constellation the boy was born under. The lion cub grabbing at the stars was on the inside of the card next to some other drawings that I’ll post later.

I really enjoyed doing this commission and I’m glad the family was very happy with the result.

Dear Diary (6)

A few weeks ago I started to exercise, my way, my ‘I’m-still-having-trouble-with-my-burn-out-way’. My energy level is still not what I want it to be and I noticed my physical condition going down and my weight going up. So I though not to make it too difficult (I hate exercising) and thought about what comes easy to me.

‘Riding my bike!’ So for the last couple of weeks I’ve been riding my bike 4,8 kilometres in about 20 minutes back and forth from my home to the Amsterdam Forest (Amsterdamse Bos) and walking for half an hour in between. Not sure how fast or slow I’m going, the term right now is while biking my legs need to hurt.

It really surprised me how easy it was to get accustomed to doing this every morning and I really like doing it! Both the biking and the walking. The walking turns out to be a really good start of my day, it eases my mind and it takes my mind to places I need to go to get my creative juices flowing. Now and then I take pictures and pick up stuff I find on the dirt road to draw later. Yay!

Secret commission

Last week I totally forgot writing a blog, sorry about that! I was really busy working on a commission that has to remain a secret for now.

So here are some hazelnuts instead ;)

These are from my 'Drawing a Day' project on my Instagram account, you can follow me at:
 https: https://instagram.com/melissa_halley/

Drawing A Day (2)

The last couple of weeks I didn’t spend any time on my larger drawings. I was back at cleaning my home (as in throwing things out) so it would be a better home studio. Almost ready.

After that I had two weeks of vacation which I spend with my boyfriend and his 4 year old son.

During this time I only did my Drawing A Day which I’m managing to do so for almost a month now.

For a large part my vacation consisted of doing things a 4 year old enjoys, mostly very active things and the boy asking a lot of attention. Perfectly normal for a 4 year old.

What I noticed was that these small drawings I did every day formed a much needed ‘me-time’. They drowned all the noise of the day and brought me back to myself.

So just in a few weeks these daily drawings changed from a daily task, or ‘should’ as Elle Luna calls them, to a daily necessity or ‘must’.

Drawing A Day from the last 9 days

Update

A day late but here is the result of a week (and a day) of my Drawing a Day project. So far so good.

I try to post all my drawings (and more) on Instagram.

You can find me at: melissa_halley

Drawing A Day (1)

March 2013 I started my Drawing A Day sketchbook. My plan was to make a small drawing every day that would take about 15 to 30 minutes. The idea was to draw every day especially when I couldn’t spend that day entirely drawing or on other art related business.

It’s also a really good way to get your drawing-juices flowing.

After a month I abandoned the sketchbook, started again and so on until the beginning of this year.

For some reason I couldn’t stick to it, every day I had more important things to do, no time and after a while I would just forget.

I got quite upset with myself that I could not even do this little 15 minute thing.

A few months ago I made a daily plan and the Drawing A Day was part of that plan but still I would somehow ‘forget’.

Until today…

Back Home

Sometimes kids (temporarily) come back to live with their parents again. Last weekend 3 of my ‘kids’ returned home. These drawings were sold in 2003 and 2006 and I hadn’t seen them since. It was actually nice to see them again.

The circumstances were less fun. The man that bought them in the past recently passed away, there were no family members who showed interest in them and that’s how they were returned to me. Feels weird…

Left a pastel drawing of a Long-eared Owl and middle and right two landscapes inspired by pictures from the book 'A Text-atlas of Scanning Electron Microscopy'.

Books I'm Reading (5)

Recently I’ve been listening to this podcast called The Unmistakable Creative. The people that get interviewed are all some kind of creatives. For me the painters etc. are most interesting but interviewer Srinivas Rao is really good at his job because he’s actually interested in the answer to the questions he’s asking. So I got really addicted to listening to his podcast.

Different books have been promoted on this show and I got curious so I bought some of the titles: ‘The Crossroads of Should and Must’ by Elle Luna, ‘Steal Like An Artist’ & ‘Show Your Work’ by Austin Kleon and ‘The War of Art’ by Steven Pressfield. All books were purchased at the American Book Center Amsterdam.

Find some of my favourite episodes of the podcast here: Lisa Congdon, Elle Luna, Austin Kleon, James Victore.

DRAW!

The last couple of years I’ve been wondering a lot whether I’m on the right track or not. Is my work good enough (for what?), am I creative enough (in comparison to whom?), do I got what it takes to make it in this business?

Very hard questions to answer or even think about. ‘No’ scares me to death, or close to it…

By now I do know that I could have done a lot more than I have done and I’m working hard to change that which is not always easy when recovering from a burn-out. I still want to do more than my body will let me.

Yesterday for some reason everything came down from its shelves and I couldn’t see through all the mess. What should I do, where do I start, continue (whatever)?

After the initial panic I picked up my brush and still very confused I continued on one of the drawings I’m working on. With every brushstroke my mind relaxed and I felt the mess on the floor of my brain getting back to its shelves. I never felt this process so clearly happening and I continued to draw. Relaxing, becoming silent turned into certainty that I am on the right track and I am doing what I’m supposed to do: DRAW!

The Kim Utopia

Last week my boyfriend and I went to the Drents Museum in Assen, The Netherlands. A year ago we went there too for the exhibition The Soviet Myth and this year the museum managed to do an exhibition about North-Korean paintings: The Kim Utopia.

Without a doubt all paintings present are propaganda. Some were really beautiful and detailed and others less so. I started wondering: is this art or craftsmanship? Are these artists comfortable using oils? Do these artists enjoy what they’re doing? Some paintings looked like they were done fast, a bit sloppy and without much joy. It looked like something that had to be done without trying to make it more bearable, which is strange to me. Were some of these people bad painters or would they just rather finish and move on to more enjoyable work? I don’t know.

It was interesting to compare these paintings with their European counterparts. For instance, when we take a painting like ‘TheBattle of Waterloo’ by Jan Willem Pieneman, 1824 (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, The Netherlands) we see a lot happening. The main characters faces are lit up and painted very detailed. The others less so and sometimes left in a sketchy state which gives the painting depth even when it’s cluttered.

Not so with ‘Death-defying protectors bound by the barrel of a gun’ by Kim Pong-nam (2002). Again the main characters are very detailed but moving on to the rest of the painting the picture is done in crude, thick brushstrokes. In itself quit nice but instead of working spacious it’s a bit messy.

Also ‘The Battle of Waterloo’ depicts a historical event while the North-Korean painting depicts a battle that never happened and works purely as propaganda: the North-Korean army supporting their leader no matter what.

Because we went to both Soviet and North-Korean exhibitions it was hard not to compare the two. In my opinion the Soviet paintings had a look of artists doing their thing in a communist world but still very much propaganda. Most of the North-Korean art looked like craftsmenship being used to depict a world that doesn’t exist.

Here are two youtube links (in Dutch) that allow to compare for yourself:
The Soviet Myth
The Kim Utopia

Window art: Sherlock Holmes & Hercule Poirot

Last week I was asked to decorate the storewindow at the American Book Center Amsterdam. The month of June is Classic Crime Month at the ABC. They asked me to paint two classic crime fighters, Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot (and a dead body). Here’s the result.

Dear Diary (5)

Money, always a difficult subject. As an artist I don’t make a lot of money. I wish I could make a living from my art and I’m really working hard to reach my goals but for the time being this is how it is.

To make art you need to have time. One needs time to put up a business etc. that’s why I always had part-time jobs. I would work 2 to 3 days a week to have time to do my art.

From friends who are not in the art-business I sometimes hear how lucky I am that I have all this freedom to do what I want and that I’m doing my dream job.

When I say it’s all about choices I sometimes get an angry glare. How dare I say such a thing, don’t I know they are stuck with all these responsibilities and I’m the lucky one?!

The thing is that doing your dream job doesn’t mean you’re in a dreamy situation. My income doesn’t leave much room for frivolities like new furniture (almost everything I own I inherited from grandparents and such), going shopping, going out for dinner, owning a car, replacing home appliances or even vacation.

My boyfriend wants me to join him on a little getaway somewhere in the Netherlands, nothing fancy but I’m totally panicking about the fact that my income has become even less since I lost my job and I’m not used to spending money on big things that are not even a material thing that will last for 15 years or so! I know, I’m a tight ass when it comes to spending money…

Like I said, it’s a choice and I’m happy with mine. I tried the other thing and it didn’t work for me. After food and sleep comes swooshing my brush or pencil on a piece of paper, that’s it!

Come and visit!

Just a short entry this week. This Sunday, 31^st of May my colleagues and I at Studio Grafisch Collectief Thoets open up our doors to the public.

We do this every year so friends, family and anyone who might be interested can have a look at what we’ve been doing all year.

As a collective we also have a loyal group of donors that get a print made especially for them and just them. This year the print was made by Jan Baas and Steven Toes. On the pic below you can see them both working on the print.

Jan and Steven were inspired by the exhibition ‘the Oasis of Matisse’ that is now showing at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, because to us our studio is also like an oasis.

So everyone who is in the neighbourhood please feel welcome to stop by this Sunday!!

Unlocking doors

A few months ago I felt like drawing my mom, she died two years ago and I wanted to do a little portrait of her. When it was finished I put it on Facebook and got some really nice comments. My friend Sanneke Griepink, who is an artist too, replied: ‘Hey you can do portraits too!’ And somehow that little remark made me think. Yes, I can do portraits too, in fact it was my favourite thing to do as a teenager, draw my family, actors, popstars… When did I quit again? Oh right, right after I finished art academy.

Somehow doing portraits became a bad thing.

In the years after that I did one portrait I really liked doing and then right after one I really hated and never finished. I ended up passing on the commission to a befriended artist and never doing a portrait again.

As it turns out I don’t hate doing portraits, I just need to stay close to a way of working that fits me. Right now I’m working on a portrait of my brother and very much enjoying the process. It’s not quite ready yet but still having fun and already looking forward to the next portraitproject.

Another door I’m pondering to unlock is teaching, giving small courses from my home…

Dear Diary (4)

Starting this blog I intended to share all my highs & lows that I would encounter in my art adventures but as it turned out I didn’t. For the last 7 months it has been nothing but tumbleweed here.

For me art or the act of making is very personal. When I don’t function properly, the making doesn’t work properly. For some mysterious reason I didn’t have the energy to do anything. As it turned out I was having a burn-out. The making had slowed down and for a short period it even stopped. After the diagnose I continued working at my paid job but 2 months later I also needed to press pause on that front and I ended up losing that job. 
 

I’m doing better now but a lot has changed. No job (yet) and I had to give up my shared studio at Retort.

Having a burn-out, losing my job and studio have inspired me to really take a good look at myself and made me think and realise what I really want. What I want is to continue being an artist, make money with my art and art related activities!

This April I rearranged my home so I can use that as my studio and maybe even as a space to teach. Who needs a proper livingroom when most of your living consists of drawing?!
See you next week!


Something I'm working on (sorry, not a great pic)

Back in the blogging game!!

After a hiatus of almost 7 months I’m back in the blogging game!
Long story but I want to start out on a positive note. Last year I participated in the Lemniscaat illustration contest and I’m planning to do so again this year so here is a detailed sketch of one of the images I’m working on :)